Page 14 of Harbored by the SEAL
She shrugged. “It’s all right. Trust me, if I had a beautiful woman who wanted to spend the night with me, I’d be the first one to ask you to pick up an extra shift.”
Cowboy wasn’t a stickler for protocol, but her easy insubordination rubbed him the wrong way. He was a navy man, and even when he chose not to follow the rules, he did so with respect and caution.
He filed the thought away for later and put the coffee down next to her. “I’m not sure how you like it.”
“So this woman,” said Abby. “Is it serious between you two?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Just making conversation, that’s all. You already know about my love life, or lack thereof.”
He stared at her.
After an awkward silence, she said, “It’s none of my business, is it?”
“Nope.” He sat down on the bed and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m going to check in with HERO Force.”
“You can’t. The cell service is down. Wi-Fi too.”
Cowboy frowned. “When did that happen?”
She shrugged. “An hour ago, maybe two.”
“Did you check in with security to see what’s going on with it?”
“It’s probably just some glitch.”
“Glitch or not, it impacts our ability to communicate with each other, which impacts our ability to guard the royals.” He would have hoped Abby would realize that. “I’m going to go check with Harrison.”
Cowboy took the stairs down two flights, emerging onto an open-air deck. It was raining lightly, the drops lightly kissing his skin. He thought of the moonlight from the night before, so vivid when he’d first gotten to Charlotte’s room. This front had moved in while they slept, and he couldn’t help but wonder if that was some kind of omen.
Stop it.
The decision had already been made. They’d already slept together once, and he’d have to be out of his mind to ruin this week with Charlotte by constantly second-guessing himself. Was it the smart, safe thing to do? Absolutely not.
But it was fucking incredible.
He smiled. They had six days left, and he was going to enjoy every minute with that woman. He felt a moment’s guilt. This wasn’t a vacation, it was a HERO Force assignment and that had to come first. But still, a man had to sleep, didn’t he? And he planned to sleep with Charlotte by his side.
Or underneath him.
Or on top of him.
An image of her going down on him the night before popped into his mind. She was such an arresting lover, open and unashamed. He was getting aroused just thinking about it, so he forced the thought to the back of his mind.
He hoped the communications problem would be resolved soon. Life would get complicated pretty quickly if he wasn’t able to reach Abby on her cell phone and he wasn’t staying in his own room.
He thought of Charlotte’s stateroom with its large living area and even a kitchenette. Logan had mentioned something about his sister getting a large settlement in the divorce, and how his ex-brother-in-law had deserved to be on the generous side of that arrangement after the way he’d treated her.
It seemed like Charlotte had gone through a tough time, though whether it was from her marriage or subsequent divorce he still wasn’t sure.
Are you looking to find out?
This was a fling, not a relationship. That was how Charlotte presented it to him, and that was what he had agreed to. He wasn’t quite sure of the rules, but it just made good sense not to go digging through her past looking for answers.
Keep it light.
Keep it simple.
