Page 77 of Honk if You Love Real Men (Tempting SEALs 1)

Mac nodded. “I had this crazy idea I thought I’d run by you.” He stopped where he was walking and grabbed both of Win’s hands in his. He kissed her on her forehead, and the gentle ownership she felt in his touch shocked her. Win suddenly had the wildest thought. What if he was going to ask her that? Could it be? Was he going to get down on one knee right here in the woods and ask her if she would . . .

“. . . consider renting it from me?”

Win whirled back from La-La Land. The man was talking real estate while she was thinking real love! She sighed. “What in the world would I want your dad’s place for?”

The biggest, most devilish grin spread across Vincent’s face. “You could keep an eye on it while I’m away. Maybe you could pop up one weekend a month to write. You know, for inspiration.”

Win scrunched her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Would these monthly visits coincide with your shore leave, by any chance?”

Vincent laughed. “Shore leave? I’m not on ship duty, baby.”

“Whatever you call it, then. My point is, will you be here when I am?”

“I can try.” Vincent’s smile disappeared and he looked down at his boots. “I’ll give you all the money you need to keep things repaired, decorate it any way you want. Maybe Barbara Jacobs could help you with that.”

Win laughed. “I sure hope you won the Lotto while I wasn’t looking.”

“Naw. But Dad and I have decided to sell one hundred acres. With the market the way it is right now, that will take care of everything he might need with plenty to spare for knickknacks.”

Win frowned at him. “And all this luxury would run me how much a month?”

Vincent shrugged. “How’s a dollar sound?”

“Better than Manhattan rentals, that’s for sure.” Win cocked her head and studied his face, a face she was going to miss like hell. “Once a month at best, eh?”

Vincent’s gaze turned serious, and he stroked her cheek. “Sometimes, I don’t know when I’ll be leaving, when I’ll be back, or how long I can stay stateside. There will be times I can’t tell you where I’m going. I won’t be reachable while I’m away.”

She blew out air and looked around at their surroundings, noting Lulu was tugging at the leash. “Sounds like the makings of an ideal relationship.”

“That’s my reality. That’s who I am.”

Win swung her gaze back to Vincent’s face—her fantasy man made real, and a real man with a life that was anything but fantastic.

Vincent cleared his throat. “I guess I was thinking that if you used the place, we’d be connected. There’d be a reason for us to bump into each other.”

Win felt her face heat up and her eyes grow wet. This was not how she pictured their time together ending—in some kind of messy, snotty, emotional meltdown. She couldn’t help it though, and she felt her lips tremble.

“Oh, Win. . . .”

Vincent had placed his hands on her shoulders but she smacked them away. “Bump into each other?” she shouted. “We spend three weeks getting about as close as two people can get and now you just want to bump into each other?”

He laughed. “I love the way your accent shows up when you’re upset.”

r /> She huffed and took a few steps back from him. “I do not have an accent, and for your information, I am not upset. I am merely mad as a hornet and embarrassed that I just wasted three weeks of my life with some emotionally unavailable GI Joe action figure!”

Vincent didn’t move. It looked like every muscle in that formidable body was tensed and ready.

“And I don’t reckon anything of mine is going to be bumpin’ up against anything of yours, anytime soon!”

Lulu went airborne at the end of the leash when Win spun around—only to find she’d backed herself right up against the creek. She had nowhere to go but the moss-covered rocks, and her mind raced. What did a woman do when faced with the fact that she’d fallen in love with a man whose life didn’t mesh with her own? Were sudden moves a good thing or a bad thing? Should she just go back to finding another perfectly serviceable metrosexual boyfriend with a compatible lifestyle?

Or should she forget about men entirely and just get a full-time dog?

Win decided to jump up on a moss-covered rock, noting a moment too late that she’d somehow jerked Lulu around so much that the dog’s leash was tangled in her ankles and she was close to toppling over into the creek.

Suddenly she was up off her feet and pressed against Vincent’s body. His mouth was hard on hers, kissing and kissing and kissing until she couldn’t breathe, didn’t want to breathe, and her arms went around his neck and he flipped her so that she was chest-to-chest against him, her feet dangling above the ground. He pulled his mouth away and said, “Stand for a second so I can take off your jeans.”

“Whaa—?”

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