Cruisin' For A SEAL: SEAL Brotherhood #5 by Sharon Hamilton Read Free Book Online

complications. And I’m sorry. I realize now that that was a huge mistake.”
    His passive, hulking frame and dispassionate stare into the distance broke her heart.
    “Please Mark, look at me.” He did, but his eyebrows were raised, his eyes clearly saying he thought she was full of crap. She mustered her courage and added, looking into his sky blue eyes, those eyes she’d gotten lost in, eyes she would remember forever, “I am truly sorry. I am not a good person at all. I did this without any regard for your feelings.”
    Their eyes did connect, and for a second she could see the hurt there, the little dream in his heart that was dying, too, just as hers was. Instinct told her to reach over and kiss him, hug him, tell him how sorry she was, but she knew that was the wrong way to handle it. As much as she wanted to touch him and let him know how awful she felt, she needed to keep her distance.
    Just tell him the truth and get out.
    Mark hadn’t dropped his eyes. He was searching for something in her face she hoped didn’t show. He was looking for evidence that she cared for him. Wouldn’t it be wiser to show coldness? Let him fully understand there was no future for them?
    But was that the truth? Really the truth? Did all this happen because of her niggling doubts about Matheus and the life she would have with him in Brazil? If she were certain of her decision to marry him, would the night with Mark have happened? She honestly didn’t know the answer.
    “It was the most beautiful afternoon I’ve spent in my entire life. I will never forget it. Never, Mark,” she said.
    His crooked smile…with a dimple just to the right of his full lips…was sexy as hell, and softened the mask of his face.
    “It was a pretty incredible afternoon, but, hey, no worries, Sophia. I’m not looking to get hooked up with anyone. I’m getting ready to deploy. This is just a little R and R before we go. It kind of worked, in a sick sense of the word.” He looked at his palms.
    She hadn’t expected that.
    “You aren’t angry?”
    “For an afternoon of the best sex of my life? Fuck, no.”
    It was a nice thing to say, but she felt the blunt force of a verbal slap. “I think it was more than that, is what I’m trying to say,” she said, her voice low and husky.
    Mark shot up, shoved his hands into his cargo shorts. “I’m glad. While you’re working your way through the cruise ship males, I’ll be having beers with my buds and probably swearing off Italian girls for a while.” He turned to walk out of the bar.
    She had to do something. She ran up and stood in front of him, to stop him.
    “Wait a minute. What I meant to say is that it wasn’t just a hookup for me. I mean, it started that way, but it became more, I guess is what I’m saying.”
    “Well, that’s fine, honey. And if you get that itch again, I’ll scratch it. No worries. I’m not going to get pissed off and ruin another good time.” His brilliant white teeth and blue eyes melted her bones.
    “So it wasn’t—”
    “You don’t have the right to that privileged information, honey. You’re engaged to someone else. I don’t gotta tell you anything about me or how I feel about anything, remember? But if you want another anonymous hookup, I’m not going anywhere for the next few weeks. We’ve got, like, twenty days together. We’ve already proven we can let our bodies do the talking, since the words seem to get in the way.”
    He left the bar. She felt her heart drop to her ankles.
    It wasn’t easy to put it out of her mind, the look on his face as he turned, bowed slightly and walked out of her life. She’d already cried for him once when she walked away from him in the piazza. She’d left a part of her with him that day, and now, today, he took away another piece as he stalked down the marble foyer, pushed the up button and left in the elevator.
    For several seconds she just stood in the elevator lobby, completely stunned. Then reality set in.