SEAL The Deal by Sharon Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page B

the booth. Nick had no idea what to say. His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth.
    “Sorry I’m late,” she said as she picked up the menu without checking his reaction.
    “I’m always early,” he said and noted the croak in his voice like he was fifteen-year-old dork…again.
    “And I’m usually late.” She was looking over the cream and red plastic menu. Her dark eyes were made up more heavily than yesterday. He would have to say sultry. Siren. She had on her work demeanor too, another nice suit of dark blue with a sheer white blouse and a virginal schoolgirl bow under her chin. Oh the things he thought about doing with her and that bow. The places he could tie her up. The body parts he could restrain. If she was aware he was staring at her with his tongue hanging out, she didn’t show it.
    Nick didn’t like feeling he wasn’t in control. Usually after he’d spent this much time with a woman she’d be drooling all over him, hinting about going for a drive or a picnic in the woods. Sliding up to him, giving him little hints of the feel of her body. But Devon was strictly hands-off. He was going to have to play it that way, for now. He just couldn’t stop his dirty mind from getting creative, conspiring with that certain body part that always gave him a hard time.
    She finally looked at him and dished out a generous smile. White teeth, plump lips, and red again, with a sparkle in the eyes and tiny laugh lines that broke the intensity of her presence.
    God almighty. You toying with me, kitten? Just looking at her sent his libido into high gear. Half in a state of panic, he realized he was nervous.
    Nervous? WTF?
    This had never happened to him before.
    “So, what are you having?” she asked.
    He noted she took a quick glance from one side of his shoulder to the other. He very carefully sat up straighter and took a deep breath, enlarging his ribcage. He rubbed the back of his head, exposing his right bicep.
    She watched every second of it and then tore her eyes away.
    “Was sort of thinking about a pizza. What one do you recommend?”
    “I don’t eat pizza.”
    “Interesting.” He found himself smiling with half-lidded eyes, even while trying to reel in his reflex to pounce and possess. “What do you eat?”
    That got a reaction. Her brown eyes flared and the frown lines between her brows made a brief appearance, and then disappeared.
    “Green things mostly.”
    Nick noticed how quickly she’d taken it out of the sexual realm and made it about neutral things like spinach salads and healthy food. He was definitely thinking about steamy, sexual  things. And definitely not vegetables.
    “No protein?” he said as he glanced up at a young waitress passing by. The girl blushed and giggled.
    Devon noticed his pass and the girl’s blush. She arched her eyebrow and scanned the room. Nick knew there were more than a few women looking his way, but he kept his eyes on her in spite of the distraction. He watched the arch of her neck, the way the tiny hairs behind her ears were slightly darker and curlier than the floppy loose curls at the top of her head. Her scent was the same as yesterday, some perfume he’d not experienced before. He wondered how it would taste on her skin.
    Turning back to him, she said, “Are we ready?”
    He didn’t answer except to nod silently. Oh, yeah. He was ready, all right. This one was special. He was going to have to work very hard to win her trust.
    He loved a good challenge.
     
    After their lunch was served they began the obligatory small talk. Devon knew about Nick’s parents, of course, but Nick learned she had also lost her parents in high school, in a private plane crash. She’d known his sister originally through student government, even though Sophie had been two grades ahead. She said she remembered Nick too, but he was sad to admit he didn’t remember Devon at all. That bothered him a bit.
    Devon told him she and Sophie became friends through a Pilates class.