SEAL’s Love by Leslie North
9
That evening after dinner, all the reunion guests sat around a large fire in the backyard, just relaxing and chatting. The two younger girls, Marigold and Emma, were inside the house watching a movie, while the adults reminisced about the past and drank wine.
Harper was snuggled into Colin’s side, tugging his oversized hoodie tighter around herself against the chilly ocean breeze. Overall, it had been a good day. She’d enjoyed talking to his mom and getting better insight into Colin and his relationship with his father. She’d also loved finally getting an opportunity to see Serenity. Even better, she still had Colin by her side, helping her through all of this.
She stared into the crackling flames, inhaling the scent of campfire and toasting marshmallows, biting back a yawn. It would be so easy to rest her head on Colin’s warm, strong chest and go to sleep. Especially with him running his fingers through her hair like that, his deep voice rumbling beneath her ear when he talked or laughed. She felt so sleepy and safe…
"How about each couple tells us how you met and what first attracted you to your partner?” Colin’s mother suggested.
Colin tensed beneath Harper and she sat up, fully awake now.
Showtime.
Jojo and Sara were seated across the fire from them and started. “We met on one of those singles cruises,” Jojo said, waiting for the derisive snorts to die down. “I know, I know. Totally lame. But I’d just gotten out of a bad relationship and so had Sara—and each of us had an interfering friend who signed us up for the cruise behind our backs. Neither of us were looking for anything other than friendship.” At Colin’s skeptical look, she laughed. “Seriously. Anyway, they always have a bunch of those mixer things, and we both ended up going to one titled Name that Tune.”
“Name that Song, sweetie,” Sara corrected her with a fond look.
“Right. Name that Song.” Jojo grinned. “Well, as you all know, I’m the Queen of useless trivia, especially when it has to do with music, so of course I made it all the way to the finals.”
“Yeah, there was barely room for any other contestants with her ego taking up so much space,” Sara added, getting a huge laugh from everyone.
Jojo shook her head, then kissed her wife’s cheek. “Never lets me get away with anything, this one. So, like I said, I made it to the finals and guess who my opponent was?” She pointed to Sara. “Blew my chance of winning right out of the water.”
“I didn’t know you were a music buff, Sara,” Colin said.
“Oh, I’m not,” Sara said at the same time Jojo said, “Oh, she’s not.”
They both laughed, then leaned in so their heads rested against each other as Jojo continued. “But luckily everyone else who played knew even less about music than Sara did, and I was too distracted by her to remember my own name, let alone any music trivia. She won by a landslide, which funnily enough was the answer to the final question—What 1974 song did Stevie Nicks write about her tumultuous relationship with Lindsey Buckingham and her strained relations with her business executive father?”
“And we lived happily ever after,” Sara said, laughing as she kissed Jojo.
When they finally pulled apart, Jojo raised her wineglass and took a gulp, then passed the proverbial torch. “Who’s next? Mom and Dad?”
“We met while shopping,” Colin’s Aunt Patsy said. “Richard asked me for recommendations on jewelry as a Christmas present for his mother. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but when I told him I needed to head over to another store, he said he was going there, too, and came with me. This happened for four stores. And with each store, he kept me talking to him by saying that he needed my suggestion on another gift for another relative.”
“Stalker alert!” Jojo called, getting another huge laugh from the assembled, including Harper.
“What happened?” Harper asked. “Did you confront him? Because I would have.”
“I did.” Patsy smiled. “He finally admitted that he hadn’t wanted to stop talking to me, and he asked me out on a date. Out of insanity or pity, I said yes.” She shrugged and smiled. “The rest is history.”
“I spent three-hundred dollars on Christmas presents for people who didn’t exist just so I could keep talking to her. Now that’s dedication.”
“Hear! Hear!” Colin’s dad said, raising his wineglass in a toast they all drank to.
“What about you two?” Harper asked Colin’s mom.
“Yeah, darling.” She nudged Colin’s dad with her shoulder. “Go on and tell me why you fell in love with me.”
For a moment, Harper thought the indomitable Cole Parks would refuse. Then he took a deep breath and his stiff posture sagged. “Fine. But the first person who laughs gets booted right off the island.” He gave them all a warning look. “I fell in love with Emily the moment I saw her laugh across the room at some high society party we were attending. In a sea of people faking it, she was a vivid, vivacious breath of fresh air, and I was completely bewitched.” He swirled the wine in his glass, staring at the ruby color instead of looking at anyone else, and frowned. “From that second on, I knew in my gut that she was my person. That it was going to be her and me, forever.”
Harper blinked hard at the sudden sting of tears in her eyes. What a beautiful story. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Colin only to find he’d gone totally still, surprise written all over his gorgeous face. Given his fraught relationship with his father, maybe it was the first time he’d heard that story. It seemed to surprise him that his father would fall that hard and fast—but it didn’t surprise Harper. Meeting his family and seeing Colin interact with them—with his dad—the past few days, she could see clearly how similar he and his dad were. Both proud, competitive, competent men who saw things in black and white, absolutes, including their romantic relationships. It was no surprise that when he fell, he fell all at once and never looked back.
“All right, kiddos,” Jojo said from across the fire. “Our newest lovebirds are up next. Go on, Colin. Tell us how you fell under Harper’s spell.”
At first, she expected him to make something up, like they’d been doing all week, but instead, he tightened his hold around her shoulders, pulling her closer into his side and kissing her temple before saying, “I remember the first day I met Harper like it was yesterday. She was working and I walked in to find this gorgeous creature behind a desk. She had on this black top and a purple skirt that showed off her legs to perfection. And her hair was tucked behind her ear on one side, letting me see her cute little coffin earrings.”
“Sarcophagi,” she corrected him, cheeks prickling with heat. He’d actually remembered a lot more about their first meeting than she’d expected, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. And sure, it had been just two weeks ago, not the year that he made it sound like, but still. The guys she’d dated in the past couldn’t have told her what color her eyes were if they’d had a gun to their heads, let alone what she’d been wearing two weeks prior. Colin, though, seemed to remember every detail. It touched her in a way that both scared and delighted her.
“Right. Sarcophagi. My little Egyptology demon.” He kissed her temple again, then went on with his story about that day in the Team Oracle offices, inserting just enough truth to make it believable, but keeping it vague enough to not blow their cover. Harper was only half listening, though, still trying to sort through all the confusing feelings swirling inside her—desire, doubt, affection, apprehension. “Anyway, how could I not fall for this wonderful woman?”
Air. She needed some air and some space to breathe since it felt like everything was closing in on her. While everyone cheered over Colin’s story, Harper forced a smile and excused herself. “I need a glass of water. Be right back.”
She hurried out of sight, walking through the darkness until she reached the side of the house, where she leaned back against the cool siding and exhaled at last. What the hell was she going to do? She’d promised herself to keep her distance emotionally, but it already seemed like she was in far too deep. Colin was a great guy. And their chemistry together was off the charts. But now, after spending all this time together, pretending to be a real couple, all their carefully planned professional boundaries were blurring—at least for her. Normally, she was fine going with the flow and living in the moment, but Colin was definitely not that kind of man. And knowing how hard it was for him after his ex died, there was no way Harper ever wanted to hurt him like that. Not after he’d been such a huge help to her. Unfortunately, the longer they played this charade, the more she feared that someone getting hurt was exactly what would happen.
“Hey,” Colin said, walking up to stand beside her in the shadows. His arm rested against hers, warm and solid and wonderful. “You okay? I hope I didn’t upset you with something I said down there.”
Given how honest he’d been with her since the start, she couldn’t lie to him now. She turned slightly to face him. With the half-moon above, his eyes looked dark and sparkly, mesmerizing. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his. Didn’t want to. “I like you, Colin. A lot. But we talked about this already. I’m not the kind of girl you normally date, and I don’t want to hurt you. And I definitely don’t want to get distracted from our mission. I…”
Her voice trailed as he lifted his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, then slowly leaned forward to kiss her. It was slow, deep, intentional, and almost instantly, she was caught in a riptide of need. Before she could stop herself, Harper was kissing him back, twining her arms around his neck and pressing her body close to his, wanting full-body contact, wanting everything he had to give her.
All thoughts, all doubts, all the drama was gone. There was just the two of them, this moment, this night, this kiss. It wasn’t their first kiss—but it was the first one that wasn’t part of an act, wasn’t part of the show.
His hands roamed leisurely over her back as his lips trailed from hers across her cheek to her ear, leaving a trail of heat behind them. He groaned low and she arched against him, unable to help herself. Her pulse thudded loud and her blood sang, and she wished more than anything they could strip bare so she could feel his skin on hers.
“Get a room!” Jojo said from the porch around the corner, her voice enough to break the sensual spell around them at last. Both Jojo and Sara laughed, then headed inside, leaving Harper and Colin alone again.
For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of heavy breathing and cicadas around them. Her back was against the cool house and her front was against Colin’s warm chest. Through their clothes, she could feel his heart racing in time with hers. His head was bowed, and the hardness of his erection pressing against her lower stomach left no doubt that he’d been as wrapped up in passion as she’d been…but that didn’t mean following through on what they wanted was right, or wise. Every cell in her body screamed for her to grab him and pick up where they left off, but could she? Would she?
He looked up at her then, the heat of his stare burning her even through the shadows. “Come to bed with me, Harper. Right now. To hell with everything else. I just want you, need you, tonight.”
Common sense reared its head one more time, forcing her to ask, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No.” He laughed, low and sexy, and she felt it like a physical caress, shivering as it danced over her too-sensitive skin. “But I don’t care anymore. I want you. More than I’ve wanted anyone or anything in a long, long time. And I know you’re worried about hurting me, but I don’t need you to protect me. I need you to do what you want. Whatever that is. Understand?”
She blinked at him, taking that in. What she wanted was to wrap herself around him and never let him go until they were both satisfied. With her body thrumming and her hormones surging, she decided yes. Tonight she’d have him. There’d be plenty of time to worry about the consequences tomorrow. And he was a big boy, he could take care of himself, just like he said. He obviously wanted her, and she wanted him, so why not?
With that, Harper threw caution to the wind and kissed him again, hard and hot and quick, then took his hand and pulled him toward the porch. “Come on. First one upstairs gets to be on top.”
