She had been staring at his lips, watching how they moved while he talked. She slowly dragged her gaze back up to his eyes. She saw need flare in his gaze at the same time that anticipation for his kiss thickened the air flowing in and out of her lungs.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything, Swan. Just bring your mouth closer to mine.”
She knew she shouldn’t, but she found herself doing it anyway.
* * *
Flipper drew in a deep breath when Swan’s lips were almost touching his. He flicked out his tongue and she gave a sharp intake of breath when he began licking her lips from corner to corner with the tip of his tongue.
“What are you doing?” she asked on a wobbly breath.
“Since you asked...” He captured her mouth and when she closed her eyes on a moan, he reached up and cradled her face in his hands while he kissed her with a greed he didn’t know was in him.
What was there about her that made him accept the primitive part of himself that wouldn’t be satisfied until he made love to her? Was it because she crept into his dreams at night and into his every waking thought? Or was it because an arrow of liquid heat shot straight to his groin whenever he saw her? Or could he blame it on the fact that whenever she touched him, he burned? She made him edgy and aroused him as no other woman could.
It was all of those things and more.
Right now, he didn’t know how to back away. So he didn’t. Instead he accepted the stream of heat in his gut and the crackle of energy passing between them.
Their lips were copulating in a way that sent blood coursing through his veins like a raging river. It was raw, hot and explosive, causing a hot ache to erupt in his gut. It wouldn’t take much to lose control and take her here on her desk. At that moment, his entire body was tight with need, totally entranced by everything about her.
The phone rang and they quickly broke off the kiss, drawing in deep breaths of air. He watched as she reached across her desk to press the speaker button. “Thank you for calling Swan’s.”
At first, no one said anything and then a deep male voice said, “Swan? Are you okay? You sound out of breath.”
He watched as she pulled in another deep breath before a smile touched her lips. “I’m fine, Godpop 1. How are you?”
Knowing who she was talking to on the phone was like a pail of cold water drenching Flipper. He was quickly reminded why he’d been sent to Key West. His admiral would have him court-martialed if he knew what Flipper had just done with his goddaughter. If the man had any idea how many times Flipper had kissed her already and how each time he’d wished they had gone even further...
She turned off the speaker so he heard only one side of the conversation, and from the sound of her voice, he knew she was happy about receiving the call.
Feeling a tightness in his crotch from his still-aroused body, he got up from the chair and walked to the window. If she could have this sort of effect on him just from a kiss, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if he were to make love to her. Just the thought of easing his body into hers had his stomach churning and caused an ache low in his gut.
Knowing he needed to think of something else, he glanced up into the sky. It was a beautiful day. Monday was Memorial Day and he wondered if Swan had made any plans to celebrate. He’d heard there would be a parade and unlike some places in the States, where stores remained open on Memorial Day, the laid-back businesses in the Keys closed up for one big party.
He liked the Keys. When he retired from being a SEAL, he could see himself moving here to live out the rest of his days. The island was surrounded by the ocean and they didn’t call him Flipper for nothing. He loved water. Being in it and being a part of it. Living this close to the sea would certainly be a plus for him. But then there was the question of how he would deal with Swan if he chose to retire here. Even if he could prove she was not guilty of espionage, there was always that possibility she would hate his guts regardless of the outcome, because he had not been truthful with her.
“Sorry about that, David.”
He turned, not caring that she could see his still-hard erection. It was something he couldn’t hide even if he had tried. Was she sorry they’d been interrupted or was she regretting that they’d kissed in the first place? He hoped it was the former because he doubted he could ever regret kissing her. “I take it that was one of your godfathers?” he asked, knowing it had been.
She was staring at him below the waist, but after his question, her gaze slowly moved upward to his face. “Ah, yes, that was one of my godfathers. The other two will be calling sometime today as well. It always works out that they all call within twenty-four hours of each other.”
He nodded and slowly walked back over to his chair to sit down. “I know you’re busy so let’s look at the designs.”
Had he just seen a flash of disappointment in her eyes? Did she want them to continue what they’d been doing before she’d gotten that call? Didn’t she know how close they’d both been to going off the edge and falling into waters too deep to swim out of? Even for him, a SEAL master swimmer.
Somehow they got through the next half hour looking at earring designs. Just as each one of the necklaces were different, he wanted the earrings to be different as well and reflect each one of his sisters-in-law’s personalities.
When he was satisfied with his choices, he stood, convinced he needed to rush back to the hotel and take a cold shower. Sitting beside Swan and inhaling her scent without touching her was one of the most difficult things he’d had to do in a long time.
She was so female that the maleness in him couldn’t help responding to everything about her. A part of him felt drugged by her scent and the intense physical awareness of her. Even now, desire was racing through his bloodstream.
“I owe you additional monies, right?” he asked. A couple of the designs he’d selected cost more than what she’d originally estimated.
“Yes. I’ll let you know the difference after I finish designing them, when you pick up everything.”
He hadn’t missed the fact that when he stood her gaze had immediately latched on to his crotch once again. Was she still hoping to see him with a hard-on? If that was true, then she wasn’t disappointed. He could get aroused just from looking at her.
And why did she choose that moment to lick her lips? She had no idea that seeing her do such a thing sent the pulse beating in his throat and desire hammering against his ribs.
On unstable legs and with an erection the size of which should be outlawed, he moved around her desk and looked at her. “Yesterday I asked you to go to dinner with me again, but you never gave me an answer.”
He figured that seeing how aroused he was, she probably wouldn’t give him an answer now either. She surprised him when she said, “Yes, we can dine together this evening.”
He nodded. “Okay, you get to pick the place.”
She took a slip of paper off her desk, wrote something on it and handed it to him. He looked at it and he must have stared at it too long, because she said, “It’s
