had ended, but a bigger part had been when her youngest son Lucas had declined to go on a scouting trip because he didn’t want to risk being out of the city.
She realized her reluctance to face her own fears had been passed on to her boys. And she wanted—no, needed—to be a positive influence on them. They were the one thing she was proud to say came from her marriage.
“I needed a change,” she said. “This is a bit more adventurous then I originally anticipated. But being out here on sea has been interesting.”
“In what way?” he asked.
“Just seeing the way the crew and the captain interact. Have you known the captain for long?” she asked. She really wanted to know if Laz was a man she could trust. Every instinct she had said she could, but her instincts weren’t always on target when it came to men.
“For a while.”
“Do you trust him?” she asked.
“With my life,” Hamm said. “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. Now what was she going to say, that she’d seen the captain on deck last night doing something suspicious? That would make her sound…silly.
“We’re all depending on him to get us safely through these waters. The attacks on ships in this area have been up and naturally I’m concerned.”
Hamm nodded. “Laz will deliver you to your destinations. He’s reliable and dependable.”
“Ah, Hamm, you’re making me sound like a Boy Scout,” Laz drawled from the doorway.
“You are,” Hamm said.
Daphne hated the way her pulse speeded up just because Laz had entered the room.
“How’s Renault?”
“Good. The cuts were superficial. I bandaged them and he’s fine now.”
“Back at work?” Laz asked Hamm.
“Yeah. How’s Fridjtof?”
“Cooling off some. He’s edgy. I was hoping you could keep an eye on him,” Laz said.
Daphne cleaned up the papers from the bandages and tried to look busy. There was no need for her to stay, except she didn’t want to have to try to squeeze by Laz to get out of the room.
“No problem. Do you need anything else?”
“Yes, but we can discuss it later.”
Hamm nodded.
“Thanks for your help, Daphne. If you hadn’t been here—”
“You would have handled it fine. This wasn’t a real medical emergency,” she said.
“No, it wasn’t, but it’s always nice to have an expert around,” Hamm said, as he walked out the door.
Daphne started to follow him but Laz stopped her with his hand on her arm.
“There is something I’m dying to know,” he said.
“What?”
“How your lips feel under mine,” he said, lowering his head and brushing his lips over hers.
She surrendered completely to the embrace. The doubts she had about Laz were slowly melting away. Though she knew her instincts had been wrong before when it came to trusting a man, this time she thought that maybe she’d found a man she could rely on.
She realized as he tunneled his hands through her hair and tipped her head backward to give him greater access to her mouth that whether this was wise or foolish she didn’t want to miss out on a moment of this experience with Laz.
He was exactly what she needed.
And for once she knew what she wanted. It had been a long time since she’d felt this decisive. She wanted to experience everything she could with this strong, sexy, mysterious man. She wasn’t about to let him slip through her fingers.
She wrapped her own arms around his lean waist and leaned up into the kiss. His tongue felt smooth and tasted wonderful against hers. She forgot to breathe, forgot everything except the feel of his hands on her body.
She’d never felt an enflaming attraction like this before. It wiped out all her other thoughts. All she wanted—no, needed—was to get closer to Laz.
She slid her hands down his back and cupped his firm butt, pulling him closer to her. She rocked her center over the side of his hard-on. A moan escaped her.
“Damn, Daph, you are one sexy woman,” he said, his voice gruff with passion.
Ten minutes ago she would have argued that she wasn’t sexy. That she was just a nice girl. A girl-next-door-kind-of-girl. But in his arms she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.
She was the sexiest of creatures, and she knew she could tempt him. And that was a very powerful feeling.
“Yes, I am,” she said, with a half-smile.
Laz pulled her back into the first-aid room and closed the door. He lifted her up on the exam desk and then stepped forward between her legs.
Daphne reached for him, drawing him even closer, wrapping her arms around his lean waist, and resting her head on his chest.
She took comfort from this man. From the way he moved and the way he wanted her. He made her feel like she wasn’t just a divorced woman with stretch marks, but as sexy to him as a Victoria’s Secret cover model. It was a heady feeling and she was almost drunk from the sensation.
She wanted Laz. The sea captain that she wasn’t sure she trusted. But that was her mind talking. Her body knew that he could be trusted to bring her pleasure. To make her feel like she was a woman again.
He could bring back the feelings she’d lost two years ago when the words “another woman” had left her husband’s mouth—the words that had stripped away the very heart of who she was and how she thought of herself as a woman.
She lifted her head and saw him looking down at her. There was desire, lust, and passion in his gaze, and she shook from the power those feelings evoked in her.
She reached down and drew him even closer to her, afraid that he’d change his mind; she didn’t want to take a chance on that.
Chapter Four
A warrior takes responsibility for his acts. An
average man acts out his thoughts, and
never takes responsibility.
—CARLOS CASTANEDA
Laz didn’t question his instincts. This time they were telling him that everything he wanted and needed was here in his arms. Daphne felt so damned right. Later he might find that she regretted this moment, but right now, he knew she didn’t.
Her
