“You seemed to need a little bit of a cooldown, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone.”
I ran my hands back over my hair, and when Panther’s eyes roamed over my torso, I grinned. “Sureyouaren’t the one who needs a bit of a cooldown? Eyes above the waist, Lieutenant Hughes.”
Panther turned to wade out farther into the water, and now that my body had, in fact, become numb to the frigid temperatures, I followed. It was clear he’d grown up spending his summers on the beach with the perfectly executed dives under the cresting waves. As I hurried to catch up with him, I marveled at how at home he seemed here.
When I finally made it out past the breakers to where the water lapped against our chests, I swam over to him and reached for the waistband of his shorts. Panther automatically moved in closer to me, and as our bodies bumped up against one another, I let out a low hum of pleasure.
“You know,” I said as I tipped my face up into the warm rays, “I think I could get used to this.”
“This?” Panther wrapped his arms around my waist, and I wound mine around his neck.
“Yeah. The sun, the surf, you… Seems like a pretty good way to spend my weekends, if you ask me.”
“I couldn’t agree more. I love this place. Always have.” Panther placed his lips to my jaw and kissed his way up to my ear. “But now, I seem to love it even more.”
I smiled and opened my eyes, and I noticed Panther looking at me the same way he had the night of the Navy Ball—with that deep intensity I felt all the way to my bones.
“Jesus, Panther. I swear, you get this look in your eyes and it makes it hard to breathe.”
Panther traced his fingers down the side of my neck, then around to the back of it, and brushed his lips over the top of mine. “And what look is that?”
“Like, I don’t know—”
“Yes, you do.” Panther let me go and floated to his back, bobbing up and down over the cool water, and as he relaxed into the steady rhythm, my heart began to thump.
He was right. I knew exactly how he looked at me. Like he loved me. But since neither of us seemed ready to say it just yet, I’d leave it as is, because as far as I was concerned, life seemed pretty damn perfect to me.
11Panther
I WEAVED EASILY between lanes, giving Solo just enough of a lead to make him think he had me. The fading light from the setting sun winked off the back of his bike, beckoning me to come closer, but I hung back because the view of his shirt riding up his muscular back was too enticing to miss. After spending the entire day at the beach, his skin was now a dark golden brown with the faintest hint of red, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the barracks so I could run my tongue along the warm lines of his body.
Solo veered off suddenly, catching me off guard as he headed down a side street that definitely didn’t lead back to the base. Curious, I followed. The road was narrow, not a main thoroughfare, and it made me wonder if Solo actually knew where he was going.
As the road began to wind up the side of a mountain, we flew by several drives that disappeared behind gated fences and luscious landscapes, and I knew whatever view they had would be worth the twists and turns to get up there. The very reason, I was sure, Solo had picked this particular road in the first place.
Nothing like the thrill of the chase, especially up a death-defying road that could barely squeeze two cars by, if that. As we rounded the last hairpin turn and climbed the final few miles, I saw Solo pull off to the side and cut his engine right beside aFor Salesign.
I slowed to a crawl and maneuvered my bike in beside his, and as I came to a stop, Solo drew his helmet off. Fuck me, he was sexy. Sitting there straddled over his motorcycle with wild eyes, I could tell he’d enjoyed the trip up here almost as much as I had.
I tugged my own helmet off and placed it between my spread thighs, looking past Solo’s shoulder to the slightly overgrown foliage behind him. This place was a little less manicured than the rest, probably due to being on the market for some time. Solo flicked his kickstand down and climbed off his bike, and I did the same.
“What is this place?” I said as I stopped beside Solo.
“Have no idea. I stumbled across it one night when I first got here.”
“Just stumbled over it, huh?”
Solo glanced over at me, a wide smile on his face, and shrugged. “Yeah. I took a joyride one night after this guy I had a thing for had a fight with me and got me all hot and bothered. He was still working out that he thought I was the sexiest thing on the planet…and since I wasn’t about to go and fuck just anyone—”
“Something I’m sure he’s thankful for.”
“Mhmm. I found this place instead.” Solo winked at me and then held out his hand. “Wanna take a look?”
“Uh, as in go inside? We might need to call the realtor for that, and I’m pretty sure”—I looked over my shoulder to the sign—“Patty Hinkle is done for the day.”
Solo chuckled and tugged on my hand. “Notinside. I’m talking about the outside.”
I looked at the gate in front of us and was pretty sure that scaling it constituted as trespassing, but when Solo waggled his eyebrows and said, “Come ooon, we’re not going to do anythingtothe place, just look at the view,” I relented.
