Forcing both eyes all the way open, he took in the bright walls of the room, the open window and the sunshine streaming through, and relaxed.Oh, yeah, he wasn’t in his room back on Coronado.He was in Cabo San Lucas, celebrating his separation from the US Navy.
No more deployments to hot-as-hell countries.No more commanders demanding more than he was physically able to give.No more enemy forces shooting at him from hidden locations.For the next week, all he had in front of him was sunshine and sandy beaches.
Despite his hangover, a smile curled his lips.
Yeah, this is the life.
When Chase raised his arm and rested his left hand over his eyes to block the sunlight shining on his face, something cool and hard pressed into his eyelid.Lifting his hand, he glanced at it and found that a bright gold band encircled his ring finger.He never wore rings.Rings were what poor suckers who fell into the marriage trap wore.Too many of his buddies had gone to the dark side of matrimony and now had nagging wives and rugrats climbing their pant legs.
Chase was a diehard, sworn-in-blood bachelor, determined to live his days single, footloose and fancy free.His motto was,Why settle for one item on the menu when you can sample the whole buffet?Not that he did it often.
The gold band on his ring finger had to be a joke.Something his buddy, Trevor Anderson, had slipped on his finger when he’d been too drunk to care or remember.
A soft moan sounded in the bed beside him.
Chase sucked in a sharp breath and then rocketed into self-defense mode.He rolled over and straddled the intruder in his bed, pinning slender wrists to the mattress.
Wide blue eyes stared up at him from the flushed face of a beautifully tousled blonde.
Beautiful or not, she was a stranger in his bed.“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my bed?”
She struggled to free her hands, her naked body bucking beneath his.“Let go of me before I scream,” she demanded.
In her fight to free herself, the sheets shifted lower, exposing bare breasts to the cool, air-conditioned room.The rosy tips knotted into hard little buds.
Chase’s groin tightened, his cock stiffening where it rubbed against the soft curls over her sex.He liked the way she felt beneath him, but he still had no memory of why she was there.“I’ll let go of you when you tell me who you are and why you’re in my room.”
“Yourroom?This ismyroom—and you'd better get out before I call the police.”She bucked again, the movement making him even harder.
“Not your room, lady, and I’m losing patience.”And control.If he didn’t get some answers soon, he’d embarrass himself with a full-blown hard-on.
Her gaze traveled down his torso to his groin, and she gasped.“You’re naked!”
“Darlin’, in case you haven’t noticed…so are you.”He glared down at her and then swept her body with a pointed stare.“I don’t remember inviting you into my room last night.”
“What are you talking about?I didn’t invite you intomyroom.”She tugged at her wrists.“Now, get out before I scream the house down.”The woman drew in a deep breath.
Before she could let it out in a nail-driving screech sure to split his hungover head in two, Chase sealed her mouth with his.
At first, she stiffened, her lips drawing into a tight line beneath his.When he started to lift his head, she opened her mouth again to let out that scream.
Chase clamped his mouth over hers again and thrust his tongue between her parted teeth, praying she didn’t bite down hard.
He treated her to one of his best kisses, one normally reserved for the fortunate women who made it past the wining and dining—women he ultimately made love to.
By the time he lifted his head, the woman lay still, her eyelids slightly closed, and her lips parted as if waiting for more.
“Now, can we start over?”he whispered, trailing a path of kisses along her jaw to her earlobe.“I’m Chase, and you are?”
“I’m…” she started, her mouth curving into a sweet smile, thenbam, “…being held hostage!”she yelled at the top of her voice.
He didn’t want to do it, but he had to.Quickly as he could, he bent and kissed her again, swallowing the words she was spewing from her luscious, full lips.
When she quieted down, he raised his head slightly.“Look, I’ll quit kissing you if you’ll quit screaming.I’m not here to rape you.I just want answers.”
“You already know why I’m here,” she said.“Obviously, you gave me some kind of date-rape drug.”Her gaze shot to her nakedness.“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be lying in this bed naked with a complete stranger.Please,” she said, “let me go.I won’t tell anyone, I promise.Just let me go.”
“I told you, I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured her.“And I don’t have to rape the women I make love to.They usually come willingly.”
