Page 25 of Body Shot

He smiles and opens the passenger door for me. “It is, isn’t it?”

I slide into the luxurious interior. Wow, bartending at Conquistadors must pay well for him to have a car like this. “Now I really wish I’d changed. Although I probably don’t have any clothes that would do justice to this beauty.”

He laughs as he starts the car. “You look good in here.”

Such smooth words, and yet so sincere-sounding.

He heads down Grand Avenue, turning onto Mission Boulevard at Conquistadors, cruising along the coast to Mission Beach Park. We leave the car in a parking lot and walk to the sand and then toward the ocean. I fill my lungs with fresh sea air, the breeze off the Pacific brisk and briny. Puffs of white clouds drift across the blue sky and when my feet hit the sand, I pause to take off my flip-flops and hook them over a finger.

I let out a brief sigh. “It’s beautiful.”

“Of course it is.”

We walk side by side toward the water, past people stretched out on towels, bodies gleaming in the sun, the scent of coconut drifting on the breeze. Children play at the edge of the water, letting the waves chase them onto shore, screaming with laughter when a big one comes and soaks them.

I absorb it all. I should feel guilty, playing hooky like this, but truthfully, as I fill my lungs with fresh air I feel an amazing sense of freedom and delight. The guilt will probably slam me later.

“Have you always lived in San Diego?” Beck asks.

“Yes.” I glance at him. “Does that sound insular?”

“Are you saying you’ve never in your life left San Diego?”

“Of course I have.” I smile. “I’ve traveled. For a while I considered moving to Boston.”

“Boston?” His jaw drops and he stares at me. “Why?”

“Massachusetts has a big biotech cluster. I thought I might need to be there to get my company started.” I shrug. “But I decided to stay here. My aunt and uncle are here, Carrie’s here. And things seem to be going okay.” I pause. “What about you? Are you from here?”

“Nope. Oddly enough, I grew up in Boston.”

A startled laugh escapes me. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” He smiles at me. “Left there when I was eighteen though. Went to college in Los Angeles, then came here to join the SEALs.”

My feet halt and I tip my head to look at him. “Really? You’re a SEAL?”

“Not active. But I was for about nine years.”

“Oh, wow.” I blink. “I had no idea.” I gesture at his beard and long hair pulled back into that oddly sexy bun. “You don’t look like a SEAL.”

“SEALs are a lot more relaxed in their grooming standards. Once we were done training and earned our trident, lots of us grew our hair and beards.”

I find myself feeling rocked by this information. I figured he was a bartender who’d probably dropped out of college and lived to drink tequila, party, and surf. Actually, he looks like a rock star, and I cannot reconcile that image with a Navy SEAL.

But then again . . . in a way it makes sense. He’s very sure of himself. Very strong. Very commanding. Somehow I knew there was more to him than what’s on his attractive surface, depths to him that he keeps hidden beneath a seductive façade. Fascinating.

7

BECK

I take in Hayden’s stunned expression, then the way it slides into thoughtfulness. I know what she thinks of me. But hey, I had my stunned moment too when she told me she’s a biochemistry professor working on a cure for cancer. Jesus fucking Christ.

Dragging her away from her work for an hour isn’t going to make a difference in the big scheme of things. I hope. Except . . . guilt pinches my gut, because I have no intention of it only being an hour.

This isn’t like me. I don’t do relationships. I don’t usually take girls into the office and nail them, and when I do go out with someone, I keep things light and casual. Women get weird ideas about commitment and marriage and babies, and no way in hell am I goingthere.A family man I am not.

I’m not even sure why I asked her to come to the beach with me. I honored my promise of replacing her panties and that should have been it. But somehow I have a million questions I want to ask her, about the work she does, about why her eyes light up with passion and excitement when she talks about it, making her so fucking gorgeous I can’t breathe. I might not understand any of it, but I still want to know about it.

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