Page 34 of Dangerous Secret

“Many things?”

His gaze raked over her as he stepped closer, his eyes locking on hers. “Do you really want to know?”

They weren’t talking about his SEAL skills anymore, and a delicious shiver trailed down her spine. “I think so. Yes.”

He leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear. “I’m good at a lot of things,” he whispered before trailing kissesdown her neck. When he reached her collarbone, he took his mouth away and stepped back. “I need a hard yes, Harlow. When you can give me that and not just athink so, I’ll be more than eager to show you what those things are.”

She wanted to snatch his mouth back. While she’d walked back to his house, she’d decided she wanted a fling, and she wanted it with him. It seemed he was open to something happening between them, and she appreciated that he wasn’t willing to take advantage of her. That gave her even more assurance that she could be honest with him.

“What’s going through that pretty head of yours?” He tapped her forehead.

“I…” She was so out of practice with telling a man what she wanted. She should have practiced what she wanted to say, written it down even.

As if understanding, he took her hand. “Come with me.”

He led her up the stairs, through his bedroom and out to a balcony. “No one down on the beach can see us up here,” he said as he put his hand on the back of a cushiony chair. “Sit here.” There were two chairs, two small rattan ottomans in front of them, a table between them and off to the side a minifridge. “Water, beer or wine? That’s all I have up here.”

“It’s barely lunchtime, but a beer at the beach sounds perfect.”

He grinned. “My kind of woman.” He took out two bottles. “You probably prefer a light beer, but all I have up here are dark ones.” He handed her one of the bottles. “This is a craft beer, a porter with notes of chocolate and coffee. I think you might like it.”

“Thanks.” He was right, the few times she drank a beer,she preferred something light, but she was on an adventure, so why not try something new?

“To new beginnings.” He clinked his bottle against hers.

She smiled, liking that toast. “Oh, that’s pretty good,” she said after taking a tentative sip of the dark beer. She took another drink. “I can really taste a little chocolate and coffee.” She eyed the label, wanting to know what to buy because she was going to get herself some.

Look at her, sitting on a balcony at the beach in her shorts with the hottest man she’d ever known, drinking a dark beer for the first time and thinking about having a fling with him. If anyone had told her a month ago this would be her life, she would’ve thought they’d lost their mind.

For a few minutes, they drank their beers in comfortable silence, and as seconds passed, a soothing tranquility settled over her. The waves weren’t big enough for surfers, but there were windsurfers gliding by on their boards and hang gliders towed by boats were floating by under their colorful parachutes. Below them, a laughing woman was watching a man unsuccessfully try to get his dragon kite in the air.

She darted a glance at Grayson to find that he was watching her. When he caught her looking at him, one side of his mouth quirked up in a lazy half smile. Then his gaze left hers and traveled along her body in a slow perusal, and everywhere his eyes landed goose bumps rose as if they had a direct connection to those amber brown eyes that she thought she might be able to stare into for eternity.

Get a grip, girl.She hated that inner voice. Maybe she didn’t want to get a grip. Maybe she wanted him looking at her as if he’d like to devour her.

“You ready to tell me what’s going on in that head ofyours?” he said, his voice husky as if he already knew what her answer would be.

Okay, then, this was the new her, right? He asked, so she was going to put it out there. “I want to have sex with you.”

Chapter 15

Grayson managed to swallow his beer without choking. He’d suspected something like that was going on in Harlow’s mind. He just hadn’t expected her to say it so bluntly, but he liked that she had.

“But I have a condition,” she said before he could think how to respond. “That is, if you’re interested.”

Oh, he was. “And that would be?” Pink tinged her cheeks, and he wanted to tell her that she was adorable, but he doubted she’d appreciate his noticing she was embarrassed. They needed to talk about her ex so he could learn everything about the man, but that could wait. She’d put sex on the table, and that was far more interesting.

“It has to be a short-term fling. As soon as I have my son back, it ends.”

“I can live with that.” He was pretty sure he could, but something told him this might be a woman he’d have a hard time giving up.

“He’ll have to be my sole focus when that happens, so I can’t—”

“I get it, Harlow. Of course, Tyler is what’s important. But I have a condition, too.”

“What would that be?”

He grinned. This was going to be fun. He set his emptybottle on the table, then patted his leg. “That you come over here, sit on my lap and kiss me.”

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