Jonesin' For Action(3)

“Sure.” As he watched her wiggle her cute little ass encased in tiny shorts, he vowed to slow down and nurse the next beer.

****

Marissa smiled and laughed at something a customer said, although she had no idea what it was. Her mind was on the guy at the other end of the bar, the hot sailor with the boyish smile. She had noticed him the moment he entered and realized he was the guy she had seen earlier waterskiing on one leg. Holy crap that had been impressive.

Given that her shift was about to start, she hadn’t been able wait around to see him when he came off the water. Magically, here he was. He was more impressive up close, totally jacked and gorgeous. How much could nature endow one person with? The fact that he had lost half a leg didn’t detract one bit from his appeal, not as far as she was concerned. She admired how he didn’t try to hide it, either.

Damn, her shift didn’t end for hours. Some college girl was going to scoop him up before she had the chance. There was only so much drink and food she could ply him with to keep his perfect ass sitting on a barstool, too. If the women trolling the place tonight were stupid enough to ignore him, he would leave and head for another bar. If she had half a brain—and her dissertation professor assured her she had enough for two people—she’d let him know she was interested. Maybe he’d be willing to stick around or come back. Picking up customers was not her style, but this guy was the exception to every rule she knew.

Telling herself to be bold for a change, she placed his new beer in front of him and shot him what she hoped was a sexy smile. “So, are you meeting someone here?”

Glass halfway to his mouth, he cleared his throat and peered at her over the rim. “Ah, no. My friends had plans for the evening, and this looked like a good place to hang out for a while.” He dropped his gaze and took a swallow of beer. He seemed nervous, and understanding that he might be gave her more courage.

“My name’s Marissa.” She didn’t offer her hand because that struck her as being kind of lame, like they were meeting at a social event.

He put his glass down. “Aidan. Chief Petty Officer Aidan Jones, to be exact. My friends call me Jonesin’.” When she furrowed her eyebrows at him, he offered up an explanation. “It’s because I’m always jonesin’ for a fight.”

“You like to fight?” With his pretty face, it was hard to imagine. His features were perfect, not a broken nose or black eye to be seen. He had deep-set hazel eyes, and while his brown hair was cut short, a stray lock kissed his forehead. He looked more like a lover, to her. Her pussy throbbed in agreement as she gazed at him.

He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I’m a SEAL. We like to fight.”

Wow, why didn’t the news surprise her? He looked tough enough, except there was no way he still deployed. As if reading her thoughts, he followed up quickly with a caveat. “I was a SEAL. I’m out of the teams now.” He paused, studied his glass of beer. “I was injured a while back. Not that you can tell from where you’re standing,” he added.

“I saw you out on the water this afternoon,” she said quickly. It was clear to her now that his injury was an issue, or rather he thought it was. She wondered fleetingly if other women had been foolish enough to shoot him down. It was hard to believe given how gorgeous he was, and there was a certain boyish charm about him that was irresistible. Regardless, she wanted him to know his disability wasn’t a problem for her.

He looked at her in surprise, so she forged ahead. “Living down here, I have total water envy. I can barely swim, and I live vicariously through others, watching them water and jet ski, surf.”

“What brings you to Key West then?” The look in his eye told her he really wanted to know, he was listening. But experience told her he’d get bored fast, every other guy had.

She gave him the shortest, I’m-not-too-much-of-an-egghead version she could. “I’m writing my dissertation for an economics PhD.”

“Really? What’s your field?”

“Healthcare.”

He nodded as if interested. “A big topic these days.”

“Yes, it is. My focus is on public sector healthcare. Once my dissertation is approved, I’ll be heading up to D.C. for a job with the government or maybe a non-profit. I think this is the single most important economic issue of our time. I mean everyone needs this service sometime in their life.” And, look at who she was preaching to.

Way to go, Marissa. Your mouth ahead of your brain, as usual.

Her expression must have mirrored her thoughts because Aidan smiled at her and said, “As a recent recipient of public sector healthcare, I agree.” She winced in apology, but he waved her concern away. “Believe it or not, I was a corpsman, the team’s designated medical guy. Now that I can’t deploy anymore, I’m thinking of going to medical school and becoming a Navy doctor.”