Pleasing Her SEAL(5)

       
           


       

Gray nodded, apparently coming to the same conclusion. "Worst-case  scenario, that works. The customs boys can seize her laptop and go over  it, although she'll be asking questions."

"Okay, then, let's go with plan A. I'll find out what she's got. If  she's got anything." For some reason, he wanted to play nice. After all,  he'd already scared her once, and she'd almost hyperventilated on the  spot. She was a civilian, not collateral damage.

Ashley examined her fingernails. "She's here for another week."

Good to know the timeline.

"I'll make sure she didn't record anything." If she had, Mason would wipe whatever device it was.

Gray frowned. "Be discreet, okay? Scrub her media and shadow her in case there's any blowback from Diego's people or Santiago."

Levi whistled as the meeting broke up. "You just scored bodyguard duty. Enjoy."

Playing bodyguard wasn't exactly the worst job in the world. He was all  for sticking as close as possible to Maddie-up to and including getting  naked. No. Wait. Resist that thought, sailor.

Ashley rummaged in her bag. "I'm helping, too."

"Really?" Levi smirked, and even Mason recognized condescension when it stared at him. "How are you going to do that?"

Ashley pointed to Mason. "Penis angle." And then she pointed to herself. "Girlfriend angle."

"You think Maddie's going to make Mason her new boy toy?"

Mason punched Levi in the shoulder when his teammate snorted. Sure, he  was an introvert and no flirt, but he'd dated as recently as this year.  He didn't need Levi's lousy dating advice. The guy had a different woman  for each day of the week, and he seemed perfectly happy that way. But  that wasn't the way Mason planned on living his life.

"Read this." Ashley shoved a magazine into his hands. The cover was one  of those bright pink numbers with a too-perfect model. A brunette with  spectacular boobs, her hair flying in an artificial breeze while she  gave the camera a come-hither face.

No, thank you. "This is waiting room material."

Ashley grinned at him. "Maddie has a serious magazine addiction. She  loves the quizzes, so think of this as enemy intel. X marks the spot,  big guy."

He paged through the magazine. He'd been on the receiving end of intel  more than once and it had never smelled like perfume before, or-he  paused-scratch-and-sniff ads for tropical air fresheners. When he hit  Ashley's Post-it note, he stopped reading.

"You think I should take a quiz on how to be the perfect guy?"

Mason had four sisters. Surely that ought to qualify him as something  of a girl expert? His jaw tightened. On the other hand, he'd also been  married and divorced, so his credentials were rocky.

Ashley slapped his shoulder. "Read it. Then ask questions."

Since Ashley had to be one of the most tenacious people Mason knew, he  read. It was quicker that way. And she was right-it wouldn't hurt to  find out what it took to be a keeper guy. Mason's sisters loved that  crap. So did his cousins. A road map couldn't hurt. He read the first  quiz question.

You kiss her for the first time. After you break your lip-lock, you:

A) Tell her you've been fantasizing about kissing her for days-and that the reality is even better than the fantasy.

B) Whisper that she's the hottest kisser ever-and you've got a list of other places you'd like to kiss her.

C) Praise her kissing skills and beg her to do it again just so you can be sure.

Jesus. What had happened to just kissing? "This stuff works?"

Levi ripped the quiz out and tucked it into the pocket of Mason's pants. "Take notes and have fun, sailor."





3

This girl might just have the best job in the world! I'm hanging out on  a tropical island, the cocktails are free and hotness is a basic job  requisite. Because did I mention the good-looking guys are everywhere?  Yum. I even ran into a bona fide single guy yesterday and he's got yours  truly thinking that a vacation fling should be part of my plans.  Fantasy Fodder-let's call him FF for short-accidentally bumped into me  when I was snapping you some gorgeous photos of the lagoon at sunrise  (ladies, you're totally going to want to do your wedding photos here,  although I recommend a less obscene hour than the ass crack of dawn).  Then he jumped right into rescue mode and kept yours truly from going  over the edge of the cliff. So there I am with my very own white knight  and rescue hottie, and he's not even mad that I may have christened him  with a venti white mocha. A guy with a sense of humor and strong, manly  hands? Sign me up, ladies!                       
       
           


       

-MADDIE, Kiss and Tulle

THERE NEEDED TO be a fourth, hidden option for people who wanted to  increase their odds of hooking up because Maddie wasn't an A, B or C  girl. Her generous coating of SPF-100 sunscreen-thanks, Mom, for the  redheaded gene-and a blue-and-white-checked retro two-piece definitely  didn't fall into the string-bikini category, although the buttons  marching down her hips were a sassy touch she loved. She also  appreciated her curves, even if they didn't always fit into a  standard-issue bikini. There was a whole lot of her recently thanks to a  post-layoff diet of wedding cake and favors. She needed to plan on  buying new clothes or minimizing the sweets.

A mental image of Mason popped into her head. He'd be anything but  sweet. Bad girl. Maybe she'd been single long enough to recover from her  last disastrous relationship or maybe it was something about Fantasy  Island itself, because the resort certainly encouraged her erotic  daydreams with their hunky help. She'd posted about her hot man on a  hillside early this morning. If she couldn't get an orgasm from him,  she'd at least get a blog post. So far, the yeas outnumbered the nays  two to one in her "Would you have hot vacation sex?" poll.

Since it was the low season, Fantasy Island didn't have many guests at  the moment. There had only been two other women on the seaplane that had  brought her here. Laney Parker had been using up her honeymoon  reservation after her fiancé had ditched her, and Ashley Dixon had won a  free getaway in some sort of Facebook contest. The low occupancy was  undoubtedly the reason why Fantasy Island's owners had been willing to  fly her here free so she could blog about their awesome resort  offerings.

This was her big break. If Fantasy Island bought banner advertising on  her blog, she'd be able to keep the lights on in her condo for at least  six more months...and having one high-profile client would attract  others. Business was like dating. The more popular a girl was, the more  guys lined up to buy her drinks and share their contact info. So far,  her blog had been a wallflower, but she was determined that those lonely  days were over.

And writing about the pool scene was certainly no hardship. The pool  itself was all sleek curves. Private cabanas offered guests superb views  of the sea, and staff moved discreetly among the loungers, offering  fruit kebobs and Evian water spritzes. Ashley waved from a cabana. She  wore an electric-pink string bikini and held a paperback that almost  outweighed her.

Ashley shoved her sunglasses up on top of her head. "Are you here for the cooking lesson?"

Not intentionally, but it sounded like fun, particularly if it came  with a side of Mason. She dropped onto the cushion beside Ashley, taking  care not to slosh the mango margarita she'd acquired at the bar.

"I could be," she agreed. "I like free food."

Ashley nodded. "We're making mango-raspberry crepes with honeyed goat cheese."

Yeah, that sounded pretty good. "I'm in," she decided.

And then, wouldn't you know it, Mason strode toward the pool, and he  was the cherry on the sundae. He wore black linen plants that clung to  his muscular thighs as he moved. Instead of looking silly in the white  chef's jacket and hat, he looked in control. Confident. He'd rolled his  sleeves up, revealing powerful forearms. She was almost certain she was  holding her breath, damn it. He was just one guy. One really hot,  supersexy guy. His dark gaze slid over her, stopped, and he nodded. She  had no idea what that meant. Hi? Glad to see you? Wait, there's the  woman I almost knocked over a cliff? The man should come with a secret  decoder ring.

Ashley sat up cross-legged and closed her paperback. "Do you think we have to cook in order to eat?"

Maddie would bet the answer to that was yes. Mason wasn't the kind of  guy you took advantage of, and while she hadn't asked his policy on free  lunches when they'd run into each other at the lookout yesterday, she  could certainly venture a guess. While she stared, Mason started dicing  mango with easy confidence. She was all thumbs when it came to knives.  Mason...was not.

"He's going to make us work for it," she said with a petulant frown.