“No one looks good in midthrust,” Maddie observed, taking another swig of her margarita.
“After I discovered them, I may not have closed the door,” she admitted.
Ashley’s grin got wider. “Revenge. I knew we were friends for a reason.”
“And I may have paged the entire trauma staff to the room for a code blue.” She might as well admit the whole embarrassing truth. Rather than suck it up and retreat with her dignity intact, she’d made sure the entire hospital staff knew what had happened.
“Caught in the act. Nice. Me, I’d have gone for something slightly more violent.” Ashley shrugged. “He’s lucky you’re so nice.”
And that was the truth, too, wasn’t it? She was nice. The furthest thing from fantasy material you could get. She worked hard, always kept her word and didn’t cause trouble. She’d let the hospital board convince her to resign “because things would be awkward” when she should have fought for what she wanted. And she did have a hard time asking for that. Maybe it explained the lack of excitement in her sex life, too.
“He had his fantasy nurse,” Maddie said. “The question is—who are you going to have?”
Gray came to mind.
“Rebound men are dangerous. I’m not having sex just to get even with Harlan.”
“Of course not. ” Ashley helped herself to another handful of chips. “You’re going to have sex for you.”
Meaning what, exactly? That it wouldn’t hurt to treat herself to a rebound man if she went into it with her eyes open?
“Gray likes you,” Ashley said with a wink. “Use him.”
She suddenly knew how Eve felt when confronted with the apple. Okay, she’d do it. “I’ll ask him out on a date.”
Shoot. She hadn’t sounded particularly confident, had she?
“Is that what we’re calling it these days?” Ashley winked. “Go get ’em, tiger.”
6
ASHLEY PULLED GRAY aside as he slipped back into the resort. He suspected she’d been lying in wait for him, which was an interesting development. He’d just finished check-in and patrol, and the mission was on schedule. Whatever she had to tell him, it wasn’t related to the job.
She nudged him into a laundry room. “Hot date?”
Christ. He hoped so. It was none of Ashley’s damn business, however, but when he opened his mouth to tell her so she cut him off.
“Good,” she said.
He blinked at her. Say what?
“Laney is in desperate need of a night of really hot, no-strings-attached sex.”
He leaned back against the washer, arms crossed. “Understood, but I’d like to know why you’re telling me this.”
“Sorry, Gray. Girl code says I keep what I know to myself.”
“I could pull rank on you.” They both knew he wouldn’t, however. It wasn’t how he rolled. If Ashley believed what she knew could affect the mission, this conversation would already be over and he’d have the information he wanted. Which meant this was personal.
She jabbed him in the chest again. Harder. “I work for a different branch of the government.”
“You’re part of my team.”
She sighed, poked him one last time and then gave up the information. “Laney’s just come out of a bad relationship. She wants to flap her wings a little, and I applaud that.”
“I hear a but.”
“So I want her to have fun, not get hurt.”
He stared at her. “What do you think I’m going to do?”
Because they were on the same page. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Laney. He wanted her to have fun, too.
“Just be careful with her feelings, okay? She wants to have hot vacation sex and then get on the plane home. You’re her temporary man.”
“Her temporary man,” he repeated. Okay, that was a new way of looking at things. The hot sex part he was on board with, and temporary worked for him, as well. He didn’t do relationships. Laney didn’t want one. No problem.
“The last thing she needs is another guy getting serious about her,” Ashley added pointedly.
“Do you see me on one knee?”
Not that he was necessarily averse to the institution of marriage, but he’d never thought of himself and holy matrimony in the same sentence before. He didn’t have it in him to make that kind of emotional commitment to a woman.
Ashley elbowed him. “You’d be lucky if Laney let you propose, but no, I know she’s safe from you. Her last guy was a jerk. She caught him cheating on her with a nurse three weeks before their wedding. So she doesn’t need another guy getting serious when she’s still getting over the first. All she needs is hot breakup sex.”
“Thank you, Dr. Ruth. You’re not concerned about what I need?”
She shrugged. “You’re a big boy, and Laney’s fantastic. I’m sure you’ll get exactly what you deserve.”
Uh-huh. “Is that why her reservation was for two?”
Ashley made a face. “Yeah. He made her book the honeymoon, and then he couldn’t be bothered to show up. I’m glad she came, anyway.”
He was, too.
DATING WAS GOOD.
As were casual encounters, opportunities to get to know each other and anything other than immediately ripping off his clothes and having her way with Gray’s body. Sure, the naked Gray fantasy made Laney quiver, but the reality was that she needed to get to know him better before she got naked. She hated the awkwardness of the cocktail menu hookup, of not knowing whether he’d found the setup as humorous and exciting as she had. She’d also woken up worrying that every staff member she passed knew she’d tried to order sex off the menu. God. That sounded sleazy. Or desperate. And yet it hadn’t really been any of those things, had it?
When she’d told him the story about the shots, she’d been able to take on a different persona. Someone who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to tease or play. She liked that person. And yet, when she’d run into him that morning—okay, after she’d stalked him and caught him by the massage cabanas, but he didn’t have to know that—she’d been tongue-tied. So much for her suave, sexy side.
Her brain went AWOL around Gray. She’d stood too close to him, gazing into his gorgeous brown eyes and inhaling the scent that was uniquely him. That part had been good, but she’d also been at a loss for words. He hadn’t seemed in any rush, though. Instead, he’d waited for her to get to her point.
“Look, I’d like to see you later, when you’re not working.” Yep. That was what she’d finally said. Wanna go out with me?
He hadn’t blinked, just rolled with it. “Okay. Give me the when and the where. I’m free any time in the afternoon.”
And so here she was, off for a little hike up to a scenic lookout point. Given that the path only went about a half a mile up, it was more of a stroll than anything, but the resort brochure claimed the views were spectacular, and it wasn’t as if she could take Gray to the movies. This was also her best chance to get to know him better since massages didn’t exactly lend themselves to intimate conversation.
The lack of details hadn’t bothered her before, but now she’d had a night to think on it and, it turned out, sex with a stranger wasn’t in the top five of her fantasy list. In fact, it wasn’t on there at all. She was a chicken. A horny, guy-less, had-a-date-with-her-vibrator chicken.
Ten minutes later, she was standing at the bottom of the trail. Tilting her head, she looked up. The path was definitely more hill than mountain, but the abundance of palms sprouting from either side of the dirt trail guaranteed they wouldn’t roast. Gray materialized out of the jungle, and her temperature soared. Maybe he knew a secret employee shortcut because one minute she was alone and the next he was standing there in front of her. He’d dressed for the part today, too, in boots, cargo pants and a form-fitting black T-shirt.
“Very American commando,” she said, mentally adding a fantasy about military men to her to-do list.
“I’m a man of hidden talents.” He braced a broad shoulder against a handy tree and assessed her clothing. She took the opportunity to stare at him one more time. He was definitely worth a second glance. Her shorts and sneakers must have passed muster because he nodded his head, turned and headed up the path.
But she got to follow his spectacular butt, which was no hardship. He made an effort to talk to her on their way up, too, which she appreciated. He struck her as the kind of man who powered through a hike, with the goal of making it from the bottom to the top in record time. Or at least first. She’d bet he was usually the best when it came to physical competitions, while she admittedly wasn’t the most physically-fit woman on the planet.
He didn’t seem to mind her slow chug up the hill behind him, however. He adjusted his steps to fit hers and pointed out various pieces of flora and fauna. By the time they neared the top, she’d admired a bright yellow allamanda, a flowery stalk of something flaming red and a particularly large bougainvillea snaking its way up the spiny trunk of a palm tree. A wild monkey peeked out of a palm, chattering madly. The mini-hike was...nice. Not sexy. Not daring or erotic. But nice. It was also a teensy, welcome step forward in her get to know Gray better before jumping his bones plan.