Wicked Sexy(24)

“So.” Tag slowly closed the lid of the laptop. “You got something that needs discussing?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. How did women spend so much time discussing their relationships? He’d rather

have done a reverse two and a half somersault out the chopper door. And into shark-infested waters. Uh-

huh, that definitely sounded easier.

“Let me help you out here.” Cal approached the counter. “You’ve finally woken up to the fact that Dani

Andrews just might be a keeper. Unfortunately for you, soldier, you’re a little slow on the uptake, not sure how to handle the unfamiliar terrain and you’ve got incoming.”

Tag grinned. Again. Daeg decided punching his friend in the jaw probably wouldn’t be helpful. Even if

it would be satisfying. “I heard her ex was back in town,” Tag volunteered.

“That’s true.” Daeg spoke, surprised no one could hear his teeth grinding.

“He’s good-looking, well-off and comes bearing gifts of jewelry,” Cal added cheerfully. “Which means

he’s definitely ahead of you in the game. He’s serious and he’s playing for keeps.”

Tag eyed Cal. “How do you know all this?”

“Sisters,” Cal replied. “Sisters who have girlfriends. And cousins. A man can learn a lot if he listens. I told you to come by my house and meet everyone.”

“Enemy intel.” Tag whistled. “Clever.”

Cal replied and the two men bantered back and forth for a few minutes. Then both turned their attention back to Daeg, who still didn’t know what he should do.

“You started a thing with Dani Andrews,” Cal stated.

“She’s not a thing. ” He cared about her unconditionally, but she was her own person. He respected that.

“Good.” Cal smiled. “Because, like I said, this Rick Lane is playing for keeps. He’s got a shared past

with Dani, he’s come ready to grovel and he’s got that ring. He’s made it clear he’s sticking around to see it through.”

“He won’t stay here on the island.” Daeg was sure of that. He recognized a “get in and get out” mission when he saw one.

“True.” Tag eyed Daeg. “Question is, what are your plans?”

“Are you re-upping?” Cal asked.

“I was planning on it.”

“Sure.” Cal had a seat and propped his feet up on the desk. “That was last week, though. We’re

inquiring about this week’s agenda, aren’t we, Tag?”

“We are.”

“Are you planning on sticking around, or do you still ship out at the end of the month?”

He hadn’t signed the paperwork. If he wanted, he could let the clock run out on his R & R. He could stay, become full time at Deep Dive. Maybe pop over to the mainland and see Dani. He tested that thought and it wasn’t as terrifying as he’d expected. He didn’t want to spend every minute of every day he had left parked on Discovery Island, but he didn’t feel the need to hightail it back to the military right this second.

Huh. That was interesting right there.

“He’s thinking about sticking,” Cal observed.

“I am.” He said it, and thinking about it got easier. This was Dani. Somehow, sticking near her and by her wasn’t scary at all. He didn’t feel the need to get up and go when he was with her. On the contrary, he wanted to hunker down some and stay put because he couldn’t imagine being happier with anyone,

anyplace. She made him feel things he hadn’t known he wanted or missed.

Hell.

“So next question.” Tag steepled his fingers. “And I’ll ask this one, Cal, so you owe me. Particularly if our boy here hauls off and hits me. Is this just about the sex and having hot summer fun, or does sticking around also imply a longer relationship?”

“You want to discuss my sex life?” Daeg asked. A rhetorical question only, because he wasn’t going

there. Some things stayed between him and Dani.

“Not particularly.” Tag shrugged and looked over at Cal. “But if I’m playing doctor here, you might

want to play along. If it’s just hot sex, then no worries. You do your thing, she does hers, and it doesn’t matter how she feels about Rick Lane, because sooner or later, your thing will end and you’ll go your

separate ways.”

He didn’t want her going anywhere that wasn’t with him.

Cal studied his face as if it were a topographical map and he was scanning for wreckage. “Okay. So you

want to play to win, right?”

“Absolutely.” That was a no-brainer.

“Then you’ve got to woo her, seduce her. There’s your plan of attack,” Cal said.

“Give her all that stuff women like,” Tag added. “Not shopping and not ring boxes, but words. And

romantic dates. Show her how you feel, although telling would be better.”

Cal nodded like everything was settled. “Good luck, soldier.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, bumped fists with both men. “Thanks.”

That thanks stood for everything. Thankfully, for his buddies, he didn’t have to spell out his feelings like he was going to have to do for Dani.

He didn’t know what her ex was really doing on the island—maybe the man had an ulterior motive he’d

kept private—but whatever was going on, Daeg knew he didn’t like it. So that meant he had himself a new mission: seduction. And not just seduction, but seduction of her heart.

Dani had started off wanting passion and wanting it temporarily. He thought he’d wanted the same

thing. Happily ever after scared him...but he was brave and knew how to put aside his fears and go for what he truly wanted. Who knew that love worked the same way? He was determined to convince Dani to take a

chance on him—just as soon as he’d made himself that chance.

And then comes the hard part.

The part that scared him more than any other mission he’d ever led.

Three words.

I. Love. You.

All he had to do was open his mouth and say what he was feeling. He knew what was going to happen,

however, when he looked at her. He’d get that tumbling, free-falling sensation somewhere near his heart and he’d forget the plan. He’d want to stand there and just look at her because she made him forget

everything else apart from touching her.

Loving her.

Then he’d be kissing her and the words would still be bottled up inside him, where they didn’t do her

any good.

He’d just have to steel himself to tell her that he loved her. There was nowhere he didn’t dive. No site too remote, too dangerous. He always went in. No hesitation. So he was going to do this.

These were three words, words he meant, and even better than the motto he’d lived by for so long. This

wasn’t so others may live. This was so Dani could live. With or without him, although he was hoping desperately that she’d choose with.





15

THE CUPIDS WERE crushed, one more casualty of the week’s storm that no amount of glue could fix.

Dani took stock of the damage from Sweet Moon’s front porch. She’d never liked the cutesy statues, but

her grandparents had collected them over fifty-plus years of marriage. The carnage wasn’t going to make them happy.

Two hours later, she had a backache, three full bags of broken pottery pieces and a date with the

Dumpster at the end of the driveway. She lugged her trash bags along the walkway, hoisted them inside the metal bin, then eyed the lawn. She’d barely made a dent in the devastation. With a sigh, she straightened up

—and slammed straight into a hard, male chest.

Two strong, sun-bronzed arms closed around her, steadying her.

Daeg.

She turned in his arms, breathed him in for a moment. He looked weary. Weary, but good. His eyes

smiled at her, the sun lighting her hero man up from behind. She had to stop herself from reaching for him, because she’d missed him and he’d come back. Sort of. Something inside her melted and she smiled back.

“Did Deep Dive give you time off for good behavior?” she asked.

The rush of excitement wasn’t only due to the scare he’d given her; no, a traitorous part of her—a very feminine part—drank him in and appreciated their closeness. His sexy smile really set her off, so what if she wanted to wrap her arms around him and pull him down into a kiss?

He let her go and lifted a chain saw off the ground. “I was coming by to see what needed to be done to

the grounds. You’ve got a tree mostly down there.”

So he apparently had one more stop on his to-do list, because he was pointing toward an oak that was

probably older than her grandparents. The tree leaned at a crazy angle, resting on the roof of a vacant cabin.

A roof she’d already written off as unsalvageable.

“And?”

“And I’m going to see what I can do here.”

“You run out of jobs in town?” She instantly regretted sounding so snippy. It was too late, though,

because the words were out there.

“You don’t want the help, tell me to get lost.” Calmly ignoring how she’d spoken to him, he walked

back and forth in front of the cabin, eyeballing the tree. She had a feeling the offer was made out of

courtesy only. He’d decided he was fixing this, and that was that.

“Be my guest.” She gestured toward the chaos. “Have at it.”