“Almost never.” Aara shrugs. “You can’t miss what you never had. Liam has always been my dad. He was the one up at night when I was sick as a child. He was the one flipping pancakes, singing Sinatra on Sunday mornings when he was home, and picking out the perfect birthday gifts every single year.” She raises both of her brows. “Seriously, he picks out the perfect gifts. I wish I had an ounce of that talent.”
“The takeaway is I can’t imagine Liam Dempsey singing and flipping pancakes.”
She splashes water by tapping her hands on the surface. “It should be that he’s a great father.”
I hold her hands. “I’m sure you can’t imagine Maverick Hart baking snickerdoodle cookies in my mom’s pink apron either. Both real things. Burned into the memory of their children for the rest of time.”
She laughs first, and I follow. “You know, it’s been said I’m a pretty awesome gift giver myself.”
Aara smirks, running her tongue along her bottom lip. “No one can beat my dad. Sorry. He is a master at thoughtfulness.” She looks away. “The Phoenix Series. That’s our thing. When I was a tween he would read to me every night before bed. Even when he was deployed he’d take a copy of whatever book we were on. He’d call around bedtime when he wasn’t out on an op. I’d listen to him on speakerphone and follow along in my copy at home.” Her smile gets dreamy. “For my fifteenth birthday, he gave me signed copies of all of the books. The author wrote little messages that were personal to me and Dad. Those books are one of my most prized possessions. I even brought them to the Naval Academy even though I don’t read those copies. Looking at them makes me happy.” Cheeks full and eyes sparkling, she quirks a brow. “He can’t be beat. That’s merely one example.”
“That a challenge? Challenge is my favorite sport,” I return. Liam is good. I admit.
Her fingertips skim the low waistline of my swim trunks and my skin prickles. “I’m not telling you to buy me things. I’m not really into things. I’m more into actions.”
“Oh, I can deliver actions. That’s easier than buying a gift.”
“Like inviting me to stay here. Thanks again. I’m sorry if me coming over forced your family to go away.”
“Nah, my sister wanted to get back home because she had a date with some boy. Dad wanted to scare said boy, which is something I think you can imagine him doing quite well, so they took off early.” Leaning down, I brush my lips across the tip of her sun-kissed nose. “You’re welcome for the action. I’m happy to give you more action if you’re so inclined to accept it.”
Tilting her head up so her lips meet mine, her kiss is warm and lit with a passion I feel throughout my body. Mostly my cock. But everything else reacts, too. I’m not used to feeling this out of control with a woman. Calculated risks are part of my job. Aarabelle causes my brain to misfire. There’s no algorithm to help me here. I’m swimming in a sea of emotions and Aarabelle Dempsey is the water—surrounding me from all angles. She presses her stomach against mine, and with my eyes closed, it’s easy to imagine we’re naked. It takes great effort to break away, and hold her at arm’s length, my hands on her hipbones.
Eyes up to the cloudless sky, clearing my head seems impossible. “We should circle back to the rules. Our rules.”
I hear the water rustle and splash as she gets out. I still don’t look in her direction. “When people find out I’m spending time here they’re going to assume something is going on between us. I have a meeting with Lt. Williams tomorrow morning. A weekly check-in where I tell her about any concerns and she adds new rules, gives me a stern look, and tells me how much responsibility I have on my plate. How the future of my gender in the SEAL/s rests squarely on my shoulders.”
I look at her and she’s standing at the top of the rocky staircase that leads down to the beach, back facing toward me. I exit the pool to get closer to her.
“I have no idea how I’m going to explain this Henry crap to her. And living at your house because of it. She’s going to sniff out the bullshit within the first ten seconds. Nothing slips past that woman. She’s a living breathing Naval Guideline rule book.”
“Tell her it’s an apartment on my property. That’s essentially what downstairs is, anyway. If you have to mention it at all.” I have a thought. “Have you told Liam you’re going to stay here?”
She grabs her head on both sides, covering her ears, shoulders slumping. “No. He’ll ask why I didn’t go to their place if I didn’t feel safe. This isn’t even about safety, I mean a little bit maybe, but it’s all about me wanting to be with you.” She turns, arms hanging limply by her sides. “I can’t stay away from you and it’s frustrating. If I’m not with you, I’m thinking about you. When I’m not thinking about you it shocks me into thinking about you again.”
“Remember that guy you think watches us fuck?”
“We haven’t fucked, Luke.”
I bite my lip. “Yet.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I sigh. “I have security. Liam won’t bat an eye if you tell him you liked the security aspect at my house.”
She purses her lips. “You’re underestimating the overprotective nature of men and their daughters. Even adult daughters. Like Maverick and your sister. You’re known for your, uh, womanizing ways.”
“And your dad is going to think you’d throw it all away for me?”
She swings her hips from one side to the other. “No. I guess not. Let me call him now.” Aarabelle watches me over her shoulders as she walks back into the vaulted patio, grabs a towel from a leaning stack, and then disappears into the house.
Toweling off, hair first, I find her in the glass corridor, phone pressed against the side of her head, sitting on the towel on the floor. She senses me immediately, turning her head. “Dad, I mean Liam, wants to talk to you.” Aara extends her iPhone up in the air toward me, evil glint in her eye. “Told you,” she mouths.
Ah, fuck.“Hey sir. How are you doing?” He breathes heavily once.Double fuck.
Her eyes turn to slits when she hears my voice change into respectable work mode. It was something I adopted early on in my career.
“Hart, I don’t know what you’re playing at with Aarabelle but you need to disengage, son. Dis-en-gage.” Liam’s voice is a threatening rasp, every syllable of the word enunciated clearly. “Maverick is my good buddy and I’ll never assume the worst, but she’s my baby girl, and laws are laws.”
