Page 19 of Healing Home

She gasped, playfully smacking his chest. “I’m not, damn it.”

Bracing herself on his chest she ignored his grunt and pushed to her feet, stepping away. Then she turned back to him and held out a hand to help him up. She thought he would wave her away, but instead he took her hand and pulled. BB had to brace against his weight as he came to his feet, but she appreciated that he’d taken her help. Most men wouldn’t have.

But then he used her hand to tug her into his body, and she understood why he’d held on. His mouth settled against hers again and she completely forgot why they’d stopped. Oh, yeah, they were on a public beach.

“Come on,” she said, twirling away. She snatched up her dress and managed to get it over her head before he caught her, dragging her into a kiss. Well, he didn’t really drag her. If she were honest she kind of fell against him as she tried to get her head through the arm hole of her dress. And he held her steady as she figured out where she needed to go. BB wished she could be like these pristine little romance heroines that could do no wrong. It seemed like as smooth as she imagined doing everything in her head, it never turned out that way in real life.

It was great for her cartoon strip. She always had material for Sonya. But it was comical in her own life. Actually, she’d been grinding on Link pretty hard. Maybe she better make sure she hadn’t hurt him.

She glanced south as he took her hand and began to lead her back to his house. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

With a frowning look, he shook his head. “Not at all. Well, I’m about to explode, but that’s my issue not yours. You’re right, though, it was time to stop. I’m sorry about that. I kind of lost myself.”

BB pulled him to a stop and waited for him to look at her. “No, it’s our issue. We both just participated in that kiss and if I’m honest, I instigated it.”

He scowled, but didn’t deny her words.

Deliberately, she lifted his hand to her face and kissed his knuckles, then she turned and started leading him up the beach toward the gap in the bushes where he’d led them through. He had to guide her a little bit, but they eventually made it back to the house.

Frankie acted as if she’d been left alone for days rather than a few hours, circling them in a fury, then prancing in front of the door waiting to be let out. With an apologetic look to Link, she took the dog outside.

It gave her a minute to gather her thoughts and wonder if what she was doing was right. The two of them only had another day and a half together. The thought caught her up, because shouldn’t she be looking at it the other way? They’d only been together a day and a half, and she was already thinking about sleeping with him, which was totally out of the norm for her. She could count on one hand the number of sexual partners she’d had, and none of them had ever made it into her bed this quickly. Most had taken weeks of dating to get where Lincoln was now, but there was something about the man that appealed to her. Something about his quiet confidence and humble personality. He’d been burned before and she could see the reluctance in him to jump into anything big.

They both knew this was a temporary interlude. If they went into it with their eyes open, why couldn’t they enjoy themselves? They were grown ass adults.

Carolina would skin her though. Just the thought of even broaching the subject with her sister gave BB a shiver of fear. Carolina was fanatical about following the rules and if BB slept with Link, that would most definitely be breaking the rules.

She kinda didn’t care though. Her body was still thrumming with awareness, and she wanted to go back in and straddle his thighs just like she had a little while ago. But this time she wanted to ride them both to pleasure.

* * *

Lincoln watchedBB through the window, hands planted on his hips, and wanted more sharply than he’d ever wanted anything before in his life. She’d wrecked his emotions today by playing with him the way he’d wanted to play with a significant other. The ocean was a huge part of his life and even after the SEALs he knew he’d have to be close to some large body of water to feed his soul. And BB appeared to be okay with that.

Not that this was going anywhere or anything, but it made him hope that someday he’d find someone that could merge into his life the way she had.

Forcing himself to turn away, he looked for something to do. He could go out into the garage and work out, he supposed. He had to do something with this excess of sexual energy. BB was probably going to take this time to distance herself from him, because it was a no win situation for her. He knew women were more emotional than men when it came to sexual relationships, and he was honest enough with himself to know that he wasn’t a good bet, relationship wise. His buddies on the team were apparently aberrations. Or maybe he just hadn’t found the right heart to match his own.

Link ended up in the kitchen rinsing dishes. That only took him a few minutes. So he wandered into the bedroom and began going through his equipment. He should have done it yesterday but he hadn’t even thought about it. Too many other things going on. He’d just loaded a load of laundry into the washer when BB and Frankie came back into the house. Link looked down the hallway, his eyes connecting with hers, and there was some… connection. Somehow he knew that she would walk toward him, and his life would change.

BB gave Frankie a dog treat, then began walking toward him. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, she lifted the little white dress over her head, revealing the swimsuit. In his mind he heard some kind of snap, like the shell on his heart had just cracked. BB had a great body, solid but slim, and his own body reacted rather predictably. He hadn’t completely cooled from the beach interlude anyway, he’d just been doing busywork trying to get his mind to focus on something else.

The lid slammed on the washer, but they didn’t even notice. As she walked toward him down the hallway, he tried to remind himself that this was a short term interlude, but it was harder than hell to remember that.

BB stopped in front of him, her big green eyes looking up into his, and his breath caught. “I release you from the no-sex stipulation.”

Grinning, Link reached out to run the back of his finger across the swell of her right breast, over the nylon fabric of the suit. There was a flower positioned rather provocatively over her breast, and he began to trace it. “Oh, really. Are you sure?”

She nodded, reaching out to brush her own hand over his chest. “Positive. I’m not tying you to me in any way, but I think we will enjoy each other.”

“I’ll make damn sure you enjoy yourself,” he promised.

That was all the warning he gave her before he took her mouth in a demanding kiss, sinking his tongue deep, like he’d been imagining all day. She moaned, fingernails dragging over his shoulders and up his neck into his short hair. Link shivered, loving her touch. His body curled into hers instinctively as he brought their hips together. He pressed himself against her and she gasped, a shudder rippling through her. Good, that was exactly how he wanted her to react.

His entire hand cupped her breast through the suit now, but it wasn’t enough. He drew back enough to slide the strap down over her shoulder. That gave the fabric enough room that he could push it beneath her breast.

“Oh, baby, you have such pretty nipples.”

BB had beautiful, very pale skin. He was glad he put suntan lotion on her back because she could have very easily burned.