Touching Ghost (SEALs On Fire) by Regina Carlysle Page B

the time dessert rolled around, Ren ordered another beer as she bit into a fat slice of Key lime pie. A spot of whipped cream dotted her bottom lip, and he paused, his glass halting halfway to his mouth, as he watched her slowly lick it clean. Instincts long denied rolled sharply through his veins as he imagined the tart yet sweet taste of her. They’d never kissed, never touched, at least in a sexual way, and Ren wasn’t dumb enough to want to ruin a perfectly good friendship despite what his testosterone screamed at him.
    Long ago, he’d given up on dreaming. Dreams were for fools, but that didn’t prevent him from wanting to haul her beautiful body close and lay her down on the nearest bed. But Sadie was a forever kind of woman. In his line of work, a guy didn’t mess around with someone like her.
    “Mmm. Key lime pie in Key West.” Sadie wore a satisfied smile on her lips as she briefly closed her eyes and dabbed at her lips with a white linen napkin. “I’m so glad Clair told me you’d be here and that you agreed to meet me. A vacation and you all at once. I’m a lucky lady. How long do you have here, Ren?”
    Ren tried his hardest to concentrate, but her innocently seductive ways were killing him. He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair as he studied her. The freckles she’d always hated were still there. Thank God. Like small soldiers, they marched enticingly across the bridge of her pert nose and decorated her cheeks. Most folks would describe her as cute, but she was so much more than that.
    Sadie was vibrant. She was all light and energy. In a word, she was special and he’d always known it.
    When she smiled, Ren focused on her lips. Big mistake for a man who needed to remain firmly in the friend zone. The image of that lush mouth devouring his cock swam through his mind. Now wasn’t that just downright poetic?
    Feeling like the worst kind of lech, he forced himself to return to the conversation. “Only a few days. SEAL Team Arapaho is stationed in Little Creek, Virginia. We just finished a mission and the powers that be gave us a few days to rest up. The group of us flew into NAS Key West and they were kind enough to loan us a couple of vehicles as a courtesy. We’re all staying at a big mansion near here. The place belongs to a movie star who is filming in Spain so the place is ours for as long as we’re here.”
    She waggled her brows. “A mansion. Ooh. Impressive.”
    He shrugged. “It’s a place to crash, and as long as nobody is shooting at us, it’s all good.” Sadie blanched white, and Ren wanted to rip his tongue out. “I’m sorry, honey. I shouldn’t have said that.”
    “No, no. Don’t apologize, Ren. I’m not stupid. I know that you put your life on the line every day. I always knew you’d do something amazing.”
    Ren looked at her, hoping his disbelief didn’t show in his eyes. “What the fuck, Sadie? I was the son of the town drunk who thought nothing of using his fists on his wife and kid. I had loser written all over me.”
    Sadie looked appalled. “Don’t say that! You were never a loser. You just had a hell of a lot of bad breaks, Ren. But I saw through that big, fat chip you wore on your shoulder. You were smart, too. Just look at what you’ve done with yourself and with no help, mind you.”
    Going silent, he studied his scarred hands, just another bit of evidence of the violence of his life then looked at the one person on the planet who had ever seen through him. To most folks in town he’d been poor white trash. But not to Sadie. His heart squeezed at the love he felt for her, and he mourned the fact that he couldn’t have been man enough to deserve her. “You were the only person who believed that, honey. That’s the plain, unvarnished truth. Have I ever said thanks for that?”
    Instantly, her eyes filled and Ren sharply regretted his words. Taking things into such heavy territory probably wasn’t the best idea. It might be best to just joint