Claiming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 1) by Kat Cantrell

scent of him washed over Emma, and her mouth went too dry to speak. How was it possible that he could still affect her like that after being such a… an infuriating, complicated man last night?
    Because he just did. She sighed. Being mad about it wouldn’t change things. Her attraction to him couldn’t be wished away, explained away, or warned away, apparently. Which made the stiffness in his body all that much more devastating. Especially when she recalled how fluidly he’d wrapped it around her last night. And how much more of him she’d wanted.
    With a breathless little sigh, Rachel shouldered up next to Emma and stuck her hand out. “You must be Dex. I’ve heard a lot about you, but I must say, clearly not enough.”
    With a small chuckle, Dex shook her hand. “Rachel, right?”
    “I don’t know, my brain is stuck somewhere in your abs.” With a lusty sigh, Rachel took off her sunglasses to further objectify Dex with a once-over that should have embarrassed him, but he just grinned.
    “I’m only the appetizer,” Dex said with a wink. “Jace over there is the main course. He’d probably let you stare at him the whole trip if you ask real nice.”
    Rachel’s gaze flitted over Dex’s shoulder and her eyes went wide as she caught sight of the guy Emma remembered being in the driver’s seat of the speedboat that had spirited Dex off after their first meeting. Where Dex was built like a Greek statue with sinewy hills and valleys and an elegant, wiry grace, Jace had muscles on his muscles and a chiseled face that was almost too beautiful to belong to a mere human.
    “Emma,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “You’re lucky I love you so much, or I’d be really mad at you for not telling me your white knight has a friend who looks like that .”
    Rolling her eyes, Emma watched Rachel’s back as she took off to go introduce herself to the boat driver. “She’s a good person, if a little tactless and prone to saying things that embarrass everyone except her.”
    “She’s all right,” Dex said easily, and the tension between them broke.
    Emma made a mental note to kiss Rachel later. Dex helped her onto the boat and guided her toward the front with a tug on her arm. Curious, she followed him, stepping down into a smaller area with a cushioned, curved seat that followed the contour of the front of the boat. Rachel and the six other guests had crowded into the back where Jace was holding up a mask and a snorkel, explaining the way it worked in a deep, rich voice that held his small audience captive.
    Dex plunked down on the cushioned seat and nodded at the spot next to him. “Sit with me for a minute. I’ll explain all that stuff to you later.”
    “I’ll stand, thanks.” No way could she be that close to him, not with all the unsaid stuff churning between them. The boat rocked a bit with the semichoppy water, but it wasn’t too bad as long as she concentrated on her balance.
    He slipped off his sunglasses, capturing her gaze with his. “Please. I want to apologize.”
    Oh, well, that was all right. Gingerly, she perched on the cushion. “So you admit that you’re pigheaded.”
    He didn’t laugh. “It’s brave of you to come snorkeling, and I don’t want what’s going on between us to affect what you’re trying to do here. Forget last night. I shouldn’t have kissed you, and I should have handled everything that came after differently. I’m sorry.”
    No, he shouldn’t have. Because she couldn’t unkiss him, and now that she knew what his mouth alone could do to her, she wanted to do it again. Dex was like an addiction she couldn’t shake until she’d had her fix, knowing the whole time that it was so bad, but was going to feel so good the moment he filled her again.
    That’s why she couldn’t be trusted around a man, obviously. Her body didn’t seem to care one way or the other that her brain had no ability to sort white knights from bad news. Besides, the feel-good part of