Free Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) by Caitlyn O'Leary

watching her carefully, not wanting to mess this up, now he finally had her in his arms.
    He brushed his lips against hers, just a taste, a sip.  She was still against him, her eyes wide.  He traced his thumb against her cheekbone, a soft caress to soothe and relax, her eyes drifted shut.  He deepened the kiss.  She opened her lips with a sigh, and he took the invitation, sweeping the inside of her mouth with his tongue, savoring the minty taste of her toothpaste and the essence that was all Rylie.
    It took everything he had not to plunder when he felt the fine tremors going through her small frame.  He loved the fact she was as turned on as he was, but he was determined they were going to go slow.
    She shoved out of his arms.
    “What the hell?” he asked as he reared back.  “Rylie, did I do something wrong?” 
    She bit her lip as she looked up at him, then she tossed her hair over her shoulder.  He saw a hint of Sylvia wash over her face, and he didn’t like it.  He didn’t like it at all.  Then he realized it was probably an unconscious thing she did on her part to protect herself.  But why did she feel the need for protection?  Darius just stood there and waited her out.
    Rylie put her hand into the pocket of the massive robe and pulled out some nail polish. 
    “Nope, you did nothing wrong.”  She took a deep breath.  It was another thing he’d seen her do when she was having trouble coping, so he continued to wait her out.  “We need to set some ground rules, maybe discuss things.”  She hopped up onto the bed.  No wonder she wore heels that were so high, she couldn’t be any more than five feet one.  Maybe he should have offered to lift her onto the bed.
    He watched in fascination as she uncapped some glittery blue nail polish and started to apply it to her baby toe.
    She shot him a bright smile.  It was phony as hell.  “Let’s discuss the sex stuff.”  He knelt down beside the bed so he could watch her paint her toes
    “Okay, let’s.”
    “I’ve only had the one lover.  How many have you had?  Bunches, right?”
    “Define bunches,” he asked.
    “More than ten?”  Darius squirmed at the number she suggested.  “Ah, so it’s more than ten.  Is it more than fifty?”
    “God no.  Probably...” he mentally counted.  “Seventeen.”  God he drank too much in his younger days, there were too many one-night-stands in that number.
    “Okay, well, you like sex then.  All men do.”
    “That’s a good assumption.  Don’t you?”
    She paused before applying paint to another toe.
    “Not really.”  But she looked up and gave him another bright fake smile.  “I’m really good at it, though.”
    Talk about a minefield.  Darius decided to go with humor.
    “How do you know you’re good at it?  Do you have references I can call?” 
    “Now you’re just being an ass.”  She scowled at him.
    “It goes along with liking sex.  Men like sex, men are asses.  It’s in our DNA.” 
    She scowled at him again.
    “Be serious.”
    “I am.  Have you not met Drake?”
    A giggle escaped, and Darius could tell it was real.  He felt his chest loosen, he was sick of the fake Rylie.  Obviously, this conversation was hurting her, somewhere there was a man on this Earth who required an ass-kicking on Rylie Jones’ behalf.
    “This whole acting like we’re lovers, I agree with you, we need to make it really believable.  I think we better have sex tonight so we’re in the groove so to speak.  My nails should be dry in about five minutes, I used the quick-dry formula.  We can do it after that.”
    Never had he felt less like having sex.  Rylie was the woman he most wanted to be intimate with, and she had just managed to take all the wind right out of his sails.  Darius huffed out a laugh, he couldn’t help it.
    “Hey, that’s not nice.  I just said we should make love, and you’re laughing at me.”
    “You didn’t say we should make love, you’re scheduling me