Free Falling for the Marine (A McCade Brothers Novel) (Entangled Brazen) by Samanthe Beck Page B

from Mrs. Waverly, to his CO’s wife, to his CO, and how quickly his cleared-to-fly paperwork would get the downward shuffle on his CO’s desk. Quickly, and possibly permanently, if Sempler decided to report him for yesterday’s indiscretion. Unless… “Make that, no strings except one.”

Chapter Seven
    Chloe blinked at the empty air where Michael had been mere seconds ago. He’d just offered her the answer to her prayers—a safe, free , no-strings-attached place to stay—and then bolted off the bed like his nonexistent pants were on fire.
    He strode across the room and dug something out of the top drawer of the dresser. She admired the play of muscles under bronze skin, and the view of his top-drawer ass.
    What the hell was he looking for? He’d mentioned something about strings and started rifling through a drawer. Did he plan to literally…tie her up? He walked back to the bed before she could decide whether the thought excited her or freaked her out. Then she let go of the quandary, because the sight of him closing in, wearing an intense expression, his dog tags, and nothing else, effectively scrambled her brain. He knelt by the side of the bed and propped his closed fist on her knee.
    “Let me rephrase,” he said, flashing a smile that tried to convince her he was harmless.
    She wasn’t fooled. He knew how to unlock handcuffs with a hairpin in under three minutes. He knew how to unlock her orgasm one-handed in under a minute. He was so not harmless.
    “There is one tiny string attached.” He looked up at her from beneath his dark, unfairly thick lashes. Then he opened his fist to reveal a small, black velvet box. A flick of his fingers snapped the lid back and a diamond solitaire she estimated somewhere north of a carat twinkled at her.
    Her hand flew to her heart at the same time her gaze flew to his. “ That’s a tiny string?”
    The smile tugging his lips broadened, but he still didn’t look harmless. “My CO disapproves of cohabitating. He’s got the final authority over my return to the cockpit, so I’d rather not do anything he disapproves of. I think if we”—he broke off and looked at her with those deep, dark, mesmerizing eyes—went the engagement route, it might mitigate any potential negative consequences.”
    “You want us to pretend—”
    “Appearances only,” he inserted quickly. “I doubt we’ll have to out-and-out lie to anyone, but Mrs. Waverly is eagle-eyed and she’s also my CO’s wife’s best friend. We’ll just put my grandmother’s ring on your finger, move you in, and then, when you get your new assignment, I’ll take the ring back and we’ll go our separate ways. If anyone asks what happened, I’ll say things just didn’t work out.”
    No. No. Hell to the No. Just the thought of putting the ring on her finger made her palms sweat. “I can’t. Me staying here is a bad idea if it puts your career at risk and forces you to lie.”
    He looked down at the ring and then back up at her, and his pensive expression made her realize he was debating telling her something. She had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to like it.
    “I didn’t want to mention this, because it’s my problem, not yours, but I could end up in serious trouble for what happened yesterday at the clinic. The Corps frowns on its members committing acts of indecency or indecorum. If Sempler lodges a complaint, my CO will have to address it.”
    Shit. She’d been so selfishly fixated on her own problems she hadn’t spared a thought about how yesterday’s recklessness might impact Michael. “H-how serious?” But she already knew.
    “Conduct unbecoming an officer could get me dismissed, and possibly thrown in the brig.”
    “Oh, my God.” Her stomach turned to lead and dropped into her feet. “You could get dishonorably discharged and locked up because of this?”
    “It’s an unlikely outcome…but the possibility exists. Right now, if Sempler tells my CO he walked into a treatment