Free Navy SEAL’s Virgin Lover by Nic Saint Page B

wants to dabble in architecture now, he can do it to his heart’s content.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Didn’t he tell you? The man is loaded!” Burke waved his arms furiously to drive home his point. “His dad died last year and left him the family fortune, and trust me, a fortune it is.”
    They were sitting in a small beachside restaurant, wicker chairs around low tables, their feet in the sand and several waiters weaving between the dozen or so guests enjoying breakfast on the beach.
    A gentle breeze was wafting in from the sea, and the air was still cool and fresh, before the day’s heat would raise the temperature into the eighties or even nineties.
    Erin thought she’d never enjoyed breakfast more as she curled her toes in the sand and sipped from her mocha.
    “Have you ever heard of Bradley chocolate?” Burke asked, his eyes alight with the promise of a pleasant surprise.
    “Sure. It’s probably about the best chocolate around,” said Sophie, who was a connoisseur.
    Bradley spread his arms. “I rest my case.”
    Erin’s eyes went wide, and so did Sophie’s. “Raminar Bradley? Like in Bradley’s Chocolate? That’s him?”
    Burke nodded happily, leaning back in his chair, which creaked under the weight of his bulk. “Yup. That’s my buddy. We used to call him Raminar Chocolate back on the base, also for his tendency to enjoy backdoor sex.” He suddenly slung a hand before his mouth as he eyed Erin in horror.
    She frowned. Backdoor sex? “What do you mean?”
    Burke exchanged a startled frown with Sophie, who merely shrugged.
    “Ram likes to… um, slip in through the backdoor,” explained Burke quickly.
    It still wasn’t entirely clear to her why that would be such a big thing, but she decided to let it pass. She’d ask Ram about it later. She simply couldn’t wait to know every little detail about his life before they met. Though there was little to reveal about her own life that would fascinate and entertain, she was sure she’d find much in his that would keep her hanging on his every word.
    A momentary spasm of doubt assaulted her equanimity. Raminar Bradley, heir to the Bradley fortune, soldier, entrepreneur, budding architect and environmentalist… And then there was her. Erin Walters. Practically no life experience, and only a single degree to her name. Perhaps he’d find her too young and inexperienced and, generally speaking, too boring?
    A man as accomplished and worldly-wise as Ram might be utterly bored with a girl like her, who had—if she had to be totally honest about it—very little to offer…
    She decided to thrash this thing out a little further, now that she had one of Ram’s best friends here with her.
    “Did… Ram say anything about me last night, Burke?”
    Burke’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, he said plenty, honey.” He looked a little doubtful. “Though I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you.”
    “Did… he say if he… liked me?” She was feeling increasingly silly about this, but she simply had to know all of a sudden.
    “Oh, he likes you all right. I can tell you right now he likes you a lot.” He leaned in, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “You didn’t hear it from me, but my man even used the L-word in connection with you.”
    He winked and she blinked. The L-word?
    Sophie grinned. “The L-word? Really?”
    Burke gave an exaggerated nod. “Oh, yes. Freaked me out a little. Don’t think I’ve ever heard Bradley even mention a girl before, let alone telling me he loved her.”
    Sophie looked pained all of a sudden, and Erin wondered if she was… jealous? She didn’t care. Her mood had magically lifted once again. So she’d been right after all. Ram did love her!
    “Don’t tell him I told you,” Burke repeated. “Bradley is a very private man, and he wouldn’t want me repeating his words.”
    “I won’t,” she exclaimed happily.
    “Sophie?”
    “My lips are sealed,” said Sophie morosely. She gave her a sideways glance Erin