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

now. You’re playing with something you don’t understand.”
    “But I want to. That’s the point.”
    She huffed out a little noise of frustration, but the rise and fall of her chest drew attention to her peaked nipples, which betrayed her constant state of arousal.
    The simmer under his skin began to percolate the longer he internalized her desire. It wasn’t fair that she was allowed to have such a simple, unvarnished reaction to someone she found desirable, and he’d been constantly forced to temper his.
    Story of his life. Maybe it was time to invite someone else into his hell.
    “You think you can handle it?” he challenged as he deliberately leaned into her palm, deliberately dropped every last internal barrier he employed to keep his beast under control.
    “I think I proved today that I’m stronger than you thought.” Her blue eyes glittered with something he couldn’t look away from. “You didn’t think I was going to get in the water, but I did. Maybe I can handle more than you seem to assume.”
    And maybe she could. The thing she didn’t seem to understand was that he didn’t want to be the kind of man who would force her to. He’d tried to send her away, and that hadn’t worked. Obviously he needed to pull out the big guns.
    “You’re pushing, Emma, and I think it’s time to give you a taste of what happens when you shove open that door and barge in without permission.”
    Lightning fast, he snaked an arm around her waist and hauled her up against him. Those peaked, hard nipples ground into his chest, exciting him. A growl rumbled in his throat as he wound his hand through her hair, snaring the locks with his fingers. Once he had a good grip, he pulled, exposing her throat to his ravenous gaze.
    Pale, immaculate flesh begged for his mouth, and he didn’t hold back. Fastening his lips to her skin, he tasted. His lips molded to her skin, suckling it, violating it, marking it. She gasped under the onslaught, but didn’t pull away. Oh, no, his little mermaid pushed closer, sending a trail of heat down his back with her hands.
    Clearly he hadn’t done enough to make his point. He ran his tongue along the column of her throat, up to her ear, and still he wanted more. He guided her face toward his and took her mouth in a hard, relentless kiss that was more instructional than it was passionate.
    She needed to learn what he was capable of.
    Her lips were pliant under his, open and inviting, and he groaned as her sweetness exploded on his tongue. Deeper . It wasn’t a choice, but a primal need that he suddenly couldn’t control as she scrabbled at his back for purchase with her fingers, as if she was just as overcome as he was.
    The kiss did not end. Emma wound through his head like an opiate, fuzzing his mind to the point where he lost all sense of what he’d been trying to prove. She kissed like she did everything—no holds barred, jumping straight in without warning. It was enthralling to be the object of her attentions, as if by sheer virtue of being kissed by Emma, he was something more than he’d been a minute ago.
    Somehow she shifted, and one of her legs wedged between his. His fierce erection found that soft, welcoming spot against her abdomen, where he could feel the faint line of her bikini bottom bisecting the flesh. It was the strangest thrill as it rubbed at him, and that only increased his fervor.
    He shoved deeper into her mouth, seeking desperate relief from the swirl of lust, but the willing way she met him… his control nearly snapped. No . This wasn’t what was supposed to be happening. Emma’s innocence was not on the menu. This was not about his pleasure, slaking his animalistic thirst by using and abusing this woman, and it definitely wasn’t about her being a willing subject to his assault.
    She clearly wasn’t scared enough yet.
    A gull cried overhead as he hooked two fingers around one of the white triangles and yanked. A gorgeous, darkened nipple popped free, and