[When SEALs Come Home 04] - Heated by Anne Marsh Page A

fantasy list, but what had seemed like a fun challenge a few weeks ago was now something more. He had a feeling that once he got the uniform off her, the woman beneath would be stunning—and not just because she would be naked. Although naked was good too. Fantastic. Absolutely number one on his new Mercy to-do list.
    “You’re beautiful. Our chemistry’s off-the-radar good. Why wouldn’t I want to sleep with you?”
    She licked a smear of chocolate off her fingers, and his whole body tightened. “You want me to be your booty call.”
    “Hell. No.” But he didn’t know what he wanted. He had a feeling that made two of them.
    “Are you sure? Because I would be okay with that as long we kept it to ourselves.”
    ***
    “T hat doesn’t sound like a bad thing,” he said cautiously, like he sensed a trap.
    “I can’t—I won’t—jeopardize my career for sex. Not even really, really good sex.”
    “Got it. You’ve got a career plan.” He winked at her. “At least one checklist and a set of five-year goals. All I’m suggesting is that you add an orgasm or six to your list. Pencil me in for your free time and lay with me. That’s all I’m asking.”
    Don’t smile. Joey was cute as hell when he was teasing her, but smiling would only encourage him.
    “Do I look like the kind of person who plays ?”
    “You look hot. Sexy. I think you can do whatever you want.”
    It was official. Joey ticked all the boxes on her Cosmo checklist.
    “Okay,” she sighed.
    “Okay you agree, or okay ‘take me now, big guy’?” He slouched back in the truck bed, one big hand rubbing a lazy circle on her thigh. Huh. She hadn’t known that was an erogenous zone. Four inches higher, sure, but her thigh? She’d been patted there dozens of time without this... incendiary ... effect Joey had on her.
    “Okay, let’s see where this”—she waved a hand— “ chemistry takes us.”
    Someone yelled from the jobsite for Joey to get his butt in gear, and he hollered back an I’m coming . Then he leaned in.  “If I kiss you now, does that count as outing us?”
    “Yes. No kissing in public.”
    “Okay,” he said, giving her back her own word. “I need to finish up here anyhow.”
    She eyed the half-finished chaos of the building site. Completing a house in an afternoon seemed ambitious, even for Joey. She felt exhausted even contemplating the obvious undone things, like adding siding to the wood framing and windows and doors. Not to mention finishing the roof before the rain on the horizon decided to dump all over the place.
    “I’m not sure that’s possible,” she said frankly, and he laughed, levering himself upright.
    “Come and help and we’ll get closer to the finish line.”
    He tugged her off the truck bed, tossed their paper plates in the burn pile, and led her over to framing. She had no idea what it was supposed to be, other than a box without walls. Joey apparently saw something she didn’t. Typical.
    “Ever use a nail gun?”
    “No.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “But if you make a sex joke now, Joey Carter, I swear I’ll figure it out on my own and nail your hide to the wall.”
    He laughed and handed her the gun—and, man, she was in trouble because she wanted to hand him her heart and say “Merry Christmas, I picked this out for you.”
    And all he wanted was sex and a good time. Remember that.
    ***
    “B reak it down for me. In steps.” A cute little furrow creased the space between Mercy’s eyebrows as she focused on the loaded nail gun like he’d just told her to run a nuclear reactor singlehandedly and the fate of the world now rested in her hands. She took everything so seriously—and that was seriously endearing.
    “You’re going to wrinkle.” He ran a finger down the small crease and slipped a pair of safety glasses onto her nose.
    “I’ll live.” She gave him back the nail gun and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Then she turned and faced him, all serious face. In pure