Latched (Coronado Series Book 1) Read online

  He kept a hold of her hand, “I know I want to spend as much time with you as I can. So I will plan on being available on Saturday to take you to the beach.” He lifted her hand and kissed it.

  “I know how to swim, I just want to become more confident in the ocean. I want to learn to surf next spring. Living this close to the beach, it seemed silly not to give it a try.”

  “I will teach you how to surf. I grew up surfing in SLO and I would be happy to take you out. I think I still have a longboard at my Mom’s house, and next time I’m up there I will bring it back. I’ll buy you a spring suit so you don’t get cold and that way we can keep you out there long enough to get up. Maybe I should get you a foam board to start - that would make it even easier. We’ll start now. We still have a couple of warm months.”

  They hadn’t even had their first date yet. If he was willing to spend that much time with her, he would probably sleep with her. She might not have to be the one to bring it up. “Thanks, I will keep it in mind.” She looked down at her plate and took her first bite of cake.

  Mark started on his cake and he ate the whole thing in less than a minute. “So you were a surfer? Where did that laid back surfer Mark go?”

  “He went into the Navy, but I can still be laid back when I have to.” He noticed she committed to nothing beyond going out with him on Wednesday. He was going to have to figure out a plan for her to fall for him and it wasn’t going to be easy.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  WEDNESDAY

  He walked up to Birdie’s front door and knocked. He felt nervous - not something that he’d experienced since college. He wanted the evening to go well and wanted her to fall for him. He wore a pair of nice khakis and had on a button - down shirt. He decided to take her downtown for dinner and music because she liked to eat and seemed to have music playing all the time. She opened the door, and when he saw her - he felt the same pain in his chest. He also felt like he heard an audible click as if everything fell into alignment. She was his and Birdie James was going to break his fucking heart and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. She looked up at him with her smile radiating happiness and he realized she had no idea.

  She took his hand and pulled him into the house, “I have to tell you that I’m a little nervous about tonight. I’m not sure why. I changed clothes three times and when I saw you at the door, my heart starting beating really fast. I figured I would just tell you and then maybe I could relax.”

  She looked up and he didn’t respond right away. He was so blown away by lust and desire that he couldn’t form a sentence. So he pulled her up against his body, put his hands on her face and slowly brought her mouth to his. All his senses were on overload. He could smell her sweet scent and feel the softness of her skin under his hands. He felt the temptation to devour her, but instead kissed her gently. A quick kiss that turned into something longer. She kissed him back, clinging to him as if he might try and get away. She had no idea the power she had over him.

  He lifted his mouth for a moment to look down at her, “I was a little nervous too. Maybe the kissing helps?”

  “It just makes my nerves jumble more. You look really handsome - I like your shirt. Where are you taking me tonight?” She knew she was rambling. When she got nervous, she had a tendency to talk a lot.

  “I’m taking you downtown to a restaurant that Sam recommended. He said that he took his wife there on their first date. Then I’m taking you to a club that has new bands. You seem to always have music playing, so I thought we could give it a try.”

  “Sounds perfect. Let me grab a jacket and we can go.” He watched her go back into the kitchen and liked the view of her in the pretty white dress she wore. She has all the power and doesn’t even realize it. What would she have to be nervous about? She walked up, grabbed his hand, “Ready to go?”

  “Absolutely.” I like her small hand in mine, I like feeling her walking next to me. It might not just be about sex, but I hope I can talk her into a lot of it. Mark helped her into the truck and buckled her up. As soon as they were on their way, he grabbed her hand and held it on his lap. They made their way off of the island and headed into downtown. Once they parked Mark helped her out and placed a very protective, possessive arm around her shoulder and brought her flush against the side of his body. They walked toward the restaurants and Birdie noticed Mark was on alert. He looked around and kept her close. She wondered if men who were in Special Forces ever lost their situational awareness. They walked up the block and entered a restaurant that looked like it had been around since the 1950’s. The lighting was low and there were big red leather booths. Frank Sinatra was playing in the background. It was her favorite sort of restaurant. Mark gave his name to the hostess and they were lead towards the middle of the restaurant. She slid into the booth and he followed her in and slid right next to her. He didn’t leave any room in between them - she doubted if she could slip a piece of paper between them. “Are you comfortable Mark? Would you like to move any closer?”

  He put his arm around her, “I’m totally comfortable. If you think I’m going to back off, you are dead wrong. I like you, and I want to get as close to you as I can. I am not going to back off.”

  “So is this you stating your objective? Like I’m going to storm the hill…. I’m going to take the mountain and I’m going to take Birdie?”

  “Pretty much. I want you to know so you can prepare yourself.” He ran his hand up and down her arm, daring her to argue with him. He wanted to get any of her objections out of the way so they could move forward. Birdie picked up her menu and started studying it. “Nothing to say Birdie, anything you want to share?”

  She kept looking at her menu, “No I don’t have anything to say. I think you’re attractive and sexy as sin. I’ve been figuring out how I was going to ask you to have a short meaningless affair with me. But now it looks like I won’t have to, which is good. Because I’m not sure if I would have ever gotten the courage to ask you. You’ve done all the work for me.”

  She looked like a sane person, but what was coming out of her mouth seemed a little crazy. “Are you telling me you were planning on using me for sex and then you were going to discard me after you were done? You won’t even commit to going to the beach on Saturday, but you want to have sex with me?”

  She gave him a meaningful look, “I don’t think that is a fair characterization of my intent. You don’t even have relationships, so I’m not sure why you are being snippy about my idea. In fact, I may rethink using you for your body. Although it would be a shame because you’re the most attractive man that I’ve ever seen. I thought you would like my idea, but apparently I was wrong.” She patted his thigh and sighed, “I guess we will just be friends.” She pointed her finger at him, “No more kissing though, just friends. I can find someone else to break me out of my rut,” and with that she returned to her menu and tried to scoot away.

  “Of all of the crazy ass shit I’ve heard, that is the craziest. I have taken crap from my friends for the last four days. Don’t go after Birdie, she is a relationship girl, she doesn’t sleep around, don’t go after her unless you mean it. The whole time you were plotting to use me for my body and then you were going to drop me. No Birdie, you can’t use me. If you want to have sex with me, then you have to stick around and see what we have. I’m not some slump buster that you can throw away. By the way, I don’t get snippy” and he moved closer to her.

  She started to scoot away, “I didn’t know you were going to take this so personally. I thought you would like it. Don’t you guys go to that bar and pick up girls for sex? Why can’t I?” She started to get mad, “I want to have the opportunity to use a man for sex and then move on. That is what you always do.” Her voice started to rise, “Why do I always have to make good choices? I’ve been appropriate my whole life! I am an accountant after all.” She realized she might be getting loud and lowered her voice, “You know what it got me? It got me a fiancé who cheated on me with his assistant. What’s even
sadder is that we had boring sex. I was going to settle for boring sex for the rest of my life.” She put her menu back on the table, “So excuse me if I wanted some amazing sex. I will find someone else.”

  Mark was going to lose his mind and his temper, because there was no way that Birdie was ever going to be with anyone else but him. He would kill any man who got close to her. He didn’t care if it made sense - that’s the way it was. “How do you know we would be amazing?”

  “Mark, if you are not either of those things and about ten more that I can’t even think of, then that’s a darn shame. Because with a body like yours, you should be a sex god with a devoted following. All of that testosterone you have should be used for good and not evil.”

  Mark laughed so loud that several patrons turned around and looked at him. “Birdie girl, it’s never going to be dull with you. You think I am a sex god?”

  “I’m really, really hoping you are. Because if you are not, I may just give up.”

  He kissed her hard, he wasn’t going to give her an escape. “We can have a lot of sex together, but we are going to date and see what we have. No dropping….. no using….. just old fashioned romance.”

  She leaned in and kissed him back, “Let’s just see how it goes.” They fell into each other again and the world fell away for a moment.

  The waitress came up, stood there and finally said loudly, “Can I get you something to drink?” She broke the spell and they ordered drinks.

  “Are there any other plans you have for me that I should know about? Maybe you could tell me before we order.”

  “I don’t think so, it was just the sex thing. But maybe I should tell you that I’ve not had sex for a year.” She looked down at her hands, “I might be out of practice and if I’m being totally honest, my ex Justin told me I wasn’t very good. This could be a total bust for you, kind of like a service project. I don’t want to oversell myself and then you would be disappointed.”

  “Your ex was a fucking idiot and I’m going to thank him every day for his stupidity. We’re going to be amazing together. You have a body built for sex. God, your ass alone is enough to inspire a lot of dreams.”

  “I hope you’re right. But I can’t have sex with you tonight because sleeping with someone on the first date would make me a tart. I am a little desperate, but I am not a tart.”

  “Understood Birdie, not on the first date. I knew you were a relationship girl.”

  “I guess I really don’t know what I am. I think I would like to take it one day at a time.” She picked up her menu again, “What are you going to have for dinner?” The waitress brought their drinks and they ordered, and after that they had a totally normal first date.

  They had a lot to talk about even though they were very different. While they were listening to each other, they were both thinking about the amazing sex that was going to happen soon. He kept a hold of Birdie’s hand. He wanted to make sure she didn’t get away. “Should we walk to the club and see if we like the music or do you want to do something else?”

  “I think the music sounds great, let me just use the ladies’ room before we go.” Mark helped her out of the booth and watched her walk back to the restrooms. He noticed some men checking her out. The waitress came to the table with the bill and he paid with cash - he didn’t want to wait around for a credit card receipt. He decided to walk back and wait for Birdie because he didn’t want those guys to get ideas. “Why are you back here? Did you have to use the boy’s room?”

  “No, I just wanted to make sure that you were ok.” He put a possessive arm around her and stood at his full height as they walked out of the hall. He threw the guys that were checking Birdie out the same look he gave recruits and the men looked away. That’s right asshole, don’t even look at her. They walked out headed for the club and he kept her tucked under his arm, nice and close and that is where he was going to keep her.

  They found a table at the club and the band turned out to be pretty good. Birdie sat very close to him and at one point she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed. “I love the music, thank you for bringing me here.”

  He kissed the top of her head, “I am glad you like it. I haven’t planned a date since college - good thing it worked out.”

  They left the club and started walking towards the truck, Birdie noticed he was more relaxed but still observant. He could probably tell you how many cars were on the street and what every person was wearing. Birdie couldn’t tell you anything beyond what Mark smelled like and how his arm felt around her shoulders. Going out on a date with a big man was nice, she didn’t feel like she had to be looking around. She could leave that to him. She’d never left anything to anyone.

  He noticed when she relaxed against him and pulled her in a little closer. He still couldn’t believe what she said at dinner. I still think she is a relationship girl. But if she wants to believe this is going to be a short fling, he would let her and then make sure it turned into something else. “Do you want any dessert or coffee? We could stop in that shop over there before we go home?”

  “Nothing for me, I think I’m ready to go home. I have a lot of work ahead of me for the next two days. What are you doing?”

  “We have a training op with the new equipment tomorrow. We are leaving in the afternoon and won’t be back until Friday night. Do you still want to go to the beach on Saturday?”

  “That sounds great, I should be done at the shop in the afternoon. I can meet you at my house, just text me what time.”

  They got in the truck and she watched him walk around and her heart made a little thump. I hope I survive sex with this man and I don’t fall for him accidentally. I don’t think I could endure another broken heart.

  He grabbed her hand and drove them home, she noticed he had nice wrists. Is it weird that I like his hands? “Thanks for a great night Mark, I loved the restaurant and the music. I liked spending time with you. You were not bossy at all - you were completely charming.”

  He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “I had fun too baby. Thanks for coming out with me.”

  They were parked in front of her house and they were making out like a couple of teenagers. She was afraid that she was going to break down and invite him in and pulled away. “I have to go in before I lose my resolve and invite you in.”

  He ran his mouth down her neck and kissed her right under her jaw and could feel her shudder. “I don’t want you to lose anything, Birdie.” He kept the assault up and licked the side of her neck where he could see her pulse hammering away. He nipped her shoulder and then kissed it.

  “Time to go - see you Saturday!” Birdie murmured.

  “Why the rush baby?” He ran his hand down the side of her body and gently ran his fingertips over the top of her dress right under the swell of her breast and heard her take a deep breath in.

  Birdie moved away to the door, “I am one second away from inviting you in. I don’t want to be a tart.”

  “Ok let me come and help you out.” He held out his hand and helped her down. She slid down the front of his body, “That’s not fair Birdie.” She could feel the effect she was having on him - maybe it wasn’t fair to either of them.

  She put her hand on his face and brought his lips down to meet hers, “Thanks for a great evening, see you Saturday.” She gave him a sweet kiss and walked towards her front door.

  “Be ready Birdie, Saturday is when you get to use me any way you want.” She kept walking and waved goodbye. He got in his truck and looked over at her house. He still couldn’t believe what came out of that woman’s mouth. I don’t think she has a filter between her brain and her mouth. Which was working out for him, there was not going to be any game playing with this one. He felt damn lucky that he was the one she chose to break her rut….. damn lucky. The words from the song they danced to kept running through his mind. “I’m latching on, babe, now I know what I found.” He was definitely going to latch on to Birdie, he just needed to find a way for her t
o latch on to him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  FRIDAY

  Birdie laid in bed exhausted. She had delivered the flowers for the wedding that was taking place tomorrow at the Hotel Del. Her client decided they wanted to have everything a day early. She scrambled to get it done and charged them an additional 20% for the inconvenience of hustling over the last two days to complete everything. She watched mindless TV and was almost asleep when she heard the phone ring. She picked it up, “Birdie girl, I’m at your door. Can I come in please?”

  “Sure, sure, wait a second.” She got out of bed and looked down at her jammies. She didn’t look great but what could she do - it was 10:00 at night. She ran down stairs and opened the door, Mark looked awful. She drew him into the house and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Bad day at the office?”

  He held on to her and took a full breath for the first time in forty eight hours. “If you could make this day go away for a while I would be really grateful.”

  “Are you hungry, do you want something to eat?” She closed the door and was walking him to the kitchen then they stopped at the foot of the stairs.

  “I’m not hungry, I haven’t slept in 48 hours. I didn’t want to go to my empty condo, so I came here.”

  “Are you ok? You look so tired.”

  “The training exercise was a goat fuck from the beginning. Everything that could go wrong, did. I also got news today that a buddy of mine from a team on the East Coast has been injured and it doesn’t look good.” He wrapped his arms around her tighter, “I just want to go to bed with you wrapped around me. I want to wake up in the morning and work on breaking you out of your rut. How does that sounds?”

  “I wanted to be wearing something sexy and look good when all of this happened. Do I have time to transform myself?”