Page 61 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Yet another thing he admired about her. Her love of animals, and the desire to devote herself to healing them. All the road blocks she’d had to hurdle, yet she still managed to find time for her daughter and to pursue a life for herself.

“You’re amazing,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with having personal goals. Happiness comes from many places.”

“Are you happy?” she asked.

For most of his adult life, job satisfaction had been the source of his happiness. Now he knew how much he’d been missing. “I am now.” He rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him for a deep kiss, trying to pour his very soul into hers.

When she sighed, the sound shot directly south, and he could feel his balls tightening and his dick sparking to life all over again.

Slowly, she pushed from his chest, spreading her fingers over his nipples. Straddling his hips, she began rocking back and forth against him, and he went more vertical than a flagpole.

A shaft of moonlight illuminated the loveliest breasts in the world. He palmed them, rubbing his thumbs across the tight little buds.

“Mmm.” She arched her back, thrusting her breasts into his hands as she began rocking against him. “Wait!” Her eyes flew open. “I have a better idea. A much better idea.”

She wriggled, which naturally made him even harder, then to his horror, she climbed off him and stood. “I’ve never gone skinny dipping in the ocean. Have you?”

“Uh, no.” But why not? This wild-woman side of her was completely and utterly intoxicating. And ten shades beyond sexy.

Two seconds later, they were holding hands like teenagers and running into the waves, naked and laughing their asses off.

When the water was deep enough, he dove in, coming up for air a few seconds later beside Laia, who’d begun breast-stroking through the rolling surf. Moonlight reflecting off the water illuminated the smile on her face.

Kade dove under again, breaking the surface directly in front of her this time and making her squeal.

“Don’t do that.” She laughed, then splashed water in his face and began swimming away faster than he expected.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Kade took off after her, admiring the graceful way her arms cut through the water. Eventually, he managed to snag her ankle, pulling her backward and into his arms. “You swim faster than a marlin.”

She laughed. “One of my hidden talents.”

Kade grinned. “I’ll bet you have a lot of hidden talents, and I’m looking forward to learning what they are.” All of them. In fact, every day he spent with her made him want to know everything there was to know about Laia Velez. Even if it took the rest of their lives.

For a moment, he froze. Specifically, his brain did.

He’d been fantasizing about her for years but had convinced himself that it couldn’t possibly have been love at first sight. That was the only way he’d managed to keep his feelings buried. But now he wanted more, and the word forever flashed brightly in his mind.

He pulled her closer for a deep, heart-zinging kiss that should have made the surrounding water sizzle from the heat of their bodies.

Unable to stand, she clung to his shoulders, then wrapped her legs around his hips. With her pressed against him and the sensual slide of warm ocean water lapping against his skin, his semi-hard erection responded by turning to granite and lengthening to the point of pain.

He hauled her tighter and brought himself snugly into intimate contact at the juncture of her thighs.

She maneuvered her hand between them, stroking her palm down his erection. “No shrinkage here.” She giggled, a sound that lit him up like a firecracker and had his dick pulsing with the need to bury himself inside her warm, wet body.

“You know, you’re right.” He skimmed his hand over her hard nipples, then leaned down to suck one into his mouth.

She let her head fall back while he administered the same treatment to her other breast. “One would think, living on an island for half my life, I would have gone skinny dipping before, but this is a first for me.”

“Me, too.” He kissed his way to the smooth curve of her neck and from there to her enticing earlobe. He could practically hear his grandpa’s words of warning in his ears: an officer doesn’t do anything unbecoming.

Like making love on a public beach. Or in the ocean.

Only Laia could make him toss aside the lifetime of rigid code and conduct that had been drilled into him.

She shuddered in his arms.

“Cold?” he asked.