She started to get slightly dizzy from all the colors flashing at her. Pink, green, red, black. She swallowed another gust of laughter. “Is that you?”

His jaw was tighter than a drum. “Yes.”

“Why are you holding a dildo?”

Cash briefly closed his eyes, as if trying to talk himself out of murdering her. “It’s a shotgun.”

“Why would a Navy SEAL carry a shotgun?”

“Because she couldn’t find a pattern for an assault rifle.”

“Oh.” Jen clamped her lips together to stifle another giggle. “And why is the uniform red? Are you supposed to be a guard at Buckingham Palace?”

“Can you just take the f**king picture?”

She was still chuckling to herself as she picked up the camera and aimed it at Cash. She took a candid shot, then glanced at the digital display and laughed at the stony expression on his face.

“You have to smile for the next one. Otherwise your grandmother will know exactly what you think of her sweater.”

For the next twenty minutes, Jen had an absolute blast ordering him around. She snapped far more shots than necessary, but she couldn’t help herself. The sight of tough guy Cash in that pink and green sweater was too tempting an opportunity to ignore. She made him pose by the window, in the living room, in the kitchen. Sitting, standing, striking a thoughtful finger-on-the-chin pose.

But all bets were off when she tried to persuade him to lie on the couch in the ultimate male pin-up pose—that’s when he promptly grabbed the camera from her hands and announced he’d had enough.

“We’re done,” he declared, then proceeded to strip off his sweater as if it was covered in ants. “And I’m officially never wearing this thing again.” To punctuate the declaration, he whipped the sweater on the couch. “Now, do you want to grab some lunch at the grill on 4th? I’m in the mood for a steak.”

“At three o’clock in the afternoon?”

“After what you just put me through, I feel like a juicy T-bone is the only thing that will reaffirm my masculinity.”

Shooting him a sassy smile, Jen stalked over and cupped his package over his cargo pants. “Mmm. I could go for a juicy T-bone myself.”

He rewarded her with a wicked grin. “Baby, I like the way your mind works.”

“How about my mouth? Do you like the way that works too?” She dropped to her knees and unzipped his pants. He’d gone commando and his erection sprang out with an excited bob.

Licking her lips, she dipped her head and licked a little circle around the head of his cock.

Cash groaned, his hands immediately moving to tangle in her hair. His hips thrust forward, the hard length of him seeking her mouth.

She swiftly pulled back. “Uh-uh, you don’t get any sexy time until you do one thing for me.”

His eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”

“Put the sweater back on.”

 

Sadie Becker’s first birthday party was in full swing when Cash and Jen arrived at the Becker house the next afternoon. Becker and Jane lived in a modest, two-story home in Coronado, and though the house itself was smaller than most in the area, the backyard made up for that. The large, perfectly manicured lawn was big enough to house a decent-sized swimming pool, a swing set, an enormous pine deck with a table that seated ten, and a stone patio littered with children’s toys.

Bright pink balloons hung from the tall wooden fence surrounding the yard, and tables laden with food had been set up on the patio. A few dozen people milled around the yard, most of whom Cash recognized. Stepping onto the deck, he and Jen dropped Sadie’s gift off with Jane’s sister, Elizabeth, a tall, slender blonde who looked nothing like her curvy, redheaded younger sister.

Speaking of the curvy redhead, Cash immediately spotted Jane holding court by the refreshment table, chatting with a few women Cash had never met. She had one-year-old Sadie propped on her hip, and now there was a clear resemblance. The baby had a head of shocking red hair and big blue eyes just like her mother, but the expression of intense consternation on the kid’s face was all Becker.

“Let’s go say hi to everyone,” Jen said, searching the crowd.

Cash longed to hold her hand, but he resisted the urge. They’d already agreed there’d be no PDA today, or anything that would reveal they’d been sleeping together for the past two weeks. The last thing he wanted to do was get into it with Carson, not in a backyard full of people they knew. Besides, keeping the fling on the down-low was probably for the best, seeing as how it was supposed to end in a week.

Supposed to being the operative words.

Because no way was Cash letting this end. For the first time in his life, he’d found a woman he truly connected with. One he had no problem communicating with. One who captured his attention in and out of bed.

Jen was the quirkiest, funniest, most amazing woman he’d ever known. He loved the sound of her laughter. Her sunny smiles. The way she left those yellow sticky notes all over the apartment to remind herself to do things. And now she’d started leaving him notes—this morning he’d found a Post-it on the bathroom mirror, with Jen’s feminine scrawl saying, “Top of the morning to you, cowboy!”

So yeah, he wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Not by a long shot.

“Jen, Cash!” On the steps of the deck, Annabelle waved them over. Next to the brunette were Savannah Harte, Shelby Garrett and a woman Cash didn’t recognize.