Read Online Ultimate Engagement by Lydia Rowan - Free Book Online Page A

for Adam to have his hands on her so intimately.
    “Why are you doing this?”
    His gaze slid over her face and then he glanced around him. “Gathering intel,” he said.
    Then he proceeded to put his hand where it had been before and moved it up to the curve of her waist, the entire time guiding her body.
    Sloan thought she was going to combust from the desire he had kindled.
    Better be some damn good intel.
    ••••
    He was glad he’d gotten some damn good intel.
    During breakfast, he’d spotted an island a little less than a mile away from the beach, and it looked like something worth checking out—Adam’s gut told him it would pay off.
    But what he couldn’t say was whether the payoff would be enough to make the unrelenting hard-on that threatened to bring him to his knees go away.
    Having his hands on Sloan, guiding her body, seeing it in the wetsuit, every curve accentuated, her round ass and small waist perfectly outlined, and then having permission to touch her but not touch her had been trying to say the least.
    Because he was supposed to be gathering intel, but he was also human. Seeing that fucking surfer douche bag touching her like that had only spurred him on. It was reasonable he had, in his role of instructor, but every time Adam thought about it, he only felt more compelled to touch her, to make sure Armando and anyone else who might be looking knew exactly who Sloan belonged to.
    And that was the problem.
    Because Sloan didn’t belong to him.
    He wanted her, wanted her more with each passing moment, but he needed to stay focused on the mission and the work.
    Which meant ignoring his desire for her and the physical manifestations of it, something Adam was finding incredibly difficult. Sloan shifted, giving him a perfect view of her bare cheek and bare neck and shoulders, the sun glinting off her braids, which she’d pulled back in a tight bun. The motion also made her ass brush against his hardness, barely touching but enough to make him bite his lip to hold in a moan.
    “You got a bathing suit on under there?” Adam asked.
    Sloan nodded as she reached for her zipper.
    Strike that. Impossible.

9
    “ I put it on just in case,” Sloan said, lowering her zipper further. “Do I need it?”
    Adam looked at her, his eyes going dark as she peeled out of the wetsuit. Sloan wasn’t quite brave enough for a full bikini, so she’d selected a more modest tankini. But there was nothing modest about the way Adam looked at her.
    “Maybe I just want you to model it for me,” he said.
    “Well, you’d have to make that worth my while, but somehow, I don’t suspect that’s the only reason for your question,” Sloan said, somehow managing to come up with a relatively quick response, despite the fact that Adam’s gaze on hers had dried her throat and threatened to make her spontaneously combust.
    “I could, you know? Make it worth your while,” he said.
    “I have no doubt,” she said, her voice dropping.
    “But,” he replied, sobering, “unfortunately, I do have other reasons for asking. I need to get out in the water, and what better cover than a couples’ swim?”
    “What are you looking at?”
    “There’s a little outcropping of islands with buildings on it. I want to get a closer look,” he said.
    “Okay,” Sloan said, stepping out of the wetsuit.
    “Going for a swim, Sloan?” Candy called out from across the beach.
    Sloan laughed. “Yeah, Adam wants to cool off,” she said.
    “Well, you’d better put that wetsuit back on,” she returned.
    “See you later, Candy,” Sloan replied, waving.
    “Stay out of trouble,” Candy said.
    “You hear that, Adam? Candy says to stay out of trouble,” Sloan teased.
    “Which would be a hell of a lot easier if she wasn’t screaming at us,” Adam said.
    He put his hand on her back, the motion familiar but his fingertips against her skin new, intoxicating, that single point of contact between them radiating out and warming her entire