“I’m not the guy for you, and we don’t have time for this.”
She met his gaze head-on. That was his Maddie. Leap first, look later and live large. “Believe me, we’re in complete agreement there.”
“I had a job to do,” he stressed. “A covert job. I’m under orders not to tell anyone why I’m here.”
“Uh-huh.” She gestured toward him. “Let’s say I agree to believe you about the whole secret-SEAL-mission thing, since your show-and-tell exhibit is fairly convincing. Does that mean you were under orders to sleep with me, too? As part of the whole ‘undercover’ deal?”
His face must have given him away, because she looked stunned. Being Maddie, however, it was only a temporary condition and she sprang into action.
“Oh, my God.” She smacked him against the chest. “You were. What kind of military do we have these days? Does Uncle Sam pimp out his boys?”
“It wasn’t like that.” Not exactly. “You shot footage of our mission. I needed to make sure you didn’t have any other videos or photos.”
“So you’re not Mr. Perfect. You’re an undercover SEAL. And you...slept with me so you could check out my photos? Was it worth it?”
“I can explain,” Mason said, even though he was pretty certain there was no way he could. Being the perfect boyfriend definitely didn’t include lies of omission.
“Whoa. Stop right there.” She held up a hand. “You’re a US Navy SEAL. You’re here on a job.” She folded down two fingers on her other hand. “You had designs on my data.” She folded down her pinkie. “And you let me think you wanted to date me because it was part of some supersecret military plan to make the world a better place?” She folded down her fourth finger and flashed him the bird. “That’s what I think of that plan, soldier.”
Her body vibrated with anger, but she wasn’t an angel in this scenario, either. She’d come on to him first, even if he hadn’t resisted. So they weren’t done. He wasn’t done. She could damn well listen to the rest of what he had to say.
“Now that you’ve gone all judge and jury on my ass, let’s get a couple of things clear.”
He leaned into her, bracing his arms on either side of her so that she had nowhere to go. Not that that stopped Maddie. She tried to duck under his arm, eyeing the door as though she thought running would solve her problems. “I’m done talking with you.”
He shifted, keeping her caged. “You’re not talking with me. You’re talking at me. Now it’s my turn.” She opened her mouth, clearly ready to argue some more with him. Too bad. “Nope.” He laid the palm of his hand over her mouth. “My turn, not yours.”
When her eyes narrowed, he added, “Bite me and it will be my turn for the next week.”
“You suck,” she mumbled. “I want to make that very clear.”
True, but he still had something to say and she was going to listen.
“I had a job to do, a job that mattered. I can’t give you details about why we’re here. We have a credible threat on your person and we’re moving you for your own safety.” He felt her inhale. Teeth were coming. Or a knee to the balls. He deserved both, but didn’t he also deserve some kind of understanding?
“Maybe you feel I should have been up front with you from the beginning,” he continued. “I would have liked that, but it wasn’t my call. I had three options. Option one—I just take your laptop and your stuff. You don’t get it back. I have my team go through it and to hell with what happens to your data or your own job here on Fantasy Island. I find out what I need while you run around the island trying to figure out who stole your gear.
“Option two—I let US Customs do the same thing when you head back to the mainland, except they eventually give you back your gear after they’ve gone through it and wiped it. Option three—I borrow the laptop and we go through it. Carefully,” he emphasized. “We remove what we need to remove, but you’ve still got ninety-five percent of what you had before and everything’s in working order. In fact, in that scenario, you likely don’t even know I’d been through your stuff.”
He removed his hand from her mouth. “Now it’s your turn.”
“That covers my computer.” She glared at him. “But I don’t recall bringing my computer along on any of our dates. How about you explain that to me?”