Page 16 of One Lucky Hero (Men in Uniform 1)

“What do you mean?” Her brown eyes widened, and she nibbled on her lip, the sight of her worrying the soft pink flesh turning him on like crazy.

Dean glanced over at Tracy and Best, who were dancing closely and ignoring them, before leaning down. “Maybe I am interested in something casual . . . with you.”

Chapter Five

VIOLET’S HEART THREATENED to pound right out of her chest. She’d been talking a big game, but could she really get involved with a guy she hardly knew . . . just for the sake of her hormones?

She definitely couldn’t bring him back to her place. She had been fighting with Daisy for months about Daisy sneaking her loser boyfriend into the house when Violet was at work, and bringing someone home would just blow her reasoning all to hell. Despite the fact that Violet had raised Daisy, she’d never let Violet forget that she was just her sister, not her mom. Still, Violet had never let her boyfriends stay over, not that there had been many, and she definitely wasn’t going to bend the rules for a friends-with-benefits situation.

“Did I cross the line?” Dean’s breath warmed the shell of her ear, and her stomach clenched with lust. She really did love his voice, the deep tenor playing her like a guitar, pulling her strings taught in all the right places.

“No, I’m just considering,” she said.

The music slowed, and all around them, people wrapped their arms around each other, swaying in time to the melody.

Dean slid behind her and circled his arms around her waist, splaying his hands across her abdomen. She shivered, desire pooling between her legs. His lips pressed just below her ear, trailing kisses down her neck to her shoulder. Violet closed her eyes and chewed her bottom lip.

“How about now?” he asked.

Violet released a breathless laugh. “

You’re bordering on likable. You should stop that.”

“Absolutely.” Dean stopped kissing her neck.

Disappointed, she made a face he couldn’t see. “I said stop being likable, not the kissing,” she said.

Dean’s warm breath rushed against the back of her neck as he chuckled, but he didn’t kiss her again. Instead, he swayed with her to the beat of the music, and Violet found herself relaxing into his body. Dancing with Dean was definitely a new experience, one she was enjoying way more than she should.

The song ended, but Dean didn’t release her. As Meghan Trainor said good night to the crowd, Tracy was suddenly in her face, ignoring Dean behind her.

“Hey, so I love you, but I’m going to take Tyler back to my place. I’ll call you in the morning.”

Violet had known this was going to happen, but she didn’t imagine it would occur so early. “Um, excuse me, but how am I going to get home?”

Tracy looked behind her, presumably at Dean. “You got this, right?”

Dean’s chuckle ruffled the back of Violet’s hair. “Yeah, I’ll make sure she gets home safe.”

“You better, because if she ends up in the Sacramento River, I will hunt you down like a dog and gut your ass.”

Violet pulled away from Dean, uncomfortable that they seemed to be planning all of this without even considering how she might feel about it. “Can you hold my wine for a second?” Before he could answer, she placed her cup in his hand and dragged Tracy off a ways before hissing, “Okay, the very fact that it crossed your mind you may be leaving me with a deranged psychopath and you’re willing to roll the dice on my safety anyway is making me reconsider the whole best friends thing.”

“Oh, please, you’ll be fine. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let him suck on your neck like a vampire for the last four minutes,” Tracy said.

Violet’s whole face burned. “He was not!”

“Please, don’t even try. I saw you with your eyes closed and your mouth open like ‘Oh yeah. Oh, right there . . . ’ ”

“I think I hate you.”

“Okay, for reals. If you are really uncomfortable and want nothing to do with him, I’ll take you home with us and you never have to see him again. It’s up to you.”

Violet pursed her lips, considering. It was now or never; did she want to take a chance on Dean or go home to her cold, lonely bed?

Just because he agreed to take you home does not mean you have to sleep with him. Unless you want to.

Finally, she rolled her eyes. “Go on. I’ll stay here and enjoy the rest of the concert.”