Defending Destiny (The Warrior Chronicles) Read Free

him. She didn’t. However, she did want to have sex again, with another person, she silently added, before she turned thirty. Daisy made a mental note to start another list as soon as she got out of the pool: Top ten reasons to end my 18-month experiment with celibacy.
    Gerry caught her staring his way and pried off the tentacles belonging to the surgically enhanced swimsuit models. Gerry extricated himself and quickly swam underwater to her side. He surfaced next to her floating chair, splashing her notebook and making the ink on her current list bleed.
    “Hey,” she said, trying to dry the paper and salvage both her list and her drawing of Magnus. She liked seeing him with horns and she wanted to finish him off, maybe with a scowl and an eye patch. She closed her notebook before her work got completely soaked. “Stop dripping on me.”
    Gerry, completely unrepentant, shook his head at her like a wet dog, soaking her more. “Wanna go somewhere more private?”
    Daisy pulled the short towel she had from around her neck, wiped off the plastic cover of her notebook, wrapped it in the towel, and tossed the whole thing onto the concrete pool deck right next to a chaise lounge. When she looked back at Gerry his grin was gone, replaced with a somewhat less naughty smile. He was fun to be around, so she smiled back. Daisy was willing to bet his smile, which oozed sensuality, was well practiced and usually got him exactly what he wanted—a satisfying but ultimately meaningless roll in the hay.
    He was standing now, the water hitting him just above the navel. She wasn’t going to sleep with him, but that didn’t stop her from looking and thoroughly enjoying his raw male beauty. Daisy let out a small sound of appreciation and then winked at him. She enjoying playing with him, secure in the knowledge that they both knew it would never lead anywhere carnal. Not now. Not ever. Daisy liked Gerry too much to screw it up by screwing around. Especially when nothing about him was serious except for his work.
    Daisy shifted her gaze from Gerry’s sculpted torso, one Chris Hemsworth, whom she thought was perfectly cast as Thor the God of Thunder, would be envious of, to the two disgruntled swimsuit models across the pool before she looked back to Gerry. When she did, something in his face changed. It was only there a tenth of a second or so, and then it was gone, replaced again by the ready devil-may-care smile he wore like armor.
    “So, are we going to go somewhere more private?” he asked again.
    “No thanks, Gerry. A party of four is two too many for me, and two too few for you.”
    His eyes narrowed as his expression turned, and that was all she registered before she found herself upside down in the water. Pushing up from the bottom, Daisy broke the surface, sputtering. Gerry pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. She slid easily against him, slick with water and the remnants of sunscreen from the day’s shoot.
    “It’s just you in my arms now, darlin’. Wanna ride the waves with me awhile?”
    Daisy laughed, then groaned as his arms tightened around her. She brought her hands up to his chest to push away from him, the words no thanks on her lips, when her feet went out from under her and she slid. Gerry pulled her tighter, holding her upright, which she was grateful for. She’d swallowed enough water the first time he dumped her. Daisy laughed again, pushing away from him.
    That’s when she heard a deep, decidedly masculine throat clearing. She looked toward the source of the noise when a pair of black, oil-tanned engineer boots blocked out everything else. She knew those boots.
    Daisy stopped trying to get away from Gerry. Choosing to fight one battle at a time, she relaxed in his arms and closed her eyes before turning to the more dangerous of her two opponents. She told herself to breathe slowly while she focused on calming her rapidly beating heart.
    That’s what you get for trying to shape your destiny