He’s trying to rattle me, but it won’t work. Okay, maybe it’s working a little, but I’m a quick learner and I play with the big boys in IP law. I can give as much as they do. I can take as much as he gives, and I’ll give it right back. He just doesn’t know it yet.

The entire time he’s feeding me I find myself thinking about ways to retaliate, ways to get him back for being so bossy.

Who am I kidding?

I’m thinking about how sexy Caden looks in his t-shirt with healthy biceps bulging. He clearly works out, but then again, he was a Navy SEAL, aren’t they all built?

Suddenly it dawns. Why is he dressed and I’m not? My eyes narrow but I obediently opened my mouth for the next-to-the-last bite of hamburger. I’m stuffed, and suddenly self-conscious as though my stomach is protruding with all this food.

Don’t get me wrong. I love food and I love eating, but today, not so much. I’m still a bit queasy from the panic and reality that I almost lost my life today. I literally almost lost my life. I could have died.

Nausea hits me hard and sudden. I feel sweat breaking out on my brow and then my eyes fly up to Caden’s. Next thing I know, I’m jumping off the bar stool and running for the bathroom. I manage to close the door quickly behind me, push the lock on the handle, and make it to the toilet just in time.

I can hear Caden calling my name, but it feels like he’s in another galaxy. I heave into the toilet violently, gagging, then heave again. Every bit of the burger ends up in the toilet, and then the thought of it has me heaving all over again, except there’s nothing left in my stomach.

I hit the knob on the toilet to make the vile smell flush away, then sit down and lean against the bathroom wall. My body covered in sweat, shivering.

I hear the door lock pop, but I don’t even look up.

“Babe,” he says as he picks me up as though I weigh nothing, moving me swiftly to the bed.

All I can do is moan.

He lifts one eyelid, then the other, but I push his hand away. “Stop or I’ll leave,” I threaten him. He covers me with a blanket and I can barely utter, “Just let me be for a bit. Please.” My eyes are closed, and I’m willing my stomach to settle.

I can feel him standing there, but I don’t have the strength to argue, and then sleep blissfully claims me.

At one point in the night, I realize that he’s joined me in the bed. He’s checking my pulse and I pull my hand away and turn away from him, taking the blankets with me. I think I hear blanket thief and then sleep claims me again.

When I wake, it’s to the sound of birds and a door closing softly. I open my eyes, at first unsure of where I am, and then reality comes at me like a freight train. I’m in Lake Tahoe. It’s my first vacation—hell—who am I kidding? It’s my first mini-vacation in two years. I haven’t had a true vacation since I graduated from law school.

In twenty-four hours I’ve had the first panic attack of my life, slept with an ex-SEAL, let him do things to me no man has done before, (my cunt gets wet just thinking about it), and I ate a meal naked at his island while he fed me. 

Have I lost it?

My hand presses to my stomach, but the nausea is gone. I turn onto my back and look to my left. The bed is empty. I breathe a sigh of relief and stretch.

A Shower. It’s calling me. I don’t dare to take much time, just in case Caden re-appears, so I wash my body and hair, and then condition it, all within five minutes. I’m standing in his bathroom with a towel snug around my body when I hear the bedroom door open. My heart beats a little faster, and then the bathroom door opens.

“Ever heard of knocking?” I ask.

He just standing there looking at me. I can tell he’s assessing how I am and it annoys the hell out of me. Yesterday I may have been out of sorts from everything I’d been through, but today is a new day. Get ready, Navy SEAL.

I turn to him and cross my arms, assessing him right back, trying hard not to think about how sexy he looks in running shorts with his thick, muscular thighs showcased perfectly, his performance t-shirt clinging to his pecs and abs.

He smiles, then laughs. “I’m going for a run with Cocky. I’ll be back within thirty.”

“Thirty?” I scoff. “That’s not a run.”

A spark lights his eyes, and I can tell I’ll pay for that later, but to his credit, he says nothing. He simply turns away, and Cocky follows him as though I don’t exist.

I’m not going to lie; I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a rise out of him. 

A run sounds good to me, too, and I didn’t run at all yesterday, but then I think about the fact that I had four orgasms, and I figure that counts for something. In fact, my body feels it today, but it feels it in a very good, very satisfied way.

I also don’t think Mr. Navy SEAL would respond well to the fact that I’d like to go for a run, and this is day two out of four of my mini-vacation. Gotta pick your battles, my grandma would say.

I decided then and there I’m going to make the remaining days of my vacation count. My body tingles in anticipation.