A/N - thank you all for the reviews! I'm excited that other people are onboard for this little flight of fancy. I'm posting this today rather than tomorrow as I have a planned wine zoom with my mother and sisters. Happy Mother's Day! xoxo - tmtcltb

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"Danny?"

The man looked up at the sound of Kara's voice, crystal blue eyes blinking at her blankly before he seemed to recall where he was. She noticed that the glazed look in his eyes had disappeared over the past few hours. Kara had no way of knowing how much alcohol he had consumed before he crashed in the lounger next to her but, as he had finished off another four beers since then, he appeared to have a hell of a tolerance. Still, Kara had spent enough time around addicts to know the signs and she quickly categorized Danny as a guy on vacation rather than someone who prioritized booze over life. She had been both irritated and relieved when, in addition to the beer, he also drank most of the water he allegedly offered her in exchange for the book. But setting that aside, Danny had been a good companion once he gave up brooding and started reading. And even if nobody had seen them, she had enjoyed spending a couple of hours sitting next to a hot guy.

Her plan could work.

Kara was annoyed beyond belief when he first invaded her space, eyes flickering over her for the briefest of moments before he asked if the lounger next to her was taken. Stung by the dismissal, Kara barely listened to what he said next, his words only sinking in after he was planted next to her, fiddling obsessively with his phone.

Avoiding someone, actually.

A woman, mostly likely, Kara had thought, rather uncharitably. Probably someone blonde with big boobs. A Barbie to his Ken.

She was caught off guard by his request for a book. She knew plenty of guys who read. There wasn't always much to do on a ship in the middle of the ocean and watching reruns of the same movies got old. The guys were mostly into mysteries or Tom Clancy novels, but she and Carlton occasionally swapped paperbacks and Nishioka liked to read his way through the New York Times bestseller list. By running into a jarhead who read historical non-fiction? Well, that was unusual. And even though Danny hadn't said anything about the military - well, anything more than the crack about the Coast Guard - she could see the dog tags under his tee. Not exactly unusual at a resort that advertised extensively at Naval bases, but combined with his muscular frame and haircut, Kara was ninety-five percent sure that Danny was a special operator.

At first she thought he was mocking her when he offered her a drink in exchange for some reading material. But, upon realizing that he actually had read Frozen in Time, she had made a snap decision to engage. As she passed him the book, she half expected him to respond with an invitation to join him in his room where he would read it to her, as the last stranger to sit next to Kara had suggested, but instead Danny took the book.

And read it.

Which is probably why she was about to do something monumentally stupid.

"Are you leaving?" Danny asked, and she thought there might have been a hint of disappointment in his tone. But then he picked up the book, seeming to be marking his place, and she realized that her departure also meant he would be losing his reading material. And clearly the guy was looking for a distraction.

"I was going to get some food," Kara explained, swinging her feet over the side of the lounger. She hesitated, wondering how to raise the idea that she had been contemplating for the last hour as she flipped through pages without reading. "You can keep the book, if you want."

Danny nodded slowly, then offered her a smile. One that likely would have turned her into a pile of goo on the floor if she thought it was genuine rather than a calculated move to get something he wanted. "If you give me your room number, I'll call you when I'm done and we can meet up. I'll even buy you another water as a thank you."

That was her opening, better than she had hoped for, actually, but Kara still hesitated for half a second. Hoping that she wasn't about to make a laughingstock of herself. Still, it wasn't like she was likely to see him again if he declined her proposal.

"Look, Danny, I'm going to be straight with you. All I want is a relaxing week at the beach but my friends won't stop pushing me at random guys. And since you spent the last three hours sitting in a corner reading a book that you clearly wouldn't have chosen for yourself in order to avoid someone, I'm guessing that you're in a similar spot. I think we can help each other."

Kara held her breath as she waited, watching the flicker of surprise cross his face, disappearing almost immediately. He didn't have a poker face, not quite, but Kara didn't know him anywhere near enough to figure out what his current expression meant. Still, at least he wasn't laughing at her. Well, at least not out loud.

When Alisha initially suggested a trip to the Bahamas to celebrate their last two weeks of shore leave, Kara had been wary. Although she loved Sarah and Alisha, she didn't want to crash a romantic getaway. But then Maya and her boyfriend Morris decided to go as well and Kara figured that she could alternate playing third wheel to one or both of the couples, and spend the rest of her time reading or resting or exploring the island. A plan that would have worked, too, if Nina didn't decide to tag along at the last minute with two girlfriends from home that Kara hadn't previously met.

Despite the fact that she had a regular thing going on with Rios, Nina was here to party. And she refused to believe that Kara was not overly interested in waking up with a different man in her bed every morning of their ten day trip. One night out with Nina and her friends was plenty so, upon waking up this morning, Kara quickly packed up some books and made herself scarce. Thank heavens she stuck her ground about getting her own suite. Although it made the trip pricier, the thought of having to deal with Nina every time she returned to her room was horrifying.

Danny shifted to face her, sitting on the edge of the lounger. "I broke up with a long-term girlfriend a couple months back. My friends brought me here to cheer me up but they're just getting on my nerves. Complaining that I'm... cramping their style."

She wondered if her surprise showed. She would never have pegged him as a long term girlfriend kind of guy. She would have guessed girl in every port. "I hear you. My friends don't seem to understand that I don't want to hook up with some random guy for subpar, drunken sex. Why do they care if I just sit on the beach and read?"

Danny raised an eyebrow and Kara felt herself flushing, immediately realizing how her comment sounded. Now he was probably going to think that she was a prude.

"Well then, assuming you aren't asking me to join you for subpar, drunken sex," Danny drawled, appearing more amused than offended by her comment, "what are you proposing?"

"We hang out." Kara lifted her chin. "If we're together, they can assume what they want and nobody needs to know what we are or aren't doing. Rather than hide in this corner to get some peace, we can sit by the pool or on the beach and enjoy ourselves."

"Are you interested in doing anything besides reading books?" Danny asked, head tipping towards her, voice silky smooth. Kara felt her heart rate accelerate. Her proposal would have the somewhat unintended result of suggesting that he was off the market, and she wasn't altogether opposed to the idea of actually hooking up rather than merely giving the appearance of doing so.

Hell, who was she kidding, the man was damn fine and she was totally okay with the idea of spending her vacation in bed.

"Like what?" Kara asked, leaning forward, noting the way his eyes followed her every move.

"Swimming, snorkeling, frisbee, volleyball, jogging on the beach," Danny began. "Maybe renting a jeep and exploring the island."

Kara stared at him for a second, hoping that her disappointment wasn't as obvious to him as it was to her, before quickly nodding. Daily PT was pretty much the last thing she wanted to do on vacation, but Danny's suggestion wasn't unreasonable. Given that Danny hadn't brought any books with him, reading apparently wasn't on his planned agenda either. If he was willing to accommodate her desire to relax, she could tolerate a few beach runs. "Half a day relaxing at the beach and half the day doing something more active. I'm okay with that."

"What about our friends? We can't avoid them the entire week and, I can't speak for yours, but mine aren't going to believe that we're hooking up if we're always three feet apart." He waved a hand between them, lips curling into another one of those dazzling smiles.

Despite being prepared for the question, and knowing what she needed to do, Kara found herself nervous. She rarely made the first move, even after a few dates, and Danny was a stranger. Not giving herself time to hesitate, she leaned forward, bracing her hands on his knees and pressed her lips to his. Tasting beer and salt and a whiff of peppermint. Danny sat frozen for one heartbeat, and then two. Kara began to retreat, her disappointment at his lack of response almost crushing.

And then he moved. Following her back to her own lounger until he was leaning over her. He cupped her chin, thumb catching the corner of her mouth until it opened under the pressure of his lips. Kara's hands came up to clutch his biceps as he leisurely explored her mouth, pressing her back against the lounger until his upper body lay heavily against her, the contact turning her lower body into a seething cauldron of need. She wasn't sure how much time passed before she finally pulled away, feeling the flush that was now covering her from head to toe. Knowing that she needed to stop this while she still had some control over herself. Hooking up was one thing, hooking up in the middle of the resort lobby during daylight hours was another. One question was now answered.

Boy could definitely kiss.

She pushed at Danny's shoulder until he sat up, allowing Kara to do the same. She licked her lips without thinking, watching as his eyes dropped to her mouth. For a fleeting instant, Kara wondered what Danny might have done if, instead of her mad proposal, she just invited him back to her room. "I don't think a bit of PDA is going to be a problem. But if your friends start groping me, the deal is off."

Danny chuckled, moving back to his own lounger. "Understood. But this isn't going to work if I'm back in my room by midnight."

Kara hesitated. She barely knew this guy and inviting him to stay with her felt oddly intimate. Still, it was really no different than inviting someone home after a night out. "I have my own room. You can sleep on the couch. Anything else?"

"If you change your mind and decide that you want to find somebody else to have sex with, you need to tell me first," Danny said, the teasing note in his voice gone.

"No problem," Kara replied with a wave of her hand. As if she was going to be looking at other guys when she had six feet of pure sex appeal right in front of her. "So, do we have a deal?"

Danny sat silently for a minute, as though considering whether there was anything else to add, then held out his hand. Kara reached out to shake, feeling almost lightheaded as she realized what she had done. The whole idea was crazy, and the best thing to do right now would be to walk away.

But even as the thought occurred, Kara knew that she wasn't going anywhere. "We have a deal."