If you’ve developed a love of cruising, you won’t want to miss LOVE ME TWICE, the third voyage of the Lothario. Once I’d given Ryan and Richard their happy ever after, I turned my attention to Ryan’s older brother, Sean Callahan. Sean is a true American hero, one of those superbly trained individuals who have served our country in the shadows, never expecting recognition or accolades. That was reason enough for me to help him to find the love of his life. It wasn’t easy though. Once upon a time, Celeste, Sean and Drew had been a team, but fate had thrown them a curve, and Celeste had fallen in love with both of them. Sean’s demands that she choose between them drove her away. Now that he’s found her again, he isn’t letting her get away until she picks just one.

Like I said, it was touch and go for a while, but I don’t think I’ll spoil it for you if I tell you Sean has his work cut out for him, and may have to learn to share. *grins*

Here’s an excerpt from LOVE ME TWICE, which releases August 1, 2011. This is the first conversation between Sean and Celeste in five years.

Celeste inched closer until one muscled shoulder came into view. Her eyes followed the length of bronzed skin dusted with dark hairs, down to his hand. A bottle hung from a single finger crooked in the lip. Some things never changed. Some people drank when they were upset. Sean was one of them. However, his drink of choice had always been orange juice. She smiled, despite herself. It was good to know she could still rattle his cage.

“Hello Sean.”

“Sit.”

Celeste stepped onto the balcony and, defying his order, leaned against the balustrade. Maybe if she didn’t look at him this would be easier. The sun warmed her skin, and the salt breeze reminded her she wasn’t home. They’d left Miami behind. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but open water.

“I’m not yours to command anymore.”

“Why is that?”

“It just is, Sean. If you haven’t figured it out by now, then you don’t need to know.”

“How’s the Ambassador?”

“Daddy is fine. He says he’s retired, but he’s driving mama crazy.”

“And the lovely Giselle?”

She craned her neck around to look at him. “My mother is still as lovely as ever.” She didn’t want to talk about her parents, not with Sean, not now. “My parents are fine. You didn’t bring me here to talk about them, did you?”

“No, I didn’t, but I’m glad to hear they’re doing well. I always enjoyed their company.” He brought the juice bottle to his lips and drank. She watched the muscles in his neck as he swallowed. She turned away again. “Did you come to see Drew?”

She jerked her gaze around to him. If she believed this cruise couldn’t get any worse, she was wrong. “He’s here?”

“Where else would he be?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t”¦” She hadn’t dared think about it.

“Didn’t know he’s my business partner, or didn’t know we were still friends?”

“Both, I mean”¦ neither.” She turned so she could see him and leaned against the railing. It was a mistake. His eyes, obscured by the aviator sunglasses, gave nothing away. Likewise, his face showed no sign of the roiling emotions the orange juice container guaranteed. He still wore his hair in a military cut, but perhaps to blend in on the ship, several days’ stubble darkened his sharp jaw. Sprawled across the chaise, dressed in nothing more than turquoise shorts she recognized as crew issue, he looked every inch the seducer of women the ship was named for.

It was going to take more than bravado to survive this encounter.

“You didn’t come to see me or Drew, so why are you here?”

“I’m on vacation. I thought a cruise would be relaxing.”

“You always were a terrible liar.”

There wasn’t any sense in arguing that point. She couldn’t win because it was true. That flaw had been the bane of her existence within the CIA, and later, the DIA. Thankfully, she’d had other qualities that made her a valuable asset to the department. Apparently, a change from one bowl of alphabet soup to another had done nothing to improve her deceptive abilities. “I’m here on business. I need to talk to your brother.”

He raised the juice container to his lips and drained it. Not a good sign. “You work for?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“If it involves the Lothario, it’s my business. Ryan isn’t onboard.” His smile challenged her to argue the point.

“Richard Wolfe?”

“Also not here. It’s me, or nobody.”

“Accidenti!” Crap! Some women had all the luck. She wasn’t one of them. She turned her gaze to the open sea. “You’re in charge?”

He moved as quietly as a jaguar, and she knew, he could be equally as deadly. Her heart raced as he joined her at the balustrade. One arm stretched across the small of her back, and his palm came to rest on the curve of her thigh and inched upward until it cupped her butt cheek. The scrap of lace covering it did nothing to filter the heat radiating from his skin to hers. His thumb stroked the soft flesh he found there.

“If you can call it that. What’s this about?” His voice dropped to that low register, the one that made her pussy clench and her mind go blank.

She pushed his hand away and cursed the short sarong, wishing now she’d tugged it lower instead of higher.

His hand returned to where it had been. “Should I tell Drew you’re here?”

She clenched her hands around the polished wood rail. It was hard to tell where the line was between business and personal. It was hard to think with Sean touching her. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to avoid him for the next week?”

“No. The ship is big, but it isn’t that big.”

“Then I’d appreciate it if you could tell him for me. I’d hate to run into him without him knowing.”

“Like you did with me?”

She took her time answering. “I’m sorry, Sean. I shouldn’t have come.”
” You shouldn’t have ever left.”

Her heart squeezed, and a dull, familiar pain, spread all the way to her fingers and toes. “I had to. You know I did.”

“I think Drew would disagree with you.”

“It was the best thing ““ for both of you.”

“Was it the best thing for you?”

If only she knew the answer to that. Five years had gone by and her heart still ached when she thought of Sean and Drew. She’d worked hard to build a new life and with his single question, she saw her new life evaporating in the wind. She needed to get away from him, far away before she did something stupid, like beg him to take her back. She took a step backward. His hand left a trail of scorched skin across her ass.

“I have to go now. You’ll tell Drew I’m here?”

Sean turned and brushed past her to the chaise, and resumed the position she’d found him in. “I’ll tell him.” His tone dismissed her, more so than his words.

She stared at him, trying to process it all. Celeste fled while she still could. She hadn’t expected the anger, or the deep hurt she’d heard in his voice. Had she been wrong? If she hadn’t left, could they have made it work? For the first time, she began to question what she’d done.

Her small cabin didn’t provide much room to pace, so she sprawled across the bed and stared at the stranger in the mirror mounted on the ceiling. Who was this soft, blubbering idiot? Tears streamed across her temples, and she swiped them away with trembling fingers. Drew and Sean. Both of them. Here. Now. Again.

It was too much to contemplate. She thought Sean would have moved on. Had he married? Dear God, was he married now? She closed her eyes and brought his image to mind. How stupid to have to think about it. She was trained to observe. She should have noted his left ring finger, and registered the information without conscious thought. That she now had to search her brain for the answer brought her own anger to the surface.

Sean Callahan’s lean, muscled body invaded her consciousness. She forced her mind to recall his left hand. No ring. No telltale sign he’d ever worn one. If he’d been married, it was so long ago, the ring shadow was gone.

He looked older, but far from decrepit. He was still a devastatingly virile man. The touch of silver at his temples added an air of sophistication he’d lacked five years ago. She and Drew had kidded him about looking like a baby James Bond, and he’d shown them how wrong they were.

Celeste groaned and curled into a tight ball as a wave of desire pulsed through her. She could still feel the imprint of his hand on her ass. She should have thrown him overboard for groping her, but it had felt so damned good. Her core turned to liquid the minute she saw him sitting there, and when he touched her”¦ well, if his fingers had moved a little lower he would have known how wet she was. Another groan tore from her. Sean wouldn’t have stopped there if he’d known, and God help her, she wouldn’t have made a move to stop him.

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