Hot SEALs: SEALed For Life (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

you.”
    Having seen how fast she could swing a crutch, Gower slowly reached out and took the remaining prop from under her arm. He laid it across the nearest chair and then brought his gaze back to hers. “Dillon has put me through a crash course in nurturing. I’ve gotten pretty good at taking care of people.”
    “I’m not being stubborn for the hell of it, Beckett. I’m just used to being self-sufficient. No, I mean it. Stop laughing at me… you don’t have to…”
    Her complaining drifted off in the ether as Gower scooped her up again and walked forward with her in his arms for yet a third time that day. Unlike the other two times, she wasn’t in the mood to be nice about it. She hooked a reluctant arm around his shoulders as he carried her from the living room into a hallway.
    “This is totally unnecessary. I can take care of myself.”
    “I’m sure you can. Which bedroom is yours? Or do you want me to guess?” he asked.
    Melina huffed in exasperation. “Last one on the right,” she said tightly. “You know… you have no room to talk. You’re being a stubborn bastard about helping me.”
    “Yes, ma’am. I certainly am,” he agreed easily and politely.
    The unmade bed in her room immediately prompted a fantasy, but one Gower couldn’t indulge as they passed it. Instead, he carried a seething Melina into the adjoining bathroom and lowered her feet gently to the floor. He put the lid down on the toilet so she could sit.
    “Okay. I saw a pair of shorts on your bed. Let me get those for you.”
    When he returned, she was glaring hard. The shorts were ripped from his hand. He turned his back and crossed his arms.
    “Not happening,” Melina declared. “Get the hell out until I change.”
    “Afraid I’ll peek?” Gower asked.
    “Out!” Melina yelled, not dignifying his teasing with an answer.
    Laughing, Gower left and closed the door quietly behind him without looking back.
    ***
    Faster than he would have thought possible, Melina yelled for him to come back inside the bathroom. When he entered, he found her perched on the toilet. The bloody jeans were in a pile at her feet. He glanced at her nice thigh and the horrible gash in it. There was no time to appreciate her mile long legs or the vulnerability he suddenly sensed in her as the two of them filled up the small space.
    “Stop staring at my legs, Beckett. Washcloths are under the sink. There are some old ones you can use to wash the blood away. Peroxide is in a plastic bin in the closet. You should find some gauze or cotton balls in the bin too.”
    Gower gathered up the cleaning tools, following her orders without comment. He ran warm water on the cloth and then dropped down to his knees between hers. He dabbed at the dried blood on the gash. She hissed at the sting of water on the cut, and her leg shook in reaction. His free hand scooped under her thigh to hold it steady while he finished washing the wound.
    Her thigh was smooth and toned in his fingers. It was an effort not to rub and stroke. It was also an effort not to raise his head and close the distance between their mouths. When he could clearly see the cut, he reluctantly turned loose of her leg and stood to rinse out the cloth.
    Gower wasn’t surprised when Melina said nothing during the process. She remained silent as he doused a few pieces of gauze with peroxide over the sink. He returned to his kneeling position without meeting her gaze, mostly for fear she would read his mind and know he wanted to kiss her.
    He heard her hiss as he dabbed the wound with the foaming antiseptic cleanser, but she didn’t call out, tell him to stop, or flinch away from his ministrations.
    After all the complaining she did about accepting his help, the woman was amazingly stoic in the face of what he was sure was genuine pain. “You can swear if you need to. This cut is pretty deep. I still think it needs stitches.”
    Something tugged in his gut as their gazes locked. He badly wanted to cover her