Make Mine a Ranger (Special Ops: Homefront Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Stop it. I
can’t think about things like that. I’ve got a good thing going here. I can’t
mess it up by making a move on him. Hell, I wouldn’t even know how to make a
move. It’s been so long.” She watched him step onto the shore and head toward
the house. “Oh, no. Gotta run. He’s back on land.”
    Maeve laughed. “Just don’t get yourself
hurt, okay? Or I’ll come up there and beat the crap out of him.”
    “Language, Maeve,” Bess reminded her.
    “I know. Four more days. I’m talking like
a sailor till then because it’s rated G around here from then on out.”
    “Tell Jack congratulations for me, okay?”
She put her dirty cup in the sink.
    “Will do.”
    “Love you, new mama.”
    “Love you back.”
    Bess clicked her phone off and pulled
herself away from the kitchen window.
    Maeve was going to be a mom. It was so
right, so perfect, and yet Bess felt a dull ache in her heart from how quickly
time was passing by. Maeve and Jack would stay in Little Creek for another year
at the last word from the Navy. How soon would it be before they moved back
here and filled this house to capacity with their new family?
    Even while she was thrilled for Maeve,
she knew she had one year left to get her and Abby situated for this next stage
in their lives.
    Where would the road take her this time?
    Abby bounded down the steps. “Did you see
Tyler walking on the water?”
    Bess smiled. “He was paddleboarding. Want
to go see?”
    Abby nodded enthusiastically and raced
out the back door towards him. Bess watched from the back deck as Tyler showed
Abby the board and how he moved the oar across the water. Abby was captivated,
and he put the board on the ground so that she could stand on it. After about
five minutes—the full length of Abby’s attention span—Abby came
flying back up the lawn to the patio.
    “Did you see me, Mama? Did you see me paddleboarding?”
    “I did, sunshine. You looked like a pro.”
    Tyler came up behind Abby and it was all
Bess could do to not drool. His chest had a sheen of sweat that glistened in
the afternoon sun and accentuated every perfectly shaped ripple of his abs. But
it was always his forearms that distracted her the most. They were wider than
most, with fists that could pack a punch, she imagined.
    Years ago, a physique like that would
have terrified Bess. Dan hadn’t even had much of a build on him, and look at
the damage he had been able to do.
    Mick and Jack had fixed that perception. Either
one of them could be lethal if he wanted to, but would never do anything except
protect someone who was in need. From them, she had learned that some men could
be trusted.
    Over the years they had known each other,
Tyler had proven himself to be cut from the same cloth as the husbands of her
two best friends, or she never would have let him step foot in the same house
as Abby.
    “I better hit the shower,” he said
casually, clueless that image made Bess’s heart stop momentarily.
    “Going out tonight?” she asked
innocently.
    “No way. I’m beat after that week at
work. All I want to do is relax.”
    As he started to walk away, Abby took his
hand so naturally it made Bess’s breath hitch.
    “Do you like Italian?” Bess found herself
calling out from behind them.
    He turned back to her. “Who doesn’t?”
    “Great. I’m making lasagna tonight.”
    ***
    Tyler had died and gone to heaven.
    He was generally a pretty easy person to
please when it came to food. Enough time in the field eating MREs will do that
to a man. If Bess had thrown in a frozen lasagna, he would have been happy she
went to the trouble.
    But this…
    Teeth sinking into another bite, his head
shook slowly and his eyes fell to half-mast. A succulent blend of tomatoes and
ricotta seeped into his mouth. There was a slight texture. Was it zucchini? Peppers?
He wasn’t even sure. But the fresh basil—he recognized that by the
scent—had been picked by Abby just that evening from the pots they