SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle Read Online Free PDF Page B

was rumored to be haunted—and covered in buried treasure. Neither belief was true, of course, but it had a certain adventurous appeal. Adventurous and romantic.
    “He thinks you should put me through my paces. Figure out whether or not you want me on your team.”
    Could she let herself want Vince? Put her heart on the line again?
    The real question was, could she stop herself from wanting him? No, she couldn’t.
    Inhaling a shaky breath, she nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

Chapter Five
    ‡
    V ince wanted to take a boat and go, just the two of them, but Larken had a gleam in her eye when she announced it would be better for them to be dropped off by Jackson and picked up exactly twenty-four hours later.
    “Not much of a challenge if you’ve got a getaway option, is it?”
    “Do you seriously think that spending a night with you is that stressful?” he asked under his breath as they headed down to the dock.
    “It’s not the night that I’d be worried about,” she said, winking at him.
    He wasn’t worried about the day, either.
    Larken could hiss and growl all she wanted, but each time they got close, she dropped her shields and he got a taste of her secret softness.
    That was all he needed—just a hint that she could give herself to him.
    He was thirty-one, and in the twelve years since they’d parted ways, he’d never had a woman excite him like she did. He was old enough to know what he liked and what he wanted, and on both counts, it was Larken.
    In all her “watch out, asshole” glory.
    She’d always been sharp. Always had an edge. But the raw hurt was a change from when they were teenagers.
    He was looking forward to the rest of the day. Alone, just the two of them on an island full of history and secrets. That was a lot like them, actually. And as soon as she was ready to show him hers, he’d return the gesture.
    Until she was ready…he could keep her tongue occupied in ways that kept her from snapping at him.
    And he’d enjoy every minute.
    *
    Larken stretched out in the back of the speedboat, tipping her face to the hot, Caribbean sun. She loved the turquoise waters and early sunsets. Such a change from growing up in Michigan. Grey lake water and long summer nights full of mosquitos and her father getting drunk off his gourd…yeah, she didn’t miss anything about her so-called home. That was why she hadn’t been back since her mother up and moved to San Francisco to live with a man she’d met online. A painter or something.
    With a twinge in her gut, she glanced at Vince, taking up his usual amount of too-much-space beside her.
    She’d met his family once, at the end of the sniper course they met on at Fort Benning. They’d each had a week of vacation before they needed to report back to their home units, and after four sex-filled nights at the shore, he’d taken her to his home town.
    He’d introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend. They’d been lovely. She’d let herself hope that she’d be back for Christmas. But by the time the holidays rolled around, he was off to Illinois for his prep course in Navy Special Warfare, and she went to Cabo instead.
    Turned out Cabo sucked on a broken heart.
    Now she wanted to ask him about his family, but it could wait until they were alone again.
    “This is pretty nice,” he said, nudging her knee with his. He’d put on a t-shirt for the boat ride. She’d insist he take it off as soon as they landed. She liked half-naked Vince the best.
    “Yeah. Better than any of the bases I was ever stationed at.”
    “You don’t miss the army?”
    She glared at him through her sunglasses. Had he not picked up on her plan to wait for some privacy before talking? And when they had that privacy, it would be him they were talking about. Not her. She wasn’t the one on the hot seat this weekend.
    “All right, that’s off limits.” He grinned. “What do you want to talk about?”
    “Who said I wanted to talk?”
    He slid his leg against hers,