Seaside Seduction (Sun Stroked Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

his head. Retirement at thirty. That was a first. Ethan had spent the first eighteen years of his life dreaming about serving his government and the last twelve years living that dream, only to be written off. Those fucking insurgents might as well have taken his life when they shot up his leg. Ethan fisted his hands, his anger exploding inside him like shrapnel.
    Malik held his hands out in front of him, palming an imaginary bubble around Ethan. He gave a slow side-to-side shake of his head. “You still hold so much anger, Ethan. You need to release your destructive emotions.”
    Ethan clenched his jaw until the muscles ached. “I’m not angry,” he shot back. Okay, so maybe he was angry. Who could blame him? His goddamned government had sent him to this island in the middle of Buttfuck nowhere to heal.
    In other words, they wrote him off.
    He knew the military mantra when he signed on—if he wasn’t deployable, he wasn’t employable. So what the fuck was he supposed to do with his life now? He’d grown up in a military family, and even though he’d been disgruntled lately, disgusted and completely fed up with all the bureaucratic bullshit that went along with the job, it was his way of life. It was all he knew.
    “Why don’t you sign my damn release papers and let me get back to civilization?”
    “Ahh, but you’re not ready.”
    “I’ve been here for two months. I’ve tried all your therapeutic methods. There isn’t anything else you can do for me. All I want is to be left alone to heal on my own.” Ethan cursed under his breath, hating that this medicine man had the ability to hold him, along with a dozen or so other injured comrades, until he felt they were healed, inside and out.
    Malik stroked his goatee. “There is one more thing I can do for you.”
    Ethan straightened to his full six foot three. “Like I told you, I don’t believe in magic water from your private spring.”
    Malik bowed his head slowly. “Very well, then, but I planned on serving it at dinner this evening, and it just might be what you need to facilitate your progress.”
    When Malik turned to leave, Ethan blew a resigned breath, compartmentalizing his emotions. “Look, if I drink it, can I go home?”
    Ethan’s strongest desire was to feel in control again, of his life and everything around him. And that was never going to happen. Magic elixir or not, nothing would ever give him full use of his leg, and without the use of his leg, he’d never feel in control. And he needed his control. He thrived on it. He was shaped by it.
    Malik turned back to face him, and in a soft but commanding voice he said, “Your destiny is in your hands, Ethan.”
    After a good show of exasperation, Ethan drew a breath and let it out slowly. “Just tell me, if I drink it, can I go home?”
    “It’s in your hands, Ethan,” he repeated. With that, he walked away and returned to his temple, to his meditation position.
    Jesus, if he kept talking in riddles, the only thing that was going to be in Ethan’s hands was Malik’s neck.

3
    A fter pulling on a soft , cotton, cranberry-colored sundress decorated with big white flowers, Danielle knotted her long hair on top of her head, applied a light layer of makeup and made her way to Abby’s cabana to gather her friends for dinner. Of course, prettying herself up had nothing at all to do with hunky soldier Ethan Sharpe, or those big, deft hands of his. Or all the delightful ways he could discipline her lascivious body with them.
    Nope. Nothing to do with that at all.
    Flip-flops snapping against her heels, she followed the sandy footpath to Abby’s secluded cabana which was located in a private cove flanked by tall hills and foliage. As she knocked on the door her mind raced, wondering whether her hard-core military man would show up for dinner tonight. It occurred to her just how excited she was at the prospect. Then again, she still wondered whether her mind had simply conjured up the perfect