Soak (A Navy SEAL Mormon Taboo Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

army
meathead.”
    Navy SEAL, Chloe fought the urge to correct. Then her
mind darted to the growing pile of books on the houseguest’s nightstand. Ryder
Strong was a lot of things, but he definitely wasn’t a meathead.
    “I’m gonna go say hello,” Gwen said at last, making a
miniature show of batting her eyelashes like Betty Boop. “My mother wants me to
meet men, after all.” They shared a titter at the image of Sister Lilly
sanctioning a marriage between her only daughter and a fallen, tattooed, brawny
hooligan. And before Chloe could think to stop it (but then, why would she stop
it?), Gwen had switched her heart-shaped ass across the street and onto the
lawn.
    Chloe watched them. She couldn’t help it. Gwen looked so
natural, with her hair tossed back, her hand on one hip. Even though much of
what the gossip magazines classified as “flirtatious body language,” was
frowned upon in this neck of the woods, Gwen sure knew how to work what the
Good Lord gave her. Even in her Sunday finest, with a Peter Pan collar and
thick stockings, she looked like a girl who knew how to have fun.
    And Ryder responded. He ran his forearm over his face, and
Chloe could see that he’d collected sweat while hard at work. His breathing
came hard, too; she could tell from how fast his chest rose and fell. A dark,
strange knot began to form in her belly, or somewhere just below it. She
sighed, and let air flutter through her lips.
    Now Gwen was motioning to her. Ryder bent a hand to shade
his eyes against the sun. Chloe’s heart began to pound, and for no reason at
all. He’d been under her roof for weeks and now, now she was beginning
to respond to his... physicality? None of her emotions made any sense to her.
So, she didn’t trust them.
    And Chloe had had boyfriends before, at BYU. A slim parade
of those upstanding scholars, who had big dreams but precise responsibilities
within their families. A lot of those boys were married now. Two of them had
even asked her for her hand (Jackie Rommel and Hector Elvarez). Each beau had
been kind, respectful of her boundaries, and pleasant with her family and
friends. Yet not one of those men had sent her insides plummeting the way Ryder
was doing now, as he stood panting and heaving in the almost-heat.
    “What’re you doing prowling around across the street?” the
man himself asked her, once she was in proper ear-shot. Gwen smiled like a
celebrity presenter, flashing all of her pearly white teeth.
    “We’re just taking the long way back from church,” her girlfriend
offered up when no words occurred to Chloe. Just then, the front door opened,
emitting her older brother. Johnny was still shaky with his cane, but he smiled
and took a big step onto the lawn when he saw Gwen. They’d always been close.
At one point, Chloe had thought there might be something more to their
friendship, but Gwen had assured her that this was not the case.
    “Gwennifer Love Hewitt!” he called, ambling toward their
little party on the grass. “How come you haven’t come by the house?” Gwen made
some snappy reply, but Chloe didn’t hear it. She’d somehow been sucked into the
orbit of the panting stranger.
    They stood in awkward silence for a few beats, until it felt
unbearable.
    “You want a lemonade or something?” Chloe came up with.
Ryder grinned at this.
    “Yeah, a lemonade would be swell.”
    She moved to dart across the grass and into the kitchen at
the same moment that Ryder bent over the lawn-mower, and for one mortifying
moment Chloe felt half of her body pressed against Ryder’s sweaty torso. She
could smell him again (less cologne, more cut grass), but this time the smell
didn’t jar her. She realized she’d become adjusted to it, after all his days in
the house.
    “I’m sorry,” she grumbled, knowing full well she sounded
angry. Ryder recoiled as if bitten. Their eyes met then disconnected, swimming
somewhere between shame and revulsion—and just like that, the spell was