Stranded with the SEAL Read Online Free PDF Page A

reminded him he could withstand anything.
    It was what he was trained to do.
    As he stepped onto the porch, the wind pushed him full in the face. Bracing himself, he filled his arms with firewood, then went inside and skillfully laid the logs on the embers. He covered Olivia with his comforter and slipped in behind her. It was a tight squeeze on the narrow couch, but they needed each other’s warmth more than he needed to be comfortable.
    He pulled her tightly against his body and wrapped his arms around her. She was cold enough that she seemed to suck out the little warmth he had left in his own body, like he was lying in bed with a popsicle. He rubbed her arms and slipped her leg between his own, willing the heat from his body into hers.
    “You’re going to be okay,” he whispered into her ear, wondering if she could hear him and fearing she could not.
    This was his fault. He’d done this to her.
    Guilt was like an aching pit he was being pulled into, the knowledge of his own responsibility for her current state overwhelming him. What if she never woke up again? What if she couldn’t walk, or needed medical care he couldn’t get her here?
    He rubbed his cheek on her back. “I’m sorry.”
    The fire began to crackle and catch. He took in her profile, the golden light of the fire illuminating her skin. There was a dark bruise beneath her eye and another on her forehead, but neither could hide what a beautiful woman she was, with fine bone structure and lushly rounded lips.
    Up close her features shone with a natural kind of beauty that stirred something deep in his belly. He ran his hand up to her shoulder and down to her waist, feeling the womanly rise and fall of her silhouette.
    He gritted his teeth together. He had to get her warm, but getting turned on was not part of the bargain. He forced himself to look at the fresh bruises that marred her honeyed complexion.
    She was his responsibility.
    “I won’t let you down,” he whispered. She half turned at the sound of his voice, clearly startled.
    “Olivia?”
    Her teeth started chattering and her torso began to shake.
    “Come here,” he said, shifting so she could roll her chest toward him. “I’ll keep you warm.”
    She did as she was told, but as soon as she started to move she called out in pain.
    “What’s wrong?”
    Her only answer was to press her head hard against his chest and cry. He gently threaded his fingers through her hair and she swatted them away.
    “Does your head hurt?” he asked.
    “Mmm hmm.”
    He wished he could make the pain go away, wished he could take back the accident entirely. Why had fate put her in his path? He shook his head. He was so close to finally getting revenge.
    His brow creased, honor and revenge colliding in his mind. He needed to take care of Olivia, and he needed to take Steele out, once and for all.
    Most of all, what he needed was a plan to do both, without sacrificing one for the other.

6
    C owboy grabbed a fistful of cheese puffs and belched, his eyes never leaving the television. “Brooke Barrons is fucking hot.”
    Matteo shrugged one heavily muscled shoulder and opened another beer. “In a totally stereotypical American beauty kind of way, I suppose.”
    “We ain’t in the military no more, Red, so I can ask. Are you gay?”
    “No.”
    We’ve got a terrific show for you guys tonight…
    Cowboy gestured to the TV. “So give me a booyah when I say Brooke Barrons is fucking hot, not some bullshit answer about the sociological implications of stereotypical beauty.”
    “You almost sounded intelligent just now.”
    “I mean, shit, look at her. That hair. Those tits. That tiny little waist, and legs so long they could wrap around you and squeeze the living daylights out of your ass.”
    “From her outfit, I’m thinking she’s off the market.”
    Cowboy sneered at her formfitting T-shirt with “Bride” written on it and the long veil flowing from her head. “Probably marrying some Hollywood