The Navy SEAL's Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

comical she couldn’t do anything but laugh. “Okay, okay. I don’t like being a burden, that’s all.”
    From the look on his face, he didn’t think she was a burden.
    And from the look of it, he was struggling with what to say, how to behave, as much as she was. Could he honestly be as unused to attention from the opposite sex as she was? Caitlin sure doubted it. She’d perfected her look, a back-off way of staring at guys who so much as threatened to show interest in her. Tom’s body language was closed, but he sure didn’t have a stay-away vibe, not in that way.
    “Miss Rose, do you have a husband?”
    Caitlin coughed, tried not to inhale ice cream up her nose as she spluttered. Where the heck had that question come from?
    “Gabby!” Tom scolded. “That’s not a polite question.”
    Caitlin didn’t turn to look, couldn’t even brave a glance at Tom. But she wasn’t going to let Gabby get in trouble for being inquisitive. Didn’t she always tell her class the importance of asking questions? Maybe she needed to remind them of what types of questions were appropriate, though!
    “It’s fine, Tom. It doesn’t matter.”
    “So do you?” Gabby asked.
    “Gabriella!” Tom’s voice boomed through the car.
    No, thought Caitlin. No, she didn’t. But the thought of saying that in front of Tom scared her, made her want to wrench the car door open and run. Because she’d built a fort around herself, never made herself available in any way, and she sure as heck wasn’t ready for that to change.
    “Sorry,” Gabby said, sounding unsure why she had to apologize. “It’s just that Tommy doesn’t have a wife and Mommy is always saying that he needs a ‘nice girl to settle down with.’”
    Caitlin fought the urge not to laugh at Gabby’s put-on voice and failed miserably. One look at Tom and he was in hysterics, too, laughter ringing through the car. Jokes she could handle. Jokes were safe.
    “A nice girl, huh?” She couldn’t stop the smirk that settled on her face when she found her voice again.
    Tom glared at her, but that only made them both laugh again. “Don’t kids say the darnedest things?” Only this time his gaze hinted at a seriousness below the surface, and she wondered if Tom was after a nice girl, or if it was just his sister-in-law wanting him to find one.
    Either way, it meant nothing to her. She wasn’t interested in a relationship, and Tom wasn’t her type.
    What she couldn’t understand was why talking about Tom like that had sent an itch under her skin that she couldn’t dislodge.

CHAPTER THREE
    “ S O you’re telling me that nothing happened?”
    Caitlin sighed into the lukewarm coffee she was nursing. “Correct.”
    Her friend and fellow teacher sighed dramatically. “Look me in the eye and tell me,” Lucy demanded.
    Caitlin wasn’t lying. She was dreadful at keeping secrets, but she was guilty of one thing.
    “I promise nothing happened,” she said, raising her eyes and shrugging. “Seriously.”
    Lucy tucked her legs up beneath her, curled like a cat on the sofa. “But you wanted something to happen, right?”
    Heat burst onto Caitlin’s cheeks as she sipped her now almost-cold coffee, trying to avoid Lucy’s gaze. “I agree that he’s kind of cute, but he’s not really my type. And seriously, Lucy, what was going to happen in a class full of six-year-olds?”
    The groan she received in response told her she’d given the wrong answer.
    “He’s every girl’s type, Caitlin.” Lucy stood up and stretched. “Either you’ve got rocks in your head or you’ve gone blind. I saw him leave your class yesterday and he’s hot, hot, hot.” Lucy waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Don’t give me that rubbish about being in a classroom either, because I know you walked him out. It’s about time you gave a guy a shot. One day you might just surprise yourself.”
    Okay, so Tom was hot. Gorgeous in fact. Sexy as hell. But it still didn’t mean she was capable of