Contract with a SEAL (Special Ops: Homefront Book 3) by Kate Aster Read Free Book Online Page A

we’re an item, right?
    “I won’t overtly lie to them about it. But
yeah, just because you’re here, they’ll assume that.”
    Vi cocked her head to the side, frowning
slightly as she silently measured the distance between them. For two people who
were supposedly dating, their body language more closely resembled a brother
and sister. “Well, if we are going to pull this off, there’s really something
we should do first.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Kiss me.” She used her most direct tone,
the one she used in business. Yet still a blush crept to her cheeks from the
mere utterance of the word.
    His eyebrows arched. “Kiss you?”
    Resting her hand on her hip, she leaned
against the counter. “Seriously, we look like we’re just two friends right now.
We’ve got to amp up the chemistry between us.”
    Joe’s face was deadpanned. “Vi, you know
damn well there’s enough chemistry between us to blow up a building.”
    Vi grinned at his words. Actually, she
hadn’t known till just this moment. After getting rejected at the wedding and relegated
to the ranks of friendship at their first dinner together, how could she
possibly know whether Joe had any interest in her other than as a pretend date?
“Could have fooled me. We could pass for brother and sister, the way you’re
standing over there and I’m over here.” Brother and sister, she thought. Well,
if that idea didn’t stifle Vi’s attraction for him, nothing would.
    “Brother and sister,” Joe repeated,
lowering his chin as he stepped toward her.
    The space closing in between them, Vi’s
heart rate quickened.
    “Yeah,” she answered. Her eyes flashed in
challenge. “Or are you just not any good at it?”
    Joe’s grin was dangerous. “At kissing?”
    “Mmhm.” Her pitch elevated an octave with
him now only inches away from him. Suddenly, she was wishing she had kept her
mouth shut, grabbing her glass of wine and holding it in front of her, feeling
the need to put something between them.
    This was not a man who would step down
from a dare. Nimbly, he took her glass of wine from her hand and set it on the
counter behind her. Backing her against the counter, he took both her hands in
his and planted them behind her, covering them with his own. Trapped between
his steaming hot body and the cool granite behind her, her elongated sigh
caught in her throat making her suddenly lightheaded.
    “You be the judge,” he said as he lowered
his face down several inches to hers, pausing slightly, then brushing his lips
against hers. His touch was light at first, then pulling away slightly as
though he might stop, forcing her to utter a soft murmur in plea just as he
pressed his lips harder to hers. His hands moved to her face, angling her chin
upward to reach up to his tall form. The sweep of his skin against hers set
fire to her nerve endings, heating her from her core out to her fingertips.
    One hand moved to the back of her neck,
kneading the calloused pads of his strong fingers into her hair just as she
felt his tongue slip inside her mouth. Gently, he swept it across her teeth as
she opened completely to him, wanting to devour him—to be devoured by him.
His other hand touched her cheek and she moaned, even with his lips still
melded with hers. She opened her lips more, brazenly, wanting desperately to
feel more of him as a molten heat pooled inside her below her belly.
    Tracing the back of her neck downward to her
spine, he pulled her tightly against him so that she could feel just how badly he
wanted her. The hard ridge of his arousal ignited her further and she pressed
herself against him, aching for the pressure and dying for release. Tentatively,
she moved her hands to his back, feeling his taut muscles as they moved when he
pulled her closer, his hands moving upwards along her sides, thumbs barely
tracing the outer curve of her breasts.
    She’d give anything to be with this man
right now, she realized. She was putty in his able hands, aching to be