Down Range (Shadow Warriors - Book 2) by Lindsay McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

woman.
    Morgan had a tall, proud frame. She was all legs, and Jake watched the water flowing sensually across them. Frowning, he saw what he thought were several new, pink scars on her left, upper thigh. He couldn’t see much, because most of the scarring was below the water surface. Were these the injuries she’d gotten when Khogani had attacked that Afghan village? He didn’t like to think her beautiful flesh was scarred. Or that she’d suffered pain, because he’d made her suffer enough. Morgan didn’t deserve it. She was a good person with a trusting heart. Well, she had been trusting…. He’d taught her to trust no man.
    Lifting her head, Morgan forced her legs down into the water, gracefully moving her arms outward to steady herself. Jake was close and terribly handsome, the water running off in rivulets down his face to his neck and shoulders. His eyes went slate-gray again, as if realizing her question had probably dug up a lot of unwanted and hurtful memories from the past.
    Morgan wanted to reach out and simply rest her hand on his shoulder and tell him it was all right. In some ways, Jake had been born behind the eight ball, and he’d had to struggle all his life for everything he’d earned.
    A wave splashed her, and she wiped the stinging salt out of her eyes. Jake continued to be a big SEAL guard dog. “You think a Big White’s gonna see me as a turtle out here, don’t you?”
    His mouth drew into a hesitant grin. “Something like that.”
    Shaking her head, she said, “Ramsey, you’re a piece of work. You really are.”
    “What? Can’t I make sure you can enjoy your swim? What’s wrong with being watchful? There have been plenty of shark attacks on the beaches of the Hawaiian Islands.”
    Spitting out water she’d accidentally swallowed, Morgan shook her head. “Someday, I hope you stop being so damned overprotective, Jake. You were that way with me at Annapolis. You never thought I could take care of myself once because I was a woman.”
    “Look, I don’t want to argue with you, Morgan. We got a job to do.”
    The growl in his tone was a warning. His face went blank and unreadable, a glitter in his icy gray eyes. “That’s right—we do have to get along or we’re both dead meat out there on some godforsaken, ass-freezing Afghan mountain.” Morgan lifted her hand and flung off beads of water and pushed the wet strands off her face. “Your mother contracted multiple sclerosis when you were ten years old. I remember you were the one saddled with being her caregiver until you were eighteen.” Her voice lowered with feeling. “Jake, I know you loved your mother, but you grew up fast in that family because your father was never there. You took care of her until she died when you’d just graduated high school.” She noticed how his eyes went stormy. Morgan gave him a pleading look. “You think all women are weak because your mother was weak. You think because you had to take care of her 24/7, you have to burden yourself thinking you have to take care of me out here. You don’t, Jake. You don’t….”

Chapter Five
    They had just returned to the BOQ after having a Thai dinner at Morgan’s favorite restaurant in Honolulu. The moon was rising in the east, the Pacific Ocean gleaming with a pale corridor of light across the darkened ocean. Jake put the car in Park, the low sulfur lighting revealing a crowded parking lot in back of the building. His hands tightened on the steering wheel for a moment. It was time.
    Morgan released her safety belt when he said, “We need to talk.”
    When Jake’s voice lowered to that intimate growl, she couldn’t refuse to look at him. Her heart skidded in her breast. As Morgan turned and met his shadowy gaze, he placed one arm across the back of the seat, his hand less than an inch from her shoulder.
    “What do you want to talk about?”
    Jake compressed his lips. He moved his fingers lightly across her shoulder. It was the first time he’d touched