Hot SEALs: SEALed For Life (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Donna McDonald Read Free Book Online

ages was two decades.”
    A laugh escaped around her last bite of sandwich. “Of course you would, Beckett. You’ve got a dick. All dicks work independent of their owner’s brains, don’t they?”
    “Are you stereotyping again? Man, that’s a bad habit, Melina. You’re going to have to adjust that kind of thinking out in the real world.”
    Melina laughed softly at his advice. “Why? Are you saying I’m wrong?”
    Gower chuckled. “No. You’re right about man parts in general. But as the owner of the brain attached to mine, I do have some redeeming qualities.”
    “Yes. You obviously know where to buy a good sandwich,” Melina declared, wadding up her food wrapper.
    “Ah… praise at last. Reluctant praise—but I’m desperate here,” Gower sang out. “Wish the praise had been for my kissing talent. Your lips would already be locked on mine in hello.”
    Sighing, Melina turned to meet his serious stare. “Do you really need to be told you kiss well? You don’t seem like the insecure type to me.”
    Gower reached out and put a hand on her face. He held her gaze. “I need to hear you say it. This is not just some random flirtation, Melina Angel. You’re too special a woman for me to offer something casual and meaningless. And I’m sincerely hoping you’re interested back.”
    Melina leaned back on her couch and sighed again. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. Thanks for feeding me, Beckett.”
    “You’re sidestepping what we were just talking about. Is it that hard to admit?” Gower asked, leaning back and grinning at her stare.
    “Damn it. Okay. I am interested in you,” Melina said finally. “But I don’t jump on a guy every time I feel this way. I outgrew the impulse to make a fool of myself years ago. Can’t we just be friends?”
    Gower crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling, pretending to give her question some serious thought.
    “Sure. We could be friends… probably will be friends. People who survive a fight together usually become friends, don’t they? The difference here is that I don’t just want to take care of you. I’ve learned to read wanting more from a woman as a good signal and not have a panic attack when I start to care. Last time I felt this way about a woman, it was for someone who didn’t want to live a military life with me. Luckily she kept our child even though she didn’t keep me. Now I’m feeling it again with you, and I know you may never leave the military until they put you in hole in the ground. Both extremes are just my bad luck with females… but hey… I’m trying to make the best of my attraction.”
    Melina looked away, wishing he was truly a kid. But it was obvious he wasn’t. “Not that it makes any difference to this discussion, but my time in the military is up. I’ve actually been thinking about getting out.”
    “Really?” Gower asked, startled to hear it, even secretly glad given his interest. “I heard you were a lifer.”
    Melina lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “What does that mean? The option to stay in for another three years isn’t sounding as good to me as it used to. I admit that I’m trying to decide if there really is life after Uncle Sam.”
    Gower scooted closer until his hip lined up with hers. “I wasn’t exactly ready to leave when I left, but I’d never intended to stay in forever. There was always a career conflict going on inside me… like I was meant to do something else only I didn’t know what. Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad I served my country. But it wasn’t hard to see raising Dillon was what mattered most when I had to make the call. If I had a job out here that I liked, truthfully I’d be as content as a person could be.”
    “See? You don’t need me. There wasn’t anything about a woman in that contented scenario you just described,” Melina teased.
    Gower laughed. “Most of the women I’ve dated over the years weren’t into active duty military men. I doubt they would be interested in