Redeeming Justice by Suzanne Halliday Read Free Book Online

careful—another by-product of keeping up with her brothers. Besides, careful didn’t seem to feel quite right in this situation. There was nothing common sensible
     or careful about what she was feeling.
    “Thanks again,” she told him as she leaned in to press a kiss on his cheek. It probably
     wasn’t necessary to lay a hand on his chest for balance, but she did it anyway. The
     heat coming off him was incredible. She bet he’d work up quite a sweat in bed. Something
     she wouldn’t mind licking off his body. Yum .
    When she touched her lips to his face he grabbed her other hand, holding it firm at
     her side. He was either going to pull her away and put some distance between them
     or he was holding her in place. A flood of heated moisture drenched her core when
     he held still, keeping her hand upon his chest and her body close to his for long
     seconds after the kiss ended. She swore he could hear her heart thumping—that was
     how loud it seemed in her head.
    Before releasing her he turned his face into her curls and breathed deep. She held
     her breath at the intimacy of the action.
    “I’m very glad you’re here Meghan O’Brien.”
    When she pulled back and looked at him, they were close enough to touch. She sensed
     his reluctance when he ran a trembling finger across her bottom lip. Disappointed
     that he hadn’t kissed her, Meghan thrilled when he dropped a quick smooch on her nose,
     squeezed the hand he still held and told her in a husky voice, “Very glad.”
     

     
    The minute Alex left his unexpected houseguest to get settled in, he headed for the
     tech cave where he could pretend to be busy while working out his thoughts about what
     was happening. There was no denying he was wildly attracted to the Irish beauty. Hell.
     When she bent over to look out the window he had to hold back from stepping up to
     rub his growing erection against her magnificent ass.
    But he also knew that acting on the lusty feelings she evoked was just not going to
     happen. Not in this lifetime, anyway. He didn’t do relationships. Even if once upon
     a time he’d envisioned finding a wife and starting a family, those days were long
     gone. Gone and buried many times over in the stench-filled, putrid remains of that
     motherfucking war. It would take all of this and possibly many more lifetimes to atone
     for the part he played during that time. Redemption was not certain, was in fact highly
     in doubt. Some things are just so fucked up that trying to make any sense is a waste
     of time.
    There was no good use in pretending that Meghan O’Brien wasn’t just about the most
     gorgeously sexy and desirable woman he’d known in his entire lifetime. He’d been without
     a woman for a while, but he knew without question his response to her wasn’t a case
     of simple horniness. It didn’t mean that he had to act on that desire though. Wanting
     to sink his dick into the fiancée of one of his dead soldiers was a step so far beyond
     what his conscience could take that it wasn’t funny. She was seriously off-limits.
     There was no fucking way he could handle anything less. He might be a bastard, but
     he wasn’t that messed up.
    Dammit. A drink was what he needed. Maybe a bunch of ‘em. Anesthetizing his brain
     was a priority if he hoped to avoid taking a long, slow trudge down memory lane. Somehow
     though he doubted he’d be lucky enough to keep all that shit at bay while she stayed
     at the Villa. Fuck . Even right this second he was blocking the visual memory of her fiancé, the guy
     his old squad nicknamed The Kid. It wouldn’t help to resurrect that particular ghost.
     Besides, there were plenty more where that one came from.
    A little while later his trusted assistant Tori, who was also conveniently the wife
     of one of his Justice Brother partners, wandered into the tech cave.
    “Hey Boss,” she hollered across the room. “Did you see the paint chips Lacey and I
     brought you or did you ignore