Seduced by Three by Sylvia Ryan Read Free Book Online Page B

accelerated in response.
    “Please, God,” she prayed softly, “at least make this better.”
    She followed the sound of his footsteps to the secret entrance of the shelter then followed the beam of light bobbing down the stairwell, lighting a path toward the bed.
    When he switched the flashlight off, the absolute blackness of the room amplified the sound of him removing clothing. She felt the side of the bed dip and heard the double thunk of his boots hitting the cement floor. He lay down on top of the blanket and blew out a deep breath. Their bodies pressed up against each other with the thin blanket between them. She listened for a minute to his even breathing and wondered if she would ever fall asleep with this man so close to her.
    “You awake?” Sarge’s deep rumble resonated in the stark blackness of the shelter and sent a flutter down her spine that finally took up residence in her belly.
    Grace reached over and laid her hand on his stomach. “Yeah.” She trailed her hand across his bare skin, feeling the cuts and curves of the muscle definition underneath.
    He sucked in a breath as Grace’s fingertips roamed near the waistband of his jeans. “Grace.”
    She heard the tone of warning in that one word, and she didn’t care what kind of message she was sending. At that moment, she would do just about anything to get this man lying next to her to hold her and make everything feel okay, even if it was just for a little while.
    “You caught me off guard this afternoon.” She paused, carefully choosing her words. “Can we just start over? I don’t want to be constantly butting heads with you.”
    “I don’t either,” he said in a voice so deep that she felt the vibration of it on the skin underneath her hand. “But there are a few issues between us already that won’t go away by just starting over.”
    “Like?”
    “Like the fact that my dick’s been rock hard and throbbing practically since the first time I laid eyes on you.” He placed his hand on hers. “You rubbing on me isn’t helping.”
    “Do you want me to stop?”
    He didn’t answer for a while, and then he lifted her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed her palm
    “No, Gracie, I don’t want you to stop,” he whispered with a tone of grumpy resignation.
    “I promised your father I would take care of you, and you’re not cooperating.”
    Grace’s hand stopped its slow progress down Sarge’s body. “I can take care of myself.”
    “The fact that you think so has become glaringly obvious. Listen, I’m not trying to condescend to you. I just want to work with you to keep both of us safe. I don’t want to constantly be on edge because you might go off on your own without telling me. You have to promise me you won’t do that.”
    Now it was her turn to stay quiet. She waited to hear his admonishments about going to the lake tonight, but got none. He hadn’t even known she was gone.
    “Grace?”
    “What?”
    “This is nonnegotiable. We have to be a team.”
    “I don’t like being told what to do,” she said coolly, pulling her hand away from its exploration of the smooth, hard flesh underneath it.
    “You’re going to have to deal with it, at least once in a while. I’ve been preparing for something like this for a long time. You’re going to have to trust my judgment.”
    His statement hung in the air between them.
    “Dammit, Grace, this is not a game we’re playing here. In about a week, when all the food has been looted from the stores and there’s nothing left in the cupboards, people are going to start going a little crazy. In a few weeks, thousands of people will be dead. If we do everything right, and I mean everything, we have a chance to live through this. But we can’t let down our guard. We have to know what to do, and what not to do, to stay safe. And right now, you don’t know everything.”
    Grace sighed. “Okay, I’ll trust you. I’ll follow your rules.” She paused. “I’ll try anyway.”