Tangled Pursuit by Lindsay McKenna Read Free Book Online

narrowing eyes, her palm automatically coming to rest on the butt of her safed .45. He smiled and held up his hands, leaving a good six feet between them.
    “Hey, I’m unarmed, darlin’,” he teased in his drawl. He saw her eyes move to his two drop holsters with SIGs in them.
    “You’re never unarmed, Chief,” Tal muttered, pulling her hand away from the butt of her .45 pistol and slowly straightening to her full six feet.
    He lowered his hands, allowing them to rest easily on his hips as he studied her in the dusk. The entrance to the B-hut was a good hundred feet away. She couldn’t just turn, slip into it, and slam the door in his face. Not this time.
    He noticed that her voice was sharp with adrenaline, and he felt guilty for alarming her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare the bejesus out of you.” He hitched a thumb toward the chow hall in the distance. “I spotted you coming from chow and thought I’d intercept you, see how you’re feelin’ after your coughing and choking episode.”
    Well, that was half true. It was a good reason to get her to drop that icy shield she kept around her. The fear dissolved in her eyes, replaced by a spark of anger. Why?
    “I’m fine,” she muttered, the tension bleeding out of her. “Now leave me alone, please.”
    He adopted his old cowboy slouch and said, “Hey, I’d like to take you out for pizza and beer some night. If you’re like me, you could use some downtime after those last ops we were on . . .”
    “Are you crazy? I’m not going anywhere with you, Lockwood.” She couldn’t believe his gall. Hadn’t he gotten the point yet? She wasn’t interested! Well, that wasn’t quite true. Her body sure as hell was interested in the lanky, casual SEAL, but her heart? That was wholly another matter. Tal wasn’t a love-’em-and-leave-’em type; she was never interested in one-night stands. What interested her was a long-term, serious relationship. And she knew Wyatt Lockwood wasn’t interested in that sort of ongoing affair.
    He looked down at himself and then up at her. “Crazy? Not since the last time I checked. Why not go out with me?”
    Okay, so sweet-talking wasn’t going to work. Wyatt knew they had simmering chemistry between them. It had always been there. He wasn’t a SEAL for nothing. They went after what they wanted. He straightened and walked right up to her, took her gently by the arm, and led her over to the side of the materials and supply building, placing her back against it. This way, she had no place to go, since he was standing a foot away from her, looking into her shocked eyes.
    Taking her completely by surprise, he said, “I really like you, Captain, but you won’t even let me get my foot in the door. It’s been three years now, so you can’t say I’m not patient. So satisfy my curiosity, okay? What’s going on here?”
    Unsettled by his bluntness, she took a minute to get her thoughts together and came up with the most important reason first. “It’s obvious, even if it’s escaped your notice. I’m an officer and you’re enlisted, and never the twain shall meet. You know those are the rules, even if you are a stubborn damn SEAL and think you can break rules whenever it suits you.”
    She reminded him of a cornered female bobcat, all hisses, spits, and growls. “That’s never stopped me before, and it shouldn’t stop you, either.” He looked around the base, watching the night throw its shadowy cape across the busy desert Army base. Returning his gaze to her, he said, “I know a number of safe places here on base where a man and woman who want total privacy can get it.”
    “I’ll just bet you do,” Tal retorted, her fists clenched at her sides. “Listen carefully, Lockwood. I want nothing to do with you. Period. Does that compute?”
    He took off his baseball cap and scratched his combed hair. “Well, no, not exactly, darlin’.”
    Her fine nostrils flared and her voice quivered. “Don’t you dare call me that