Read Online Contract with a SEAL (Special Ops: Homefront Book 3) by Kate Aster - Free Book Online Page B

front seat,
resisting the urge to pull her back out, toss her over his shoulder and haul
her into one of those nice hotel rooms that Colonial Williamsburg boasted.
“Drive careful. Text me when you get home safely, okay?”
    “Okay,” she said, and he shut her door
for her.
    Damn . What the hell was happening to him? Watching her car drive
into the distance, he felt a longing he couldn’t indulge.
    Must be the holidays, he decided with a
shrug. And all that sentimental bullshit that comes along with them.
     

Chapter Five
     
    Stepping into the backyard, Vi watched
Bess ease her hands behind her against the splintered oak planks of the dock, and
let her feet dangle below her, just an inch or two above the chilly depths.
    “Hey, what are you doing out here in the
cold?”
    Bess glanced over her shoulder to watch Vi
approach. “This is warm compared to the way it’s supposed to be tomorrow. They’re
calling for flurries.” She cocked her head to the side. “Nice of you to finally
come home. We were expecting you a lot earlier.”
    Glancing at the sun sinking toward the
horizon, Vi sat on the dock bedside her. “Joe and I went to Colonial
Williamsburg today.”
    “Really?” She drew the word out to last
at least two syllables.
    “Don’t get any ideas. This was not a
date.”
    “Who bought?”
    “Huh?”
    “The tickets. You need tickets to get
into Colonial Williamsburg. Who bought?”
    Vi’s shoulders sagged slightly. “He did.”
    “Sounds like a date to me.”
    “Bess, this guy is 110% alpha male. He
wouldn’t let me buy a stick of gum myself in his presence. That’s just how he’s
built.”
    Bess whistled, low and suggestive. “And
my, my, how he’s built.”
    Vi rolled her eyes. “We’re sticking to
our agreement.”
    “For now. When you see him next Saturday
in uniform again, all bets are off.”
    Vi sighed, knowing Bess was right. Joe
Shey in uniform was pretty hard to resist. Rather than debate futilely, she
opted for a change of subject. “Where’s Abby?”
    Bess lifted the baby monitor remote that
rested on the dock next to her. “She fell asleep halfway through her mashed
potatoes tonight. We had a playdate with the little girl who lives across the
street from Edith today.”
    Glancing at her, Vi did a double-take at
the grin that was plastered on Bess’s face. “What’s with you? You look like the
cat who ate the canary,” she observed.
    “Huh?”
    “That smile on your face. I’m somehow
thinking it has nothing to do with the playdate. What’s up?”
    “Am I smiling?” Apprehensively, Bess
touched her hand to her cheeks. “Oh, it’s nothing.”
    “What?” Vi pried.
    Bess waved a hand carelessly. “Really,
it’s silly.”
    Vi settled down on the dock alongside
her. “I could use a dose of silly. Lay it on me.”
    Embarrassed, Bess shook her head. “I just
got a call from Tyler. He’s just this guy who I met when he was a West Point
cadet.”
    “Oh, wait—the guy who drove you to
the hospital when you were in labor, right?”
    Bess nodded.
    “Yeah, Lacey told me about him. He’s
always sending Abby stuff, right?”
    Bess smiled. “Yep, that’s him. He’s kind
of adopted Abby as an honorary niece or something. He actually just called to
tell me that he’s got something in the mail for her now for Christmas.”
    “What a nice guy. Kinda makes me wonder
if he’s got some ulterior motives,” she added, waggling her eyebrows.
    Bess snorted. “In my dreams. He’s
gorgeous. Way out of my league.”
    “If the guy has been sending your kid
gifts for the past two years, believe me, there’s got to be a reason.”
    “Well, it’s definitely not his attraction
to me. In fact, I met his last girlfriend. She was gorgeous. Supermodel type. Smart.
And worse, she’s even nice. Don’t you hate women like that?”
    Vi narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You
said ‘last girlfriend.’ ‘Was gorgeous.’ Sounds like Tyler’s brainy supermodel
is now in the past