A Major Seduction Read Free

hunk of amazing.
    Maria steadied her breath and pasted on a bland smile,
giving lie to the racing of her pulse. “Oh, hey, Mike. Welcome back.” She
grabbed the tea, winked, and left the kitchen.
    Her heart refused to stop hammering. Well, shit. I’m not over him yet. Time to see Bobby, stat.

Chapter Two
     
     
    Major Mike Cava stared at the blur of blonde that had come
and gone in a heartbeat. What the hell?
    He turned to confront the woman who’d pushed him into said
blonde. “Who was that?” He knew; he just had to hear his suspicions confirmed.
    “Who do you think, dorko? Maria. My best friend. Hello?” His
younger sister smirked at him. “Apparently your time in California has killed
more than a few brain cells. Been smoking anything funny out there?”
    “Ha ha. Aren’t you a comedian?” He grunted and grabbed the
chicken his mother had ordered him to fetch. “I can’t believe that was the same
girl who’s been dogging me for years.” No hug or kiss? No squeals of delight to
see him again? She hadn’t done more than look sexy and wink at him before
ducking out. Even more baffling, the words sexy and Maria had never gone hand in
hand. Well, not that he’d ever admit without being considered one major perv.
Nope. Just the best friend of his little sister. So what the hell was with her
physical transformation into a Playmate of the Year? Stunning didn’t come close
to describing her.
    He entered the dining room to see his brother hanging all
over the woman— girl —and his parents
laughing at something she said. Fuck me. In the two years since he’d been back, Maria had seriously changed. The sly
grin and mischievous blue eyes remained. But the blonde hair looked longer and
lighter, glints of gold shining when she moved under the overhead chandelier.
She still had a slender figure, not softly rounded like the women he usually
dated. But she’d never seemed so attractive before.
    Now… Her peach sundress showed off toned shoulders and arms,
a good bit of her shapely legs, and an impressive figure the fashion magazines
would have called svelte. What he’d describe as amazingly sexy. She wasn’t
wearing a bra, and the fabric of her dress floated over her breasts like silken
fingers stimulating her nipples into points.
    Jesus, I’m staring at
Maria’s breasts…
    Then she glanced at him through a blonde fringe of bangs and
he saw his sister’s best friend again. The same little girl who’d begged him to
save her from spiders at a sleepover when she’d been eight. The girl who’d
dared him to climb higher and run faster to prove to everyone he really was her
favorite superhero. He’d done it, of course, because he’d loved the small girl
like a second little sister.
    Sister…Breasts… Gross. He hurried to clear his weird thoughts and settled down to eat with his family.
    “Nice to be back,” he said when his father smacked him on
the shoulder.
    “How’s 6 th Battalion treating you?” his dad
asked.
    Colonel Michael J. Cava had recently retired, but Mike
worried his father missed work more than he’d let on.
    “How’s golf treating you?” Mike countered, seeking signs of
discontent.
    His father laughed, looking relaxed and happy. “In no time
I’ll be able to kick your ass on the course. Brad’s too.”
    “What about me?” Olivia asked, irked.
    Mike saw Maria smother a grin.
    “Honey,” his father said, “the minute you want to play, I’m
sure you’ll outdo me.”
    “Hmmph.”
    Brad leaned closer to Maria—too close, in Mike’s opinion—and
said, “She always has been a spoiled brat. So competitive.”
    “Don’t get me started, Bradley ,”
Olivia sneered. “And stop looking down Maria’s dress.”
    Maria started. Brad leaned back and grinned. His father
laughed outright while his mother admonished Brad to behave.
    Mike didn’t see anything funny about the situation. “Dude,
that’s like ogling your sister. Not cool.”
    He saw a strange glance pass between