A SEAL's Seduction (Alpha SEALs Book 4) Read Free Page A

against his muscled chest.  He’d wanted her, too.  And that made him even more dangerous.
    She’d always been attracted to guys like him from afar—rough and tumble, macho, alpha males.  She worked with plenty in her job at a defense contractor in Arlington, VA.  Former military guys who’d joined the private sector and active duty military officers that worked with her company on lucrative contracts with the Pentagon and Department of Defense were always around.  But she never dated any of those guys.  She stuck with what was safe, what she knew.  Fellow HR employees and accounting and payroll specialists.  Maybe the occasional accountant or lawyer.  Safe men who had steady, boring jobs like her.  Not men who could easily bench-press two of her and jumped out of airplanes for a living.
    With the way her own parents had always been gone when she was growing up—traveling around the world, leaving her and her sister in the care of a nanny or some other relative, she knew she needed to find someone to make her feel safe.  Secure.  A Navy SEAL who deployed on dangerous missions would never be the man for her—she needed someone who’d come home every night.  To give her what she never had growing up—stability.  Maybe that uncertain lifestyle worked for Lexi, but it would never work for her.
    “You want another drink?” Lexi asked from beside her.
    “Yeah, I can grab one.”
    “Don’t be silly.  I’m getting hungry anyway.  I’ll bring out some chips and sodas.  Sound good?”
    “Sounds perfect.”
    “So are you definitely coming to the bonfire tonight?” Lexi asked as she stood, readjusting her blue bikini.  With her jet black hair trailing down her back, she looked striking.  Kenley felt positively frumpy next to her, with her head of wild, windblown curls.  A dip in the pool had sounded like a great idea at the time, but now she’d look like a walking advertisement for hair products—with her being the “before” look.
    “Didn’t you say the whole SEAL team would be there?”
    “I think so, yes.”
    “Then the answer’s no.”
    “Hun, can’t you move on?  So Mike is kind of a jackass.  The other guys are nice.  And I want you to keep me company.”
    Kenley laughed.  “You have a very hot fiancé to keep you company.  Isn’t that enough?” she teased.
    “Yeah, but all the other guys will be there.  It’s not like you’re crashing a date or something.”
    “Hey, honey,” a deep, male voice rang out.
    “You’re back!” Lexi shouted, running across the hot pavement.
    “Hi Christopher!” Kenley called out, without turning her head.  There was no need to watch their welcome home, make-out session.
    A shadow fell over her chair, and she glanced up.  Shock coursed through her as she realized it was Mike.  She couldn’t see those gorgeous blue eyes through his sunglasses, but she felt the heat of his gaze almost as if it were a caress.  He scanned over her from head to toe as her breathing hitched, her chest heated, filling with something she couldn’t quite explain, and warmth seeped through her.  Her breathing became shallow, and she was acutely aware of the arousal pooling in her bikini bottoms.  Mike hadn’t even said a single word.  He’d just shown up, given her a once-over, and she was melting into a puddle right in front of his eyes.
    “You look hot.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You should cool off in the pool.”
    “Already done it, thanks,” she said dryly, leaning back and shutting her eyes.  Let him look his fill.  What the hell did she care?
    “I’m going in.”
    “It doesn’t look like you have a suit on.”
    “Would you be opposed to skinny dipping?  Of course, it’s not as much fun to do it alone.”
    Heat surged through her at his suggestion.  Certainly he wasn’t proposing they go skinny dipping in broad daylight.  She swallowed.  Hell.  The idea of Mike naked, in all his glory, was entirely too appealing.  Those muscles,