SEAL's Embrace Read Free Page B

the hills surrounding the airbase. Too wound up to eat, he pushed to his feet and headed out for another jog. Instead of aiming for the perimeter, he found himself wandering through the buildings, headed for the stack of RLBs Erin had been assigned to.
    His heartbeat kicked up a notch when a woman emerged from a door, dressed in PT shorts and a T-shirt, her dark red hair pulled up in a ponytail.
    She walked quickly to the edge of the encampment and set off at in an easy jog around the perimeter, inside the wire.
    Glad he had on his tennis shoes, Caesar hurried after her, happy for the gift of a chance to be alone with the woman. Slowly closing the distance, he didn’t want to scare her. “Erin!” he called out.
    Instead of slowing to wait for him, she ran faster, kicking up the pace.
    With a chuckle, Caesar sped ahead, catching her easily, falling in step beside her.
    “If I’d wanted to run with you…” she panted, “I’d have slowed down.” She stopped abruptly and faced him. “What will it take for you to leave me alone?”
    “An act of God.” He nodded toward the sunset, the beautiful reds and oranges cloaking the hills. “Can we talk?”
    “I have to go now.” She drew in several deep breaths before she turned and walked.
    He ran ahead of her, turned and jogged backward. “I just want to have coffee with you.”
    She stopped again, planted both hands on her hips and spoke in a dangerously patient tone, “Why can’t you take no for an answer?”
    He brandished his killer smile. “You intrigue me.”
    “Well, you don’t intrigue me,” she said, her brow furrowing. “The word that describes how I feel about you is annoyed.”
    “I know.” He laughed, unperturbed. “I aim to change that opinion.”
    “You can’t.” She turned and set off at the pace of a speed walker.
    For a few minutes, he walked alongside her in silence, without breathing hard, his long strides making her look like she was running. “Aren’t you amazed that no matter how violent the world can be, a sunset can be so beautiful, each as unique and different from the one before?”
    Hmm, pretty deep for a SEAL . She could feel herself soften. Not good. “I never thought about it,” she lied. She had thought about it. A lot. Especially when trying to get images of the wounded and dying out of her head.
    He gripped her hand in his big one and pulled her to a stop, facing the setting sun as it slipped below the hills. When she tried to pull her hand free, she felt his grasp tighten.
    God, he was hot. And the longer he held her hand, the harder he made it for her to resist. Already she was leaning toward him. A little more persuasion and she’d be a goner.
    “Tell me. The kiss we shared earlier today. Tell me that it did nothing for you, and I’ll go away.”
    He faced her, lifting her hand in both of his, staring into her gorgeous green eyes in the fading light. “Tell me you don’t feel anything when I hold your hand in mine and stare down into your eyes.”
    She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again, her gaze locked with his, her fingers curling in his palms.
    His pulse leaped. When she didn’t say anything, Caesar went on. “What I experienced was as magical, beautiful and as warm as the sunset. I can’t walk away. Not when I feel the way I do.”
    She continued to stare into his eyes, chewing on her bottom lip. “I…”
    Before she could form another word, he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her lips.
    At first, her mouth remained still, firming into a tight line.
    At least she wasn’t moving away. Encouraged, Caesar deepened the light kiss, skimming his tongue across the seam between her lips, his hands moving from hers to her arms and around to her back, dropping low to cup her buttocks.
    She gasped, her lips parted and her hands pressed against his chest. But not to push him away. Her fingers dug into the soft fabric of his T-shirt, dragging him closer.
    He thrust his tongue through her