Read Innocent Next Door (Military Men Book 1) Online
Authors: Shelley Munro
Tags: #military romance, #Alpha Hero, #virgin heroine, #bbw heroine
Innocent Next Door (Military Men Book 1) (26 page)
Nikolai decided it was time to take control. He cupped her elbow and exerted a little force. No way was he baring his heart in public. Their sex life had received enough discussion already. Now was the time for privacy.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” he said to Jake’s brother. “Around ten?” After receiving a nod of approval, he urged Summer out the door, despite the glares from her brothers and the shooting pain from his knee. Summer didn’t need to know that Dare’s goons had done a good job on roughing him up.
“Good exit.” Humor lurked in her beautiful blue eyes, and Nikolai forgot the jagged pain. “But how are we going to get home? We don’t have a car.”
His gaze traveled her face. Her blue eyes sparkled with life and humor. Her pink lips curved in a secret smile. A jolt of pure lust laced with possessiveness raced through his body, stirring his cock to life. She didn’t look like a woman who had to get married. Confidence and assurance blazed from her. She looked like a woman with sex on her mind.
“Wait there, and I’ll grab Louie’s keys. They can call a cab. Then we need to talk.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Summer said when he returned.
“Don’t you want to marry an old crock like me? You gonna change your mind?”
She halted beside Louie’s car. “Not only am I not going to change my mind about marrying you, I want to have your children too.” A challenging glint glowed in her blue eyes.
Nikolai stared, mesmerized by her beauty.
His woman
. He ran his fingers down her silky cheek, trying to ignore the throbbing bumps and bruises on his ribs, inflicted by the clotheshorse’s thugs. “As long as you agree to marry me, you can have anything you want.”
“But not straightaway, please. I want to have you to myself for a few years.”
Nikolai grinned suddenly. “Not finished with your research yet?”
“That’s right.” She gave an enthusiastic nod. “I found this neat book in the secondhand bookshop. A bit racy for the library,” she added.
“I love you.”
“I know,” Summer said in a smug tone. “I finally worked it out. The feeling is mutual.” She paused, her forehead puckering into a cute frown. “Except when you try to boss me around. I don’t like orders. I like—”
“To be asked,” Nikolai finished.
Okay. He could learn to live with her independent streak. It looked as though this babysitting assignment was turning into a permanent one. Who’d have thought? But the idea of waking up each morning beside Summer didn’t scare him. He smirked as he pressed a kiss to her mouth. Not too much, anyway.
“Just remember that I like to be asked for my opinion and our marriage will be a big success.” Summer reinforced the sentiment. As the sound of voices grew louder, she glanced toward the rear of the warehouse and back at him.
Nikolai moved toward the car in silent accord. “I think we should disappear before they decide to keep us here.”
“You just want to have your wicked way with me.”
Nikolai opened the door for her and climbed into the driver’s side. “Damn straight.” He leaned over to kiss her, and cop a feel of her beautiful breasts at the same time.
A full-time commitment with Summer.
A wife.
His wife
.
The thought should have terrified him. Knowing Summer, he’d suffer a few gray hairs in the process, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nikolai winked at her, a sense of rightness settling in his heart.
“Let’s go then.” Summer lifted her chin and stared at him in clear challenge.
“Good idea,” he said, a grin of real anticipation curling across his face. He fired up the car and pulled away from the curb. “I’m ready to go home and get horizontal. We have new positions to try.”
Thank you for reading
Innocent Next Door
, the first book in my
Military Men
series. Please turn the page to read an excerpt from
Soldier With Benefits
, book 2 in the
Military Men
series, and if you enjoyed this story, I hope you’ll join my readers’ group. The perks? Well, first off, you’ll receive
two free books
—one contemporary and the other a paranormal romance. You’ll also get previews of new stories, sneak peeks of my covers, access to short stories and ARCs plus contests especially for the readers’ group members.
So, what are you waiting for?
Join my readers’ group today
.
Shelley
Excerpt – Soldier With Benefits
The charter flight from Jordan to Iraq was a short hop but plenty long enough for Joanna “Mac” McGregor to second-guess her decision to take up a contract in the security sector with Chesterton UK.
The wheels of the plane hit the runway, a solid thump before the pilot applied the brakes. Tension seeped into hands holding a fantasy paperback, turning her knuckles white. It wasn’t just her. Even the guys at the back of the plane—the ones who had bantered their way through the entire journey and tried to tempt her into joining the Mile High Club—fell silent.
Mac stared out the window. She’d seen the stark reality of Baghdad firsthand when the plane circled the runway to land—the endless sand giving way to the greener city. Checkpoints. Security forces. Burned-out vehicles, buildings damaged by both allies’ and insurgents’ bombs.
Too late to change her mind and return to New Zealand now.
She’d gone through the lengthy interview process, answered all the questions about why a woman would want to undertake such a dangerous assignment and finally signed on the dotted line. After all, not much call for her skill set in an office, and she couldn’t earn this sort of money doing anything else. Icy determination to succeed curled through her gut, squared her shoulders.
Mac disembarked with the rest of the security force, a few intrepid reporters and a camera crew, the initial blast of heat when she walked down the stairs sucking her lungs dry. Sweat broke out over her body and her shirt soon clung to her clammy skin. Something she’d become used to quickly.
After formalities, she waited with the other private security recruits—the new ones and the others who had signed on for a second or third tour. Like her, they were in it for the money, some for the adrenaline rush. Some of them would return home to family and friends. Some would die. Time would tell which camp she fell into.
The only route into the city, dubbed Route Irish by the Americans, was the most dangerous stretch of road in the world. Despite the fences on both sides, there were dangerous overpasses and numerous car bombs planted to snare the unwary. From the briefing, Mac knew they’d attempt to drive straight through any situation, be it bullets or bombs. Stopping wasn’t an option.
Five minutes later, they pulled out in convoy, protected by security forces from New Zealand and the United Kingdom, their driver pausing to wait while a United States military convoy crossed the road ahead of them.
Overhead Mac watched two Black Hawk helicopters drawing fire, diverting it from the road. The entire time their vehicle remained in radio contact with others from the convoy. The drivers and guards constantly assessed risk, on the lookout for threats.
Mac stared out the window, gut jumping because she knew danger lurked around every corner. Signs at the checkpoint authorizing lethal force brought home the reality of her situation. If she found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, she would die. No one left to look after her father then. She scowled at the thought and shoved it away.
Their convoy drove past the International zone, patrolled by the US military, the only part of the city considered relatively safe. They didn’t stop, their destination the less-secure area where many private security forces and their clients lived.
The Red zone—her home for the next six months.
Mac climbed from the rear of the armored vehicle, grabbed her gear and followed the other recruits into the main barrack-like building. All the domestic comforts, Mac thought, taking in the mismatched furniture, the clean but scuffed linoleum floor and the poster of a busty blonde hanging drunkenly on the far wall. She dumped her bags at her feet.
A tall, dark-haired man prowled through a doorway on her right and headed to the front of the room, his piercing brown eyes taking in the new arrivals. Mac’s breath caught the instant she glimpsed his face, hurled back to the past.
Louie?
Shock drop-kicked her square in the gut. Why wasn’t he at home in New Zealand? Only her military training kept her face impassive, the astonished gasp trapped inside her throat. Her training did nothing to halt the images flooding her mind, the memories of hard tattooed muscles beneath her questing fingers and the way it had felt each time his cock plunged between her legs.
Damn, Louie had lied to her.
Purchase
Soldier With Benefits
Shelley lives in New Zealand with her husband and a cheeky Jack Russell/mystery breed puppy.
Typical New Zealanders, Shelley and her husband left home for their big OE soon after they married (translation of New Zealand speak – big overseas experience). A year long adventure lengthened to six years of roaming the world. Enduring memories include being almost sat on by a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, lazing on white sandy beaches in India, whale watching in Alaska, searching for leprechauns in Ireland, and dealing with ghosts in an English pub.
While travel is still a big attraction, these days Shelley is most likely found in front of her computer following another love – that of writing stories of romance and adventure. Other interests include watching rugby (strictly for research purposes), cycling, baking bread and curling up with a good book.
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Contemporary
Love and Friendship series
Clare Chronicles
Fancy Free series
Military Men
Paranormal
Sci-fi/Futuristic
Middlemarch Capture
House of the Cat series
Alien Encounter series
Gay Romance
Historical
Innocent Next Door
Copyright © 2015 Shelley Munro
ISBN: 978-0-473-33034-7
Editor: Mary Moran
Cover Art: Kim Killion of
Killion Group Inc.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.