Page 55 of Loved by a SEAL

Turning the water off, she towel dried her hair before stepping onto the soft organic cotton rug outside her shower door.

The doorbell rang, and she rolled her eyes. If those door-to-door landscapers were coming around again, she was going to read them the riot act. She lived in a townhouse for heaven’s sake. She didn’t need to pay $200 a month for someone to mulch and weed her tiny bed of flowers.

Clutching her towel around herself, she stopped in shock as she saw Ryan through the front windows beside her door.

“Why’d you leave?” he asked in confusion as she opened her door, his eyes running over her, as if checking to make sure she was okay. He’d changed and had on a pair of broken-in jeans and a tee shirt that hugged his muscular frame, and it was the very first time she’d ever seen him so casual. He’d showered, too, the scent of his aftershave mixed in with soap stirring her senses. Why’d he have to be so damn appealing when it was clear he knew absolutely nothing about dealing with women?

His jaw was set in a firm line, and she couldn’t read the expression on his face.

“What do you mean why’d I leave?” she asked, clutching the towel more tightly around herself. “Why’d you leave me alone in your bed without so much as a note saying where you were?”

“I had to go to base—there was an emergency.”

“And what—you figured I’d just wait there all night?”

“It took longer than I thought,” he ground out. “I didn’t want to wake you when I left. I thought I’d be there for a quick briefing then head home. To you in my bed,” he said, his gray eyes blazing.

“You could have called me or something. Left a note. Sent a message by carrier pigeon.”

His lips quirked.

“Don’t laugh at me,” Sarah said. “It wouldn’t have freaking killed you to send me a text or something. What was I supposed to think?”

“I was planning to surprise you when I got back.”

She raised her eyebrows. The headlights of a car driving down the street lit up the road, and Ryan grumbled. “Let’s go inside. The entire world can see you standing here in nothing but a towel.”

“The entire world?” she asked sarcastically. “Maybe my neighbors—at most.” She stepped aside though and let him in, feeling in disbelief that he’d driven an hour and shown up on her doorstep.

“You couldn’t really have thought that I’d leave you there half naked in my bed and not come back,” he said, his voice gravel. He crossed his arms, the corded muscles in his forearms flexing, and as her gaze drifted to his muscular hands, she was reminded of him dragging them all over her body earlier. Touching her intimately. Thrusting his fingers inside her.

“What are you doing here?” she finally asked.

“I drove an hour after you, and you’re seriously asking me that?”

“You didn’t even let me know that Patrick was okay,” Sarah said, tears smarting her eyes. “I had to find out when I got home from a text Rebecca sent me.”

“I was planning to tell you in person,” he said, his voice softening. “Jesus.”

He ran a hand through his cropped hair, looking frustrated. “I drove home and you were gone. I didn’t even know what to think. I’m used to doing everything on my own. On my own terms. People take orders from me on base—not the other way around. I had to deal with something critical that came up during the mission. I can’t believe you’d think I’d just abandon you there.”

“Well, you need to learn to communicate better,” Sarah said.

He hooked his thumbs into the pocket of his jeans, somehow still looking in command and control. His jaw ticked. “It’s not like you left a note either when you vanished.”

“I left because you did!” Tears once again filled her eyes to her utter embarrassment, and she turned away from the imposing man filling up her foyer.

“Sarah.” His voice was low.

“Just forget it.”

“I came for you,” he said, taking a step closer.

A large hand landed on her shoulder.

Sent heat blooming across her skin.

“To make sure you were okay,” he said, stopping right behind her.

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