Page 17 of A Very Grumpy Navy SEAL

She doesn’t speak.She leans up on her toes and wraps her arms around me.

And I know.

I’m hers.

And she’s mine.

SEVEN

Lula

I stare at Koa,still dripping from my shower, towel clutched tightly around my body, and my heart thundering in my chest like it’s trying to escape.He burst into my room like a goddamn action movie hero with a pizza box and a confession that cracked something wide open inside me.

He talked to Ledger.And more importantly, he chose me.He wants me.

My throat is dry.My skin prickles with goosebumps, but it has nothing to do with the cool air from the AC and everything to do with the man currently devouring me with his eyes.

I want him.I wish I knew what I was doing or how to seduce him.As I study Koa, though, I realize that maybe I do know how to seduce him.

He looks like a caged animal that’s dying to break free.I want him to break free.I want him to pounce on me, to devour me.

Should I just drop the towel?

Koa inches closer to me, and I lick my lips.He drops the pizza box on the dresser.His eyes never leave mine, and the tension between us ratchets tighter and tighter until it finally snaps.

He moves fast.

One second, he’s three feet away, and the next, he’s pushing me against the wall and kissing me like he’s drowning and I’m his air.

I gasp, and he uses that moment to deepen the kiss, one hand cupping the side of my face while the other slides around my waist, pulling me close.My towel starts to slip, but I don’t bother fixing it.Suddenly, I don’t care that I’m wrapped in nothing but cotton and steam.I don’t care about modesty, pacing, or even breathing.

I just want this.I just want him.

“Koa,” I whisper against his lips.

He pulls back to meet my eyes.“If you tell me to stop, I will,” he says, his voice raw and reverent.“But I don’t want to.I’ve wanted this since the second you ran into me at the diner.”

“I’m not going to tell you to stop,” I whisper.

That’s all he needs to hear.

He kisses me again, slower this time, but with just as much hunger.I can taste the need on his lips, and I moan, wanting more.

I reach up, threading my fingers into his damp hair as he pulls me flush against his chest.I feel every inch of him, every hard line and tense muscle, and I’m not self-conscious or hesitant like I thought I would be.I feel wanted.Desired.Revered.

Koa kisses down the side of my jaw, his mouth hot against my skin.“God, you’re perfect,” he groans, his hand sliding up the curve of my waist and pausing beneath the edge of my towel.“So fucking perfect.”

I whimper, arching into him as he lifts me effortlessly, cradling me against his chest like I weigh nothing.

“Bed,” I whisper.

He carries me across the room like I weigh nothing, like he was built to carry me, and lowers me gently onto the sheets.My towel loosens and falls away.For the briefest second, insecurity claws at me.

Koa pauses.Not because he’s hesitating but because he’s staring at me like I’ve knocked the breath out of his lungs.

“Jesus, Lula,” he murmurs, voice hoarse.“You’re...you’re everything.”

I lie back, exposed and trembling, not from fear but from want.From trust.From the overwhelming knowledge that I’m safe and wanted.

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