A Major Seduction (12 page)

A
Thank you from Fated Desires

Thank you so much for reading
A Major Seduction
! We’re so happy that you had a chance to look
into the new military romances we have with Marie’s series, Good to Go. We do
hope if you liked this, that you would please leave a review from where you
purchased this or on another platform. Not only does a review spread the word
to other readers, they let us know if you’d like to see more stories like this
from us. Marie loves to hear from readers and talks to them when she can. You
can reach her through her website and through her Facebook and Twitter
accounts. You guys are the reason we get to do what we do and we thank you.

If you are looking for more stories like these, you don’t
have to wait much longer! The next book, A Major Distraction rolls out next
month, and A Major Attraction is already out on the virtual shelves! Plus, as
always, Marie always has something else cooking.

If you’d like to know more about Fated Desires, check out
our website, www.FatedDesires.com or email us at [email protected].

About
the Author

Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado,
USA
Today
bestselling author Marie Harte is a confessed bibliophile and devotee
of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or
hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a
happily ever after. Visit MarieHarte.com and fall in love.

.

Also from this Author

Now Available:

Ludos
Deorum:

Ever After Anthology

Beasts of Burden

Good
to Go:

A
Major Attraction

A
Major Seduction

Coming Soon:

Good
to Go:

A Major Distraction

Ludos
Deorum

Dark Fates Anthology

Did
you enjoy this selection?
Why not try another romance from Fated Desires?

From USA Today Bestselling Author, Marie
Harte comes the first book in the
Good to Go Series

A
Major Attraction

Major Kyle Waters sighed with pleasure as he looked at his
house, washed in moonlight. It had been eight months and four days since he’d
first left North Carolina aboard ship for the Mediterranean. Marines called it
“going on float.” The exact opposite of a luxury cruise, he thought with wry amusement,
just grateful to be stateside.

He walked up three steps onto the porch, comforted to see
the gray stone that still needed repainting, and approached the screen door. It
opened without a murmur, and he hastily unlocked the heavy oak door barring him
from
home
.

Once inside the small foyer, Kyle dropped his bag and closed
the door. Leaning back against it, he closed his eyes, contentment blanketing
him with warm homecoming.

After months at sea training to become special operations
capable, he was more than ready for some rest and relaxation. He’d been stuck
in his office for the past week, going over reports and overseeing their
debarkation. His homecoming—and his house—had to wait. Now, though, he was
finally home. A few hours of administrative work tomorrow, then he was looking
at a solid month of leave.

“Outstanding.” He stretched and yawned then trudged up the
stairs, discarding his uniform as he climbed. By the time he’d reached his
room, he’d dropped all but his trousers and underwear.

Exhaustion beat at him as he walked through the trail of
moonlight filtering through the original paned glass of the bedroom window. The
light made a shadow of the bed, so that half the room lay under the blanket of
night, a peaceful respite for a travel-weary warrior.

Kyle dropped the rest of his clothes where he stood and
eased into bed. He closed his eyes the minute his head hit the pillow and
dreamed of
her
again, as he had from the first moment he’d seen her.

****

Olivia Cava blearily opened her eyes when she heard a rumble
of sound. She blinked into darkness and closed them shut, relieved she still
had time before she needed to wake.

After the day she’d had, a good rest had definitely been in
order. Protesting the cool October air, she snuggled deeper under the covers,
curled on her side. She floated back into a dream world where her coffee and
muffins rated an article in her favorite foodie magazine
Bon Appétit
,
where her days never started before ten in the morning, and where her fantasy
man held a healthy appreciation for both her work and her luscious —his
description, not hers—body.

She hummed with pleasure when his callused palm cupped one
of her full breasts, toying her nipple into a tight little pebble. He pressed
his iron-hard erection against her ass, sliding a large shaft between her soft
cheeks.

“Mmm.” She groaned and arched back into his touch, needing
more. His hot breath brushed her ear before his tongue delved into the
sensitive canal, causing her belly to flutter. A rush of moisture flooded
between her legs, and she wanted to melt into him.

Then his hand moved lower, skimming through the curls at the
apex of her thighs and slipping between the folds of her sex. He rubbed with
slow pressure, stirring her body into fiery arousal. God, it had been so long
since she’d felt this good.

“So sweet,” a hoarse voice murmured as he dipped one finger
into her, then another. In and out, with deep strokes that not only brushed her
clit but that sensitive spot inside her, he played with her until she came with
a soft moan. The intense pleasure consumed her, and he pushed harder against
her backside, sliding dangerously near virgin territory. Finding purchase in
the tight, puckered hole, he prodded for entry.

The intrusion startled her into consciousness. Suddenly, her
dream became all too real. Panic filled her when she realized the hand palming
her belonged to an actual man, that she lay naked next to a stranger.

Struggling to overcome the hazy state between sleep and
wakefulness, Olivia desperately recalled the defensive moves drilled into her
by the men in her family.

She reached for the stranger’s hand between her legs and
gently removed it. Then she found his thumb and, with a wrenching twist, bent
it toward his wrist.

A menacing curse shot from his mouth when she let go and
fought to escape the bed. The covers around her hampered her movements, and
before she knew it, the elbow to his gut and knee to his groin had served only
to enrage him.

Easily evading her blows, her attacker wrenched away the
tangled covers and shoved her onto her back, looming over her, an indistinct
shape in the shadows. He scared the hell out of her when his fully naked and
aroused body pressed disturbingly against hers.

Terrified he’d rape her, she struggled for all she was
worth.

“Damn it,” he seethed. She flailed, her too-short nails
raking him across the chest instead of the eyes for which she’d aimed. “Stop
moving!” He suddenly found her wrists. Pinning them to either side of her head,
he growled, “One more move and I’ll knock you out. Understand?”

She nodded then realized the futility of the gesture,
considering the heavy blackness around the bed. “Yes,” she whispered in a small
voice, praying for freedom.

She shifted to get away from his nudity, and he swore.

“Don’t move unless you want to get
really
close.”

She froze.

“Good.” He pulled away from her, for which she was decidedly
grateful. The earlier eroticism of her dream had faded the moment she realized
her dream lover was in fact an all-too-real stranger.

“Wh-who are you?” she managed.

“Who the hell are you? Why are you in my bed, in my house?”
His voice sounded deep, dark, and threatening.

“
Your
house?” Surprise alleviated her fear for the
moment. “This is my house.” Silence descended, and she cringed.
Good going,
Olivia. Now the lunatic will rape you
then
kill you
.

He sighed. “I really don’t need this.” She felt him leave
the bed. “Let me put some clothes on and try to figure out what the hell is
happening here. Make one move and you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

Something thudded onto the ground and clothing rustled.
Olivia had a feeling the stranger was just waiting for her to contradict his
order. Thus far fear had kept her still. But thoughts of what might happen if
she didn’t move terrified her. With desperation, she shot off the bed toward
the moonlit doorway. From her vantage, she had just as much opportunity to
escape as he had to catch her.

Praying for an extra burst of speed, she had almost reached
the hallway when a muscular arm roped around her stomach and hauled her back
against a rock-solid chest.

She screamed and pried at his hands. Before she could do any
damage, he shoved her against the wall, effectively stealing her breath.

As she tried frantically to fill her lungs with air, he
entered the light.

“Olivia?” he asked in an incredulous voice.

“
You,
” she rasped. She didn’t know his name, but she
recognized the short brown hair cropped to frame a handsome face. He had the
same sculpted cheekbones, square jaw, and full lips. His green eyes blazed with
surprise, as opposed to the warmth that used to greet her not so long ago.

“Oh shit.” He immediately released her. “I am
so
sorry,” he began in earnest before his gaze traveled down her body. “I had no
idea it was…you,” he ended in a husky tone, making her extremely aware of her
nudity. Her nipples tightened, her thighs slid against each other because of
the hot, wet desire he’d aroused in her, and her womb suddenly ached for the
long, thick flesh between his legs.

“Could I have my robe?” She forced herself to stare only at
his face. As she pointed to the garment’s place by the door, a rush of renewed
lust both confused and embarrassed her.

“Oh, sure.” He fumbled against the darkened wall but
eventually reached the hook holding her terrycloth, mid-thigh robe and handed
it to her. He watched her put it on without blinking.

She tied the robe tight then knotted it for good measure.
“Now that the immediate crisis has passed, maybe you can explain what you’re
doing in my house.” She crossed her arms over her chest, uneasy when he
continued to stare at her with such intensity.

His eyes narrowed, and he frowned. “Your house? Honey, I’ve
lived here for three years. I have the mortgage papers to prove it.”

If he paid the mortgage, then that meant…“Don’t tell me
you’re
Major Kyle Waters?”

He smiled, a dark grin that rekindled his sensual allure.
“In the flesh.”

Kyle couldn’t believe his good fortune. Oh sure, waking to
find his thumb nearly ripped off by a strange woman hadn’t been enjoyable, but
finding the strange woman to be Olivia Cava, a
naked
Olivia Cava,
couldn’t have been better. The things he’d done to her thinking it was a
dream...

Both dressed, they sat in the kitchen drinking coffee as
they tried to make sense of the situation.

“Tell me again what you’re doing here.” He took a swallow,
his eyes drinking in her tousled hair and voluptuous body wrapped in a skimpy
robe.

“This is so awkward.” She clutched the neck of her robe with
one hand, her other gripping a mug. “Rebecca Morris sublet to me six months
ago. Since Cava’s Java is just down the street, this location seemed perfect.
Rebecca was moving and thought I’d make a great replacement, at least until the
lease runs out in another three months. I can’t believe she tricked me like
that.”

“Yeah, about that. How did you not know I owned the house?”

“Rebecca always called you—her boyfriend—Ky. She never told
me you and her landlord were the same person. I mean, I made my checks out to
M.K. Waters, so I never made the connection.”

“Mitchell’s actually my first name, but everyone’s always
called me Kyle.” Now he understood the confusion. Freakin’ Rebecca.

Cava’s Java, the coffee shop Olivia owned, had been Kyle’s
favorite morning stop before he’d left for the Med. He and Rebecca had often
shared an evening treat sitting around the shop, talking with friends and
neighbors before they’d broken up. He grimaced at thoughts of Rebecca and
Olivia becoming friendly. He could only imagine their discussions, none of
which would paint him in a favorable light.

“The house is mine,” he explained. “Becca leased it from me
while we were dating, until the day I found her screwing the guy down the
street. She hasn’t lived here in months, so she had no right to lease you what
she no longer had claim to.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. No doubt she’d heard a different
version of events from Becca. “But I don’t understand. I made the checks out to
you. Didn’t you wonder why I gave you any money?”

“Olivia, I’ve been at sea for the past eight months. I had
my brother handle my finances while I was gone. He knew Becca owed me some
money. He probably thought she was using you to pay it back. God knows she has
no problem using others to bail her out of trouble,” he muttered. He still
couldn’t believe how naïve he’d been about the woman. Beneath those innocent
blue eyes and simpering smile lurked a shark.

Olivia’s gaze clouded. “You know, I thought it was odd that
she suddenly seemed to warm up to me. When I’d see her in the shop, she seemed
cold.” She shrugged. “But when she offered me this place, it seemed like a
godsend. I didn’t think to ask if she had the right to sublet to me. Geez, I
even helped her pack her things.”

Kyle rubbed his eyes, worn out from his trip yet wired from
their earlier encounter. He looked up and found Olivia staring at him as if he
were an ogre. The thought bothered him more than it should have. Surely she
could see none of this was his fault?

“Look, Olivia, you’re not blaming me for this, are you?
Becca took us both for a ride.”

“It’s not that. Of course I don’t blame you,” she said
without hesitation, and something within him eased. “It’s just that, well, I’ve
seen you before, in the coffee shop, but I never could have imagined meeting
you like this.” She gave him a wry grin before focusing on her coffee.

He flushed, both with shame at how he’d manhandled Olivia
earlier and with the arousal that refused to fade when around her. Damn, she’d
been so tight, so wet around his fingers. And her breasts were even more
perfect than he’d imagined.

He coughed and cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in
his chair. “I’m, ah, really sorry about my rough treatment earlier.”

She blushed and stared a hole through her cup.

“I was having this incredibly erotic dream,” he said, unable
to resist mentioning it. “Then someone bent my thumb back at an impossible
angle.” He rubbed the tender digit. “I reacted to a threat. Had I known it was
you, I never would have thrown you against the wall.”

He still couldn’t believe he’d done that. For the past nine
months he’d been fantasizing about Olivia Cava. And
this
was what she’d
remember from their first encounter in a private setting?

“Oh, your thumb.” She let go of her cup and leaned over him.
Taking his thumb in her hands, she caressed him, gliding silken fingertips over
the reddened knuckle.

Heat flared in his body, and a telling response rekindled
the throbbing between his legs. She leaned down to get a better look under the
diffused kitchen light, and her robe gaped. He could see the cleavage he wanted
to explore with his tongue.

“I’m sorry about your thumb,” she said in a husky whisper
that drew his attention.