Look Again: A Novella (Echo Platoon Book 1) by Melton Marliss

Author:Melton, Marliss [Melton, Marliss]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Military, Suspense, SEALs
ISBN: 9781938732140
Publisher: James-York Press
Published: 2014-06-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Tyler saw the sheriff back to his car. The man had arrived in a timely-enough fashion, but then he wouldn’t leave. After listening to Tyler’s theory, he had called a number of individuals to gather reports on the former owner. Dale Roberts had stolen over thirty-thousand dollars of the investment money his clients had entrusted to him. Only twelve thousand of that sum had ever been recovered, making Tyler’s theory a viable one.

Roberts had been convicted in 1983 and served eight years of a fifteen year sentence only to end up right back in jail for failing to report to his parole officer. Since then, he’d committed a rash of crimes that kept him incarcerated, including fraud and grand larceny. A recent phone call to the state police confirmed he’d just been paroled again in April.

“Shouldn’t take us long to find him,” the sheriff said, speaking out of his lowered car window as he snapped on his seatbelt. “I’ve got the shoe molds and a couple of good fingerprints. We’ll get him on breaking and entering this time.”

Tyler watched the patrol car roll away. Sensing someone’s eyes on him, he looked over to find all the dogs in the kennels standing alertly in their pens. Their gazes seemed to be fixed on the porch. Tyler swung around to find Katie standing by the pile of swept glass, hugging herself. The porch light, now back on, turned her chestnut hair to amber. Drawn to her like a moth to flame, Tyler climbed the steps and searched her pallid face. Her eyes reflected lingering shock. She appeared to be trembling.

“You all right?” he asked her.

She started to nod then changed her mind and shook her head, no. It was all he could do not to reach for her and enfold her in his arms, offering the reassurance she so obviously needed. But her skittishness earlier that night and the story of what had happened to her in college kept him in check.

“Would you…like for me to stay?” he asked haltingly.

“Please,” she said without the least hesitation. With that, she stepped right up to him and threw her arms around his waist. He could feel tremors running up and down her spine. He could also smell a delicious hint of gardenia, dryer sheets, and woman. My God, how long had it been since he’d inhaled that subtle and arousing scent?

It took every ounce of discipline to return her embrace without openly caressing her. She wouldn’t welcome his advances—not tonight, maybe not ever.

“Okay,” she said, stepping back and visibly collecting herself. “Why don’t we watch a movie? I doubt I could sleep right now.”

The movie turned out to be an action adventure flick. By the time it was over, the night’s fright had retreated and Katie declared herself ready to go to bed.

“I have a guest room,” she said, canceling out his stubborn little hope that she would ask him to sleep with her.

“I guess Bronco’s okay in the kennel?” he asked, thinking he might at least get to sleep with the dog.

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