Soak (A Navy SEAL Mormon Taboo Romance) by Loren Celia

Author:Loren, Celia [Loren, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hearts Collective Publishing
Published: 2016-04-12T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

He’d never been less hungry in his life.

Not even after spending hours in a makeshift morgue, identifying his fellow SEALS’ brutalized bodies post-combat. Not after carrying John miles through desert, while his useless leg dangled and bled and soured. Even then, he’d been able to imagine nourishment. But the usual motivations weren’t going to work today.

Ryder hadn’t been able to sleep a wink that night. He’d just known he was going to have nightmares, for one, and that the guilt involved in invoking Chloe-the-dream-catcher would outweigh any comfort she carried. He’d instead spent the night imagining John fuming in his childhood twin bed, lamenting the day he’d invited his brother-from-another-mother into his actual family home. He could see himself now as little more than a betrayer, a wanton, godless friend of the devil. He had brought nothing but corruption and shame to these decent, decent people.

Yet: “Ryyyyyyder,” young Marie sang at 8am sharp, her daily morning wake-up croon sounding purer than it ever had. The pretty girl paced outside his door, waiting for what had become his ritual reply to her call. (“Mariiiiiiiiiiiie!”) Today, he couldn’t muster. He bit his lip and prayed (yes, prayed) for the ability to disappear.

Marie tried to rouse him a few more times before he heard her trundle off to some other part of the house, where to confer with her sisters. Sisters...Jesus, that was another thing. Here he’d been, thinking all about his own skinny ass, when he ought to have been worried about Chloe. Though it’d felt like he was the one with everything to lose in a scandal, in fact it was she who had family on the line. Family and friends and faith she’d compromised, all so he could act out his inner cave-man and fuck a Mormon girl in the ass.

The words were crass in his mind, but another, even more conflicted part of him was aware that what had passed between them wasn’t dirty. Wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t had the chance to reply to Chloe’s tender words last night, but his heart could complete the script. They were special. Or—they’d been special. Now, they were just ruined.

“Mr. Strong!” called Mr. Christiansen, sharply. Ryder’s heart plummeted. Where did the Mormons stand on pacifism? Because it didn’t seem outside the realm of possibility that when he opened the door to his host, Mr. C would be standing there with a shotgun barrel pointed at his visitor’s chest. He’d certainly have been within his rights.

“In this family, we eat breakfast at seven sharp. You know this, son.”

“Oh...right. I’m coming, Mr. Christiansen.” His heart lifted, in spite of itself. Surely if Elder Johannes knew anything about the events of last night, he’d already have kicked Ry out into the Utah spring with a mandate that he never come back.

“Got something I want to talk to you about in any case,” his host finished, the deep voice sounding a little serious. Ryder’s heart clenched again. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he was totally going down.

Getting dressed in solemn silence, he turned the facts over and over in his mind.

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