Free Last Chance: Navy SEAL erotic romance (SEALs Crossfire Novella 1) by Emma Rose

Last Chance: Navy SEAL erotic romance (SEALs Crossfire Novella 1)
    The last box was unloaded and I plopped onto my couch, exhausted. I hated moving, and moving alone was the worst. I paid a moving company to move all the large furniture but moved everything else myself. Boy, was I going to pay for that in the morning. My shoulders already ached from lifting box after box, and the idea of walking upstairs made me groan. I was finally enticed from my couch with the idea of a soak in my new garden tub.
    I loved my new home, a small, three bedroom brick colonial. It even had the clichéd picket fence! I could see myself raising a family here. Of course that would mean I’d need to meet someone and get married first. I climbed the stairs to the master bedroom. Filling the tub, I peeled off my sweaty clothes, because I had to move in the height of the August heat wave, and slipped into the bath.
    The sun was beginning to set as I stepped from the bath; I was turning into a prune and my eyes were drooping. I wrapped myself in a large, white, terry robe that I “borrowed” from a hotel I stayed in once, and sat on the bed. I was tempted to lay down and go to sleep just as I was, but knew I would wake up in the middle of the night uncomfortable. After a few minutes, I stood, shucking the robe and grabbing a cotton t-shirt and underwear, pulling them on slowly because my arms were aching. I climbed into bed and turned the lights off, switching on the TV.
    My eyes were drooping again, so I switched the TV off and snuggled under my blanket. I was just dozing when I heard a noise downstairs. I jumped with a start, living alone in a new house made every creek and groan sound ominous. Listening for a moment, I sat up. When I didn’t hear anything else I cuddled back down under the covers. I jumped again when I heard an even louder thump. I froze, one noise meaning the house settling and two meaning burglars, at least in my mind.
    Thanking my father silently for teaching me to shoot and insisting that I have a gun if I was going to live alone, I tip toed from my bed and moved silently to the dresser. I slipped my Glock 9mm from the drawer, not even sure if I was faced with an intruder I would be able to pull the trigger. Making my way as quietly as possible to the hall, I gripped the gun tightly, flipping the safety to make sure I was ready. I made it to the top of the stairs before I realized I didn’t have any pants on. Indecision tore through me about whether to move back into my room or to keep going. Deciding I was already halfway there, I started down the stairs.
    I froze at the bottom of the stairs, hearing another thump. The thump sounded like it was coming from my kitchen. I kept my back to the wall and crept through the living room soundlessly, methodically searching each room as I went. The kitchen was in the back of the house and even though my house wasn’t huge, it felt like it took me forever to get there. Once in the entrance to the kitchen I paused by the doorway, peering inside slightly. There wasn’t anything visible, person or beast. I sighed; sagging against the doorframe, almost laughing out loud at my reaction to what was probably the AC unit kicking on.
    I turned to walk back upstairs and saw a movement from the corner of my eyes. Biting back a scream, I turned, pointing my weapon at the intruder.
    “Don’t shoot!” A man yelled, coming out of the shadows, he looked disheveled and had a sheepish look on his face.
    “Who the hell are you?!? And what are you doing in my house in the middle of the night?” I pointed the gun at his chest, lessons of target practice replaying in the back of my head.
    “I’m so sorry to frighten you,” his gaze traveled down my body, just realizing I was in my underwear, “I live next door. I didn’t think anyone lived here.”
    “Clearly you were wrong. What the fuck are you doing in here?” Some of the anger left my voice and a blush rose to my cheeks when I saw where