Free The Navy SEAL's Bride by Soraya Lane Page A

AITLIN shut her eyes tight before opening them slowly, one at a time.
    Ow. The sunlight felt as though it was burning her. She was like a vampire exposed to daylight when she should have been bathed in darkness instead. She tried to sit up and stuttered back down flat.
    A hangover. She had a hangover. She never had a hangover!
    She could hear her phone ringing, but it hurt too much to move. Caitlin leaned as far as she could off the bed without falling, eyes still shut, groping for the phone.
    “Hello?” she croaked.
    “Morning, sunshine.”
    Lucy. “What… I mean how?” She rubbed at her eyes and gently tried to sit up again before slumping back down. “How can you be calling me this early?”
    Lucy laughed. It sounded like glass being shattered to Caitlin. “It’s not early, silly, it’s after lunch.”
    What? Caitlin groaned, looked at her bedside clock. No way. “Why do you sound so cheerful?” She was grumpy now.
    “Why don’t you? I thought you went home with Mr. Navy.”
    Caitlin flung herself back down again, stomach flip-flopping some more. Only it wasn’t the alcohol making her queasy this time.
    “Caitlin?”
    “I left with him. I mean…” She paused, trying to remember. It was like trying to see through thick fog just thinking about the night before. Or the latter parts of it anyway. “He brought me home.”
    Lucy laughed again. “Maybe next time I won’t let you have so many shots.”
    “Let me?” Caitlin shut her eyes again as her head started to pound. “You practically forced those drinks on me. It’s your fault I feel like this. I never get drunk!”
    Partly because she didn’t like to be vulnerable and partly because she hated feeling like this.
    “So where is he? Did he stay over?” Lucy asked. “I need details here.”
    Caitlin gripped the phone tighter, her hand clasping it hard. “No, he didn’t stay over.” She had no idea what had happened, could only remember flashes of being with him, of arriving here with him and somehow ending up in her bed. A bead of sweat touched against her forehead. She was always so careful never to put herself in that kind of predicament with a man.
    She sat up, let her feet touch the carpet, moved slowly to stop her head from spinning. She had no shoes on—they were neatly on the floor beside the bed, and there was half a sandwich on the bedside table. Next to a glass of water. She definitely wouldn’t have been in the right state of mind to put a sandwich together like that. Which meant that…
    Caitlin gulped down a few sips of the water, her mouth so dry it hurt. Tom must have been in her bedroom. Last night. With her.
    She stifled another groan and put Lucy on speaker phone so she could start to shuffle slowly toward the bathroom.
    “You still there?” Lucy asked.
    She shook her head before realizing that Lucy couldn’t see her. “I have to go take a shower.” Caitlin wasn’t completely lying, she did need to do something to wake herself up. To make herself feel like a human instead of a brain-dead zombie again. “I’ll call you later.”
    She hung up and walked carefully across the room. Turned on the shower and started to strip.
    What if… She wrapped herself in a towel and walked slowly out and across her bedroom, peeking into the lounge.
    No. He wasn’t there. Just Smokey curled up on his favorite chair.
    She’d had a funny feeling that Tom might have stayed on the sofa, but she’d been wrong.
    But he’d been here. She knew that. He’d brought her home, he’d put her to bed and he’d been careful with her. She couldn’t remember exactly what had happened, but she knew he’d looked after her. Because her clothes were still on, there was food beside the bed, and her front door was locked.
    Tom had made sure she’d gotten home safe, that no one had taken advantage of her.
    Without her even knowing it, without her asking for it, Tom had entered her home and kept her safe. So no matter how much she’d embarrassed