Make Mine a Ranger (Special Ops: Homefront Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

the other end. “So anyway, except for the recliner, he’s really the
perfect housemate for us. I sleep so much better with him around.”
    Maeve scoffed. “Well, that actually makes
me worry. A single woman living with a guy that looks like him should be seeing
her estrogen levels at least double. You should be ordering a vibrator online
just to get through the night.”
    Taking a sip of water, Bess rolled her
eyes. “God, Maeve, you are so crude.”
    “Well, I have to get all the crudeness
out of my system.”
    “Why?”
    “Are you sitting down?”
    Bess’s heart rate picked up in pace. Knowing
what she hoped to hear, she sat at the kitchen table. “I am now.”
    “The adoption went through. On Wednesday,
we’re picking up the kids.”
    From head to toe, Bess was covered in goosebumps.
“Oh my God, Maeve.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
    “I’m a mom, twice over, and I didn’t even
have to get any stretch marks.” Her voice crackled with emotion.
    Bess laughed. Maeve had been unable to
have children of her own, and Bess admired her sense of humor about it. “Did
you tell Lacey yet?”
    “Nope. You’re the first. I’m calling her
as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
    “You must be so excited.” Bess could
picture the kids’ faces from the photos Maeve emailed her when she and Jack had
first met them. The little girl was eight years old and her brother was three. They
had been bounced around for years in the foster care system, just hoping
someone would open their home to a pair of siblings.
    “I’m beyond excited,” Maeve said, the
smile in her voice seeping through the phone. “I’ve already picked out the
paint for their rooms and their furniture is ready. Everything won’t be perfect
by Wednesday, but it got finalized a lot quicker than we expected.”
    “Jack must be over the moon.”
    “You have no idea. Mom and Dad are coming
up from Charleston tomorrow to help me paint the rooms. And Jack’s parents are
coming down to meet their new grandchildren later in the month.”
    Bess stood to refill her glass of water.
“Abby will love this news. It will be nice that she and your boy are the same
age, you know? What’s his name again?”
    “Marcus. And my girl is Kayla. Oh, I
can’t wait for you guys to meet them. We’ll bring them up for Vi’s wedding, of
course.” Lacey’s sister Vi was getting married in a couple months and Bess
would be a bridesmaid.
    As Bess stood to refill her glass,
Maeve’s excited ramblings continued. But Bess suddenly couldn’t hear the words.
She caught the image of Tyler, standing on his paddleboard rowing, looking like
a Greek god floating upon the water. Feeling the steam rising from her body,
she gulped.
    “Keep your shirt on” should have been one
of the house rules she had laid out for him when he signed the rental
agreement. Because Abby would grow up with a warped view of what men were
supposed to look like with him hanging around the house looking like… that .
    “Bess, are you still there?” Maeve’s
voice snapped her out of it.
    “Um, yeah. Sorry. Got distracted.”
    “He’s there, isn’t he?” she said
knowingly. There was no hiding anything from Maeve.
    “Honestly, Maeve, if you could see what I
am seeing from this kitchen window, you’d melt into a pool of liquid lust.”
    “I’m married now. I only melt for Jack.”
    “Well, you’ve never seen Tyler shirtless
on a paddleboard.”
    “Oh, yum. I’m telling you, stake your
claim on that muffin. Cook for him, and he’ll be yours, Bess. No man alive can
resist your cooking.”
    Bess snorted. Not a recipe she knew could
make up for her expanded waistline and trunk-like legs. “Tyler goes for model
types. Remember, I met his girlfriend from a few years ago. She could have been
a cover girl for Vogue .”
    “And they broke up. So maybe he doesn’t
go for that sort of thing long-term. Make that lasagna that Jack and Mick
always rave about.”
    Bess gave herself a shake.