Hot and Bothered Read online

  HOT & BOTHERED

  ELLE KENNEDY

  CONTENTS

  Summary

  Author’s Note

  Heat of the Moment

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Heat of Passion

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Heat of the Storm

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Other Titles by Elle Kennedy

  About the Author

  Three sizzling-hot stories from New York Times and international bestselling author Elle Kennedy!

  Give a SEAL an inch, and he’ll take your heart.

  Heat of the Moment

  For almost a year Shelby has lusted over swoon-worthy Garrett, but she can’t figure out why he’s not interested…until she overhears him saying she’s too vanilla for his taste. When a heat wave sends the sexy Navy SEAL into her bakery, she finally has the opportunity to show him exactly what he’s missing…

  Heat of Passion

  Holly has too much on her plate to think about a serious relationship. A hot fling with a SEAL, though, is the perfect way to take the edge off. The last thing she expects is to run into her gorgeous one-night stand weeks later, and to discover that Carson wants the one thing she doesn’t: more. In the face of his methodical seduction, her resistance is crumbling…

  Heat of the Storm

  Will has waited fifteen years for the storm that sends Mackenzie into his arms. He’s the one man not scared of her psychic gift, and their one night of passion is enough to convince this tenacious SEAL that they are much, much more than friends. Now he just has to convince her of that…

  Warning: Contains dangerously hot Navy SEALS, and heroines not afraid to take them on one—or two—at a time.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I am SO excited to be re-releasing the Out of Uniform series! For those of you who haven’t read it before, this was one of my earlier series, and it also happens to be one of my favorites, probably because this is when I realized how much I love writing bromances!

  Seriously. The boy banter in these books still cracks me up to this day. You see more and more of it as the series progresses, and by the later books there are entire chapters of crazy conversations between my sexy, silly SEALs.

  For new readers, you should know that a) you don’t have to read the stories in order, though characters from previous books do show up in every installment. And b) the first six stories are novellas (20-35,000 words), while the last four are full-length novels (80,000+ words).

  I decided to release the novellas as two books featuring three stories each (Hot & Bothered, Hot & Heavy) making the total books in the series SIX rather than the original ten.

  ***IMPORTANT: These books have NOT changed, except for some minor editing and proofreading. There are grammatical differences and some (minor) deleted/added lines here and there, but for the most part, there is no new content. If you’ve previously purchased and read Heat of the Moment, Heat of Passion and Heat of the Storm, then you won’t be getting anything new with Hot & Bothered, aside from a gorgeous new cover!

  Fun facts:

  Heat of the Moment is the shortest because it was only supposed to be a short story in an anthology that the series’ previous publisher had released. I never intended on writing more books, but readers fell in love with Carson, the secondary character, and demanded he get his own story. But when I wrote Heat of Passion, I made the mistake of introducing other members of the SEAL team—and I fell in love with each and every one of them. Which meant they needed their own stories, too, and there you have it—a 10-book series was born!

  Heat of the Moment also features my original use of the name Garrett! Absolutely NO relation or similarities to Garrett Graham of Off-Campus fame, but I loved the name so much I decided to use it again.

  So, I hope you enjoy the new cover, the better grammar, and the hot, dirty-talking SEALs who to this day hold such a big place in my heart!

  Love,

  Elle

  HEAT OF THE MOMENT

  CHAPTER ONE

  Why was it that heat waves always made her want to have sex? Shelby Harper wasn’t certain, but she suspected it had something to do with the spike of body temperature and the constant sheen of sweat that coated her body, clinging to her breasts, sticking to her legs. It made her want to rip her clothes off and wander around naked until the end of time. And thinking about being naked logically led to thoughts of sex, right?

  Or hell, maybe it wasn’t the heat wave at all. Maybe she really shouldn’t have taken the tequila shot that cute Navy lieutenant had tempted her into. But she’d never been able to say no to a man in uniform...

  Too bad the guy was married. He really was appealing, with his clean-shaven jaw and those playful green eyes.

  Fighting a smile, Shelby reached for another ice cube from the plastic cup sitting on the smooth countertop. Though most of the ice had already melted, she managed to find one cube still intact, and slowly ran it over her collarbone. The ice felt heavenly against her fevered skin. A cold shower might have felt even nicer, but she’d already taken one this morning and she was trying to conserve energy.

  “Jesus, Shel, turn on the air conditioning. I’m dying of heat here,” a sexy male voice drawled.

  The ice cube slid out of her fingers and down her shirt, landing directly in the left cup of her lacy pink bra. Her nipple instantly hardened, though it was hard to tell if it was a result of the ice or the sight of John Garrett standing in front of the bakery counter.

  When had he come in here? Her shop was divided into a bakery and a café, the latter being where most of the customers had holed up all evening. She hadn’t even noticed John—no, he liked to be called Garrett, she reminded herself—she hadn’t noticed Garrett walk into the bakery. Not surprising, since he was a Navy SEAL and possessed the eerie ability to make himself invisible until he decided to materialize out of nowhere.

  At the moment, however, he was the furthest thing from invisible. Wearing a pair of olive-green cargo pants that hugged his long, muscular legs and a white T-shirt that was pasted to his rock-hard abs thanks to the heat, he was really, really visible. He shot her a grin that was even sexier than that husky voice of his, adding, “I’m hot.”

  Oh yes you are…

  She quickly silenced the naughty voice inside her head. Yes, Garrett was hot—he was the walking, talking and breathing definition of tall, dark and handsome. And yes, his body was to die for, with all those perfectly sculpted muscles that didn’t come from a gym but from swimming with sharks and hanging off helicopters—or whatever it was he did as a SEAL. But no matter how good he looked, she knew fantasizing about this man would get her nowhere.

  Garrett wasn’t interested in her. A year of flirting and that one pathetic attempt she’d made at asking him out to dinner confirmed this sad truth. Whether she liked it or not, he’d apparently tucked her away in friend territory. Which was probably a good thing, because did she really want to hook up with Garrett anyway? She’d played the part of military girlfriend before, and look how well that turned out. Not only had Matthew, her ex, been away for months at a time, but he’d been doing more than playing GI Joe when he was gone—he’d been fucking every female he happened to encounter.

  “Earth to Shelby.”

  She lifted her head and saw Garrett was still standing there
, still staring at her. Jeez, this heat was making her space out.

  “Sorry, what did you want?”

  “Air conditioning,” he prompted.

  “Forget it.”

  “Come on,” he said with another grin, and then a wink. Man, how did he get away with winking? Most men looked like complete idiots when they tried to wink. “Give me five minutes in front of the air conditioner, full blast, just to cool off.”

  “Increased use of air conditioning during heat waves causes power outages,” she reminded him. “Which is why half the city is experiencing a blackout. I’d rather be all sweaty than without power for five days.”

  She was pretty grateful, actually, that her bakery was the only place in a ten-mile radius that had power, all thanks to the backup generator she’d decided to switch on. No way was she going to put a strain on the genny by cranking the A/C. She hated using it as it was, but she had an entire refrigerator full of cakes that needed to be delivered tomorrow morning and she’d be damned if all those cakes spoiled because John Garrett wanted a little bit of cold air. She’d already done him and his Navy buddies a favor by opening the café on a Sunday evening. The lit-up front window drew the men like flies to honey. To them, electricity meant television, and television meant the ability to see the big game between the Padres and the Dodgers.

  He lifted a brow. “You’re all sweaty, huh?”

  Figured he’d latch onto that one teeny part of her response.

  “Yes, Garrett, I’m sweaty. It’s a billion degrees out there, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “Which only supports my idea about the air conditioning.”

  “Forget it.” She set her jaw and crossed her arms over her chest to show she meant business. “Find another way to cool off.”

  A loud cheer came from the adjoining room, followed by the sound of palms slapping against palms in high-fives. The Padres had obviously scored another run.

  “The game’s almost done. You could take a quick dip in the ocean after you leave here,” she said, trying to be helpful.

  But Garrett didn’t seem to be interested in cooling methods anymore. His chocolate-brown eyes glittered with a mixture of amusement and curiosity as he studied her chest. “Are you…uh, lactating?”

  Huh?

  She quickly glanced down, suppressing a groan when she saw the water stain that had seeped from her bra right through her thin yellow tank top.

  “Ice,” she blurted out.

  “Pardon me?”

  “An ice cube fell down my shirt.”

  He gave a husky little laugh that made her nipples harden again. Damn it. Everything about this man was way too appealing. His warrior body, his messy dark hair and teasing eyes, his laughter. She’d been attracted to Garrett from the second he’d sauntered into her bakery last year to buy a cake for his commander’s birthday. He’d requested the most obscene message to be written in icing, and from that moment on, she was a goner.

  Maybe she was through with dating military men, but she knew that all John Garrett had to do was ask and she’d have her clothes off in a nanosecond.

  But he didn’t ask. He never asked. In the year she’d known him Garrett hadn’t shown one iota of interest in getting naked with her.

  “You should take off your shirt.”

  Until now.

  She managed a startled laugh. “Really? Why is that?”

  His smile was boyishly innocent. “Because it’s all wet. Or, if you’d prefer, I could get a couple more of those ice cubes and rub them over your right breast. You know, so you match.”

  She laughed again, this time to cover up the zing of arousal she’d just felt at the words “rub” and “your” and “breast” coming out of this man’s sexy mouth. He was obviously joking around. He had to be. Because although she’d imagined Garrett’s hands on her breasts countless times before, she knew the fantasy would forever stay in her imagination.

  If John Garrett wanted her, he’d have made a move a long time ago.

  So instead of responding to his flirty remark, she said, “You’ll miss the end of your game.”

  Something that resembled disappointment flickered in his dark eyes. “Yeah.” He coughed. “You’re right. I should, ah, head back in there. Sorry I came in here and bugged you.”

  What? He thought he was bugging her?

  She opened her mouth to tell him he could hang out with her a bit longer, that she wasn’t trying to shoo him away, but he turned around before she could say a word. She got a glimpse of his taut backside disappearing through the doorway leading into the café and then he was gone.

  Well.

  Shelby leaned her elbows on the counter and rested her flushed face in her hands. What exactly just happened here?

  She replayed the entire scene in her mind, starting with the way Garrett had walked in and demanded she turn on the air conditioner and ending with his offer to rub her breasts. And then, of course, his abrupt departure.

  Had she done something wrong? Maybe she hadn’t flirted enough? She would have flirted more, but she hadn’t seen the point. She’d tried it before, and Garrett always brushed off her suggestive remarks, making it obvious he wasn’t interested but never making her feel as if she were inadequate or anything. He genuinely seemed to like her, but after a year of friendship it was clear he wasn’t into her the way she was into him.

  “You don’t want to get involved with him anyway,” she muttered to herself.

  The reminder helped, but only a little. Yeah, she wasn’t interested in dating an officer again, but…but damn it, she really wished John Garrett would have sex with her.

  “Another shot for our lovely hostess?”

  She looked up and found Paul, the married lieutenant, by the counter—yet again holding the tequila bottle and a shot glass in his hands.

  He was obviously trying to get her drunk, and she wondered if she ought to tell him that no amount of tequila would convince her to sleep with a married man. Nah. He’d find out soon enough, especially if he did something stupid, like grope her. If he did that, then he’d also find out she was pretty damn good at kicking him in the balls.

  “I’m already feeling tipsy,” she admitted, eyeing the bottle warily.

  “Tipsy, shmipsy! It’s the first heat wave of the summer! It’s a special occasion.”

  Had he just said tipsy shmipsy?

  Trying not to laugh, Shelby tucked her hair behind her ears. “No thanks, I’ll pass.” She couldn’t go home until the Padres game ended, but drinking herself stupid was no way to pass the time until everyone left.

  And it wasn’t like another drink would help her forget that John Garrett, her long-time fantasy, was in the other room, not wanting to sleep with her.

  No amount of tequila could make her forget that.

  “FACE IT, she’s just not into you,” Carson Scott said with a shrug.

  Garrett forced his gaze to stay glued on the television and not drift in the direction of the doorway separating the café from the bakery. His peripheral vision caught a flash of movement—Shelby rounding the counter to chat with Lieutenant Paul Aston and his tequila bottle.

  Ha. Did Lieutenant Asshole actually think he had a flying fuck of a chance of getting Shelby Harper into bed? Dream on, brother.

  Shelby would never mess around with a married man. Or at least that’s what Garrett kept telling himself.

  Because in all honesty, the thought of his sweet, sexy Shelby burning up the sheets with Lieutenant Asshole, or any man for that matter, caused jealousy to spiral down his chest and seize his intestines like a death vise.

  “You might as well quit pining over the girl,” Carson added, lifting his beer bottle to his mouth and taking a long swig.

  “I’m not pining,” Garrett said defensively. “I’m just…” His voice drifted, his brain unable to come up with an alternative description for the way he felt about Shelby.

  Fuck. Fine. Maybe he was pining, just a little. But who could blame him? Shelby was pret
ty fricking amazing. Look up the definition of sexy California girl in the dictionary and Shelby Harper’s picture would be there—her wavy, sun-streaked blonde hair, her big blue eyes with those incredibly long eyelashes, and the slender athletic body she kept in shape by surfing at Coronado Beach every morning.

  Most of the Navy guys who met her thought she was the typical West Coast blonde, complete with the dumb part, but Garrett had only needed five minutes with the woman to know she was the furthest thing from dumb and typical.

  Shelby Harper was smart as hell. Funny as hell. Nice as hell.

  And there wasn’t a chance in hell that she’d ever get naked with a guy like him.

  “Look,” Carson said after Garrett’s silence had lasted a bit too long. “You’ve spent the last year acting like a choirboy, coming in here whenever you’re on leave and buying those fancy-pants mocha latte Frappuccinos without ever telling Shelby that what you really want is to get inside her pants.”

  “You can’t tell a woman like Shelby you want inside her pants,” Garrett replied with a frown. He took a slow sip of his beer, but the liquid was already room temperature, and room temperature meant about ninety degrees. He forced himself to swallow the tepid beer, then pushed the bottle away.

  “Why the hell not? She fills out a pair of pants pretty fucking nicely.”

  She sure did…

  He forcibly shoved all thoughts of Shelby’s tight ass out of his head. “I can’t treat Shel the way I treated all the SEAL groupies I hooked up with. She’s…classy and…nice. She deserves more than a couple sleazy come-ons.”

  “Well, since you’ve been striking out since day one, maybe a couple sleazy come-ons are what you need.”