Off Limits Marine
Forbidden desire…Marine Captain Gabe Pennington knows how to keep a secret—a little too well. He's been in love with his best buddy's wife since they met. And he can’t forget the stolen, passionate kiss they once shared. But now Annie Jennings has been a widow for two years, and Gabe wants her more than ever.Except that Annie still isn't ready to say goodbye to her deceased husband. Instead, Gabe can only hope that the searing chemistry between them is enough to convince Annie to move on—and forget her promise to never again date military guys. Especially because Gabe still has one secret eating away at him. And it's a secret that could set Annie free… or destroy her faith in love forever.
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Forbidden desire...
Marine captain Gabe Pennington knows how to keep a secret—a little too well. He’s been in love with his best buddy’s wife since they met. And he can’t forget the stolen, passionate kiss they once shared. But now Annie Jennings has been a widow for two years, and Gabe wants her more than ever.
Except that Annie still isn’t ready to say goodbye to her deceased husband. Instead, Gabe can only hope that the searing chemistry between them is enough to convince Annie to move on—and forget her promise to never again date military guys. Especially because Gabe still has one secret eating away at him. And it’s a secret that could set Annie free...or destroy her faith in love forever.
“You’re the most amazing woman I know...”
Cupping Annie’s cheek in his hand, Gabe bent close and kissed her.
It was something he’d been thinking about since the moment they first met. How many nights had he imagined what it might be like to hold her in his arms, to be the one that she waited for day after day, to know that she loved him?
Her lips were soft and warm, and Gabe gently probed the crease of her mouth with his tongue, deepening the kiss. She moaned, then suddenly pressed her hands to his chest, pushing him away.
She stared up at him, and a heartbeat later her palm met his cheek, stunning him back to reality.
“You need to leave. Right now. Just go, please.”
“Annie, I—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, placing her hands over her ears and shaking her head. Her eyes flooded with tears. “Get out.”
As he walked out of the shed, Gabe cursed himself. What the hell had he been thinking?
He’d just betrayed his best friend.
It’s true that time does pass quickly when you’re having fun. In August 1993, my first book was published by Harlequin, a story called Indecent Exposure written for the Temptation line.
Since then, I’ve written ninety more books, mostly for Blaze. Twenty-three years have come and gone!
I’ve lived in three different places, gained and lost countless pounds, said goodbye to sweet feline friends, blown up numerous computers and laptops and visited many story settings, both in person and via the internet. I don’t know what’s next for me, but I know it will be fun to find out. I hope you come along for the ride!
Happy reading,
KATE HOFFMANN’s first book was published by Harlequin in 1993, and in the twentysome years since, she has written ninety stories for the publisher. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys genealogy, golfing and directing student theater productions. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her two cats, Winnie and Gracie.
To Birgit, Malle, Susan, Marsha, Brenda, Adrienne and Johanna—for all you’ve done to make me a better writer.
Contents
HE OUGHT TO be used to funerals by now. He’d been to enough of them over the years that he expected his grief to be numbed, reduced to a dull ache.
Marine Captain Gabriel T. Pennington drew a deep breath of the warm evening air. In the distance, he heard the sound of a fighter jet, taking off from Miramar, and he looked up at the sky, searching for the vapor trail in the late-afternoon light.
This was a different kind of grief, though. Deep and powerful, like a wound that wouldn’t heal. He’d lost his best friend, a guy he’d known for a decade. And unlike the other funerals he’d attended, this one wasn’t followed quickly by a return to active duty and the strange rhythms of a war zone to occupy his thoughts.
He cast his gaze across the wide lawn, his eyes fixed on an old shed set on the rear of the property. It had been two weeks since they’d laid Marine Captain Erik Jennings to rest and Gabe was still looking for something to ease the ache inside him. Perhaps this was it.
The shed door rattled as he drew it aside along a rusty runner. The light switch was beside the door and Gabe flipped it on, then squinted against the harsh glare from a bare bulb.
The familiar lines of the sleek wooden sloop were visible, even when hidden by the dusty tarp. He pulled the canvas cover aside, revealing a sailboat sorely in need of some tender loving care. Running his hand along the faded bright work, Gabe smiled to himself, remembering the late nights they’d spent working on the boat.
Erik had bought the old sloop with money he and Annie had received for their wedding five years before. He’d named it the Honeymoon and convinced Annie that one day he’d leave the military behind and sail her around the world. To most people, it might have looked like a lark, but to Erik and Annie, the boat had been an insurance policy, a promise that they’d have a happy future together, even if the military kept them apart.
Gabe and Erik had been friends since their plebe year at the naval academy. Ten years of friendship that had taken them to the far side of the world and back, Gabe as a Marine helicopter pilot based out of Camp Pendleton, and Erik as a Marine F-18 pilot out of Miramar, call signs Angel and Breaker.
