Forget Me Not Read Online Free

SEAL had taught him self-respect, self-control. It had given him purpose and direction. It had given him the best years of his life. Before the SEALs, he was just a kid prowling around looking for trouble and picking fights to relieve the deep-down anger inside of him.
    If he wasn't a SEAL, then what was he, a husband and a father? How had that happened?
    He was the last man in the world any woman should marry. Not that he didn't like women. Hell no, he loved their bodies, loved the powerful way they made him feel. But he didn't know the first thing about intimacy. He didn't like it when soft, tender feelings stole over him. Feelings like that had a way of turning on a man, twisting his guts inside out, and he couldn't afford that. It'd taken him ten years of his adult life just to get his head on straight He couldn't afford to let a woman mess him up again. So what was he doing married, with a kid already?
    A knock sounded at the door.
    Jesus, God. He was about to find out

Chapter Two
    C ome in." Gabe sat up, his heart beating erratically. The door swung inward. Gabe saw the khaki sleeve of the doctor's arm as he held it ajar. Hospital sounds rushed in—the beeping of monitors, a doctor being paged, elevator doors opening. But several seconds elapsed before anyone entered.
    Then a woman stepped inside. The adrenaline that jolted Gabe's system made him clutch the rails on the side of his bed. His gaze locked with hers across the room. God in heaven, no wonder he was married. One look at her and he never wanted it to end.
    Honey-colored eyes regarded him from a heart-shaped face. Her lashes and eyebrows were subtly darker than the gold hair tumbling down her back. Her chin had a tiny cleft in the center. She wore a stretchy white top that clung to her neat breasts and shorts that accentuated slim, muscular thighs.
    "Gabe?" she whispered, as if she didn't recognize him either.
    He nodded his head, about to say the name they'd given him— Helen. Helen was the perfect name for her. But then another woman stepped into the room, and he thought—wait, maybe this is Helen.
    Only she was just a girl, taller and stockier than the woman. Her hair was dyed black. Her eyes, which were a dark green version of the first woman's, betrayed their relationship.
    Hold up. The kid was in her early teens. If she was his, he'd remember her. He'd never been more confused in his life.
    Jerking his gaze back to the first woman, he felt his panic subside. She was unquestionably the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. The trials he'd suffered this past week paled in the face of this unexpected reward. Maybe he was up to being a husband, after all.
    Helen suffered the urge to turn tail and flee. Thankfully, Mallory was right behind her, blocking the only exit.
    Gabe dominated the room. After any extended absence it took days to get used to him again. Not that he was a giant at six feet one inch, but his magnetism filled the room. His vitality took up an enormous amount of space, making the hospital bed look like a baby carriage.
    She inched toward him. Gabe was staring at her as if he'd been hit by a stun gun. His expression was so open, so unguarded, that she hesitated. Was it even him, or was this some kind of mix-up?
    She inspected him carefully. Wearing a hospital gown, he looked different anyway, but the breadth of his shoulders was familiar, as were the arms sticking out of the arm holes. Despite the lean muscle on,him, he looked thinner than she'd ever seen him. The hollows under his cheekbones sharpened his already precise features.
    It was definitely Gabe. The angles and planes of his face were the same, but the eyes cinched it A peculiar shade of yellow-green, they gleamed with the same intelligence and intensity that had drawn her to him, three years ago. She steeled herself to resist him now.
    "Hey," she said, her voice strangely husky. "How are you?"
    He gave her a familiar, crooked smile. "I've been told I should be dead, so I guess