Read Online A Hero for Tonight by Roni Adams - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Roni Adams
Tags: Contemporary, Military
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once said? Oh yeah, a mosquito, always around and with no real purpose except to annoy him.
She swallowed hard. Surely, it’d been just a weird moment of closeness where he’d forgotten for a second who she was. And she’d done the same.
Who the heck was she kidding? Of course she’d known it was Shane. It wasn’t like she was thinking of anyone else. How could she? When Shane was around, no one thought of anyone else but him, even Shane.
Chapter Five
Shane dropped his hundred-plus-pound pack on the hall floor, shut the front door, and pulled his phone from his pocket. A text message from Dave.
Karen said come over for chili after your shower.
His first instinct was to say no. He wasn’t just tired, he was bone tired . Drill weekends were usually wearing, but this one had been frustrating as well. And then he’d just driven over five hours in pounding rain. All he really wanted was a shower and a warm bed.
But Karen’s chili was something he and Dave had waited all summer to taste again, and he found himself texting back that he’d be over in fifteen minutes.
Leaving his gear where it fell, he was in the shower in record time and well within the fifteen minutes, sprinting across the yard in the rain to his friends’ house.
He walked in the back door and noticed two things right off the bat, the smell was enough to bring a man to his knees…and the woman at the stove wasn’t Dave’s wife, but the woman whose kiss he hadn’t been able to shake all weekend.
His gaze slid down Krista’s long, bare legs. She wore denim shorts that were frayed with age, and the white strings nestled against her golden thighs. He swallowed and snapped his gaze back to her face. She stared back, the kiss from Friday night hanging between them as if written in the air.
Hell, he’d thought of nothing else most of the weekend, and especially during the long drive when he’d had nothing else to do but think.
Everyone turned toward him as he slipped off his wet shoes. Dave handed him a beer, and he took a long drink, pulling his gaze to the spread on the table. His stomach rumbled at the smell of the spicy chili. When he glanced up, his friends were looking between the two of them, and he wondered if Krista had told Karen about the kiss.
“Dave, it’s a good thing you snapped Karen up quick or I’d have definitely married her for this chili,” he said by way of distraction.
Karen set another bowl on the table. “Yeah, then you and I would be married and having Dave over for dinner.”
Shane moved into the room and plopped onto a kitchen chair. “It’s his fault I’m still single. He took the best girl in town and left me out in the cold.”
His buddy sat down across from him. “Who are you kidding? You have women falling all over themselves to cook for you, play house with you, and any number of other games. You only have to pick one out.”
Normally, that would have given Krista the perfect opportunity to jump in with some snarky comment about his love life, but she was oddly quiet, which had him wondering yet again what she’d told their friends.
When he ventured a glance her way, she had her back to the room and was slicing bread. His gaze lingered on the sway of her hips as she worked. The old high school sweatshirt she wore fell large and loose. An image of sliding his hand up her back and discovering if she had a bra on or not flashed into his head.
What the hell? He pulled his gaze away only to collide with Dave’s raised eyebrow. Shane tried to look innocent, but his friend’s glance from him to Krista and back again, showed his suspicion.
Shane twisted his mouth and shook his head, telling Dave in silent reprimand that he was nuts.
His buddy lifted his beer. “You know I have a theory where women are concerned.”
Karen laughed. “This I have to hear.”
“Hey, you aren’t the only woman I ever dated, you know.”
The other three in the room responded in unison. “Yes, she is.”
Laughter
She swallowed hard. Surely, it’d been just a weird moment of closeness where he’d forgotten for a second who she was. And she’d done the same.
Who the heck was she kidding? Of course she’d known it was Shane. It wasn’t like she was thinking of anyone else. How could she? When Shane was around, no one thought of anyone else but him, even Shane.
Chapter Five
Shane dropped his hundred-plus-pound pack on the hall floor, shut the front door, and pulled his phone from his pocket. A text message from Dave.
Karen said come over for chili after your shower.
His first instinct was to say no. He wasn’t just tired, he was bone tired . Drill weekends were usually wearing, but this one had been frustrating as well. And then he’d just driven over five hours in pounding rain. All he really wanted was a shower and a warm bed.
But Karen’s chili was something he and Dave had waited all summer to taste again, and he found himself texting back that he’d be over in fifteen minutes.
Leaving his gear where it fell, he was in the shower in record time and well within the fifteen minutes, sprinting across the yard in the rain to his friends’ house.
He walked in the back door and noticed two things right off the bat, the smell was enough to bring a man to his knees…and the woman at the stove wasn’t Dave’s wife, but the woman whose kiss he hadn’t been able to shake all weekend.
His gaze slid down Krista’s long, bare legs. She wore denim shorts that were frayed with age, and the white strings nestled against her golden thighs. He swallowed and snapped his gaze back to her face. She stared back, the kiss from Friday night hanging between them as if written in the air.
Hell, he’d thought of nothing else most of the weekend, and especially during the long drive when he’d had nothing else to do but think.
Everyone turned toward him as he slipped off his wet shoes. Dave handed him a beer, and he took a long drink, pulling his gaze to the spread on the table. His stomach rumbled at the smell of the spicy chili. When he glanced up, his friends were looking between the two of them, and he wondered if Krista had told Karen about the kiss.
“Dave, it’s a good thing you snapped Karen up quick or I’d have definitely married her for this chili,” he said by way of distraction.
Karen set another bowl on the table. “Yeah, then you and I would be married and having Dave over for dinner.”
Shane moved into the room and plopped onto a kitchen chair. “It’s his fault I’m still single. He took the best girl in town and left me out in the cold.”
His buddy sat down across from him. “Who are you kidding? You have women falling all over themselves to cook for you, play house with you, and any number of other games. You only have to pick one out.”
Normally, that would have given Krista the perfect opportunity to jump in with some snarky comment about his love life, but she was oddly quiet, which had him wondering yet again what she’d told their friends.
When he ventured a glance her way, she had her back to the room and was slicing bread. His gaze lingered on the sway of her hips as she worked. The old high school sweatshirt she wore fell large and loose. An image of sliding his hand up her back and discovering if she had a bra on or not flashed into his head.
What the hell? He pulled his gaze away only to collide with Dave’s raised eyebrow. Shane tried to look innocent, but his friend’s glance from him to Krista and back again, showed his suspicion.
Shane twisted his mouth and shook his head, telling Dave in silent reprimand that he was nuts.
His buddy lifted his beer. “You know I have a theory where women are concerned.”
Karen laughed. “This I have to hear.”
“Hey, you aren’t the only woman I ever dated, you know.”
The other three in the room responded in unison. “Yes, she is.”
Laughter
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