Read Online The Second Chance Hero by Jeannie Moon - Free Book Online Page B

up, you know. He likes you.”
    “He barely knows me! How can he like me?”
    “Oh, girl, the same way you can like him. There is serious chemistry between you and Major Kent. I could see the sparks flying.”
    Major Kent. The name rolled around in her brain. It caught on something and then let go. She had been having these odd feelings where Owen was concerned. Beyond liking him, which she did, Kim felt like she was missing something. It didn’t matter. She’d made her decision.
    “I’m not getting involved, Harper, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t encourage him.”
    “Even if I think you’re being a dumb-ass?”
    “Yes, even then.”
    They ate their bagels quietly and it was the silence that finally got to her. She hadn’t bared her soul to anyone since coming home. She’d been broken since last year and finally she was starting to feel whole again. Owen let her see how much work was still left to do. Kim grabbed a napkin and dabbed her eyes. “I just don’t know if I have it in me,” she whispered.
    Harper looked up from her breakfast. “What? A relationship?”
    “A relationship with a man like him. I know I’m projecting. We barely know each other, but there’s something about him, Harper, something I can’t identify that tells me he could own me. And I just don’t know if I can give up my heart to someone again. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”
    Harper reached across and took her hand. “It’s just dinner.”
    “You see it as just dinner. For me, it’s not. It’s more. With him it could be more. I just know it.”
    “Really?”
    “You know how you said he’s a good guy? I could see that the minute he walked into Starbucks to pick me up. He’s kind. He’s smart. He’s sweet. He’s . . .”
    “He’s hot. He’s really freaking hot.” Harper added the final quality with gusto.
    “Says the woman living with the Baseball God.” Kevin Rossi was a perfect male specimen, and Harper called him the Baseball God because it pissed him off. And there was nothing she liked better than pissing off her fiancé.
    “Yeah, but even I can’t deny that whole strong, silent warrior thing Owen has going on. Damn.” Harper paused. “Is that it? Is he like your fiancé?”
    Kim drew a shuddering breath. “Owen couldn’t be more different from Tom. They’re alike in some ways, sure, but in others he’s totally different.” In the important ways, she hoped.
    “So what’s the problem? Something else is bothering you.”
    Kim pushed her hair back and blew her nose. “I didn’t tell you everything about the day Tom died.”
    Did she do this? Only a handful of people knew the truth about what happened. Could she tell Harper?
    “What happened?”
    “Tom was burned on something like sixty percent of his body, including one side of his face and neck. He had a massive belly wound. I can’t imagine the pain he was in. He was conscious when I saw him. He talked to me.”
    Harper squeezed her hand. “Oh, honey . . .”
    “It wasn’t just that I was there. I watched him suffer, Harper. He told me he was sorry and that he loved me and then he died.”
    “Kim, I had no idea. I can’t imagine how you’ve handled it.”
    “Anna helps. She helps me forget. But there’s more to the story.”
    Harper stayed still, focused, so Kim continued. “I left the treatment bay and walked into an open area right outside the ER. I think I threw up in the garbage pail. I don’t remember. I do remember I was sitting on the floor for, I don’t know how long exactly, for a while. It was so hot. Like 110 degrees that day—even air conditioning didn’t help. Hell on Earth. I heard a vehicle pull up and thought we might be getting more wounded, when I saw a marine military police officer running down the hallway right toward me. It was a woman and she shouted at a medic asking for Tom.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    Kim nodded. “I didn’t either. I stood, it took me a bit because I was