Michael
There really isn’t anything that can prepare you for war.
For the stench of sweat and blood as you fight your way through a battlefield.
For the fear when you’re pinned down by the enemy, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
For the doubt that plagues you in those moments. The intrusive thoughts that tell you you’re better off dead.
Or the knowledge that, even when you leave the war, you’ll never forget the battle.
After a deep breath, I take a drink of my coffee. I allowed the knowledge of what I faced when I’d been in the service run my life for the first year I’d been out. Then I focused entirely on building my relationship with God and forgiving myself for the things I’d done both overseas and back home.
Unfortunately, even though I truly believe He has forgiven me, not everyone has.
Reyna stands across from me, cutting streamers for the town’s End of Summer celebration—a potluck and dance hosted in the school gym for anyone and everyone in Hope Springs.
As usual, she doesn’t spare me a glance as she smiles and chats happily with the high school students and parents helping with the decorations. Just being close to her soothes the ache I’ve felt since the day I left her behind.
A day I’ve regretted more than anything else I’ve ever done.
Johnny, the town librarian’s grandson, makes his way over with a ladder and sets it up beside her. She says something that makes the woman beside her laugh, and I feel cold inside.
She climbs up onto the first few rungs of the ladder, and nerves twist in my gut. Abandoning the sign I was painting, I walk toward her.
“Reyna, I can do that,” I say.
“No.” She doesn’t even bother trying to hide her annoyance that I’m here in the first place. Not that it would do any good—everyone in town knows what I did to her. How I promised her forever then ran the second I let fear take the reins.
“Please.”
“I don’t need you, Mr. Anderson,” she snaps, glaring down at me with dark eyes that haunt my every waking moment. “Let me see that, please, Johnny.” She stretches down, and the high school football star stretches up to hand her a corner of the banner. Reyna sways a bit on the ladder, so I step closer.
“Come on, Reyna. I’m taller. Let me do it.”
“I don’t need you,” she says again, and the words sear into my soul.
She doesn’t need me. Something she made completely clear the first day I returned to town when I’d gone to apologize.
Reyna rises on her tiptoes, holding the banner up with one hand. She stretches up with the other and staples it to the beam above her. As she starts to come down, though, a student on the other side of the gym throws a football.
“Johnny, catch!”
Johnny’s first instinct is to turn, and he jerks the ladder.
Reyna screams.
I lunge forward and catch her in my arms. She hits me with a thud, eyes closed, breathing heavy, stapler clutched to her chest. My heart is hammering, the understanding of what could have just happened barreling through my mind.
She opens her eyes and stares up at me, a million unsaid things sizzling between us. I open my mouth to apologize yet again but think better of it. She’s made it clear that it will do no good.
But knowing that doesn’t keep me from letting my gaze travel over her beautiful face. The dusting of freckles along her nose, the full lips I dream of tasting.
“As I said, I’m taller.”
Her gaze flashes murderously. “Put. Me. Down.”
“Fine.” I set her down, hating the moment she’s out of my arms. It felt so good to be touching her again even if it was only for a moment. “But I’ll do the other side.” Without waiting for her to agree, I pluck the stapler from her hands, move the ladder, then climb up and fasten the other side of the banner.
As soon as it’s done, I climb down and hand it back to her.
She takes it angrily. “I don’t need you,” she repeats.
“Maybe not.” But I need you. My cell rings, so I reach into my pocket and check the read out. Jaxson. The former LAPD detective moved out here to work with us at the firm after helping us on more than one occasion.
“What’s up?” I ask, pressing it to my ear.
“We got a job. Sunny Patterson.”
“The actress?”
“One and the same,” he replies. “She’s heading to a red-carpet premiere in L.A. and wants some additional protection after receiving some threats over her new movie. You’ll be running lead with her established team.”
“Fantastic.” I look over at Reyna, who has already moved on to doing something else.
“You good to take it? You’d need to leave today.”
For a brief moment, Reyna looks up at me then redirects her attention just as quickly. Will she ever look at me without hatred in her eyes?
“Yeah, I’ll take it. God must have known I could use the distraction. Be at the office in an hour.”
* * *
The story continuesin Second Chance Serenity!
A woman who can’t let go. The wounded veteran who broke her heart.
The day Michael Anderson left town to join the military is the day Reyna’s world came crashing down around her. They’d been high school sweethearts destined to walk down the aisle…until they weren’t.
Now, years later, he’s back and desperate for a second chance.
When someone tries to abduct her, Michael offers her his protection. But she worries it comes at a cost she can’t pay…her still broken heart.
Former Army Ranger Michael Anderson is good at what he does. A bodyguard for Knight Security, he’s highly sought after. So when someone tries to kidnap the woman he still loves, Michael knows there is no one more qualified to protect her.
Unfortunately, Reyna’s trust in him was broken a long time ago. And if he’s going to earn it back, he has to do the second hardest thing he’s ever done…walk away and allow another member of his team to take the lead.
But after tragedy strikes, Michael and Reyna are pushed together once more, and this time he plans to make her see that he’s no longer the teen who walked away…but a man ready to risk it all.