OLNExcerpt2.docx

“How about you? You’re due for leave soon, right? Going home to Elena?” he asked and immediately regretted it as his friend’s features darkened. A muscle ticked along the sharp line of Rafe’s jaw and his full lips tightened. The earlier humor present in his brown-eyed gaze disappeared.

“I’ll be heading out next week. Not sure where I’m going.” The dead tone of his voice was impossible to miss.

“I know the feeling, dude, but . . . It’s time you and Elena talked it out. Made peace.”

Rafe barked out a laugh. “Seriously, Trev? Did you and your old man make peace?” his friend shot back.

With a shrug, he said, “Actually, I went to see him today. We’re having dinner tomorrow night.”

Taken aback, his friend sat there silently for a long moment. “I hope it works out for you, mi amigo. I really do.”

He hoped so, too. His dad was the only immediate family he had left and he didn’t like the distance that had sprung up between them in recent years. He knew that Rafe was in a similar position with his wife. They’d grown apart in the time spent away from each other, but he got the sense that his friend still loved her.

“Go see Elena. Work it out with her and if you can’t, you’ll know to move on,” he urged.

Rafe laughed again, smiled ruefully, and shook his head. “So when did you become a fuckin’ therapist?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t charge you for my time. Watch your six. I’ll see you in a few days,” he said, thinking about the long trip necessary to head back to where they were stationed.

“See you, Trev. Watch your six,” Rafe repeated and a second later, the video call snapped off.

He leaned back in his chair and the tension rolled off his body. He hadn’t even realized just how uptight he’d gotten during the call.

Part of it was the discussion about his father and Rafe’s wife. Sore spots with both of them. But beneath that had been the realization that his time to heal was over, not that he was totally recovered. His body might be in one piece again, but you didn’t get shot up as bad as he had and not worry about it happening once more.

That niggling thought lingered as he put away the groceries he’d bought to make tomorrow night’s dinner. Especially since he knew a big part of the distance between him and his dad was due to his decision to join the military and continue a long-standing family tradition that had begun when the first Mason ancestor had served during the Revolutionary War.

Only his father had bucked that tradition, choosing to grow the family business instead of going into the military. It had paid off well for them and he knew that his father had hoped that Trevor would choose to join him in running the company, but Trevor had wanted to first do his duty to his family’s tradition and to his country. Then he could think about honoring his father’s wishes.

Maybe he could convince his father of that during tomorrow’s dinner. A dinner facilitated by Maggie. His father would have likely found some kind of excuse to avoid him, but Maggie had made it impossible for him to do so.

He was grateful for that and grinned as he remembered that last, almost conspiratorial look they’d shared. And her smile, kind of subdued, but with a hint of mischief beneath.

Closing his eyes, he pictured how she’d looked earlier that day. Older for sure, but that was to be expected since by his guess, she had to be at least twenty-one to his twenty-three. You changed a lot in five years.

She was more sedate now in her off-the-rack business clothes, dark auburn hair gathered up into some fancy twist at the back of her head. He kind of remembered her with more hair, wild and curling all around that very cute face and expressive emerald eyes.

And definitely not to be forgotten, that sweet ass and breasts that made him itch to touch and taste while he kissed her full and just too tempting lips.

Fuck, he thought as his body hardened with those imaginings. It was useless to think about things that could never be because (a) he was leaving in two days and (b) Maggie was off limits.

Way off limits, the little voice inside his head reminded.

Somehow that thought didn’t communicate itself to the rest of him as he leaned forward and typed Maggie’s name into the search engine although he should have known better. It was too common a name.

Heading to one of the social networking sites, he popped over to the page for the public high school she had attended. Scrolling through their list of followers, he smiled as he found her.

Her profile picture was a selfie of some kind, with only half her face in a full, open-mouthed smile that just screamed “Happy!” The remainder of the shot was of her upper body clad in a loose white tank top that showed off her summer tan, lots of freckles, and for fuck’s sake, those amazing tits.

His cock jerked in his jeans at the sight of them and he sucked in a rough breath, feeling like a total perv.

It was just her profile pic, damn it.

But the perviness factor didn’t keep him from clicking on the tab for photos and checking out the public pictures in her albums. Casual shots of her and her friends on the Jersey Shore. Other photos of them a little more dressed up on some adventure in the city.

What struck him the most, other than that she was just downright gorgeous in every one, was that happy glimmer in her eyes and on her lips that said she was content with who she was. It made him wonder if she was as accepting of those around her.

If she could be as accepting of him, as fucked up as he was in so many ways.

A crazy thought and yet it didn’t keep him from clicking on the little button to request her friendship or writing a short message that she might or might not read.

Thanks for what you did today. I hope my father doesn’t take it out on you.

He hesitated, not really sure how to end it or if he wanted to say more. He sat there, staring at the screen until he finally dashed off the last few words.

I wish we could have gotten to know each other better.

He pushed the send button before he had a chance to reconsider.

You can purchase ONE LAST NIGHT here:

Amazon: http://bit.ly/AMZOLN
Nook: http://bit.ly/BNOLN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KOBOOLN
iBooks: http://bit.ly/iBksOLN
All Romance: http://bit.ly/AReOLN
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/SWdsOLN
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/GROLN

ONE LAST NIGHT is also available as part of the SINFUL SEVEN STORIES: The Second Collection:

Amazon: http://bit.ly/SS2AMZ
Amazon UK: http://bit.ly/SS2AMZUK
Amazon CA: http://bit.ly/SS2AMZCCA