Letters to Her Soldier

Evernight
Publishing

www
.
evernightpublishing
.
com

Copyright© 2013 Hazel Gower

 
ISBN:
978-1-77130-411-5

Cover
Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Cheryl
Harper

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
  
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a
work of fiction.
 
All names, characters, and
places are fictitious.
 
Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.
 

DEDICATION

To my wonderful family, I love you.
 
Thank you for all your support.
 
Also, thank you to my amazing critique partners,
Tamara Gill and Bianca Sarble.

LETTERS TO HER SOLDIER

Hazel
Gower

Copyright
© 2013

“I don’t know
why you can’t pick your brother up
, ”
Bianca said on the
phone with her friend Greta.

“We’re getting a
surprise ready for him.
 
You know it’s
his birthday next weekend.
 
We’re doing a
big combined welcome home party.
 
It’s
taking a lot to organize.
 
” Greta paused.
 
“Because I’m off next weekend for the
celebration, I couldn’t get this weekend too.
 
And I thought you might like to pick him up
since you’ve been sending him letters for the last couple of years. ”

Bianca groaned.
 
“Sending letters is totally different than
talking and seeing him in person.
 
The
last time I saw Caleb, I was a chubby little girl who followed him around
everywhere. ”

Greta laughed.
 
“Well, you’re not anymore.
 
You can’t keep avoiding him.
 
Don’t think I haven’t noticed that every time
he gets leave, you go MIA.
 
He’s home for
a while now teaching new recruits, so you won’t be able to avoid him the whole
time.
 
Unless you move.
”

Bianca wondered
if her work would okay a transfer.
 
She
was their star wedding cake maker.

“Don’t even
think about it, Bianca.
 
I will hunt you
down and drag you back. ”

Sighing in
defeat, Bianca looked around the airport for Caleb.
 
“Fine, but he doesn’t know what I look like.
 
I haven’t se—”

“Yes, he does.
 
I’ve been sending him pictures of us, of you. ”

“You what?”
A bunch of people turned
to glare at Bianca.
 
“You did what? I
told him no when he asked for pictures. ”

“Why on earth
would you do that?”

Scrubbing a hand
over her face, Bianca looked up at the arrival board to see Caleb’s plane had
landed a good ten minutes ago.
 
“I was
scared.
 
I didn’t know what picture to
send.
 
I look nothing like the girls I
remember he liked to date.
 
I’m not
five-seven with legs that go on forever, a blonde, or a size under double
digits.
 
I don’t think I ever will be any
of those things.
 
I’m a wedding cake
maker and designer, and I like taste testing my food too much. ”

There was quiet
on the other end of the line for a moment before Greta replied.
 
“You do realize the way to a man’s heart is
with food
. ”

“You can say
that because you’re a size ten, and your mother taught you how to cook.
 
Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at work? That’s
why I had to come and pick Caleb up instead of you?”

Bianca was met
with another silent reply, and a niggling feeling came over her that Greta was
up to something more than just a welcome-home, birthday surprise for Caleb.

“Sorry.
 
Busy working and getting
the surprise ready to go.
 
Talk
later.
 
Bye. ”

The uneasy
feeling got bigger as Bianca put the phone back in her bag.
 
Straightening her shoulders, she looked
around again.
 
Army men come out of the
gate in full uniform, and she slowly walked forward.
 
“Oh my, they do look so good
.
”

An older lady
next to her chuckled and asked, “Yes, they do.
 
Any of them yours?”

Bianca shook her
head and started to say no when Caleb walked out with two other men.
 
Tall, he stood well over six feet with broad
shoulders and a tight muscular body.
 
Bianca couldn’t see much of his dark olive
skin in his Army uniform.
 
His hat
covered his jet black hair and his piercing deep dark brown eyes set above a
strong masculine jaw.

Caleb searched
the crowd before his gaze stopped on her.
 
He stalked forward.
 
“Hey, beautiful
. ”

Bianca stared at
him, stunned, as he pulled her to him, and his mouth come down on hers.
 
He held her tightly as his lips crushed hers
and his tongue traced her lips, asking for entry.
 

With her mind
going a million miles a minute, it took her a moment before she moaned, wrapped
her arms around Caleb, opened her mouth, and met his tongue with hers.

He pulled away, leaving
her panting, and she wondered if she’d fallen into some parallel universe.
 

Caleb smiled
down at her, showing perfect white teeth.
 
“Ready to go.
 
Just need to grab my backpack. ”

Speechless, she
nodded as he grabbed her hand and walked over to the baggage carrousel.
 
She trailed behind him probably looking like a
stunned mullet.
 
Caleb didn’t let go of
her hand when he grabbed his big backpack, shoved it on one shoulder, and then
pulled her toward the exit.
 

“Where did you
park?”

Bianca pointed
to her left, not trusting her voice to talk.
 

“Do you still
have the little white sports car?”

She froze, and
he stopped and looked back at her.
 
“How
do you know I have a Honda Integra?”

A huge grin
spread over his face.
 
“The first picture
I got from Greta was of you with the car your parents bought you.
 
She told me all about how you corrupted her to
go racing in it. ”

Bianca watched
his eyes light up as he moved to box her in against the car behind her.

“That’s not the
best part.
 
The picture she sent is of
you laid back on your car, posing in only a white bikini. ”

She gulped, and
thought of the best way to kill her best friend…scratch that, ex-best friend
the next time she saw her.
 

His hungry gaze
traveled up and down her.
 
“Do you still
have that little white number?”

Holy crap.
“Argh
. ”
Shit, her voice wouldn’t work.
 
She
nodded and maneuvered out of his way to power walk to her car, which was in
sight.
 

She heard
chuckling behind her and knew Caleb followed.
 
Pressing the button to unlock the door, she
almost jogged the last couple of steps before opening the door and getting in.
 

Sitting in her
car, Bianca took a deep relaxing breath.
 
What the hell was going on? Maybe Caleb had
been away too long.
 
Afghanistan didn’t
have women for him, did it? He was desperate for female attention.
 
When he got settled, he’d probably find some
gorgeous woman, but until he got back into the swing of things, he was
practicing on her.

Bianca debated
for only a moment whether she’d let him use her or not before he got in the car
and chucked his backpack onto the back seat.
 
He took his hat off, his short jet back hair
and strong face now clear to view.
 
Hell
yes, she would let him do anything to her, and she would worry about the
consequences to her heart later.
 

He fastened his
seatbelt and smiled over at her.
 
“They’ve assigned me a house.
 
I thought we would go there first before we go
anywhere else.
 
You know where the base
is, don’t you?”