Jillian Hart - A Soldier for Christmas

“I didn’t think you soldiers took detours when you were on a mission.”

“Right, but I’m gonna need fuel. No way can I shop on an empty stomach. Oh, wait. I get it. You don’t date. And you’re afraid that eating together twice would make it look like we’re dating.”

“It could look that way, but it’s not. Right?”

Was that a shadow of fear he saw in her gentle blue eyes? Why would she be afraid? Then in a blink, it was gone.

He stepped off the curb, looking for traffic, but there were no cars headed their way. He fished his keys from his pocket. “Don’t even worry. Friends go out to eat together sometimes.”

“I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I know you’ll be leaving in a month or so—”

“Exactly, so don’t sweat it. We’ll do whatever you want.”

“I’ve got the best shop to show you. I really think you’ll find what you want there.”

“You mean this could be a one-stop deal?”

“It might even be painless.”

She was doing her best to thwart his plans for their date. He was going down in flames. Not good. This had to be about Joe. What had happened? What had he done to her? He hadn’t known the guy except as a name back in high school.

Whatever had happened, it had sure made Kelly afraid to try dating again. As he unlocked the passenger door, a mild breeze whispered through the maples overhead and shifted the lemony sunshine over them. In the dappled mix of shadows and light he opened the door and took Kelly’s hand to help her up.

She dodged him, as if too independent for such a gesture, but he sensed it was something more as she slipped past him. Her cotton dress gave a whispering rustle, and the vanilla fragrance from her shampoo scented the air between them.

Unaware of how she moved him, she climbed into the passenger seat and settled her book bag on the floor at her feet. She sat there in a swirl of lavender summer cotton and dappled sunlight and sweetness. Feelings came to life within his heart and weren’t like anything he’d felt before. They were soft and warm, and as soothing as prayer. Tenderness lit him up from the inside out. He felt every inch of his six-foot-two-inch frame as he closed her door and circled around to his side.

Her smile was calm, her blue eyes bright and friendly. “It’s not far from here. If you can pull a U-turn and avoid the traffic jam up the street?”

“Inciting me to break the law, huh?” He winked as he started the engine and belted in. “I’m shocked. A sweet girl like you.”

“Ah, the things you don’t know about me.”

“I’m beginning to get the picture. A hard-working college student who goes to church every Sunday. Yep, you’re trouble.” He checked the mirrors and the pedestrian traffic before turning sharply out from the curb and down the narrow tree-lined residential street.

Then he saw the sign, allowing U-turns in the wide, turnabout intersection.

“No more trouble than you are, I bet. Sunday service and then dinner at home with your parents.”

“Not until six tonight. Until then, I’m a reckless man on the town.” A gray tabby cat paraded off the sidewalk about ten yards up the residential street, and he slowed to a stop.

“Yeah, reckless. I see that.”

He could feel her gaze like the softest brush against the line of his profile. He’d like to know what she thought about him. Come September he’d be on a bird out of here and he wouldn’t be back this way again except for a rare, quick family holiday.

He wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted. But he liked being with her.

Once the cat was safely across the street, he hit the gas. A four-way stop was ahead. “Which way?”

“Right. And take the first parking spot you come to.”

“It’s that easy? I can’t believe it.” He whipped the Jeep over to the curb and parked. “I just might make it out of this mission without a casualty.”

“No casualties, remember? I’m watching your six.”

“Then let’s do it.” He killed the engine and released his seat belt.

Kelly took a deep breath and tried to steady herself, to just breathe. What she couldn’t explain was why he’d affected her like this. Why he’d slipped through her defenses as if they were nothing.

She didn’t have a clue. He was already out of the Jeep and slamming the door, moving with an easy, latently powerful bearing around the front of the vehicle.

Why was she watching him? Because it was impossible not to. He looked like everything good in the world, honorable and strong. He made the broken places within her heart feel less cracked. He made her laugh and smile.

It was hard not to like him a little more for being a gentleman as he caught the edge of the door when she opened it with his big powerful hand. Golden flecks twinkled in his eyes as he grinned at her. “This might not be a date, but I’m getting the doors for you anyway.”

“You’re going to spoil me, and then where will I be?”

“You’ll be treated the way you deserve.” He held out his big hand, palm up and waiting.

She hesitated. He was simply being a gentleman, nothing more, but that’s what scared her. There was danger in taking even the first tiny step in leaning on anyone. When you started leaning, you started hoping.

And in the hoping, dreaming.

The pieces of her broken heart ached like shattered bone. Friendship was one thing, but she could get out of the Jeep on her own, thank you very much.

As she tipped off the edge of the seat, his hand shot out, caught her forearm, the tricky guy. His grip was iron-strong and commanding. The warmth of his touch, and the strength of it, rocked through her.

Instead of feeling afraid, peace ebbed into her heart. Even into the broken places.

Her feet hit the concrete sidewalk, jarring her back into reality. Mitch let go, and shut the door with a thump. This gave her the opportunity to step away from him.

That rare, warm peace ebbed away like a tide rolling back out to sea. Although the sun blazed already hot on her shoulders, she shivered, as if with cold.

“I can see the campus from here, just down the street.” Mitch pocketed his keys, his movements confident and relaxed as if he hadn’t felt a thing. As if this hadn’t affected him this way. “Do you live in the dorms?”

Somehow she managed to make her feet carry her forward as though nothing had happened, as though she were perfectly fine. Her voice came as if from far away. “No, the dorms are too expensive. I have a little apartment three blocks from here.”

“Any roommates?”

“Just one.”

“An apartment sounds good to me. Right now I have the luxury of living in the barracks.”

“The luxury?”

“And so much privacy. Not. I’m happier in a hootch—”

“A hootch?”

“A tent—” he supplied, “in a camp somewhere overseas with my team. Give me a cot and I’m home. Better yet, I’d rather be sleeping out in the bush.”

“Really, on the ground? You like that?”

“Sure. It’s like camping, except for the grenades and C4 explosives. I grew up in these mountains.”

“Really? The math whiz I remember from high school didn’t look like the outdoors type.”

“Looks are deceiving, and I was at an awkward age. Okay, a very awkward age. My dad is a forest ranger. We’re gonna take one of these weekends I have free—if I get a whole one free—and hike up into the Bridger Mountains. Spend the night. Camp. Cook river trout over a fire.”

“Sounds very rugged. I’m more of a stay-away-from-the-mountains kind of girl.”

“You just haven’t been properly exposed to the wilderness.”

“Where there’s no hot water, no plumbing and no electric blankets?”