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Authors: Jeannie Moon

Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary

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BOOK: The Second Chance Hero
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If only.

Bzzzz. Yeah, not a fly. It was her phone. Picking it up off the table, she saw four text messages. She pressed the icon and her heart just about stopped.

“Hi, Kim. It’s Owen.”
Ohmigod.

“I know it’s late, but I wanted to let you know I’m going to call you tomorrow to invite you out to dinner. ;)”

“Unless you really hate the idea and then you could tell me not to call.”

“But I hope you won’t do that.”

Kim pressed a hand to her chest and smiled. He was too cute. He was a badass marine intel officer and the man was flirting with her.

She hit reply and started typing. Then she stopped.

She’d been here before. That feeling of being swept away by a guy who was strong and self-assured. She’d believed in him without question and lost herself.

Based on her dream, she was already too attracted to him for her own good. If she was giving it all up in her subconscious after one day at a barbecue, what would a romantic dinner do to her? This was a bad idea, even if he was dream-worthy.

Everything about Owen attracted her. His looks, his voice, his brains. There wasn’t one thing she could find that put her off. Well, except when he pushed her buttons about the war. And even then she was only mad because he was right about her. After they’d talked by the barn, he backed off. Instead, the conversation they had over burgers was about his business, about her job taking care of Anna, and a little about her experience in the navy. He asked very specific questions rather than about her feelings, which were such an unholy mess they scared her on her best day. But Kim had to admit, she’d never met a man who had such a great sense with people. He must have been a wonderful commanding officer. There was no bluster around him, just quiet confidence. It was attractive, sexy. What surprised her was that when she was with him she felt safe, secure, and Kim knew she could never rely on a man to provide that again. No. She couldn’t trust him, even if she wanted to.

Even if her heart was aching to.

Moving her thumbs, she started typing the message. “
That’s nice of you, but I don’t think dinner is a good idea. There’s no need to call.”

Send.

Her heart broke a little as the bubble appeared in the conversation and closed the door on the possibilities Owen represented. Standing, Kim decided it was time to go to bed. She left her phone on the table where she wouldn’t hear it.

***

Owen stared at the screen when her message came back. He couldn’t believe it.

Still not sure what to say, he shook his head and then glanced up at Jason and Nate. “She said no.”

“Seriously?” Jason said. “No?”

“Wow.” Nate rubbed the back of his neck. The bastard was pushing down a laugh. “Has any woman ever said no to you?”

Once in a while he might get turned down, but not in recent memory, and in a lot of cases, women asked him out. Whether it was the uniform or the money he made, he was never short of offers. He dated here and there, but no one stuck. No one held his interest or made him feel anything. Over the past year, Kim was the only woman he thought about and he didn’t know why.

Owen shrugged his shoulders. Obviously, Kim wasn’t as into him as he was her. It was odd, though. He was generally a better judge of people, and based on her reactions, all the body language, she liked him.

“Are you going to give it up?” Nate asked.

Again Owen shrugged. “She’s been through a lot.”

“Yes,” Jason said, “But you could be what she needs, man. Make her, I don’t know, a mission objective.”

Owen laughed. “You’re such an asshole. A mission objective?”

Nate jumped in. “You’re a master strategist, Owen. Figure her out.”

“See the hill. Take the hill,” Jason declared loudly.

“Oh, my God,” he muttered to himself.

Owen hadn’t considered that if he ever met Lieutenant Kim Torres again, getting to know her wouldn’t be easy. That was all he really wanted. Okay, that was a lie. He wanted to kiss the woman senseless and he’d felt that way since he’d seen her in the coffee shop.

“She uses the gym at Reliance a couple days a week,” Nate shared. “She brings the baby to Harper in the afternoon for lunch and works out.”

“Is that so?”

“It is,” Jason said. “But be careful of Harper. She’s protective of Kim, so she might run interference if she catches you sniffing around.”

“Good to know.”

It was all good information, but any move Owen made would ultimately be driven by Kim. She was calling the shots whether she knew it or not.

Chapter 5

Kim opened the door to her cottage to find Harper holding a basket of bagels and wearing her snarkiest grin. “You have coffee?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw it was eight o’clock in the morning, and for a second Kim wondered if she was late for work. But remembering it was a holiday, she had to wonder what her friend was doing in her kitchen. At least she brought food. Kim was starving.

Harper may have been her employer, technically, but when she came to work for the software executive almost a year ago, they bonded immediately and became friends. Harper was no bullshit, and she appreciated that Kim was pretty much the same. Now, though, the woman who could terrify a room full of executives had trained her gaze on Kim. “I need answers, missy.”

Kim had selected an everything bagel and was slathering it with cream cheese. Her diet was going to hate this, but she was craving carbs. She always craved carbs when she was stressed. “You want to tell me what the hell you’re talking about, or are we game playing this morning?”

“No games,” Harper said. “What’s up with Owen?”

Kim was just about to take a bite of her magnificent bagel creation, but stopped when Harper posed her question.

“Owen?”

“Yes, he asked you out and you said no.”

Kim closed her eyes, annoyed, and put the bagel on the small plate that appeared in front of her. “He asked me less than ten hours ago. How did you know?”

“Jason told Meg, Meg texted Kevin, and Kevin told me this morning.”

Leaning back in her seat, Kim folded her arms. This was the price of being part of a big, close, extended family. “Oh, my God. You people have to stop.”

“Why did you say no? Don’t you like him?”

“What if I told you it was none of your business?”

Harper tossed her head back and laughter pealed out of her.

“That’s what I thought.” Kim adjusted her position on the kitchen stool, realizing she was going to have to talk about this whether she wanted to or not, leaned forward, and took a breath. “I do like Owen, but I’m not ready.”

“It was just dinner. You’ve gone out to dinner with men before.”

“Harper, don’t make assumptions. This is different.”

Harper poured some milk into her freshly brewed coffee, and took a seat on the other side of the island. “Is it? How?”

“He’s a marine. Been there, done that.”

“He’s not your fiancé and it seems to me he kinda gets you. You two seemed pretty interested in each other yesterday.”

“Harper . . .”

“Oh, I get it! You like him. That’s why it’s different.”

That was exactly why she couldn’t see him. She’d only known him a day and she liked him too much for her own good already. “I’m cautious. Generally when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.” Tom certainly fell into that category.

“Owen is as good as he seems. He’s a bit of a stiff, but he’s a good guy. You don’t get better.”

Kim considered her fingers, paying particular attention to her bare ring finger. For so long she wore Tom’s ring and in the end it brought her nothing but pain. The thought of getting involved with anyone, even casually, scared her to death.

“I don’t know, Harper . . . it’s not a good idea. What if things go south? You guys are close and I don’t want to be in the middle of anything.”

“Oh, stop. If I haven’t messed things up with those three bozos, you certainly aren’t going to do anything.”

Kim had been front and center to the drama that unfolded when all of Harper’s secrets came out—from the baby she hadn’t told Kevin about to her country bumpkin pedigree. Still, she wasn’t going out with Owen.

“He’s not going to give 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 shaky, and then the medic told her Tom had died. She broke down. The grief came pouring out of her. It seems . . . it seems she was his girlfriend. I was right there, having just watched my fiancé die, only to find out he was cheating on me.”

“Oh, God. Oh, Kim.” Harper hopped off the stool and walked around the island, hugging her friend from behind.

“I was in shock after that. My head felt swollen, almost fuzzy. I don’t remember much else. Apparently, I collapsed against another marine who was waiting for treatment, but then my friends shuffled me out of there. I only stayed in country another couple of weeks; I was no good to anyone, so I was sent home.”

“You amaze me,” Harper said. “To lose someone you love and then to find out—”

“That I was a fool? That he played me for a fool?” she cried. “I hated him. I didn’t want him dead, I didn’t want him to suffer, but I was glad I never had to see him again. Does that make any sense? Am I a horrible person? I was broken, humiliated . . . I still am. No one knows except for a few people who were there, and now you.” Tears were flooding her eyes and tracking down her cheeks. There were so many she stopped trying to dry them. “I haven’t told my family and I haven’t told his. In their eyes, he’s still the dutiful, perfect marine—a hero—and I was lucky to have him.”

“You’re carrying this alone?”

“Pretty much. This is why I can’t go out with Owen. I can’t. I do like him, but I don’t want a relationship. I can’t handle one.”

Harper squeezed her tight. “I’m so sorry.”

She nodded, relieved she’d finally told someone what had happened. But at the same time she was sad, because she’d closed the door on something that might have been great. Tom was a ghost who would never leave her. He’d never let her rest. Never let her trust anyone. Never let her love again.

Harper held on and Kim thought about the people she cared about, the ones she really needed, and while she may have felt bad for Tom’s family when she cut them off yesterday, she’d done the right thing. Her family, however, didn’t deserve the way she’d treated them.

She was the oldest of six children and she’d been blowing off her parents and siblings for the better part of a year. One of her brothers had gotten engaged. Her youngest sister was graduating from high school next month. Kim was going to celebrate with both of them.

She couldn’t pursue anything with Owen, but she could reclaim her family. That was something.

***

“They have, hands down, the best waffles on the planet.” His sister Melinda tucked her auburn hair behind her ears and patted her belly. “Let’s take a walk and burn off some calories.”

Owen didn’t need to burn off any calories because he’d already run five miles today, but he liked spending time with his sister. Maybe she could help him figure out his Kim problem.

“What’s on your mind, big brother?”

His little sister wasn’t so little anymore. She was a tall, gorgeous, twenty-nine-year-old award-winning photojournalist. To say the woman had attitude would be an understatement.

“Just settling in. I’m going back to work tomorrow.”

“That’s good. You’ve never been one to hide out for too long. The routine will help.”

“That’s what I was thinking. How are the wedding plans coming?”

His sister had been engaged for three months, and according to his mother, she and her fiancé still hadn’t set a date. Owen suspected there was trouble in paradise. “Mel?”

She took a big breath and then the words shot out in a burst. “I’m going to break it off. I don’t want to marry him.”

Owen let it sink in, and once he processed it, he wasn’t surprised. Not setting the date was his sister’s way of resisting. “Okay. Why?”

Generally speaking, he liked her fiancé, Alex, but he suspected his sister had a good reason for wanting to end it.

“He wants to change me.” She paused and shrugged. “He said my work is too dangerous.”

“Your work is dangerous. But you were doing it, successfully, when he met you. It’s not like it’s a surprise.”

“I know, right? He said if we’re going to start a family I’d have to give it up.”

“He might have a point there.” He couldn’t see her embedded with a military unit if she was pregnant.

“Yes, but he wants to have kids right away. I want to wait a couple of years. I’m only twenty-nine!”

“Have you talked to Mom about it?”

“No.” She shuffled along the pavement like a little kid. “She’s going to be disappointed.”

Owen reached out and looped his arm around her shoulder. “The only thing Mom and Dad want is for you to be happy.”

“I know.” Melinda leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked. “What about you? Don’t you have someone special so the pressure is off me? You are the first born.”

“There’s someone I’d like to know better, but she’s not interested.”

“Not interested? Is she slow?”

He kissed the top of Mel’s head. Almost six years younger than him, his sister turned out to be an incredible woman. It was too bad for Alex that he was going to lose her. “She’s had a bad time of it. Lost her fiancé in the war. It hasn’t been easy.”

“Oh, and here you are, fresh from combat. That’s going to throw up some red flags.”

The military service was the most obvious deterrent, but Kim was sporting scars no one could see. “She’s still hurting, but I like her. She was a navy nurse, has a good heart. You’d like her.”

“You may have to be patient,” Mel said. “Do you see her often?”

“I could.” He wanted to. “She’s Harper’s nanny.”

“Nurse to nanny. Interesting.”

“I think I should step back for a while. Give her some space. Get my own life back in order.”

Owen was doing his best to get back into some kind of routine, like Mel said. Going back to work tomorrow would definitely help. After living in close quarters with so many people for all those months, his house, which was at first a blessing, was now a curse. Since going to the party at Jason and Meg’s house yesterday, he wasn’t so thrilled about waking up in the quiet.

He’d been up at dawn, the sun breaking over the harbor and flooding his room with light. He thought about what he had to do today, and other than finally breaking down and getting some groceries, he’d done everything.

Over the past week, he’d stowed his gear, hung his uniforms in the spare-room closet, done all the paperwork for his separation, and had a physical. He was going to see his parents, too.

That morning, he was more reflective than usual. He’d lain back on his bed and stretched his arm over his head. His life had become a fucking to-do list. He’d looked at Kim’s text at least a dozen times since last night, and he hadn’t been able to get his head around her response. He’d open a text to her and then close it. He didn’t want to be a pain in the ass, but he wanted to know why she’d blown him off. Then the text came from his sister, the only other crazy person who was awake at the crack of dawn on a holiday, asking him to meet for breakfast.

BOOK: The Second Chance Hero
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