Tempted by the Soldier

Author:Nicolette Day [Day, Nicolette]
Language: ara
Format: epub
Tags: tessa bailey, road trip, erotic, wedding, military, new adult, contemporary romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Nate knelt down in the dew-covered grass of the cemetery where his parents were buried. Muted light poured over the two headstones in front of him, and his heart throbbed in pain. He fisted the dog tags around his neck and swallowed a belly full of guilt as he stared at his mother’s name. There was so much he needed to say to his parents, but all of it just sounded like bullshit when he played it out in his head. No words were ever going to be enough.

It had taken him ten years to get here. Ten fucking years, and he’d only ended up at her gravesite on a whim, after he’d stumbled out of his hotel room before the sun had even broken over the horizon. He hadn’t slept at all, for fear that Lilly would witness one of his hellish nightmares. The last thing he needed was her seeing firsthand exactly how fucked up he really was. So, when the glowing numbers on the alarm clock had flashed five thirty, he’d climbed out of bed, not realizing his early-morning walk would land him in the one place he was nowhere prepared to visit.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to his father’s headstone. “I’m sorry I let you down.”

He tightened his jaw and pulled a weed that was growing next to his mother’s headstone. “Damn it. I should have brought you flowers, Ma.” He tossed the weed away and grabbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. You’d think that after ten years I’d start getting some of this shit right.”

She’d told him once that sometimes you had to lose your way to find the right path. Of course, she’d also told him he was just like his father. At one time he’d believed that. He’d believed it enough to give up civilian life to chase after his father’s dream. Or his ghost. Nate still wasn’t sure which had driven him to enlist the first time around.

Either way, she was wrong. He was nowhere near the man his father had been. His father had been a hero. Colonel Bradford Jennings had never run from a fight in his life. He’d met it head-on. It’s how he had died, defending his men, fighting for what was right until the last ounce of life drained from his veins.

And now here Nate was, ten long years after their deaths. Still running. From Lilly. From the storm of emotions she was stirring up in him.

He swallowed another rush of self-recrimination. He should not have given in to her. To the overwhelming temptation to touch her. To be with her. To pretend, for just a few precious moments, that he could be a normal man and live a normal life with the woman he was falling for.

He’d known what would happen if he let himself give in. He’d known it would be hell leaving her behind.

He had been very careful the past two years. Careful not to become attached to anyone or anything he couldn’t in good conscience leave behind when the time came.

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