Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (103 page)

* 

Ten Years Later 

Kendal made her way through the crowd that was littered with leather vests, and she smiled and greeted everyone she passed. “You have a lovely home,” one woman called to her. 

“Thank you!” Balancing a tray of homemade cookies, she managed to make it into the dining room without dropping a single one. She laid them out neatly on the table and glanced to make sure none of the other platters needed to be refilled. Pleased with how beautifully the table was still set up, she let out a satisfied sigh.  

“Mommy!” a light voice called. She turned to see a little girl with bouncing blond curls standing behind her.  

“Hi, honey!” Bending down to her level, she planted a big kiss on her cheek. Kendal broke out into happy laughter as she saw the lip prints that her lipstick left on her daughter’s porcelain skin. Scooping her up into her arms, she licked her thumb and gently rubbed it away as her daughter giggled and tried to fight off her hand. “Where is your brother?” 

She followed her daughter’s tiny finger as it pointed across the party. Through the doorway of the dining room, she could see to the other side of the front room, where a blond little boy was. He was standing right in the middle of all the adults with his dad’s leather jacket hanging a thousand sizes too large on him, being the life of the party as always. She laughed as he spun in a circle, letting the sleeves dangle all around him. 

He acted as if he were driving a motorcycle and ran all around the front room as all the adults laughed at just how cute he was. “He is literally the cutest thing,” Lexy’s voice called from behind her.  

“Well, thank you.” Putting a hand on her best friend’s swollen belly, she smiled up at her. “I can’t wait to see how cute your little bundle is.” 

“Isn’t it crazy?” 

“What?” 

“How much has changed in the past few years.”  

“I know.” Kendal glanced at all the friends and family that surrounded them and realized for nearly the thousandth time today how truly blessed she was.   

“Luckily we ended up right where we were meant to be.” They shared a smile and a quick hug before Lexy was pulled away by a friend asking questions about her upcoming due date. 

Looking up, Luke caught Kendal’s eye and waved her over, his beautiful smile like a beacon on the shore. She made her way through the crowd with her daughter on her hip. Luke wrapped both of his girls in a hug and kissed Kendal gently. “Come here, princess!” he called as he took his little girl from Kendal and held her high above his head.  

Kendal’s heart felt so full that she thought she might cry. She had never expected to have such a perfect, loving family, and she certainly had never expected it to be with a biker. “I love you.”  

“I love you more.”  

THE END

An Alien Sentiment

Prologue:

The name on the mailbox was Lewis. It wasn't his name. The house was not his. The body he wore was not the one he had been born into, in the traditional sense. He stood on the outskirts, and he watched. As the weeks drew on, he moved in nearer, watched more closely.

That was when she moved in.

He hadn't intended for any of it to happen the way it did. And yet, he thought sometimes, perhaps it had been meant to happen that way. Perhaps, after all, it was possible for two beings to be meant for each other, even when they came from such very different places.

Chapter One

Lily Frederick was not, in any way, extraordinary in her own mind. She was just another woman in the last years of her twenties, still unmarried, still looking for the place in life where she would fit. In the meantime, she worked a job she didn't particularly hate, lived in a house she didn't particularly like. It was a life in limbo. Or it might have been, if not for the thing that made it worse than that. If it had not been, she thought sometimes, for that, she might have been happy. Or almost happy, at least.

She sighed softly as she let the door shut silently behind her, stepping out onto the little cement path that curved from the stoop to the edge of the driveway. The day was warm, summer officially settling in, but not yet so hot that it was uncomfortable to walk outside for a few minutes. Under a thick fall of auburn hair, her neck was a little warm, but she paid it no attention.

Her flip-flops made a quiet flapping sound against the cement as she crossed the driveway to the mailbox. She wasn't really paying much attention to anything beyond her goal as she opened it and scooped out the letters that waited within. Turning back toward the house, she flipped through the minimal pile. Most of it was junk mail, destined for the trash. There was a letter from the bank. That would undoubtedly be unpleasant.

"Lily," a voice called, jerking her out of her contemplation.

She looked up to find the man who lived next door watching her, his own mail in his hands. He was dressed, as he usually was, in clothes that didn't quite match the summer look in a suburb—slacks and a button-up shirt—but the heat didn't seem to bother him. From this far away, she couldn't see the color of his eyes, but she knew from other encounters that they were dark. Dark like the slightly too long hair he wore brushed back from his face. It was a nice view. A good way to take her mind, for a few minutes at least, from the rest of her daily life. Her hand lifted in a wave.

"Good afternoon, Corbin," she called.

She turned before he could invite her closer, starting back toward the house. There was too much to be done to linger outside chatting with the neighbors. If he had planned to call her back, he must have thought better of it, because she heard his footsteps, and then the sound of a door closing. She stepped inside, door shutting behind her.

In the house, it was dim and cool, most of the blinds pulled shut. Her father was still sleeping upstairs, and he wouldn't be happy to be woken up. She set the mail on the counter and opened the newly finished dishwasher, putting dishes away with slow care so as not to cause too much a racket. They were hot in her hands.

Her thoughts turned, as they too often did, to the man asleep in the master bedroom. He had been a good father once, she remembered. Someone she looked up to. As she pulled another set of plates from the dishwasher, she shook her head. Whatever he had been then, that had changed. He had never gotten over her mother's death. When the drinking started, it had all gone downhill.

Now, he drank more often than he didn't. She'd tried to get him into rehab, but he'd walked out on the second day. If she could just have kept him there a while longer, she thought, things might have been different. But the drinking had only grown worse, and his body was threatening to succumb to its affects. They'd been to doctors, who had all told him the same thing: he had to stop. He'd never listened.

Lily slid the few dirty dishes into the empty dishwasher and straightened up, tucking a lock of hair back behind her ear. It wasn't until then that she realized she'd been crying. She brushed the tears brusquely away and shook her head. Crying wouldn't do anything about it. Right now, all she could do was make sure her father had a roof over his head.

It was easier said than done.

Chapter Two

The door closed behind her, and Lily took a moment to lean against it, breathing in and letting the air out on a slow sigh. It had been a long day. There were worse jobs, but working as the manager of a retail store wasn’t exactly relaxing.

"Lily!"

The shout made her startle. Reluctantly, she moved away from the door, setting her purse down on a convenient chair as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Dad," she said cautiously. "What can I help you with?"

He was leaning against the counter on one hand, swaying a little.

"Where the hell is the bottle of vodka I left in here last night?"

Lily's jaw tightened.

"I threw it out," she said evenly.

His hand slammed down on the counter with enough force to make her jump. "And just what makes you think you can do that, Lily May?"

Lily took a deep breath, tightening her jaw and pushing her shoulders back. "This is my house, Dad."

He looked at her for a long moment. "Your house. And you think that just because you pay your own bills means you can throw out things that I paid for myself?"

"You didn’t pay for that bottle. I did. And even if I hadn’t? My house, my rules." The words were an echo without an immediate source. He’d said them often enough, when she was a kid. Her father’s eyes narrowed, but Lily stood her ground despite the sick twist in her stomach.  "If you're going to drink yourself to death," she said quietly. "I don't want you doing it here."

It wasn't what she has meant to say. The last thing she wanted was him out on his own.

"You'd throw me out?" Anger softened to sloppy sorrow in his expression. "You'd throw your own father onto the street?"

Lily shook her head, then took a pleading step forward. "That's not what I meant, Dad. I'm sorry. I just... I'm worried about you. You've been so sick. The doctors say you have to give up drinking."

His worry gone, he scoffed. "The doctors say. Look, Lily. I'm going to end up dead anyway. What does it matter if I drink myself there a little early? There's no point in living a life you can't enjoy."

"But you don't enjoy it, Dad. You and I both know that."

His expression shut down, went mulish. Lily sighed. It was what she had expected. Turning away, she paused with one hand resting on the cool countertop. She could feel his eyes on her.

"What you do is your choice," she said. "And I'm not going to throw you out. But I'm not going to keep you supplied with alcohol either. And you won't yell at me in my own house."

As she walked away, she caught sight of a large black bird, sitting in the tree beyond the kitchen window, its glossy head tilted to one side so that it could watch them through one beady dark eye.

-----

When she went out to water the plants that evening, Corbin was in his own yard, sitting in a lawn chair with a book in his hand. Lily had to look away to hide her smile. He was still wearing slacks.

"Hey, Corbin," she said, hoping he couldn't hear how tired she was in her voice. She liked her next-door neighbor, even if he was a little strange. He was a nice guy. "How's it going?"

He looked up from his book and smiled at her.

"You know how it is. Same old routine. But at least the weather’s nice."

She watched him stand, setting the book down in the chair he'd just vacated, and he crossed his yard to stand at the border between their lawns, his hands tucked into his pockets. His head tipped slightly to one side as he regarded her.

"You, on the other hand, don't look like you're having such a good time," he said, the concern in his voice just the thing she had been trying to avoid.

"I've been better," Lily admitted. "Things have been rough at work lately. A lot of new kids coming in for the summer.”

He nodded. "We never have that problem, but I'm sure it doesn't make for an easy day at work."

His smile faded. Lily looked up, and his eyes arrested hers, holding her there in his gaze. It was easy to get caught there, she thought. His eyes were so dark she couldn't make out the pupil from the iris.

"Lily," he said when she was looking at him. "I know that it maybe isn't any of my business, but I know that your trouble isn't just at work."

For a moment, she wanted to tell him that he was right, wanted to confess it all to someone who would listen. But what happened within the walls of her house were her own problems, and she wasn’t going to air them in front of the neighborhood.

"You're right," she said, with no particular heat. "It isn't any of your business."

His expression tightened, but he nodded.

"Well, listen," he said as he turned back to his chair and his book. "If you ever want to talk, I’m here."

Lily turned off the water and went back inside.

Up in her room, Lily sank down onto the bed, allowing herself to drop her face into her hands and just sit for a long moment. Then she sighed, and stood. There were reports that needed to be finished before she went to bed.

She settled down at the desk in the corner of the room with her papers. When she looked up, there was the bird again, sitting in the tree outside the window that her desk overlooked, watching her. She smiled at it. She’d seen it before that morning, sitting in her yard. It felt like an old friend, really.

“We’re probably the best show you've seen all week, huh? I have to tell you, though, this is going to be a lot more boring than the fight with my dad."

There was no way the bird could hear her, but she saw it hop a little closer along the branch, head tipping the other direction. For a moment, she watched it, watched the sunset light dappling its glossy feathers through the leaves. Then she looked back down at her reports and got to work. When she looked up again, much later, it was gone.

The rest of the week went about as well as Monday had. Lily hadn't expected it to go much better. And it wasn't really a relief to come home Friday night, because she knew she'd be spending the rest of the weekend with her father, though he’d probably spend much of it out drinking.

They’d fought again on Wednesday, Lily attempting once more with pleas and coaxing to get her father to give up drinking. He’d gotten so angry she had found herself shrinking back against the counter, answering him in near-whispers while he’d called her selfish. It had ended when, of all things, the big black raven that she’d been seeing around the house tapped at the window with its beak. It pecked at the glass until her father had turned his rage from her to it, and Lily had fled upstairs.

As expected, her father was gone when she got home. Lily made herself some dinner and sat down in front of the television for a while. She used to have a glass of wine in the evenings, but she didn't anymore. Not since her father had moved in.

The knock on the door was unexpected. With a somewhat annoyed groan, Lily levered herself off the couch and went to answer it. Corbin was standing on the other side, with a tray of brownies in his hands.

"Hey," he said, grinning at her, his usually brushed-back hair loose, falling into his eyes in a way that was disarmingly attractive. "You mind if I come in a minute?"

If her father had been there, she wouldn't have allowed it, but after a moment's hesitation she stepped back to let him move in around her.

"I had a bit of free time today," he was saying as he walked into the kitchen. "Thought I'd do some baking. It's kind of experimental, so if they're terrible you don't have to eat them."

He set the tray down on the counter while Lily pulled a couple of plates out of the cabinet, and then got out a knife.

"I'm sure they'll be great," she said.

She glanced at the clock. Her father wouldn't be home for another few hours, probably.

"Would you like to have one with me?"

His grin widened.

"I would love that."

Dishing out a rather large serving of brownies onto each plate, Lily handed one over to Corbin, and gestured him to follow as she moved into the living room, dropping back down into her spot on the couch. After a moment's uncertainty, Corbin sat down beside her. She had intended for him to take the chair, but she didn't say anything about his choice of seat, just leaned back against the comfortable cushions and reached for the remote.

"I wanted to ask you something," Corbin said as the show began to play again.

Lily hit pause and turned to look at him. She didn't know if she liked the nerves in his voice.

"I have tickets for a show on Sunday night. The orchestra. And I was wondering if you might like to come. I was thinking we could get dinner beforehand. My treat."

Lily stared at him for so long that he started to fidget, looking down at his pant leg and smoothing an imaginary crease.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have—"

She cut him off.

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

He looked back up, his gaze jumping from her face to some point over her shoulder, back to her face again. "Yes," he said. He sounded more nervous than she would have expected someone who looked like him to sound, asking someone who looked like her out.  She wasn't ugly, certainly, but her hair was her best feature, and the rest of her was just pretty... average.

It was a long time since she had been on a date. Lily found a smile somewhere. "You know, I would actually really like that."

Corbin's grin was back, lighting his dark eyes. "Sunday, then," he said. "I'll be looking forward to it."

Lily hit play again. She would be looking forward to it too, actually, she admitted to herself as the room filled with the sound of the television. And, she decided as she took a bite, the brownies were delicious. She made sure to tell Corbin so before she finished hers off.