Home Sweet Home: A Sweet, Texas Novella (2 page)

On a good day, Aiden’s short dark hair and the spark in his brown eyes could stun the breath in her lungs. Today, the power of that impact doubled. She hadn’t seen him in over two years—when last he’d come home to his dying father’s bedside.

Since then, all hell had broken loose, and Aiden had stood beneath the deluge of destruction.

Today, while he stood close enough for her to touch and hold, Paige knew in her heart that Aiden Marshall was a changed man.

While she told herself it only mattered that he was safe, and everything would be just fine, her fears resurfaced.

Aiden might be home.

But the smile in his eyes had vanished.

“WHEN DID YOU get home? Why didn’t your brother tell me? How long will you be home? Do you want something to eat? Of course you do. Dumb question. Scratch that.”

Aiden couldn’t help but smile as Paige fired off a volley of questions, then finished them off with a random thought.

Just like old times.

She’d always been that girl.

The one who had a million things going on all at once and tried to keep them all in order inside her head. At times, she came off a bit scrambled even though, for the most part, she had it more together than anyone he’d ever met. Aiden knew she saw every day as a gift. She saw life as something priceless that should be hit at full speed and explored twenty-four hours a day.

When they’d been together, he’d managed to keep her in bed for several of those hours a day just to show her that a lot could be accomplished in a prone position too. But even then, between making love, she’d come up with a list of half a dozen things she wanted to do that day, next week, or a year down the road. They’d done a hell of a lot of exploring in those days, and even if he hadn’t been able to keep up with her eagerness on the calendar, he managed to keep her enthusiasm busy in other ways.

“A few days ago,” he said, answering her first question, then followed up with the rest. “Ben didn’t tell you because he didn’t know. And yes, I’d love a Diablo burger, a double order of sweet-potato fries, and a marshmallow Snickers milk shake.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know immediately that she was hurt because he’d taken so long to come see her. By rights, she should have been first on his list. And she would have been, but he had obligations to visit Bobby’s and Billy’s folks. And after those visits, he had barely been able to look at himself in the mirror.

The wounded look in her eye disappeared, and her smile reappeared. Apparently, she realized too why he hadn’t come to see her first.

“Awww. Your favorite foods.” She shifted her weight from one sexy hip to the other. “I’ll bet you’ve been craving those for a long time.”

He’d been craving her too, but that kind of thinking had to stop.

“Pretty much since I boarded the plane for Afghanistan and left American soil.” Funny how the moment you knew you couldn’t have something, you wanted it even more.

“Well, the wait is over. You sit right there, and I’ll have Bud put your order on a rail.” Her tennis shoes squeaked as she turned and rushed off into the kitchen.

With all day in front of him and nothing to do, Aiden watched her through the order window, excitedly gesturing with her hands while she spoke with Bud. Still, he couldn’t help wonder out loud … “A rail?”

The old man with the bald head next to him nodded and grinned. “She’s puttin’ the hurry up on it for you.”

“Oh.”

Guilt wrapped around Aiden’s throat and gave a hard squeeze. The faster Paige moved, the sooner he’d have to deliver the news. She looked so damned happy to see him, he hated to burst her bubble. Hated to hurt her in any way. But it had to be done. No matter how badly he might think he wanted it to be otherwise.

“For a man who’s got a pretty woman like that scurrying around to make time to be with him, you sure got a grim look on your puss.”

The man sitting next to him, Chester Banks, was well into his eighties. He’d had more ex-wives than Disneyland had rides. Over the years, his nose had grown, and his eyes had sunk. He probably weighed all of a hundred pounds soaking wet, was bowlegged, and wore his Wranglers so starched, his arthritic knees could barely bend. But Chester had no qualms whatsoever about chasing the ladies who were at least six decades younger.

“Probably matches what’s inside my head,” Aiden verified.

“Oh?” A scraggly gray brow lifted, and a smile broke across Chester’s wrinkled lips. “So you’re saying the lovely Paige is up for grabs?”

“That would be up to her.” Aiden chuckled. “Although I have to warn you that if she takes offense to your grabbing, she’s got a hell of a right hook.”

“No worries.” Chester gave a confident nod and a wink. “I got the gift.”

“Care to let us fledglings in on the gift?”

“Ain’t giving my secrets away. Don’t need the competition.” Chester sipped his coffee and grinned like he alone held the key to Fort Knox. “Those Wilder brothers give me enough trouble as it is. Don’t need the added pressure from the likes of you.”

“Not even a hint?”

“Okay. Maybe just one.” The old man sighed. “Ya got to sweet-talk ’em. Make all them pretty promises they want to hear.”

“That’s the secret?”

“Yep. One of ’em. Use that, and I guarantee they’ll drop their lacy underthings faster than you can say yippee-ki-yay.”

Aiden sipped the water Paige had set down in front of him so he didn’t bark out a laugh at Chester’s excessive confidence. Trouble was, even though he might want to sweet-talk the lovely Paige out of her lacy underthings, that’s not what he’d come here to do. And that blew higher than any mortar he’d ever seen hit the sands of Afghanistan.

AFTER SEVERAL HOURS of hearty conversation with those who lingered at Bud’s Diner long after the lunch crowd had dispersed and a warm slice of apple crumb pie ŕ la mode, Aiden and his full stomach leaned back in the chair. On a normal day, he would have taken off as soon as he was done eating. Instead, while he waited for Paige to finish up her shift, he listened intently to Hazel and Ray Calhoun excitedly describe how the senior center had contacted a new TV makeover show to put a fresh face on their small town to increase tourism.

Aiden couldn’t imagine why Hollywood would ever come this far south. It only mattered that the folks in this town and other small towns across America cared enough to try to make things better. These hardworking, generous-hearted people were the reason he, Billy, and Bobby had enlisted.

In the midst of Hazel’s describing the TV show’s designer host, a dainty hand with clean, short nails settled over his shoulder. He looked up into the blue eyes he’d dreamed of on many a lonely night, and a sudden jolt struck him hard in the center of his chest.

Paige had always had a way of doing that to him.

Even now, when he knew the heart had been ripped out of him, and he had nothing left to give.

“If y’all are done monopolizing the lieutenant’s time,” Paige said in a teasing drawl, “I’d like to borrow him for a bit.”

“Oh pooh.” Gertie West wrinkled up her nose. “We were just getting to the good stuff.”

Aiden glanced out the front window, where the sun hung low in the sky. As much as he’d like to, he couldn’t put off the conversation he and Paige needed to have any longer. It would be unfair to her and selfish of him.

“My apologies.” He stood and pushed the chair back. “I really do need to get going.”

“You come back tomorrow, young man, and we’ll buy you another slice of that apple pie,” Ray Calhoun said. “We want to hear all about your adventures.”

Adventures.

Not exactly what he’d call them. Wasn’t likely he’d discuss them either. Especially when he was trying so hard to forget them. He gave the afternoon diners at the table a nod and turned toward Paige.

“Come with me.” She smiled wide enough to flash her pretty white teeth. “I have something I want to show you.”

“Your car or mine?”

She slipped her hand into his and tugged him toward the door. “How about, for old time’s sake, we take your truck?”

The warmth of her palm sent a tingle down into his chest, and a sensual flood of memories he thought he’d buried long ago popped up fresh like a spring daisy.

“Sun’s still shining.” Thinking back to all those hot summer nights they’d drove his truck out into the hills and he’d reveled in Paige’s youthful abandon, he smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “I think the population of Sweet might take offense to your whipping off that T-shirt for old time’s sake.”

“Wouldn’t be my first offense.” Her grin told him she was thinking about those crazy summer nights a long time ago when she had let go of her inhibitions and he’d been right there to appreciate the loss. “Come on. We’re wasting daylight.”

As she tugged him through the gravel parking lot, he watched the way her hips swayed. Nothing outrageously obvious. Just a smooth motion that belied the passion lit deep in her core.

He’d almost forgotten all the little idiosyncrasies she possessed. Like the way she lifted her arms toward the moon when she was on top of him, giving him the best sex of his life. Or the way she’d snuggle right against his side and drape her smooth leg over his hips. Or even the way she’d reach for him in her sleep, then sigh when she found him.

He’d carried those memories with him through boot camp. Through extensive Ranger training. Through numerous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then, one day, everything around him exploded.

Normal existence had stopped.

And the memories perished.

After that, he hadn’t allowed himself to think of the things that had made him happy. He didn’t deserve to be happy. Not when those closest to him—those he was supposed to protect—were no longer able to have happy thoughts.

Without hesitation, Paige climbed up into his truck and slid right to the middle, where she’d always sat. When he moved onto the seat beside her, she grinned like someone had just handed her a present. His hand paused on the key in the ignition.

How the hell could he even consider breaking her heart?

He didn’t want to.

But for her own good, it had to be done.

PAIGE TRIED TO remain positive though Aiden’s smile had once again disappeared. She knew the hell he’d been through from the stories his brother Ben had relayed. She knew losing his two best friends had forever changed him. Those three boys had been attached at the hip since elementary school. They’d busted cows, busted heads, and busted a few bones together in the course of becoming men. And all the while, she had admired them for their loyalty to each other.

The war had changed things.

Time had passed and become like a long, desolate stretch of road between her and Aiden. She couldn’t expect they’d just pick up where they’d left off—even though that was her wish. From the moment she’d heard the news that his duty had been served, and he intended to leave the military, she’d made a vow that no matter what, she’d keep a smile on her face.

For both of them.

She didn’t know what he had planned moving forward, but she’d see him through whatever demons he had to face. Because no matter how much time had passed or what tragedies had occurred, there had never been a doubt that she loved him with her whole heart.

And nothing could ever take that away.

While Keith Urban sang about days going by, she leaned forward and turned up the radio. “Hang a right on Dandelion Street.”

Aiden turned his head and looked at her with those deep brown eyes that made her think of the many wonderful nights she’d spent with him looking down at her while their bodies spoke the oldest language in the universe. “You moved?”

She nodded as the truck rambled down her street. “A little over a year ago.”

“You still have Cricket?” he asked of the border collie mix she’d rescued from the shelter.

“Of course. She’s still got a good amount of crazy going on, but age seems to have settled her down a bit.”

“Happens to the best of us, I guess.”

“Pull in there.” She pointed toward the long gravel driveway that invited visitors up to a gingerbread Victorian that sat behind a white picket fence. Lately, she’d been doing research on restoring the painted lady to its former grandeur. Unfortunately, the amount of work to be done stole her breath. Even if she worked day and night, she might never get it all done by herself.

Aiden ducked his head to get a better look through the windshield. “Isn’t this your aunt Bertie’s place?”

“Was.” She reached down and grabbed her purse from the floorboard. “Aunt Bertie developed dementia, and we had to put her in assisted care. She needed the money, so I bought the place. Come on. I’ll show you around.”

“You bought this?” He got out of the truck and looked up at the large two-story house. “On a waitress’s salary?”

“Shocking isn’t it?” While he stood there gawking, she walked around the front of the truck, took his hand, and led him toward the front door.

“Actually,” she said, “I bought it on the salary I make at Bud’s, plus the money I make doing taxes and accounting for a few local businesses. I make money from the apple orchard too.”

“Taxes?”

“Oooh.” She laughed at the sudden wrinkle between his eyes. “You look so surprised. I like that.”

“Definitely surprised. I remember your skipping out on geometry class more than once because you never liked math.”

“That was before I realized its benefits.” She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. “I completed my bachelor’s via the Internet,” she explained. “I’m now the proud owner of a business administration degree. Got a gold tassel and everything.”

“You’ve been busy.” He stepped inside the foyer, gave a slow whistle, and rocked back on the heels of his worn cowboy boots. “You’re a very impressive woman, Paige Walker.”

“I know.” The praise made her smile. “But you’d better be careful because I have a whole bunch of impressive locked away that’s just been waiting to be unleashed.”

A glimmer lit up his eyes, and hope warmed in her heart.

He didn’t need to ask what she meant. He’d seen her impressive side before. Hopefully, he’d want to see it again.