Free Home Sweet Home: A Sweet, Texas Novella by Candis Terry Page A

second thought, scratch that.” He folded his arms across his chest. “They didn’t give me the idea, they just dumped everything except the ice cream in my cart and told me what to do with it.”
    Paige giggled.
    “I can only take credit for the ice cream.”
    “I guess I should be aghast that those two told you what to do with all this.”
    “I know. They kind of freaked me out a little.”
    “Those two never fail to surprise me.” She came toward him and danced her fingertips up his chest. “However, I’m appalled they didn’t think you could come up with the idea all on your own.”
    Her sweet, smiling mouth was so close he just had to kiss her.
    “Maybe they think I have too much sand in my brain from being in Afghanistan too long.”
    “Maybe they just don’t know you as well as I do.” She rose to her toes and took their brief kiss to another level. “Then again, maybe I just need a little reminder.”
    Curling her fingers into the front of his shirt she started pulling him toward the stairs.
    “Wait a minute!” He broke free long enough to grab the ingredients for a good time off the counter, then raced her to the bedroom.
    ALL WAS RIGHT in the world when you had a half-empty container of ice cream melting on the nightstand and a completely empty bottle of caramel sauce on the floor.
    In broad daylight.
    Paige gave a happy sigh.
    “We really can’t keep doing this, you know,” Aiden said. “It’s not good for you.”
    “Not good for me?” The vibrations still humming through her body after that knock-your-eyes-to-the-back-of-her-head orgasm felt pretty damned good. “I don’t believe I ever mentioned being on a diet.”
    His silence indicated that party time was over, and his tenacious demons had just entered the room.
    “Oh. Wait. Are we back to your leaving again? Have we opened the door and let all your doubts in on our private moment?”
    “I don’t mean to.”
    She raised up on one elbow. “But you just can’t help yourself. Is that it?”
    “I just get to thinking—”
    “Then stop thinking.”
    “I can’t, Paige.” He closed his eyes and laid his arm across his forehead.
    “Aiden. You just licked ice cream and caramel sauce off my body. We just had amazing sex. Don’t you feel good about that?”
    “Yes.” His jaw clenched.
    “And that’s the problem, isn’t it?”
    God, he just broke her heart.
    “You’re too afraid to let yourself feel good.” She knew he wasn’t alone in the way he felt. There were thousands of soldiers who had returned from war broken in some way, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. She knew it, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept that the man she loved was hurting so deeply, and there was little she could do about it.
    “You’re an amazing woman, Paige.” He rolled to his side, cupped her face in his hand, and stroked his thumb across her cheek. “Your patience is beyond comprehension. Being with you is the only place I feel at home. Your smile and your laughter take away all the pain. Temporarily. And that’s the problem. It’s not a slight on you. You’re not the problem. I am.”
    So often in a troubled relationship, those words rang empty. But with Aiden, she knew they were true. Everyone had baggage. Aiden’s had just been overpacked.
    “When I close my eyes … when I’m not looking right at you,” he said. “When I’m not touching you … it all comes crashing back. The sight of my friends being blown into the air. The sound of their screams. The smell of their blood. I miss my friends, Paige. I miss my dog. I miss feeling … normal. And I’m so damned afraid I’m never going to feel that way again. I don’t want to drag you into my own personal hell. It’s not fair to you.”
    Paige let go of the breath that clogged her chest. She kissed his forehead, then his lips. “You’ll find your way back. I know you will. And I’ll be right here whenever you need me.”
    “I don’t want to just use you,” he said. “That’s the problem. It can’t be all about me. If we’re together, it’s an