Free The Sound of Consequence (Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love Book 1) by Susan Ann Wall Page A

developed by contractors in-house. I lead a team that tests and analyzes the different programs and suggests improvements. We do a lot of troubleshooting and look at a lot of reports. It’s actually a lot more interesting than it sounds.”
    Stacie didn’t get the allure of computers. Greg’s life revolved around them. By day, he taught technology at the high school. By night, he was always writing some kind of software code. None of it made sense to her, but maybe that had more to do with Greg than what he was doing.
    “The shifts are great. It gives me a lot of time off and I can pick up extra shifts almost any time. Plus I love riding the ferry.”
    Now that was something Stacie could talk about. “Today was my first time ever riding a ferry,” she confessed. “But I’m thinking about getting a multi-ride card. I loved the fresh air and the sound of the swooshing water. On the way back this morning, there was the seal barking at us from a buoy just outside Bremerton.” She giggled, recalling a black seal, sitting lazily on the buoy, only not so apathetic that it couldn’t make an effort to bark good morning to the passengers sailing by.
    “I loved watching the clouds pass in the sky. And the planes taking off from SeaTac and making their way over the city. It was so peaceful.” Stacie released a happy sigh, knowing things like seeing seals in Puget Sound and watching airplanes take off were among the many reasons she’d moved to Seattle to start her new life. “Life should be that simple.”
    Stacie took another sip of wine, studying Owen. Getting to know him hadn’t been part of the plan but she found herself wanting to know more about him. Plus, the more he talked, the longer she could avoid sharing her boring past with him. “So, why did you get out of the army?” she asked, then took another sip of wine.
    “I’m going to be honest here, because frankly, I don’t know how not to be,” he said, making Stacie nervous. This seemed like a strange time for such a revelation, or confession, but what did she know. She’d been with her high school boyfriend forever. She wasn’t sure how to engage in conversation with someone she didn’t know and had been intimate with.
    “OK. Honesty is good.”
    “Honesty doesn’t always work for me. I was married.”
    “Are you still?”
    “No,” he responded immediately, then took a deep breath as though trying to muster up a good helping of courage. “I came home one day and caught my wife in bed with another man.”
    Stacie was stunned. He was so gorgeous and so amazing in bed. Of course, it took more than good looks and sexual skill to make a relationship work, but still, she couldn’t fathom his wife cheating on him. “That’s terrible. Is that why you got out of the Army?”
    “Yeah. My discharge wasn’t voluntary. That day, when I saw my wife like that, well, I got a little crazy.”
    Oh, Grendel! He’d hit her. An open palm moving swiftly through the air flashed in her mind, then vanished. It was a vision she had often, though she couldn’t make sense of it. It was more like a dream, actually. One of those emotional dreams that stuck with you long after you’d woken up. She couldn’t recall the entire dream, just the moving hand. The memory always came with a deep, foreboding feeling, like something awful was going to happen. So when his hand moved toward her face, she flinched.
    “I didn’t hurt my ex-wife,” he said, gently caressing her cheek. “And I’d never hurt you. I hope you believe that.”
    Stacie did. Even though this crazy fire burned between them, he hadn’t hurt her that night she went home with him. In fact, he’d practically been a gentleman. Well, when there was an opportunity, anyway. She actually felt incredibly safe with him, which was odd given that he was still a stranger.
    She let the tension drop from her face and took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently.
    “So what happened?”
    “I did beat the other guy up.