Free Dear Soldier: BBW Contemporary Romance by Karina Ashe Page A

I want to tell you that I’m not avoiding you. I’m done running.”
    Briefly, his eyes soften. “Ian—”
    “But I have to go. I’ve gotta catch a flight to Colorado.”
    “What? No, you can’t leave. You just got here.”
    I stand, sighing. “I know you don’t believe me. I mean, shit, what reason have I ever given you to trust my word? But I’ll be back in a few days, a week at most. And I’ll be bringing Lily with me.”
    “Lily? That—that girl? That criminal?”
    “A minor case of vandalism doesn’t make her a criminal. Pretty sure it’s common on college campuses. She just had the misfortune of getting caught”
    “And now you’re making excuses for her? This woman you’ve communicated with primarily through letters. How many times have you—” his eyes go wide.
    Oh shit. I was hoping he wouldn’t figure out this next part for another couple days at least.
    “You haven’t been back in the states for four years. When did you meet her? Have you even—?” He glares at me until he finds the answer in my face. “Oh God. Ian, no.”
    I start walking to the door. It’s easy. Only twelve steps.
    “Ian, don’t you dare leave like this. Get back in here and explain yourself!”
    I clench my hands into fists and take a deep breath. He’s only worried about you. You dropped a lot of shit on him at once. You’re better than this, now. Calm down . Slowly, I look over my shoulder back at him. “I love her.”
    “This is insanity. You’re not thinking clearly.”
    “No, I am. This is what I want.”
    My father’s face crumbles. I feel something snap in my chest. My stoic father always seemed so untouchable. Cruel , I used to call it. He’s an unforgiving bastard . But that was just my naivety talking. My father wasn’t unfeeling. In fact, he felt a lot. Too much, some would say. I was a lot like him in that way. It was why we never got along.
    “You’re doing this to hurt me,” he whispers.
    My throat tightens. “No. I’m not.”
    “You still…You still can’t forgive me…I’m so sorry.”
    There was a time when a comment like that from him would have driven me into a rage. When I would have shouted back, Why do you care what I think? When have you ever cared about what happens to me? Get out of my life! Now, it just made me sad.
    “I’m not mad at you anymore,” I tell him.
    He gulps.
    “I shouldn’t have been mad at you in the first place. You know what she said to me the day she died?”
    My father’s face goes white.
    “Forgive him. He loves you. We both do.”
    My father shuts his eyes and covers his mouth with his left hand.
    “That was her last request, and I was too full of anger to honor it.” I let out a long breath. “But better late than never, right? I’m sorry, dad. I shouldn’t have done any of those stupid things to hurt you, and I have no one to blame for what happened but myself.”
     
     

Chapter 2
     
    July 4th
     
    Lily
     
    I don’t usually dress up this much. I’m more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal. Sure, I own dresses and a few pairs of adorable shoes I can’t walk in. I’ve got hair gel in the back of my bathroom cabinet my sister’s stylist talked me into buying it about a year ago, and I’ve even tried using it once. Let’s just say that the product of my efforts wasn’t exactly professional and leave it at that.
    Normally, I was okay with this. While I wasn’t raised in a barn, I liked barns. And I liked to think I rocked that girl-next-door look…if said girl owned a motorcycle and had a mane perpetually composed of one part wind-blown tresses and one part helmet hair. That was sexy, right? Usually I could convince myself it was. However, today was not a normal day, and when one of my oldest friends said she wanted to come over and make me look like a fairy tale princess, I’d said yes. Because, more than anything, I wanted to look special.
    Just…not this special.
    I look away from the mirror. “Kate, we gotta