Free Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) by May Williams

her where she sat on a swing. “I make a lousy date when I have a camera in my hands,” he said in apology. “Can I buy you that ice cream now?”
    “In a minute. I enjoyed watching you. Most people don’t work with such intensity.” She tipped her head again, appraising him, and chose her words carefully, “It’s like you are the camera. Every part of you takes the photo. It’s fascinating.”
    He shrugged off her words, not wanting to talk about how much of his life was seen from behind the lens. “The light won’t last,” he said simply. “It has to be captured.”
    “I think it’s more than that. What will you use these pictures for?”
    “Some for the website for the Boyne resort. You know—showing what else is in the area, especially in the summer. I don’t know about the rest.” He scanned through pictures on the LCD screen as he spoke. “I like pictures of beautiful places and beautiful things.”
    “What did you photograph in Iraq?” At her question, his lifted his head and focused on her face.
    “Nothing beautiful.”
    “Did you take pictures for the newspapers?”
    “A few made it to the media, but most will never be seen.” He never wanted to see some of them again.
    “Why?” She asked like she already knew the answer, already knew of the images of death, loneliness, and tragedy.
    “They’re classified and…”  
    “And what?” She pried, but it was gentle and he couldn’t deny her the truth here.
    He waited to answer for a minute, and when he did, he kept his voice low, “Most Americans sitting at home don’t want to know what the troops saw and did. They just want to know about success. They want glossy pictures in Time Magazine of confident-looking, geared up troops going into a combat zone, which they presumably came out of. Those are the pictures that the guys who work for the AP take. I took the other pictures. I took the pictures of the nineteen-year-old who was so scared his hands were shaking when he picked up his weapon. I took the video of the battles and I took pictures of the dead.” He dropped his head to study the images on the little screen in front of him, not seeing the beauty of the photos he’d just taken. Unwanted, the photos from two tours of duty flashed through his mind.
    “Is that why you’re doing this book?” She stood up from the swing and moved toward him, offering him the comfort of her touch on his back and circling around him.
    “Yeah. Those at home are never going to understand what it was like, but eventually we came home and that’s still in us. Only other veterans understand. I’m doing this to help them.”
    “And yourself?” She rested her hands on his shoulders and rose on her toes. The light filtered between them and danced on her lips before she kissed him.
    “I guess.” His arms went around her, the metal of the camera grazing her back. “Now, since I’ve bared my soul to you, you have to tell me something in exchange.”
    “Okay, if I can.”
    “How did you get the slit in your bottom lip?” His thumb rubbed over the mark on her lip.
    “My mother assures me that most people don’t notice it.”
    “Professional habit. I’m always aware of details, especially when they’re on something that interests me. What happened?”
    She blushed a bit, the faint glow showing in the dimming light.” I got bit by a goat at a petting zoo when I was four.”
    “No way.”
    “Yes.”
    “On the mouth?” His fingertips took a slow circuit of her lips, feeling each ripple and indentation.
    “My dad says the goat wanted a kiss.”
    “The goat didn’t turn into a prince, did he?” He teased her. “Should I be jealous?”
    “I think only frogs can do that. I startled the poor guy, but I learned a valuable lesson that day.”
    “What?”
    “To be calm and patient with animals, especially the highly strung ones.”
    “Is that how you can manage rescue animals?” His fingers feathered over her cheek before brushing hair back