Free Her Shifter Soldier (BBW Erotic Romance) by Jackie Sexton Page A

her chair skit across the linoleum floor.
    I quickly checked myself in
the back of a spoon, appraising my distorted reflection for any
signs of mascara tracks. It shouldn’t have been him so soon, and
yet I had the feeling it was by the excited tone of Shannon’s
voice.
“Jessie are you...indisposed?” Shannon
called back to me. Shit. It was definitely him.
“I’m...fine!” I called back, straightening
out the hem of my floral dress. I suddenly felt self-conscious of
such a feminine choice—I usually wore dark jeans and a button up
shirt, keeping it plain and professional just in case a
six-year-old decided to smear glue on me.
I heard the heavy clicking of his boots and
inhaled sharply.
    “Jessica,” Dalton said, his
voice even and yet filled with a deep, resonating desire. I felt my
knees weaken and raised a palm casually, my hands clamming like I
was a kindergartener myself rather than a person who taught
them.
“Um, hey,” I replied like a dolt, denying
the true extent of my affection. Because more than anything I
wanted to wrap my arms around him and press my lips to his, stare
into his flecked hazel eyes for eternity and feel the strength of
his taut muscles beneath my palms.
You know, normal, platonic stuff.
“So…I have to go to work, but why don’t we
catch up for a drink later? Does that sound good to you guys?”
Shannon asked casually, pulling her black barista apron from the
back of the chair and tying it around her waist.
“Sure,” I said, my mouth and throat going
dry. I could tell that Dalton was simply unable to answer her—he
was completely taken by me, like no other man ever had been. But
that was always the strange, unbelievable dynamic between the two
of us.
Shannon nodded and left, excusing herself
with very little fuss and a surprising amount of tact. Of course
that left me feeling awkward and tense, alone with the hottest man
I had ever laid eyes on.
“So, how was your flight?” I asked, walking
slowly around the kitchen bar towards the nook area, a nervous
smile plastered across my face. Dalton didn’t answer me. He just
stared me down with his heavenly eyes, like light filtering through
maple syrup. I tried to think of something to say, but he took
several large strides towards me, enveloping me in a passionate
hug.
His hard body crushed against my plush
curves, and I relished in the heat between us, the space between my
thighs going damp with desire. As much as I denied his affection in
the past, I hadn’t seen him in over a year. Feeling the hard stone
of muscle wrapped around my body was akin to dying and going to
heaven. At least if it isn’t like that, then I don’t want to
go.
“Jessica,” he murmured into my ear, sending
an electric shudder down my spine. It was all he had said in the
few minutes since he arrived, and yet it communicated more than
years of conversations and dozens of letters. I fought the lump
forming in my throat and just told myself to accept the moment—to
be happy. He pulled away to look at me, his heavy brows knitted in
concern.
“You were crying,” he said sternly, his eyes
searching my face.
“No,” I lied quickly, my cheeks turning
crimson. Then I noticed a scar running down the length of his left
cheek. “What’s this?” I asked, my voice hoarse as I trailed a
finger along the ridged abrasion.
“It’s nothing.” It was like he was still
trying to find the hidden tears on my face. “I made it out
alive.”
I then remembered what Dalton had told me in
his letters, about the terrible attack on his base and how several
men in his platoon died, with others severely injured and maimed.
He didn’t mentioned that he had been hurt, probably because in his
eyes hardly anything had happened to him.
“I’m sorry,” I managed in a hushed voice.
Thinking about how I almost lost him, lost another man in my life,
filled me with dread. I suddenly became aware of how I was clearly
crossing the boundaries I set for myself.
“That’s the army