Hard Charger: Jake & Sophia: A Hot Contemporary Romance Read Online Free

fly over there?”
    “Chinooks, Black Hawks, Little Birds.  For three tours and almost ten years,” Jake replied.
    “And now his vehicle of choice is a café racer built from a Honda CB450 donor bike,” Alex added.  “I’ve been sourcing parts for this pain in the ass from the moment he stepped off the transport at Fort Dix.”
    “I’m going to need you to source a new set of handlebars for me,” Jake said, and went on to tell Ray and Alex about his run-in with the deer with no mention of the girl, and how he’d had a highsider as a result.  “I jumped an intersection,” he groused. “After that, I raced a train and won.  But a fawn brought me down, for Christ’s sake.”
    “We all learn a lot of lessons in our lives,” Ray remarked sagely, “But the lesson about life not being fair is the most important one.”
    The three of them traded tales about the various accidents they’d had on motorcycles, and debated who’d had the worst, before the discussion turned to the military once again.
    “You ever see active combat?” Ray asked, his gaze sliding down to the tattoo Jake had on his lower arm: silver aviator wings with an American flag shield.
    Jake hesitated before answering.  How could he make them understand what it had been like to fly his Apache into enemy territory, all the while wondering if he’d ever make it back?  Overall, though, the war had been unusually kind to him. He’d survived it despite several combat engagements:  in-and-out flights where he skimmed above the desert and whipped the sand below into a storm as he worked toward achieving various mission objectives.  “Yeah, I flew into unfriendly fire.”  He shrugged.  “You learn how to deal with it.  How to survive.  Just like anything else in life.”
    Ray nodded, and Jake could tell from the look in the older man’s eyes that Ray knew all about enemy territory.
    The waitress returned with their drinks.  Jake took a sip of the Macallan.  He sighed with pleasure as the well-oaked whiskey rolled slowly down his throat and created a warm glow in his stomach.  Jake and Alex both ordered Knuckle Sandwiches, while Ray ordered Road Rash Hash; and then for a few moments, they just drank and watched the pool-playing girls.
    Jake shifted on his seat.  The girls were starting to interest him.  He noticed Alex watching them and knew they’d caught his buddy’s interest, too.  They seemed to be almost flirting with each other as they played, their smiles soft, sweet, and inviting.  Jake also saw how they were both sneaking glances at their booth, and realized that they were playing the lesbian game.  He had to admit it was working.  He hadn’t gotten laid since he’d come home and he was tired of jacking off.  He needed a lay—and a choice lay like that was always welcome.
    Their food arrived and they dug in.  Jake hadn’t eaten dinner and had to force himself to eat slowly.  Once more he reflected that he was damned glad to be back home, where the food didn’t have little grains of sand in it.
    “Ah, God, I’m getting old,” Rowdy Ray announced, after they’d finished eating. “I think I’m gonna head home.  Luke’s got the bar. He can close down for me tonight.”
    Jake dragged his attention away from the last of his sandwich. All at once, he noticed that Ray had shadows beneath his eyes.  His eyes looked bloodshot, too.  “How about you, Ray?  Everything okay?”
    “Well, you know.” Ray glanced around the bar, his gaze resting briefly on the laughing, happy crowd before refocusing on Jake.  “Hurricane Sandy really ripped the heart out of this town.  Left us in ruins.  It’s been tough rebuilding it.  The government is a damned tightwad, and the insurance companies are crooks.  We just can’t seem to squeeze enough money out of anyone to set things right.”
    Jake had heard about the hurricane’s effects and seen first-hand the devastation.  But Rowdy Ray’s didn’t show any signs of