Love of a Marine (The Wounded Warriors Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

dramatically the past several months since the nightmares had revved up. After his service in Iraq ten years ago, he hadn’t spent an entire night with a willing woman, couldn’t risk falling asleep. He’d had it with crawling out of a warm fragrant bed, leaving a soft, compliant woman in the middle of the night.
    Raised to be a gentleman, he’d never ask a woman to leave after sex, so he couldn’t invite one home with him. Would he ever have a normal life, a family, kids?
    “Let’s stop by your house and get what you need for our sleepover and the beach. We’ll go by Subway and pick up sandwiches to take with us, OK?”
    “OK.” She grinned and skipped next to him. “I haven’t been to the beach all summer.”
    He pushed through the lobby doors and into the parking lot. “Summer just started. Your dad and Marla will be busy with the baby for a few weeks, but I’ll take you to the beach as often as possible.”
    She grumbled, “I can help them with the baby, you know, I’m big enough.”
    “That you are. I’m sure the boss lady’s glad school is out. She’ll need your help from now until it starts again. While your dad’s taking a couple of weeks off to help her, let’s you and me have some fun.”
    “Why do you call Mom ‘the boss lady’?”
    He smiled at the memory. “Because she hired me and your dad to renovate the apartment building where Miss Emmaline lives, and she and Gunny argued every day over who was boss.”
    Cluny smiled when Amber put on her thinking face. He opened the car door, and she hopped into the passenger seat, dislodging Queen to the back. He got in on the driver’s side and started the engine.
    “Mom and Dad take turns being boss now. He’s the boss of work and she’s the boss of home. I used to be the boss of Dad before they got married.”
    “I know. A pretty big job for a girl, don’t you think? But you can keep being my boss as long as you don’t try to run my love life. Is it a deal?”
    “I did a rilly good job running Daddy’s love life, dint I? I told him I wanted Marla for my mom, and then he finally figured it out.” She cast a sly look.
    Two blocks later, Cluny was still laughing.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Saturday, Zuma Beach
     
     
    Graciella raised a hand to shield her eyes when she heard a man’s voice hailing her from the far edge of the parking lot. A brown-haired girl about Santos’s age, holding a battered foam belly board under her arm, trudged beside Cluny McPherson. He carried a blanket and a small cooler. A couple of beach towels hung around his neck. His dog followed close beside him.
    “Hi!” She waved back, happy to see the tall, quiet man again, and wondered about the slender young girl. Holding her hands cupped around her mouth, she turned her head to the surf and yelled, “Santos!”
    Her son hopped over a small, receding wave and dodged through a number of teenagers playing no-net volleyball to their umbrella as Cluny and the girl reached them.
    “Macfearsome! You came back. Hi, Queen.” He dug his toe in the sand. “Hi,” he said to the girl, lowering his eyes.
    She wrinkled her freckled nose and said, “That’s not his name.”
    Cluny plopped his big hand on Santos’s head. “You know what? I kinda like it, buddy. This is my goddaughter, Amber Dempsey. Amber, this is Graciella Jefferson and her son, Santos.”
    Graciella smiled at the girl. “Won’t you join us?”
    “Are you friends with Uncle Cluny?” She plopped down. “He comes to the beach a lot because he isn’t married and doesn’t have any kids and his plumbing company is on vacation, but this is the first time I got to come all summer. My mom just had a baby yesterday. His name is Declan. I’m his big sister because we have the same dad. Not the same mother though.”
    Graciella smiled at her son’s drop-jawed expression. “Why don’t you and your uncle spread your blanket next to us?”
    “He’s not rilly my uncle. I just call him that. He’s my