The Purple Heart Read Online Free

he went
silent. I could see he was starting to fidget again; his leg began
a reminiscent twitch while he wrung his hands together.
    Suddenly, out of nowhere, I just
blurted out the words and even shocked myself.
    “ Would you like to come
stay at my place? It’s pretty big, and sometimes I feel like I’m
just haunting it there all by myself.”
    He smirked, and cocked an eyebrow at
me. He honestly seemed to come alive.
    “ Are you sure it won’t put
you out or get you in any type of trouble with work? I don’t want
you to feel like you have to do this.”
    “ No, no, I want to. I’ve
got a spare room, and it’d be nice to have some company.” I
couldn’t believe I was saying the things that were coming out of my
mouth. Word vomit. What was I doing? He was a
complete stranger. A highly-decorated soldier stranger. A hot,
highly-decorated soldier stranger … in uniform. He was becoming
seemingly irresistible to me.
    “ Yes, Ma’am. I’d like to
take you up on that offer.” His eyes began to burn right into mine.
I was now unable to avert my gaze from his.
    “ Okay. Why don’t we go get
your belongings?” Now I was taking him to get his things to
basically move in with me. Was I going insane? I just
couldn’t resist him. Something about this man pulled me in. It was
as though I had known him forever, or maybe we had met before? I
had no idea. All I knew was that I just invited this
Purple-Heart-toting stranger to stay in the room right down the
hall from me. Oh lord.
    I just smiled at him like a complete
idiot.
    “ I have everything with
me.” He picked up his duffel bag and pointed at it to show
me.
    “ Maybe we can stop off and
pick you up a few things you might need,” I offered.
    He stared at me. I couldn’t take my
eyes away from his again. I wondered if my eyelashes were
batting.
    “ I need to get something
for dinner, too.” This was a true statement. I needed to get
supplies for two. My house was honestly set up for only one
soul.
    “ Wait. Let me get this
straight. Not only are you offering me a place to stay, taking me
to get necessities, but you’re also going to cook dinner for me?
And I just met you? You’re a woman after my own heart,” he said
smoothly. I had to check the floor for puddles because I melted
some more.
    I smiled, and a little sigh escaped my
mouth as I turned to walk down to the local store with him for some
supplies. I was suddenly very aware of every movement I
made.
    We shopped together like we were an old
married couple. We picked out the same colors and similar things.
We laughed a lot, and I could only think we had some sort of
kismet. I’d heard it said before, that once in a lifetime you met
someone who you just completely connected with. Aiden and I were
definitely connecting. Could I have just met a man I actually
clicked with? I wondered if he was feeling anything close to what I
was. The conversation even continued to flow effortlessly on the
car ride home. I pointed to various places I thought he might be
interested in. Like I had any idea what interested him. I hope I
did.
    When we finally reached my house, I
unlocked the door, and offered him entrance. He instead graciously
held the door for me. Soldiers. Gotta love them. I fumbled
with the bags, and he sweetly came to my rescue, dropping his
duffel bag at the door, scooping the shopping bags from my arms,
and delivering them to my kitchen. We spent some time emptying them
together, while I showed him where to locate things at the same
time. Soon, everything was done, and I turned to look at my new
roommate. It felt right.
    “ Okay, well, let me show
you to … um, your room. You can get settled in while I start
dinner.”
    “ That would be great. Thank
you, Sydney.” It was the first time he had used my name. It was
fine either way, because I would be happy to be ‘ma’am’ if it was
coming from his lips. I blushed a little and turned to head up the
stairs. We stopped at the first doorway.
    “