A woman with a past...A Marine that can't move on...The only thing they have left is each other. Grace Witherwood has the perfect life. She has a beautiful home. A handsome husband. She doesn’t have children, but God has a plan for that, she’s sure. When her church decides to write letters to soldiers overseas for their annual service project, she’s so excited that she makes the perfect homemade sugar cookies and brings her large collection of rubber stamps and custom cardstock... moreA woman with a past...A Marine that can't move on...The only thing they have left is each other. Grace Witherwood has the perfect life. She has a beautiful home. A handsome husband. She doesn’t have children, but God has a plan for that, she’s sure. When her church decides to write letters to soldiers overseas for their annual service project, she’s so excited that she makes the perfect homemade sugar cookies and brings her large collection of rubber stamps and custom cardstock. Too bad no one seems to care.Anders “Ares” Gonzales is done with war. Done with the military. Done with fighting. He’s seen too much and done too much. He’s got nothing and no one to go back to, though, so he keeps going. If he’s the most reckless, no one can fault him. That’s just bravery.When Anders gets a random letter, he almost throws it away. He doesn’t need pity letters. Except this one is on fancy paper — and is covered in the most ridiculous series of stamps he’s ever seen. The handwriting is too nice to be a child’s, but what grown-ass adult puts unicorn stamps on a letter to a marine? It almost pisses him off. It also makes him smile.Grace and Anders strike up an unlikely friendship that connects them across the world. When Anders returns home injured and Grace finds out her life isn’t as perfect as she hoped, the two will need to work together to save each other from the ruins of the lives they thought they needed to live.“You may take me to dinner.” She said that like it was an order. I wanted to jump up to comply. I wanted to skip dinner entirely. I wanted to keep her hidden so only I saw this side of her. I wanted to show her off to the world. I stayed seated and settled for some teasing instead.“You sound like a queen giving a command,” I said with a smirk. One I knew would make her blush. I kicked my legs out and stretched my arm across the back of the couch while I waited for her reply.“Well, if you don’t want to go.” She shrugged. The move tested the limits of her top and my control. She sauntered over to the door and my eyes were drawn down her back to the heels that graced her feet. I registered what she was doing the moment she started unbolting the door. I jumped to my feet and made it across the room to her in a flash.“And just what do you think you are doing?” I asked as I came up behind her. I spun her around and pinned her to the wall. She smiled at me. Slow and seductive. Holy hell.“I’m living my life,” she said. Her voice soft and low. “After nearly 30 years of living, I think I’m entitled to it.” She shrugged again and the move brushed her chest against mine. Her voice was still steady while I was rapidly losing my fucking mind.“Yes, you are,” I finally managed to say.My gaze went from her eyes to her lips. She swiped her tongue on them and I lost it. I bent to kiss her, rough and hard. I couldn’t be gentle, not right now. Not with her in that red dress. Not with her teasing me and testing me.I teased her lips with mine and drove my tongue in to tangle with hers when she opened with a gasp. Her hands had moved up to tangle in my hair while mine remained bracketed around her. I think if I touched her right now, I wouldn’t be able to hold back. She wasn’t scared and vulnerable anymore. She had shown me that much over the last several days. I moved from her mouth down to her jaw and along the pulse behind her ear.“Anders,” she gasped when I freed her mouth. Her voice was breathy and low. I felt more than heard myself groan at that one word. less
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