Page 1 of A Soldier's Pledge
Chapter One
Anna Taggart parked her car in front of 3232 Seashell Lane and double checked her paperwork. Double checking was her thing, maybe it was her undiagnosed OCD or just her, she never knew. Not that it mattered. She always had to check and cross check for as long as she could remember.
The house was cute, in an old-timey Florida way. A typical pink seashell stucco bungalow with bright yellow hibiscus plants blooming in the front yard. Anna couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setting for an open house. Now she just had to hope that the inside looked as good as the outside. If it did, she might be able to sell it today. She didn’t get a chance to make many sales anymore so this could be fun. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
First, she had to make sure the house was clean, a comfortable temperature, and smelled great. It was one of the most important parts of the open house and was one of the first things she shared with her new real estate agents when they came on board. That and the trick about baking cookies. There was nothing more tempting to anyone who walked into the house than the smell of cookies fresh out of the oven.
As CEO of Willow Haven Realty, Anna didn’t usually spend her Saturdays holding open houses. Instead, you could usually find her at her desk dealing with the mounds of paperwork that multiplied faster than bunnies. The paperwork would still be there tomorrow and helping her best friend was more than worth a few extra hours of work on a Sunday. When she’d scheduled the open house, Adria had no idea her son’s soccer team would make the finals, or that the game would be today. The best solution had been for Anna to help, this way if it sold Adria would still get the commission, rather than have another agent take it over.
Thinking back to when she met Adria for the first time still made her smile. She’d come into the office just before closing on a Tuesday evening. No experience, tons of enthusiasm, and a great personality all convinced Anna to give her a chance. It wasn’t until a few months later that she had learned Adria’s husband had been shot down over Iraq. It was crazy that it was four years already. Anna had been happy to hire her, but Adria had become her best friend, something Anna hadn’t had in a very long time. That alone was worth giving up a hundred Saturdays.
Grabbing her “go-bag” as she liked to call it and an open house sign from her back seat, she got out of the car mumbling a prayer as she climbed up the stoop to the front door. With about an hour to spare, she should have just enough time to make sure the house was clean, pop a batch of cookies in the oven and put out the fresh flowers and candles she had in her bag.
With a whispered prayer that the house was in good shape, she unlocked the lockbox, opened the front door and stopped inside. The realtor gods were smiling down on her for sure, and she would have done a fist pump if her hands weren’t full. Not only was it clean, but it was also adorable and the perfect house for snowbirds or a young family. Adria had said the sellers were anxious because they’d been transferred overseas, and if her luck held she might be able to sell it today.
After a quick walk-through, Anna put the cookies in the oven and set up staging the house. By the time the buzzer sounded, she had candles lit, soft music playing, the dining room table set, and the flowers in vases. Once the cookies were cool, she’d put the platter on the dining room table to entice her ‘guests’ as they came through the door. Her company wasn’t the number one realty in Willow Haven for no reason. Even though it was a small town, she had competition from the large realtor chains.
One more quick check through the house and Anna was satisfied. It was time for the last step, putting the sign in the front yard. Grabbing the balloons she’d brought to attach to the sign, she opened the front door, stepped outside, and collided with a rock-hard t-shirt-clad chest. Backing away on instinct alone, it took her brain a moment to register that she knew that chest. Very well, in fact.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Damn it, Ethan. You scared the crap out of me.”
“It wasn’t intentional, but I didn’t expect you to open the door as I was about to knock.” He might be saying he was sorry, but his smart-ass grin said otherwise. And oh, how she loved that smile and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, and the dimple that appeared on his right cheek.Stop it. Get a grip, girl.She knew better.
“How did you know I was here?” Every last inch of his six-foot three-inch frame was good enough to eat, and she’d tasted just about all of it. Sex with Ethan was beyond amazing, and just thinking about it make her hot and bothered. But now wasn’t the time or the place. Staring at this bulging biceps and ripped abdomen outlined by his t-shirt, wouldn’t do her a damn bit of good.
“I stopped by the office. Jenny said you were covering Adria’s open house. Don’t you have enough on your plate already?”
“It’s not a big deal. Besides, you know Adria would do anything for me. Scotty’s soccer team made the finals. I thought I told you last night?”
Ethan Price, ex-Air Force pilot and Willow Haven police detective, rolled his eyes and shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d given her that look. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t made it clear from the beginning that friends with benefits was all she could handle. But he made it clear that he wanted more, a lot more, every chance he got. “You run yourself ragged.”
“It’s my company.”
“No, it’s your father’s company. He just lets you do all the work.” He was right even if she didn’t want to admit it. Her parents had retired four years earlier and left her to run the business while they hit every golf course in the world.
“That’s not entirely true.”
“C’mon, it’s true, and you know it.”
With a sigh, she pushed past him to set up the sign. It was an old argument, one they’d been having for months. She knew he admired how she worked hard and took care of all her employees or ‘work family’ as she usually called them. But he didn’t like that she worked twenty-four/seven, and didn’t or wouldn’t take more time for herself.
It would be easy to give in, to commit more of herself to their relationship. Much too easy. And that was the problem. She didn’t want to get hurt again, didn’t want to have to put together the shattered pieces of her broken heart. Losing Ryan had devastated her, she’d barely been able to get out of bed and face the world. Then a few months later Brad or as he liked everyone to call him now, Tag, was almost killed, she threw herself into work. It was that or lose it totally. Too much pain, too much loss. Work was easier.
“Why are you here, anyway? Ugh. Sorry, that sounded kind of harsh. I thought you had to work today.” He’d turned around to face her as she put the sign in the front yard. Every inch of his frame oozed sexy as he leaned against the doorway.
“Nope, this is my weekend off. Which is why I figured we could sneak in a little afternoon fun. Or I did until I realized you weren’t in the office.”
“Oh, you did, huh? What makes you think I’d have time for some afternoon nookie?”
“Hmm. I think I’d have found a way to convince you.”
Seeing the gleam in his steel-blue eyes sent a shiver of desire down her spine. Damn. She’d tried so hard to keep him at arm’s length, but he was just too—everything. Everything she wanted, everything she needed, and everything she was terrified of having again. Why was she even thinking about this now? She had an open house to run and stacks of paperwork waiting back at the office. Maybe it was time to put some distance between them, it was getting too hard to say no to him.
His quick smile proved he knew how he affected her. “I brought lunch. We both know you never remember to eat, and I figured since I couldn’t have you, we could at least have lunch together. You have to eat.”
Unable to resist his smile, she grinned. “Oh well. You win some, you lose some.”
