Total pages in book: 8
Estimated words: 7335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 37(@200wpm)___ 29(@250wpm)___ 24(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 7335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 37(@200wpm)___ 29(@250wpm)___ 24(@300wpm)
“Hi, I’m Dorene. I teach English here,” the sexy voice to my right says. I suck in a deep breath when I look at her. She’s gorgeous, but she flinches like I hit her or something. Then I notice it. The cluster of scars on her right cheek. She touches her cheek self-consciously as I continue to stare at her. Fuck, get it together, Larroquette. It’s not like you’ve never seen a scar before, but I know it’s not that. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman before. Ever. She’ll never believe me now, but she will.
“Hello, Dorene. I’m Edwin Larroquette. I’m interviewing for…” I begin, but she cuts me off.
“The coach and history teacher. It’s the only thing open right now,” she giggles. Her earlier self-consciousness is gone.
“Right.”
“Well, welcome to Telescope Beach High.”
“I went to school here. Class of 2000.”
“Class of 2017,” she says, extending her hand to me. She’s barely twenty-three years old.
“You gotta last name?” I ask, needing to know more about her.
“Montgomery,” she says, tucking strands of her long blonde hair behind her ear.
“As in Chet Montgomery?” I ask, knowing there is only one family in town with that last name, or at least there was.
“Chet is my daddy.”
“Ah,” I say. Chet is my brother’s best friend. He was seven years older than me. He owns an auto body shop over on Main Street. I didn’t know he had a daughter, but she would have been born after I left for recruit training. I came home briefly two years ago for my parent’s funeral but didn’t see her then. I would have remembered a beauty like her. I can’t help but wonder what caused that scar on her face, though. Even now, my hand itches to reach out and touch it, stroke it, but I don’t know her like that. Besides, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that she doesn’t like it.
“Then you must know my brother.”
“Uncle Joey,” she replies. “Sure do. He said you were in the Navy.”
“I was. A SEAL, but I was medically discharged two weeks ago.”
“Oh my God, are you okay?” she asks, the concern on her face and in her voice is evident. She’s a sweet girl, but my thoughts about her are anything but.
“I am now,” I tell her, grinning at her. I never want to tell someone that I don’t think I’ll ever be “okay,” especially not her. She seems too pure to be burdened with that shit.
“Oh, welcome home then, and thank you for your service.”
I just nod because I never know what to say when people say that. You’re welcome seems crazy to me.
“Well, Dorene, I do have to get into my interview, but it was lovely to meet you,” I tell her.
“It was nice to meet you too, officially, though I’ve heard so much about you,” she admits.
“I’m sure it’s all not true,” I say, knowing my brother.
“Oh, I hope it is,” she says.
“Hmm, well. I could take you out for dinner tonight, and we could discuss it.”
“You want to go out for dinner with me?” she asks, clearly shocked. I take a step closer to her.
“Only you, Dorene,” I say after leaning down to whisper in her ear. I let my hand linger on her bare arm. I feel her shiver under my touch.
“Alright. I live over Polinski’s,” she says before turning and walking away.
Polinski’s Bakery is famous in Telescope Beach. Best sweets for miles. Everyone knows Polinski’s. They make the best doughnuts in the world.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Looking forward to it,” she says without turning back to me. I watch her thick ass sway as she walks away from me. Damn, she’s beautiful.
Fuck, I am in so much trouble, or maybe Dorene is. Either way, I haven’t been this hard in years, if ever. It’s always been only my own hand to release the pressure. Being first on a ship and then SEAL, I didn’t want to leave a girl at home worried about me, nor did I want a girl in every port, like most of the guys I served with had. I always knew I’d be a one-woman kind of man, and I’ve finally found her.
What is a beautiful twenty-three-year-old girl like Dorene going to want with me? A damn near forty-year-old full of shrapnel and nightmares.
Hopefully everything.
TWO
DORENE
Woah! I hightail it back to my classroom after meeting him. I am supposed to decorate my room for the first day of school next week, but nature called, and thank God it did. I wouldn’t have a date tonight otherwise. My face is flushed, and if I’m being honest, I’m sweating a little. He’s so good-looking. He’s probably twenty years older than me, but fuck do I want him. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a man twice before except for the occasional superhero actor, so this is huge for me.