A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella Read Online Free PDF

squeezed her fingers slightly before he took off.
    “Well…” Loretta said.
    “Well what?”
    “Somebody has a thing for you.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s just my neighbor. He didn’t even know my name until today.”
    “He didn’t have to know your name to admire your ass.”
    Daisy shook her head and sighed. Clayton Calhoun was going to be hard to get off her mind today.

 
    Chapter 4
     
    “This place is a mess,” Abraham said as they walked through one of the rental properties Ambrose’s company owned.
    The place was trashed. Completely. But it was all a part of being in the property management business. “They’re not getting their security deposit back. That’s for damn sure.”
    “Look at all the shit they left behind. Literally.” Abraham shook his head. “That’s dog mess in the sunroom.”
    “And we’ll have the pleasure of shoveling it out.” They did a walk-through of the bedrooms. Thankfully there were no holes in the walls or missing fixtures, just junk the tenants had left behind. “You ever think about getting a new job?” he asked Abraham as they entered the last room.
    “Ambrose pays us too well for me to think about that. Plus benefits. I would be a fool to leave.”
    “What if I told you that I knew of a job where you could make twice as much as you did here?”
    Abraham stopped and regarded him suspiciously. “Sounds like a con. You know my father was a police officer and my grandfather a preacher. I don’t do anything that’s not above board.”
    “And you think I would?”
    “No,” he said without hesitation, “but I don’t know where a couple of army vets can make the kind of money you’re talking about without doing something illegal to get it.”
    “I’m talking about going back,” Clayton explained. He hadn’t told anybody yet about his offer. Either of the offers he had received, but he felt like he could share this with Abraham. No one else in his world knew what it was like to be over there.
    “Going back where?”
    “Afghanistan. I got an offer to train the local security over there. I can bring you over with me. They’ll set us up good.”
    “No.” Abraham turned away from him and started examining the items that were left in the room. It was a kid’s room, complete with a bedroom set. “Who leaves all their kid’s stuff behind? Some of this stuff looks brand new.”
    “Just no. You don’t want to hear anything else about it?”
    “No. I served my country and I’m proud of my service, but I’m not going back there. And when that IED went off and sliced into the femoral artery in your leg, you almost bled out. You almost died. I know because I watched it happen.”
    “You saved my life. I owe you.”
    “You got me this job.” He sighed, looking frustrated. “But if you want to pay me back you’ll stay your ass here. Your sister is having a baby. Your mother is happy to have you back. Why can’t you just chill for a while?”
    “It has been a while. I’ve been home for over a year.”
    “And it’s tough. You hit the ground when you hear a car backfire and the Fourth of July always fucks you up because the fireworks make you feel like you’re under attack. And sometimes when you sleep at night you see the faces of the guys who died right before you. It sucks. It fucking sucks, but going back won’t change that. I can’t see how it would.”
    He was right. Clayton knew he was right about it all. Especially the nightmares. They had started when he was in the hospital and still sometimes held him tight in their grip. He thought being here would be better, but it wasn’t. At least he would be too preoccupied to think much about it. He would have a purpose. He would be working for something bigger than himself.
    “You should talk to somebody, man.”
    “I don’t need a shrink.”
    “Not a shrink. I go to a group on Sunday nights. Guys just like us. Everybody has got their story. It helps to hear them. You could come with