BBW ROMANCE: BWWM Romance: A Cowboy’s Southern Comfort (Military Cowboy Pregnancy Romance) (Interracial Army Contemporary Fantasy Romance Short Stories) Read Online Free PDF Page A

dead on some dirt road in Afghanistan...the more he realized that he didn’t want that for her.
    Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.
    “Look,” he said steeling his heart for what he was about to say, “we both knew this wasn’t going to last. I mean it was never serious.”
    “Jake….what are you talking about?” she asked.
    “I’m just saying that...maybe this is a sign,” he said. “Maybe this means it’s over.”
    He moved over to the kitchen not daring to look at her. He couldn’t bear to see tears or distress or anger in her eyes. All the same, he heard her follow him into the kitchen.
    “So, that’s it?” she asked. “After everything that’s happened...everything we’ve...we’ve done...you’re just going to kick me out?”
    “I’m not kicking you out,” Jake said quietly. “You can stay until I leave. Then, I’m sure you’ll want to find your own place.”
    He expected her to shoot something angry and vindictive back at him. He expected to hear sobs or stomping. Instead, she had gone impossibly almost deathly silent.
    Surprised, he forced his head up to look into her eyes. He had not adequately prepared himself for the hurt he saw there. There were tears, yes, but they were not the dramatic sobs he’d expected. They were quite, deadly pools of water that pierced his heart so that it was nearly physically painful.
    “Fine,” she said quietly. “If that’s what you want.”
    With that, she headed off into her own room and closed the door.
    She didn’t come out for dinner. Nor did Jake see her the rest of the night.
    When he climbed into his own bed that night, he did not dream. Instead, he found that he could not sleep at all. The argument with Felicia kept playing over and over in his mind keeping it awake and reeling.
    He’d thought he was doing what was best for her. He knew what Afghanistan did to him, after all. Even if he did come back which, with each tour, became increasingly unlikely, he wouldn’t be the same.
    He knew friends with wives who put their lives on hold to help with their husband’s issues. They were constantly tired, overworked and miserable. He didn’t want that for Felicia.
    But, then, he thought about coming back to this ranch without her. He thought about not waking up to see her face beside him in the bed. Not being able to laugh at stupid TV shows with her. Not being able to make fun of her cooking and a horrible emptiness filled him.
    The truth was, he didn’t know if he would want to come back if it meant living without Felicia. And, as strange as it seemed, it sounded as though she did not want to live without him.
    By the time the morning light filtered through Jake’s dark curtains. He had made another decision. It would require talking to Felicia again but, this time, it would be about what they both wanted.
    So, he made his way down the hall to her door and knocked. There was no answer. He tried the knob. It was not locked.
    When he opened the door, she was gone.
    ***
    Jake’s hands shook when he started the ignition. He took two deep breaths to calm himself before driving into town. He had to remind himself to keep breathing as he drove.
    He told himself to stay focused on the road. On what was directly in front of him and not on the people he could now see beginning to mill about on the street. People who, to his mind's eye, began to look more and more like the Taliban fighters he encountered in Afghanistan.
    Finally, he arrived at his destination. The Town Inn. Which was more a motel than an inn but, in a town of fewer than one thousand people, such distinctions hardly mattered.
    He parked the truck outside the main entrance and had to take several deep breaths again before he opened the door to his truck and stepped out.
    His hands still shook as he began his planned route. He would make his way to the front desk and ask for Felicia’s room number. Just before he reached the door, however, a voice made him turn.
    “Jake?”
    Felicia was