The Purple Heart Read Online Free PDF

the clock. It was only six
o’clock. I rolled over to catch a few more minutes of sleep, but
found I had butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing
him.
    I literally jumped out of bed to get
ready. I didn’t hear anything in the bathroom, but I gave it a few
soft raps to be sure he wasn’t still using it. After no reply, I
opened the door so I could take a quick shower and get myself in a
more presentable form.
    I headed downstairs and could already
smell coffee brewing. It smelled heavenly, and I found it
completely comforting, because I knew I would have company this
morning. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten breakfast
with someone. I found Aiden in the kitchen, reading the morning
paper, which he had retrieved from the front porch.
    “ Good morning. You’re still
on military time I see.” I smiled, and grabbed two mugs from the
cabinet.
    “ Good morning back. I hope
you don’t mind. I thought you might like coffee. Did I wake
you?”
    “ It’s fine, really, I’m not
a late sleeper, so no worries,” I said, as I casually reached into
the fridge for cream, and bread and butter to make
toast.
    “ So I guess you’ll need to
go to work today?” He sounded a bit disheartened as he said
it.
    “ Actually, no. You’re my
only case right now. I’m all yours … for the day,” I cleared my
throat to cover up my faux pas. “Except maybe for a quick lunch
with friends. Do you think you can keep yourself busy while I’m
gone?”
    “ I’m sure I can keep myself
amused. I would love to catch up on some TV. I saw you have a
pretty extensive library, maybe I’ll thumb through one of your
books.”
    I reached into my junk drawer and
pulled out my spare key. Again, it should seem strange for me to
leave a stranger alone in my house and provide him with the key,
but I didn’t feel worried.
    “ You’ll be needing this
then, in case you go out for a walk or something. Just remember if
I come home, and everything is missing, I’ll know who it was,” I
teased.
    “ Yes, Ma’am, no worries
there.” He reached out, swiped the key from my hand, and placed it
in his pants pocket.
    I poured us both coffee and sat down
with him at the table. He handed me a section of the paper. I
smiled, and took it. We sat in silence, reading the paper, and
sipping our coffee like it was old routine with one another. Every
once in awhile, one of us would peek over the paper and look at the
other, but we always seemed to do it at the same exact time. I
found that we both lingered in our stares.
    “ So, we need to take care
of some things for your case. I thought maybe we could sit out
back, and just fill out some of the paperwork.”
    “ Yes, Ma’am. Is it okay if
I rake your backyard while we do it? Your yard could use it, plus I
could use the exercise. I’m feeling a little stiff.” A smile spread
across both our faces, obviously our minds in sync with the same
dirty thought.
    I just couldn’t believe this. This drop
dead gorgeous guy comes into my life, we have instant chemistry, and he likes to do housework. Things couldn’t get any
better. Could they?
    We headed out to the garage, I handed
him the rake, and sent him on his way to get started. I grabbed my
cell to call Cheryl to make plans for lunch with her and Gina. When
my lunch plans were firmly in place with promises of exciting news
to tell them, I headed to my backyard to join Aiden.
    I had an expansive piece of property,
but part of it was gated from the woods that stretched out behind
it, forming a quaint courtyard. There was a creek back there, and
often the neighborhood kids could be found playing along the banks.
I didn’t want them to feel like they were trespassing, so I put the
fence up to let them know where their freedom ended on my property.
My terrace was constructed in cobblestone, and was adorned with an
outdoor sofa, chiminea, and my favorite chair to sit and read in, a
large papasan. I settled myself into this chair to watch