Unintended Love: A contemporary romantic novella Read Online Free PDF

flown with through the years, things could actually be a lot worse.
    For a long while they sat around the campfire in a comfortable silence. To able to sit quietly with Alex seemed normal, but the fact of it struck her as odd, as they had only met that morning.
    A full moon rose above the trees. Melanie stared into the flames and for a few minutes was able to put all the thoughts and fears of the day on hold. Alex broke the silence first.
    “You said earlier that you had something to cheer us up?”
    “Oh yeah, my blisters stopped me before. It must have survived in my bag, because my clothes weren’t all wet.”
    She went to her bag and produced a bottle from where she’d carefully packed it, cushioned between layers of clothes. She brought it to Alex and held it out.
    “We’ve both had a trying day. Would you join me in a glass of wine?”
    “Sure, I like wine even when it hasn’t been a trying day.” He looked at the label. “Ah, Baby Smiles, pinot grigio, a fine wine.”
    “I paid a whole six dollars for it. It better be good. But I don’t have an opener.”
    “I do.”
    Once again he pulled out his Swiss army knife.
    “We don’t have glasses,” she said when he handed her the open bottle.
    “That’s ok. I don’t mind trading a bit of spit if you don’t.”
    In the look he gave her Melanie saw a small challenge, as well as amusement.
    She took a long drink, and handed it back. “Well, I usually don’t ‘trade spit’, as you so elegantly put it, with people until I know them a little better.”
    “By the time we are out of this situation, we may know each other quite intimately.”
    The way he said the word ‘intimately’ made her heart jump and she turned away from the dancing flames to stare at him. He met her eyes then passed the bottle, smiling in such a friendly way that Melanie felt herself soften inside. It was the beginning of a melt.
    She took the bottle from him, and focused on the taste of the wine and the melting sensation that was quite pleasant.
    There was something about Alex that felt a little dangerous to her. But, she decided definitely now, it wasn’t the man that was perilous, it was what she was beginning to feel for him.
    “So, why did you become a pilot?” she asked.
    “Oh, I was obsessed with flying as a kid. It seemed like a natural thing.”
    “So, did you want to be like Superman, or whoever, Wonder Woman- who else flew? Thor?”
    “Why yes, yes I did, as a matter of fact. Maybe not Wonder Woman exactly...”
    Alex smiled, and then his expression grew serious, as if he’d remembered something troubling. “There should have been two parachutes. I’m not sure what happened.”
    He looked into the flames. When the silence lengthened between them, Melanie found herself searching for something to lighten his mood.
    “Well, who knows, maybe that was for the best. If there had been two, I probably would still be stuck in some tree. If I’d jumped out by myself I might have landed anywhere.”
    “But I should have checked before we took off. I let myself be distracted.”
    “Why were you distracted?” she asked softly.
    Alex picked up a long stick from the pile of firewood next to him, and poked at the fire. The flames grew, illuminating his features. The worry line between his eyebrows was there; he seemed deep in thought, and he ignored her question.
    “Do you think you’ll go back to nursing?” he asked.
    “Honestly? I never want to see another bed pan or thermometer again.”
    It was true. Sam’s accident had left him needing constant nursing care, and because it was her profession he and everyone else, including her, had assumed that she’d be the one to care for him.
    It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. And it had drastically changed their relationship, even though they’d grown closer in some ways. But after he died, even though she’d grieved and missed him terribly, she hadn’t missed the day-to-day drudgery of taking care of