A Marine for Christmas (Hearts Ablaze: Men in Uniform) by Makenna Jameison Read Free Book Online Page A

projects to finish for her preschool classes.  She was slightly saddened to realize she wouldn’t have any time to paint this weekend.  That seemed to always fall on the back burner these days, but if her choice was between dinner out with her friends last night or staying in alone to get lost in her artwork, she was happy to trade in free time at home for some much needed time with her girlfriends.  There was always winter vacation to get back into her painting.
    Amy retrieved a shopping cart from the array in front of the store and pushed it inside.  She picked up a few basics like apples, milk, and butter, but then headed over to the baking aisle.  Selecting a couple bags of flour, sugar, brown sugar, and chocolate chips, she quickly filled up her cart.  Eyeing a brownie mix, she decided to toss that in her cart as well.  Consulting her list, she grabbed a few more items before making her way to the checkout line.  The store was pretty empty this time of morning, and she’d be out in a breeze.  As she stood in line unloading everything onto the conveyor belt, a masculine voice beside her suddenly caught her attention.  “You’re not opening a bakery, are you?”
    Amy turned and was surprised to see Jason standing there.  He had on dark grey sweatpants and a black Marine Corps tee shirt that nicely hugged his masculine frame.  The short sleeves revealed the hint of a tattoo peeking out from beneath his left sleeve, and Amy was a little surprised.  He hadn’t seemed like the tattoo type of guy from what she had seen before.  She imagined guys covered in tattoos to be rough, rocker types, not clean-cut military men.  What did she know anyway, though?  Besides, it was just one tattoo; it’s not like his whole arm was covered in ink.  Amy guessed he must be on his way to the gym or something—he certainly wasn’t just coming from it as she detected the clean scent of soap and aftershave as he leaned closer to inspect the contents of her cart.
    “Right, in all my spare time.   Preschool bake sale,” she explained with a smile.
    “So it’s safe to assume you got your car back?  Unless you’re planning to wheel all this home in your shopping cart….”  Jason grinned down at her, his blue eyes gleaming, and Amy laughed.
    “My friend Beth had my keys in her pocket!  She called me this morning.  Unbelievable, right?  I think she accidentally grabbed them off the table when we were leaving the restaurant.”
    “That’s crazy.  I’m glad you found them—or glad she found them.”
    “It would have been nice if she found them last night.  Oh well,” she added with a shrug.   “At least I’ve got my car back now.”
    “True.  Well, let me know if you need a taste-tester for all your baking.  I’m going to go lift for a while, but I’m sure I’ll work up an appetite,” he added with grin.
    “I’ll keep you in mind ,” she said with a smile. Amy waved goodbye and finished loading her groceries onto the belt.  It was strange that Jason was never around on the weekends, yet she’d seen him several times over the past few days.  Had they been crossing paths before and she’d just never known it?  After checking out and pushing her cart back to the car, she dismissed those thoughts, focusing instead on the afternoon of work ahead of her.

Chapter 12
     
    Melissa hung up the phone with Amy later that afternoon.  Her friend had sounded slightly disappointed about cancelling their girl’s weekend, but she knew Beth had likely smoothed things over this morning.  The weekend getaway was going to be a mini-vacation for all the girls, but also a final fling before her wedding.  The wedding that wasn’t, she thought.  The past few days had been such a blur that their weekend trip was literally one of the last things on her mind.  After Kara had gracefully backed out, Melissa had told them that her heart wasn’t in it either. 
    She’d been late to girl’s night yesterday after