Back in the Soldier's Arms by Soraya Lane, Karina Bliss Read Free Book Online Page A

night,” he said back, voice hoarse.
    He wondered how long they’d lie there, awake yet pretending they weren’t. Both thinking, wondering, waiting.
    So close but so far apart.
    She’d agreed to pretend. For now.
    So maybe, just maybe, she’d give him that second chance he was so desperate for.
    Back in the Soldier’s Arms/Here Comes the Groom

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CHAPTER SIX
    DANIEL woke up early. He didn’t know what woke him, but he knew why he’d slept so well, and why he didn’t want to move.
    It had been almost a year since he’d woken with the weight of his wife in bed with him, the warmth of her body, the sound of her gentle breathing. It paralyzed him. Made him hold his own breath for fear of waking her. He stayed as still as an arrow stuck in timber, barely quivering.
    Somehow in the night they’d gone from being separated by cold sheets to rolling against one another. Bodies skimming, touching enough for him to want to carefully place an arm around Penny and draw her in close.
    But he didn’t.
    Because he hadn’t earned the right to touch her yet. To hold her deep in his embrace.
    He’d waited for this for so long. Wanted this for so long.
    And he still did, even if his mind was scrambling.
    He knew it wasn’t Penny’s fault that she’d had to go away again. Hell, she’d been the most heartbroken of all when she’d been called up again.
    But part of him knew it was going to be hard all over again. That there was a chance he could go back to that dark place he’d fallen into while she’d been away last time.
    What he’d done, the way he’d hurt her, had spiked him back into action. Pulled him from the pain, but he was struggling, too. Hurting, too.
    Because he’d broken his own heart as well as Penny’s when he’d woken up to the consequences of being with another woman. It had all been too much. Not having Penny, trying to raise Gabby on his own while running a new business, leaving the navy behind and adjusting to being so darn alone that he’d wondered how he managed to breathe sometimes. To keep his head above water.
    He’d gone from flying high in the navy as a pilot, surrounded by other men, friends, and with eve9H5he&#xry day presenting an exciting challenge.
    To living in suburbia as a solo dad.
    Penny stirred beside him, turning her face into the pillow and rolling half her body away.
    Daniel slipped his lower arm from between them and used it to brace his weight as he eased himself from the bed. As much as he wanted to lie there with her, the last thing he needed was Penny waking and feeling uncomfortable.
    “Daddy?”
    Daniel only had one foot out of the bed when he heard Gabby. She was standing in the door, hair all mussed up and a smile on her face. Her eyes were still bleary from sleep and she was clutching her favorite furry toy under her arm. A floppy-eared bunny that had seen better days.
    “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” he said.
    Gabby padded over quietly, rubbing at her eyes with one fisted hand. She looked at him, then at Penny, then back at him again.
    He wondered what she was thinking.
    Penny sat up, like she’d been jolted awake.
    “Gabby?” she asked, blinking furiously as she struggled to wake up.
    Daniel sat back down on the bed, on top of the covers, and patted the spot between them. “Up you come.”
    Gabby didn’t need to be asked twice. She climbed up the bed, wriggling into the pillows as she sat between them.
    Daniel tried not to watch as Penny ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame her usually straight locks into compliance. But he couldn’t not look at the smile on her face as Gabby touched her arm.
    “Is it really my birthday today?” she asked, like she wasn’t sure if it was a dream or not.
    Daniel laughed, bending down to press a kiss to her cheek. She squirmed but didn’t stop smiling.
    “Sure is, kiddo,” he said, grinning at Penny over their daughter’s head as she laughed, too. “And I heard a rumor that you might