Blown Away: A Small Town Military Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 1) by Abby Brooks Read Free Book Online Page B

Michael wouldn’t let her unpack at his penthouse. It felt really damn good to slide them up into a cabinet near the sink. Same thing with her silverware and the chunky coffee mug she’d bought from a street vendor when she’d first moved to the city. This stuff might not cost thousands of dollars, might not be fine china or name brand anything, but it was hers and that meant a lot.
    The few clothes she’d brought with her looked silly hanging in the monster closet. Didn’t matter if she spread them all out or bunched them together, it just looked sparse. She looked around the empty master bedroom. Looks like sparse was going to be her new normal.
    She laughed and it echoed in the vast room. The vast room with huge potential. It needed new paint, and the hardwood floors were damaged under the massive window, but paint was easy. And she bet that Ian knew what to do about the floor. She could just see some gauzy white fabric draped around the window, pooling on the floor and framing the view to the ocean. She’d angle her bed so it was the last thing she saw each night and the first thing she saw each morning.
    There was only one thing left to do before she could consider herself completely moved in. She bounded down the stairs, and out the front door, crossed the sun-scorched porch and took the steps two at a time. Lulu chased after her, barking in confusion at her excitement.
    The houseplant she’d had since college was in the backseat, probably wilting in the heat. She yanked open the car door and picked the thing off the floor behind the driver’s seat. It had started as just a little shoot of a plant in a pot that fit on her desk near her computer. Now, it was almost waist high and in a pot so heavy, Juliet grunted with effort as she pulled it out of the car. It would go right under the windows in the living room, so that when she looked out towards the water, she could see her old life and her new life at the same time.
    The pot hit the ground with a heavy thunk and the leaves shook with the impact. With a gentle heave, Juliet slid the thing into place and stood back to admire her handiwork. Not bad, if she did say so herself.
    “So,” came a voice behind her, “what do you think?”
    Juliet whirled and her heart stuttered when she saw the shape of a man in the door she’d left open while dealing with the plant. Logic told her it was Ian, but fear told her it was Michael and it took her a second to get logic and emotion on the same page.
    “I love it,” she said. “I mean, I know it needs work, but I can just see what it’s going to be when we’re done, you know? Those windows! And the wrap around porch. And the kitchen … Ian, it’s a dream come true.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t go that far quite yet. You haven’t seen the work we’ll have to do to get us from where we are to where we’re going.”
    “I’m not afraid of a little hard work.” She couldn’t wait to show him how much help she could be. She could do the painting in the evenings while he wasn’t here. And she might not have done a lot of construction work in the past, but she was a fast learner and not afraid to sweat. He only needed to tell her what to do and she’d be there, ready to help.
    “We’ll see how you feel about that tomorrow afternoon.”
    Clearly, Ian was going to need some convincing as to her worthiness as an assistant. “Never underestimate a girl who’s survived in the city for more than a year and hasn’t started talking to inanimate objects yet. You gotta have some fight in you to survive that place.”
    “I don’t doubt it. But Juliet?” Her heart surged to hear him say her name. “You talk to that little dog all the time.”
    “That’s not the same!”
    Ian pushed off the wall and sauntered over to drop some paperwork on the kitchen counter. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’m just saying, maybe you’re not as tough as you think you are.”
    Juliet made a face. He was trying to be silly, and she