It Had To Be You by Kathryn Shay Read Free Book Online Page A

slippers on my feet. Len’s mouth fell open
when he saw me.” As if from far away, she said, “That was the first
night we slept together.”
    “ Lucky Len.”
    She sighed. “Tell me something nice
about…Patty, is it?”
    “ Yeah. She was a saint when I got back.
I couldn’t sleep—still have that problem—and she stayed up with me,
held me after I woke her up with my nightmares. She listened,
understood.”
    “ What happened?”
    “ She got tired of me not getting any
better. She met someone at work, didn’t cheat but told me about him
and said she wanted a separation. I agreed because she’d put up
with enough crap from me.”
    “ I’m sorry you lost her.”
    “ Yeah, me too.”
    “ Beck, has Len ever contacted you? I
know you gave him your card.”
    “ No.”
    “ I’m not surprised. The first step to
recovery is admitting you have a problem. I really admire you for
seeking help.”
    “ Don’t admire me too much. I was
required to come by the fire department.” Though he had gotten
counseling in the past.
    “ No, you’re involved. Even when you
don’t say anything, I can tell how absorbed you are.”
    So she’d been noticing him. At least he
wasn’t the only one…interested. “Thanks.”
    She glanced at the clock. “Wow. I have to go
already. Time flew by.”
    “ I’ll walk you to your car.”
    “ I’m an army medic, Beck. Despite my
meltdown tonight, I’m made of stern stuff.”
    “ I can tell.”
    Still, he walked with her to her car. The
April night had turned cool and she tugged the sweater she’d put on
before she’d left tighter around her. The action accented her full
breasts, and for the first time in months, Beck felt his body stir.
Jesus, he’d been lamenting the loss of his libido, and now he got
juiced up by…the wife of a PTSD sufferer who just moments ago
admitted she shouldn’t have let her kid live with a man with the
condition. What an idiot Beck was!
    He tried to control his reaction to her when
they reached her car, a sensible Civic hatchback. “Thanks for
inviting me out, Beck. It was fun.”
    Her admission didn’t help his circumstances .
    “ And thanks for sharing good memories
with me.”
    “ We remember too much of the bad.” He
shook his head self-effacingly. “Said the guy with
PTSD.”
    The quip made her laugh.
    Then she shocked him by standing on her
tiptoes and kissing him on the cheek. “You’re a good guy, Beckett
Sloan. Try to remember that.”
    He said good-night and watched the car pull
out of the parking lot. As he walked to his own vehicle, he was
startled—and dismayed—by how much he wanted to respond to the
friendly kiss, maybe grasp her to him, bury his face in that
lilac-smelling hair and forget all about reality. Jesus. This had
to happen with a woman in her circumstances? He’d ignore it, of
course, even though he knew the situation was going to come back to
bite him in the ass.

Chapter 4
    Because Beck rarely felt safe anymore—another
aftereffect of the war—he didn’t put himself in unfamiliar social
situations. But when Ryan O’Malley, Brody’s twin, got promoted to
lieutenant in the police department, Felicia had made a point of
inviting Beck to join them at Badges, the local firefighter and
police hangout, to celebrate. Beck had declined, but Felicia had
badgered him into coming. So now he sat with a dozen people at a
table in a small backroom that was paneled in cedar and sporting
big windows on three sides. Firefighter and police memorabilia
covered the walls, which Beck got a kick out of.
    “ So, O’Malley, you gonna stop wearing
the uniform now?” The question came from Gabe as he lounged in his
chair, his arm circling his stunning wife—whose rounded belly
indicated she was about midway through her pregnancy. Every once in
a while, Rachel Wellington Malvaso would lay her head on his
shoulder in a tender gesture.
    “ I’ll have to, for the most part.”
Reaching out, Ryan put his hand on Felicia’s knee.