by Sophie Stern
Table of Contents
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Alien Dragon
Beware of Dragons
Red Says the Dragon
About
Free For Him
Sophie Stern
Copyright © 2016 by Sophie Stern
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Synopsis
Chris lost everything overseas: his hope, his dreams, and his best friend.
When he returns to Colorado after a year-long deployment, the last thing he expects is to reconnect with his best friend's younger sister.
Sarah is sweet, sassy, and so off-limits.
But Sarah has a secret and Chris has a feeling she's going to need his help.
Can he convince her to let him be the hero he was meant to be?
Find out in Free For Him: a standalone military romance.
Prologue
April 12th
From: StaffSergeantAwesome
To: CutieFrog
Hey CutieFrog. Guess it’s about time I finally write you. Just wanted to thank you for the box of goodies you sent. The cookies were insane. I may have eaten them all. Please send more.
Chris
April 13th
From: CutieFrog
To: StaffSergeantAwesome
SSgt Awesome? Really? Someone’s a bit sure of himself ;). I’m glad you liked the cookies. I made them with love! Please tell me you’re taking care of my big brother and keeping him out of trouble! He tends to overdo it.
xoxo, Sarah
April 15th
From: StaffSergeantAwesome
To: CutieFrog
I do what I can, but I make no promises. Garrett has a mind of his own! Just kidding, though. Garrett’s a great guy. He’s always making sure the rest of us are doing our best, following safety protocols, etc. What about you? Is my little CutieFrog staying out of trouble?
April 17th
From: CutieFrog
To: StaffSergeantAwesome
YOUR CutieFrog? ;) I am not staying out of trouble. Well, I’m trying to. Sort of. I have a date tomorrow. I’m nervous. Don’t tell Garrett.
April 18th
From: StaffSergeantAwesome
To: CutieFrog
What’s a girl like you have to be nervous about? You’ll knock ‘em dead. I know you’re Garrett’s kid sister, so I should be telling you not to date or to save yourself or something like that, but I’ll just say that you shouldn’t worry. Just be yourself. If he doesn’t see what I see, then he’s an idiot.
April 19th
From: CutieFrog
To: StaffSergeantAwesome
The date went soooo bad. Ugh. I should swear off men.
April 20th
From: StaffSergeantAwesome
To: CutieFrog
What happened?
CutieFrog: Hey
StaffSergeantAwesome: Woah, hey! A real chat. I’m surprised.
CutieFrog: Well, you know. I saw you were online, so I figured this was easier than emailing back and forth, sometimes waiting days for a response.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Come on, now. I’m not that bad!
CutieFrog: I know.
StaffSergeantAwesome: So, how was the date?
CutieFrog: So bad!
StaffSergeantAwesome: Tell me all about it.
CutieFrog: He was 20 minutes late meeting me and then he showed up smelling like smoke.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Not a fan of smokers?
CutieFrog: Not so much.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Okay, what else?
CutieFrog: It was just everything. He didn’t hold the door, he was rude, he didn’t ask me about myself…it might sound selfish, but I don’t just want to talk about the guy on a date. I kinda wanna talk about me, too. Doesn’t he want to know what’s important to me? Doesn’t he want to hear what I value? Maybe I’m being childish…
StaffSergeantAwesome: Not at all. I think if you’re going to take the time to go out with someone, you should know what you’re getting into. What’s the point of dating someone you can’t stand, you know?
CutieFrog: Exactly!
StaffSergeantAwesome: So, Sarah…what are you interested in?
CutieFrog: Why, SSgt…are you trying to date me?
StaffSergeantAwesome: I’m just trying to learn a little more about the girl who makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.
CutieFrog: You flatter me! Oh, well, let’s see. I like to draw and paint and jog. I work at a law office, but it’s not my favorite thing in the world.
StaffSergeantAwesome: What’s your favorite thing in the world?
CutieFrog: Talking to cute deployed boys on the Internet.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Aw, and here I thought I was special!
CutieFrog: You are special.
StaffSergeantAwesome: :D
CutieFrog: What about you, SSgt? What do you like to do for fun?
StaffSergeantAwesome: Well, when I’m not working (which is all the time), I like to read. Don’t have much time for that here, though. Sometimes I kick your brother’s ass in Halo.
CutieFrog: Ha! He’ll never admit to that.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Don’t I know it.
CutieFrog: Speaking of brothers…how is Garrett? He hasn’t written me much lately. Is he doing okay?
StaffSergeantAwesome: We’ve just been busy with work.
CutieFrog: And what exactly have you been busy with?
StaffSergeantAwesome: Classified, but nice try.
CutieFrog: Can’t blame a girl for trying! :’(
StaffSergeantAwesome: Hey, Garrett’s right here. You wanna voice chat with him a bit? He’s signing on.
CutieFrog: Thanks Staff Sergeant. It was fun chatting.
StaffSergeantAwesome: Talk to you later, Cutie.
1
Four months later
Staff Sergeant Chris Miles stood in front of his best friend’s family home. This was it: the moment he’d been waiting for. Six months overseas, and now he was finally back at Forrest Air Force Base in beautiful Colorado.
And today was the big day: the day when he’d finally meet Garrett’s little sister.
Sarah.
He’d been writing to her for months. Ever since she sent Garrett a care package and included extra snacks and books for the rest of the airmen, Chris had been smitten. Garrett warned him not to get too attached, not to fall for his kid sister, but Chris hadn’t listened.
Instead of heeding his best friend’s advice, Chris had spent all of his free time thinking of Sarah. She was sweet and sassy and from what he could tell, just a little bit naughty.
They’d spent months chatting online and sending handwritten notes to one another. When he woke up and before he went to sleep, he’d just talk to her. He’d just be with her. They’d video chat and send pictures and soon, he was addicted.
He was smitten.
Garrett warned Chris to watch himself. He told him that it was a bad idea, but Chris didn’t care. The warning had come too late and he knew he just had to have her. She was such a sweetie. He’d never met anyone like her. Not before his military days and certainly not during.
And now he was meeting her for the very first time and he didn’t know what to do. Chris had chosen to forgo his dress uniform in lieu of a plaid button-down shirt with khakis. It wasn’t the most formal attire, but this was just dinner: not Christmas dinner.
Garrett’s mothe
r had invited him over and though he knew he was welcome, he couldn’t help feel a little nervous at the idea that he was about to meet Sarah Blake for real.
He’d been dreaming about her for so long that finally standing in front of her face-to-face seemed like a dream.
What if she didn’t like him? What if he didn’t measure up?
Garrett had warned Chris there were things he didn’t know about Sarah, things he needed to before pursuing a relationship. Chris never found out what those things were. He never had a chance to find out.
He would tonight though.
That is, if Sarah didn’t completely freak out on him. He had hoped to meet her sooner, but that didn’t happen. Now their worlds were crashing together.
Now it was time to meet the girl who meant everything to his best friend.
Chris took a step forward and rang the doorbell. He sucked in his breath, but nothing happened. He could hear voices inside, so he knew they were home, but no one answered the door.
Maybe they hadn’t heard.
He rang the bell again, a thin sheen of nervous sweat covering his body. How many battles had he been in? How much had he lived through?
And this?
This is what had him nervous?
Meeting a girl?
What was wrong with him?
He waited for a moment before he heard a small snicker. Chris turned to see two bright blue eyes peering out of the bushes at him.
“Hello,” he said to the little boy.
“The doorbell is broken, you know,” the child said, popping his head up. The kid must have been seven or eight.
“I did not know,” Chris said.
The kid just shrugged.
“Figured. I live there.” He pointed to a blue-and-white painted house across the cul-de-sac. When he turned back to Chris, he frowned. “Mrs. Blake doesn’t like me hiding in her yard.”
“Then you probably should get out of her bushes before she sees you.”
“You won’t tell?”
“Cross my heart.”
The kid grinned and darted off. Chris smiled at his dirt-covered clothes. He wondered how long the little monkey had been sitting there, and for just a second, his heart panged.
Would he ever have a family?
Garrett had been the closest thing he’d ever had to a brother and now he was gone. Dead. The IED that had shortened his life had done more than just take an airman. It had taken his best friend.
Chris tried to push everything out of his head, tried to focus on today. Today wasn’t a day to feel sad. Today was a day to feel happy. He was finally going to meet Sarah after all this time. The truth was that months of emailing hadn’t prepared him for this. He was still as nervous as a high school freshman on a first date.
He took a deep breath.
“You’ve got this,” Chris said aloud to himself. He could do this.
He went back up to the door and this time, he knocked. He heard laughter coming from inside the house.
“Coming!” A voice called out, and he held his breath. When the door opened, a middle-aged woman stood in front of him with a bright smile. She had dark hair that was sprinkled with grey and was wearing a navy blue dress with a white apron tied on the front. She looked like the picture-perfect mother, complete with a sprinkling of flour on the tip of her nose.
“Chris!” Mrs. Blake greeted him. “I’m so glad you could make it!” She reached forward and pulled Chris inside, wrapping her arms around him in a warm hug. Fuck. She was just as sweet as Garrett had always said. Part of Chris had worried that his friend’s family wasn’t all that. Part of him worried they would be weird or awkward around him.
All of his concerns, his fears, and his anxiety melted away in that warm, motherly hug. His own mother had died years before and with a surprise ache of yearning, he suddenly missed her in that moment.
“Mrs. Blake,” Chris said politely. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“Oh, Chris,” Mrs. Blake laughed. “You must call me Rita.”
“Rita,” he said, repeating her name. “It’s a pleasure.”
“The pleasure is all hers, believe me,” a sweet voice sounded from behind Rita, and Chris peeked over the older woman’s shoulder.
Sarah.
It was Sarah.
Her short pixie hair was blonde and her bright blue eyes shone as she walked toward Chris. His heart felt like it had stopped beating as she moved toward him.
“Sarah,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”
The whole world faded away in that moment as she moved toward him. He barely registered the dress and leggings she had on or the way her socks made her practically glide across the hardwood floors.
“Right back at ya, sergeant.” She grinned and wrapped her arms around him, pulling Chris close. She smelled like vanilla and cinnamon. Sweet Sarah. He’d been talking to her for so long and now they were finally meeting. He tried to keep his body in check, but having her so close to him was incredible. If her mother hadn’t been right there, Chris would have pinned her against the wall and kissed her hard, nipped at her lips, made her beg him for more.
A cough broke him from his thoughts and they both turned to see Mrs. Blake still standing there.
“Sorry to break up this little reunion,” Rita said. “I think it’s time to pull the pie out of the oven. Sarah, will you help me? Chris, you can go down to the family room and get Jim for supper.” Rita motioned toward the nearby staircase that led downstairs, then disappeared down the hall, dragging a reluctant Sarah and left Chris on his own.
He went down the stairs, admiring the family photos that lined the walls. There were plenty of pictures of all four Blakes together as a family, but there were also quite a few of Garrett on his own. Chris paused at each one, remembering his friend.
It had been months since his passing, but the pain hadn’t eased. It was still hard to think about Garrett. Chris still remembered his friend’s dying words.
Take care of her.
Chris knew exactly who Garrett meant, and to him, the moment was even more profound since Garrett had constantly told him not to pursue Sarah.
There’s so much about her you don’t know.
Sarah is sweet, but she’s complicated.
Be careful around my sister. She’s going through a lot.
Chris had listened to his friend. He’d written to Sarah almost every day and chatted with her online just as much. They’d grown close, but he hadn’t pushed it. He hadn’t crossed any lines.
But Garrett knew exactly how Chris felt about her and with his dying breath, he’d given his blessing.
Now Chris just had to convince Sarah he was worthy of her heart.
2
Sarah couldn’t quite believe Chris had actually come to her parents’ place for dinner. He hadn’t made it back for the funeral in June, and after that, they’d barely spoken. Neither one of them had much to say. Death could do that to you.
When they did talk, their conversations were brief, but no less hot than they’d been prior to losing Garrett. Something about Chris brought out the flirt in Sarah and she never knew what was going to come out of his mouth next.
Still, she’d missed him. She hadn’t even known he was back from Afghanistan until her mother told her. Everyone was so busy grieving, wrapped up in their own worlds, that reaching out had been hard. Scary. Painful. Communication had been brief and simple. She couldn’t talk to Chris without thinking of Garrett. She wondered if he felt the same way about her.
Still, it was good to see him. She followed her mother into the kitchen and pulled the pies out of the oven. She set them on the cooling racks on the counter, then placed her oven mitts in the drawer. When she turned back around, Sarah’s mom was watching her with an eyebrow raised.
“What?” She asked innocently.
“Don’t you ‘what’ me, young lady,” Rita practically laughed as she talked. “I saw the way he looked at you.”
“Trus
t me,” Sarah said. “He only thinks of me as his friend’s little sister. Nothing more than that.” It was a lie and they both knew it. Chris had never come right out and asked Sarah out or insinuated that he wanted a relationship, but when they talked, they had a hard time keeping things PG.
“We’ll see,” Rita said. She didn’t sound convinced, and Sarah wondered if her mother might be right. Was there any chance Chris wanted a relationship with her? She hated to think she was getting her hopes up. She knew there wasn’t really a chance they would make it past a few dates. Her life was too complicated for anyone to handle, much less a returned airman.
Sarah had liked him from their very first chat. Talking to him had been easy and casual. They’d talked every day until her brother’s death and it had always been smooth. Words seemed to flow from her mouth like poetry when she talked to Chris.
She liked that feeling.
When Garrett died, Chris had pulled away, and Sarah hadn’t blamed him. He hadn’t made it to the funeral because he was still deployed. He’d only gotten back a few weeks ago, according to her mother. Still, there had been a part of her that hoped he would call when he got back. There was a part of her that hoped he would wake up and realize she was right there, that she had always been there, but that didn’t happen.
Real life was no fairytale.
Mom had been the one to reach out to Chris, to invite him for supper. Part of Sarah was still surprised he had agreed to come. He had been so silent in the weeks since her brother died.
She thought Chris must miss Garrett nearly as much as she did. She had grown up with Garrett, but Chris had grown with Garrett. They had been together at every duty station and her brother had loved talking about his best friend. When he deployed, she had quickly decided to send cookies to the two of them, and it had spawned some sort of friendship between her and Chris.
