by Natalie Ann
Army helicopter pilot Jake Baxter has flown his last mission. After an unsuccessful attempt to rescue his best friend from captivity, he finished up his final tour and left for good. Haunted by his failings, he heads home for the holidays in an attempt to start his life over.
Ambitious has always been Rachel Chapman’s middle name. She’s out to prove to everyone she has what it takes through hard work and determination, not her family’s name, money, or her good looks. So she’s given up on finding love until someone is willing to accept her as an equal. That is until Jake enters her life and she realizes that being an equal may not be what she always thought.
Copyright 2019 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance
Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles- It’s My Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason
Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade
Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella
Fierce Family
Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam
Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce
Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow- Drake
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love
Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love
Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love
Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love
Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love
Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love
Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love
Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love
Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love
Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson – Simply Love
Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Lane- Gifts of Love
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Table of Content
Prologue
Feel Welcome
Out in The Cold
Looking the Part
Power of Persuasion
A Big Risk
Thrill of The Hunt
Control is Overrated
How He Operated
Backup Plan
Extend Their Night
Hot As Ever
The Chemistry
No Redemption
Work a Man
A Pretty Thing
Take Charge
Under My Skin
Something More
Nostalgia and Remorse
Just His Friend
More Than Changed
Life Was About
So Blind
Felt In Return
Epilogue
Prologue
“What do we have?” Jake Baxter asked as he stumbled into the room. Being woken up from a dead sleep was never fun, more so in a war torn country.
“A convoy was just attacked out in the desert. We believe two are dead, four taken.”
Another reason why he wasn’t sleeping. He was here on base; his best friend from childhood was in the desert miles away. “Do they have names?”
His commander looked at him, shook his head, and said, “No. Here are the images from the satellite.”
Jake watched the muddy green clips of the convoy moving at a fast pace, then a bright light as the explosion flipped it on its side. Within minutes, gunfire erupted, two bodies were left and four taken prisoner. If they didn’t get to them soon, they’d be tortured like the civilians Jake and the rest of his squad were sent here to protect...then most likely killed.
“When do we leave?” he asked, looking around the room at the Night Stalkers that would be going up in the AH-6M that he’d be piloting.
“We are waiting on word. Suit up. This is a rescue mission. The sooner we can get in, the sooner we can catch them unaware.”
Ten minutes later they had their coordinates, instructions, and were in the air.
It didn’t take long to get to the village where their men were brought. They were ready to provide group support to the other men on their way, while having the ability to fire Hellfire missiles several miles away.
Jake knew he had to focus on the mission at hand, but his mind, and his heart, were with Rob. Rob, the buddy he’d grown up with and talked into joining the army with him. He knew damn well Rob was down there somewhere on the front line trying to get his men back too.
Minutes from their location, they were taking on enemy fire while Jake tried to maneuver the chopper away. It was a balancing act—get to the men on the ground, save the men with him in the air, protect the others with the same objective as him...the prisoners returning safely.
The more fire they took on, the more he had to move away from where they’d thought the men were being held and circle back.
The gunfire on the ground was increasing. Jake locked in on his target and fired, blowing up a building and giving the men relief to make their move.
As he moved closer to provide more coverage, alarms started to go off, he was taking on heavy damage and knew if he didn’t pull back, he could be brought down.
He didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to pull back. He wanted to know Rob was safe.
His choices were narrowing when smoke started coming out of the engines and his orders
were to abort. He didn’t. He stayed and he fired, and he continued, until he had no other option but to choose between the men in the chopper with him, or the men on the ground that were retreating.
He did what he was told. He provided cover to get the men out of there and they’d go back for the hostages another day.
Another day didn’t come, when the bodies of the four soldiers showed up hours later— beaten, broken, bloodied, and beheaded. One of them was Rob.
Feel Welcome
Nine months later
Jake let himself into the apartment above his parents’ garage. No one had lived in it since his father’s brother when Jake was a teen. Uncle Patrick’s wife had kicked his butt out for cheating and he had nowhere to go. Since it wasn’t the only time Uncle Patrick had been kicked out by his wife, it had been habitable on and off in the past ten years.
He looked around now at the fresh gray paint on the walls, the thick chemical smell in the air telling him his parents were trying to make him feel welcome.
Trying to give him a place to call his own when he had no idea where he wanted to be.
He flipped the lights on even though there was enough sunlight coming through the big window up front.
The place looked smaller now through adult eyes than it did when he was a teen and begging his parents to let him move in here.
They’d laughed and said no way. He’d never expected any different since his older brothers had asked, begged, and pleaded for a chance to live in the apartment and had been told the same thing, “You’re teens and too young to be on your own. We don’t care if it’s just above the garage, we don’t trust you enough.”
Since he and his brothers were typical teenage boys and caused enough grief at times, he couldn’t fault his parents for their opinion.
His phone went off in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see his mother calling him. He’d purposely planned it so he’d arrive while they were all at work, allowing himself the time to gather his thoughts before he saw them.
He silenced the phone and put it away. He wasn’t ready to talk to anyone yet.
Six months of traveling hadn’t cleared his head any. Everyone was worried about him, he knew, but the truth was, he was worried about himself.
Rob’s death hit him hard. He finished out his last tour and left. Staying at Air B & B’s hadn’t done much for the solitude he wanted. After years of being surrounded by his fellow soldiers...he thought the opposite was what he needed.
The truth was, he didn’t know what he needed other than it was time to come home.
Was he dreading that it was in time for the holidays? Not really. But he was here and he had to start making some decisions in life.
He took a deep breath and walked into the big room, saw boxes in the corner, his possessions that were shipped when he left the service. Traveling with clothes and anything else that fit in his SUV was enough for him.
As he made his way to the little galley kitchen that still had the same dingy white Formica counters, he pulled open the fridge to see it stocked with water, soda, and a six pack of beer. Thank you, Dad, he thought, reaching in and pulling out the bottle of chocolate coffee stout. It’d hit the spot on this chilly day.
He twisted the top and put the bottle to his lips. It was after lunch, just because he hadn’t eaten didn’t mean anything.
He moved to the other end of the space and pushed the door to the bedroom open with his boot. A queen-sized bed was pushed against the wall, a simple blue comforter on it. There were even curtains on the windows. He had his mom to thank for that.
A few more steps brought him to the bathroom. Yeah, it was smaller than he remembered, but would suit his needs with a sink, toilet, and shower stall.
He was walking back to the living room when he heard footsteps coming up the wooden stairs. So much for having time to prepare for family.
Though he was expecting his mother, even his father, it was his baby sister, Alexa, standing there.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” he asked her.
“Really?” she said, running forward and jumping into his arms. He missed this. He needed it. And he hugged her back and kissed her forehead. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”
As welcome homes came, this was pretty awesome. “I thought for sure Mom would be here.”
“She wanted to be. Everyone did. But it was decided everyone would wait and give you space.”
He laughed. “And yet here you are in my arms.”
“Have I ever listened to them before?” she asked, moving back and pulling the beer out of his hand, then taking a big swig of it.
“Are you even legal yet?”
She put one hand on her hip and shot him a look that almost had him taking a step back. “I’m twenty-four and you know it.”
“You still look ten to me.”
She wrinkled her nose adorably. He’d missed her more than he thought he would when he left home thirteen years ago at eighteen like the eager graduate ready to be a hero. He was no one’s hero now.
“How are you doing, Jake?”
Figures she’d cut right to the chase. “About what everyone expects, I’m sure.”
He moved away from her and back to the front door, deciding it was as good of a time as any to bring up his clothes. Maybe it’d stop the conversation.
It didn’t. She followed him. “That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the answer you’re getting,” he said back, his lips twitching. It’d been a long time since he’d felt the need—or even desire—to smile.
“You always were the stubborn one.”
Alexa grabbed one of his duffel bags and flung it over her shoulder, the weight of it making her wobble a little. He wanted to pull it away from her but knew they’d get into a little tug of war until she got her way. She always got her way with her older brothers.
“Look who is talking. That bag probably weighs more than you.”
She snorted. “Can I help it if I’m the petite one of the group? It’s not fair Grey, Colt, and you got all the tall genes.”
“How are Grey and Colt doing?”
“They’d be here if they could,” she said of their older brothers.
“I’m sure Grey is in surgery and Colt in court,” Jake said. A doctor and a lawyer were hard to live up to, so he’d decided to not even try and went in the opposite direction. Stupid on his part when he thought of it now.
“Everyone will be here for dinner tonight.”
He fought the roll from escaping his eyes, barely. Part of him expected it, the other part wanted to avoid it like a skunk on his doorstep. Then he realized the sooner everyone saw him, the sooner they’d let him be.
“So why aren’t you working?” he asked her again.
“I took the day off. Someone had to be here to welcome you home and it was darn well going to be me.”
“I thought it was frowned on for teachers to take personal days,” he said, taking the bag off her shoulder now that they were back in the apartment. He’d followed her up to make sure the weight of it didn’t make her topple backward. If it did, he’d catch her before she broke her scrawny little neck.
“I don’t know where you heard that.”
His sister was an elementary school teacher and was probably close to the same height as some of her fifth grade students. “Guess I was misinformed.”
“Guess you were.” Alexa looked around the empty place. “Mom wanted to get some furniture in here for you, but Dad said no. That you’d take care of it yourself.”
“Yeah. The bed is good for now. I’ll pick up a couch and chair or something this week. I don’t need much.” He’d probably been the least needy kid of the four of them. He’d always been called simple and it was the truth.
“Is there a TV in one of those boxes?” she asked. “You’ve never been without a TV.”
He tipped back his beer that he’d been carrying with him like a pacifier. “I didn’t have a TV in the service when I wante
d it. Times change.”
“You’re not in the army anymore, Jake.”
“No,” he said quietly. “I’m not.”
Her long brown hair was falling over her shoulder like it did when she was a kid. He reached forward and pushed it back. “You’re not okay, are you?”
“I’m getting there,” he said. What more could he say?
She took a deep breath like she wanted to argue with him. Or ask more questions, but instead said, “I’ll help you unpack.”
“Or you can go get me some lunch. I haven’t eaten anything yet today.”
“And you’re drinking?” she asked, grabbing the bottle from him. She finished the last bit before he could and he laughed.
“Lunch?” he said again.
“I’ll go to the house and make us both a sandwich and try to find some cookies or chips with it. Then I’ll come back and help you unpack. No reason you have to do it alone.”
He watched her walk out the door. Yeah, no reason to do it alone anymore, even if he wanted to.
Out in The Cold
“Welcome home,” Jake’s mother said when he walked down the stairs from the apartment. He’d heard the car door shut, looked out the window and saw his mother. He knew from past experience she’d want to run up the stairs to greet him, but everyone seemed to be keeping their distance from him.
Everyone but Alexa.
“Hi, Mom,” he said, coming forward and wrapping her up in a hug. He needed it more than he cared to admit.
“You’ve been missed,” she whispered to him. He swallowed past the words in his throat and just nodded. “Come in the house and talk to me while I get dinner ready. I expected Alexa to be here by now.”
“She left an hour ago.”
“Little brat. I knew she’d disobey us and come greet you first.”
He followed her into the house that hadn’t changed much in the past thirteen years. Some new furniture that he noticed when he was back nine months ago for one of the hardest days of his life, but then again he wasn’t paying much attention to the little things then.
