The Soldier Next Door Read Free Page B

immaculate.”
    “I like things clean, something I learned in the service.”
    “It smells good, too.”
    “I have a thing for air fresheners.” He grinned. “In Iraq we’d go weeks without a shower, eat rotten food, lived with dysentery…some days I’d lay out in the sun naked just to get the stink off.”
    “That sounds awful.” Inwardly she shuddered, unable to imagine such harsh conditions. “Do you remember much of last night?”
    A sheepish grin tugged at his lips. “I don’t know…maybe.”
    “Your tattoos?”
    He studied her face briefly, then it dawned on him. “Oh shit. I was pretty fucked up.” He let out a casual laugh.
    “You’re not drinking today.”
    “No, I don’t do that all the time. I get nervous around new people. The PTSD gives me panic attacks.”
    “I know what those are like. I had Agoraphobia in my early twenties. The anxiety can be hell.”
    “Yeah,” he muttered. “The VA gives me Xanax to help. Do you want some?”
    “No, no, I’m fine,” she replied with a little laugh.
    “Every time I go for my doctor appointments I change my look. I don’t want their cameras to recognize me so I’ll shave my head, or grow a beard then shave the beard and grow my hair. I don’t want them sticking me back in the hospital.”
    Sydnie thought this was a bit paranoid, but kept her thoughts to herself. “You seem more at ease today. Do you need anything?”
    “I’m okay. I have bacon in the fridge. I live on BLTs and potato salad.” He stared straight at her with those intense brown eyes. “Are you hungry?”
    “I have food at the house. I should get back to work and let you rest.” She wrote her phone number on a piece of paper. “If you ever need anything just give me a call or send a text.”
    “Do you wanna go out to dinner or something?”
    “Um…are you sure you feel up to it?” Her stomach tightened with nervous tension. She wanted to say yes , as he seemed so much sweeter today yet she worried he might start drinking toward nightfall. She wasn’t completely convinced he didn’t drink often.
    “Nobody ever comes here, except Nicole once a day to lay out my meds. I told you she’s my caregiver, didn’t I?”
    “Yes. Is that how you met?”
    “No, we were boyfriend and girlfriend before then. I bought this house for her, thought we’d be a family. She has a son, but we didn’t have kids together. I was snipped after the war because of my disability.”
    “I guess it gets lonely in this big house.”
    “Yeah. What about you? You live over there alone?”
    She nodded. “My husband left me several years ago for a younger woman. I can’t bring myself to move yet. I’ve lived there over twenty years. It still feels like home.”
    “I’m sorry about your old man. He must be crazy. You don’t look past your thirties and you’re hot.”
    “Thank you.” She looked down at her lap. It had been a long time since she heard those words from a man. “I haven’t dated since.”
    “So how about dinner? It’s the least I can to thank you for sitting with me last night. Sometimes the nights get long.”
    “I must admit, you took me to places in the human mind that terrified me. But I’m not afraid of the demons that haunt you. There’s a gentleness in your eyes behind the rage.”
    He smiled. “I feel like I can be myself with you. You didn’t try to call anyone or take me to the hospital like everyone else. I just can’t tell people that shit. It scares them. They can’t handle it.”
    “I’ve had my share of hellish ordeals. None quite like yours, but I’ve been broken inside.”
    He studied her face for several long minutes as if searching her soul. She shifted beneath his candid stare.
    “Do you like steak?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “There’s an awesome restaurant in town that cooks them just right. Wanna go?” That puppy-dog expression returned again, the adorable brown eyes with sweetly arched brows that tugged at her heart. She couldn’t say no