Military Romance Collection
E. Cleveland
Military Romance Collection
Copyright © 2020 by E. Cleveland
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Gone Wild
Authors Note:
1. Sawyer
2. Sawyer
3. Sawyer
4. Elsie
5. Elsie
6. Elsie
7. Sawyer
8. Sawyer
9. Elsie
10. Elsie
11. Sawyer
12. Elsie
13. Elsie
14. Elsie
15. Sawyer
16. Sawyer
17. Elsie
18. Sawyer
19. Elsie
20. Sawyer
21. Elsie
22. Sawyer
23. Elsie
24. Elsie
25. Sawyer
26. Elsie
27. Sawyer
28. Sawyer
29. Elsie
30. Elsie
31. Elsie
32. Sawyer
33. Elsie
34. Elsie
35. Sawyer
36. Sawyer
37. Elsie
Epilogue
One Year Later
Love on the Run
Authors Note:
1. Cole
2. Cole
3. Abbie
4. Abbie
5. Cole
6. Abbie
7. Cole
8. Abbie
9. Cole
10. Abbie
11. Abbie
12. Cole
13. Abbie
14. Cole
15. Cole
16. Abbie
17. Abbie
18. Cole
19. Abbie
20. Cole
21. Abbie
23. Abbie
24. Cole
25. Abbie
26. Cole
27. Abbie
28. Abbie
29. Cole
30. Cole
31. Cole
32. Cole
33. Abbie
34. Abbie
35. Cole
36. Abbie
37. Cole
38. Abbie
39. Cole
Fall To Pieces
Authors Note:
1. Lauren
2. Lauren
3. Lauren
4. Lauren
5. Mack
6. Mack
7. Mack
8. Lauren
9. Mack
10. Lauren
11. Lauren
12. Lauren
13. Mack
14. Lauren
15. Lauren
16. Mack
17. Lauren
18. Mack
19. Lauren
20. Mack
21. Lauren
22. Lauren
23. Mack
24. Lauren
25. Mack
26. Mack
27. Lauren
28. Mack
29. Lauren
30. Lauren
31. Mack
32. Lauren
33. Lauren
34. Mack
35. Lauren
36. Mack
37. Lauren
38. Mack
39. Mack
40. Lauren
41. Lauren
42. Epilogue
43. Present Day
Only in Dreams
Authors Note:
1. Chelsea
2. Cameron
3. Chelsea
4. Cameron
5. Chelsea
6. Cameron
7. Chelsea
8. Cameron
9. Chelsea
10. Chelsea
11. Cameron
12. Cameron
13. Chelsea
14. Chelsea
15. Cameron
16. Cameron
17. Chelsea
18. Chelsea
19. Cameron
20. Chelsea
21. Cameron
22. Cameron
23. Chelsea
24. Cameron
25. Chelsea
26. Cameron
27. Cameron
28. Chelsea
29. Cameron
30. Chelsea
31. Cameron
32. Chelsea
33. Chelsea
34. Chelsea
35. Chelsea
36. Cameron
37. Chelsea
38. Cameron
39. Chelsea
40. Cameron
41. Cameron
42. Cameron
43. Chelsea
44. Cameron
45. Cameron
46. Epilogue 1 - Cameron
47. Epilogue 2 - Chelsea
The Devil’s Temptation
Authors Note:
1. Holly
2. Holly
3. Jake
4. Holly
5. Holly
6. Jake
7. Holly
8. Jake
9. Holly
10. Holly
11. Jake
12. Holly
13. Jake
14. Jake
15. Jake
16. Holly
17. Jake
18. Holly
19. Jake
20. Jake
21. Holly
22. Jake
23. Jake
24. Holly
25. Holly
26. Jake
27. Jake
29. Jake
30. Holly
31. Holly
32. Jake
33. Jake
34. Holly
35. Holly
36. Jake
37. Jake
38. Jake
39. Jake
40. Jake
41. Holly
42. Jake
43. Holly
44. Jake
45. Epilogue
Also by E. Cleveland
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Gone Wild
Authors Note:
This book was previously released as “Saved by the Woodsman.”
1
Sawyer
“This is it, man. In seventy-two hours we’ll be back on US soil.” Cole glances at me from behind the wheel. “We just gotta go talk to our guy and then we’re done.” He smiles.
The headlights on our unmarked Jeep cut through the black desert night, casting streaks of light over the miles of bleached-out sand. I’m gonna miss a lot of things about the infantry, the adrenaline, the guys, hell, I’ll even miss my gun, but I’ll never miss the unforgiving dusty landscape of Afghanistan.
“Why are you jinxing us? Haven’t you seen this movie?” I groan.
“What are you talking about.” Cole grins at me, knowing full well that he’s fucking with my head.
“This is the last mission on my last deployment.” I scan the endless sea of beige stretching out on the road ahead. “This is when shit goes down and you know it. If this was a movie, this is when we’d get blown to pieces.”
“Or maybe taken as hostages,” Cole adds helpfully.
“Man, what the hell is wrong with you? Don’t even say that shit out loud. Just keep those thoughts locked up in your brain-box, that’s the last
thing I need to be worrying about.”
“Oh, like it never crossed your mind. You’re the one who’s going on about last mission superstitions. Your life’s not a movie, man. I hate to break it to ya, but you’re just not good-looking enough to be on the big screen. Besides, I think you’re actually hoping shit will go sideways out here.” He gives me a knowing look.
“You’re crazier than you look then. Why on earth would I want that?”
“Oh, I dunno.” Cole shrugs.
He keeps his eyes on the road, but I can see his face clear enough in the moonlight. He’s never had a good word to say about me getting out of the Army. Since the day I told him I was letting my contract expire, he’s been going on about how I won’t be able to function without them.
“Maybe ’cause your life is about to get brutally boring. I mean, seriously, what are you gonna do on civvy street? I know you, man. Probably better than anyone. Even your girl.”
“Maybe.” I know he’s right. I met Cole when we went through recruit training together. I love Farrah with everything I’ve got. I don’t know if I’d say it’s with my entire heart and soul or with every fiber of my being or what. I’ve never been one for flowery words. Men in movies always make their love sound like some kind of poem written by Shakespeare. I’m not that guy. All I know is she’s it. She’s my everything.
“Definitely.” He scoffs. “You might have everyone else fooled, but not me. I know you. There’s no way you can give this up for a boring job and a picket fence and then what? In a few years you might have some ankle-biters running around? You’ll be bored to tears and you know it. You’ll feel like you’re slowly dying out there.”
“Wow, you should write Valentine’s Day cards for Hallmark. You get it, man.” I shake my head at him and press my lips together flat.
“You’re right, I don’t get it. I don’t get why you have to give up a career you worked your ass off for just to be with a woman. Like, I understand you love her, okay? Why can’t you have both?”
I sigh, this is a conversation we’ve had before. Many times. “It’s too hard on Farrah. She gets all anxious about me being gone, it eats at her. And, she’s right, if we want to take the next step, if we’re gonna settle down together and maybe have a family and all that stuff then I want to be there for them.”
“Sounds like you’re giving up your dreams for hers, if I’m honest. I hope she understands how much of a sacrifice you’re making, that’s all.”
“She will in a few days.” I smile.
“Is that when you’re doing the television surprise thing?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t think we’re coming home for another couple weeks, so she’s gonna lose her shit. It’s all set up, the news station is gonna come with me to my place, like super early, for the morning breakfast program, and I’m gonna pop the question on the air and that will be that. End of this chapter and on to the next.”
“More like end of a whole fucking book,” Cole answers. He squints through the windshield and slows down a bit as we approach our contact’s house. The wheels crunch against the sand as he eases off the main road and down a side street.
“And onto a new book, then.”
“I wouldn’t want to read that boring-ass book. I’m telling ya, it’s a mistake.” He doesn’t mince his words.
He cuts the lights and we roll down the street quietly. The guy we’re dropping in to see has been a loyal contact for every tour that’s come through here. Even though his loyalty could cost him his life, he still helps us keep an ear to the ground on new Taliban recruits in the area and plans for attacks on our guys.
“What can I say? I love her, man.” My words are simple but true. “I want us to be a family. To have a family. After the car accident killed my parents, well, I never thought I’d feel that way. Ever.”
“What about us? We’re your family,” Cole pushes back.
His teeth are set on edge and a deep wrinkle appears between his brows. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize what this is all about. He’s not giving me a hard time just for fun, although I’m sure that’s part of it. He’s not worried about me being too bored, or being a civilian, or any of that shit. He doesn’t know how to tell me he’s gonna miss me.
“The Army is my family.” I nod and try to stuff the emotions climbing up my throat back down.
I don’t have time to get misty-eyed about how my world fell apart when I was seventeen. I fight to keep the image of our family restaurant, a place that was more of a home than our actual house, free from my mind. Losing that place when my parents died, it felt like another death. I was lost. Orphaned. Alone. I had no idea how to get by in this world after everything was taken from me.
Until I joined the Army.
“You guys are my brothers. I’ve grown up with you. We’ve had our fights and our fun times and now I’m ready to leave the nest and get the girl. Just because I’m focusing on starting a new family doesn’t mean I’m forgetting my old one.”
“So you’re saying you’ll still love me even though you only get to see me on weekends and half the holidays?” Cole smirks at me. “I’ll miss ya, old man.”
“Two months. I’m two months older than you.” I laugh.
“Olllld.” Cole throws the Jeep in park and gives my shoulder a shove.
“You don’t get to call people old unless you can beat them at something. Like anything. Even one single fucking thing in the entire world.” I push him back.
Cole’s face finally relaxes. He pulls off his seatbelt and throws open the driver seat door, grinning at me over his shoulder as he heads out into the night. “Yeah, wait until you’ve been out of it for a bit. Let’s give it a year, then we’ll see who can beat who.” His eyes twinkle.
“Anytime, anyplace.” I smirk. Even as we bust each other’s balls, we’re automatically grabbing our weapons. I slide out of the vehicle and keep my muzzle pointed to the ground, concealed at my side.
Cole does the same. We’re not in uniform, but we’re still on duty. These guns are practically extensions of our arms at this point. The cool metal is a second skin against my palm.
All joking is pushed aside now. We have a mission to complete and it’s kind of important we don’t get ourselves or our contact killed doing it. They say there’s a kernel of truth behind every joke, and it’s true that I can’t shake this feeling inside that something bad might happen. Like something unexpected is going to flip the script. Like shit could go down.
I scan the perimeter with my night vision but nothing stands out. The night is silent, and a chill radiates through the air as the clear desert sky cools off the warm sand under our feet. My breathing is slow and deliberate. My pulse is steady and my mind is sharp. I’m ready for whatever happens. My muscles are ready to pounce. My body is ready to kill.
Cole gently knocks on Abdul-Azim’s modest door and I hear shuffled footsteps as the old man opens it. His white hair twists softly down into his bushy beard. It’s hard to tell where the hair on his head ends and his head begins. It’s easy to imagine his soft, brown eyes looking down with wonder at a grandchild. He has always been a gentle man, in his manner and tone.
I’ve never asked him myself, but we were told he turned to our side when the Taliban blew up one of the elementary schools. Apparently, they had a problem with kids like Abdul-Azim’s granddaughter going there to learn.