His Comfort & Joy

by V Vee

  His Comfort & Joy

  A Very Alpha Christmas

  (A For The Love Of The Marines Novella)

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  V. Vee

  His Comfort & Joy

  He left to serve and protect his country.

  He returned to serve and protect her.

  In 2015, Logan Steele kissed his girlfriend, Parker Leon, goodbye and went to serve in the United States Marine Corps overseas. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  In 2019, he returned.

  He’s changed. Nightmares plague him. He’s hardened. No longer the big teddy bear she once knew, Logan is battle-scarred and war weary. He has secrets; and danger follows him. But he came back for his woman. The woman he lost touch with. The woman he still loves.

  The woman who is keeping a secret of her own.

  This Christmas, Logan does as all alphas do. He claims his woman, and he fights whatever threatens her.

  Even if the threat comes from him.

  *The Very Alpha Christmas Series does not have to be read in order. Each book is a standalone. *

  Copyright

  Copyright 2019 His Comfort & Joy © V. Vee. Vicktor Alexander Presents, LLC.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or any other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews, promotions, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed: “Attention: Copyright Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below:

  Vicktor Alexander Presents, LLC

  V. Vee

  5549 Black Hawk Lane

  Lakeland, FL 33810

  http://vveetheauthor.wordpress.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s creative imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Dedicated To

  For Nugget and Bow.

  Thank You

  Thank you, Siren Allen and Shani G. Dowdell for letting me be a part of this experience and for understanding when my ass kept forgetting about it.

  Thank you, Sara and Jayne for allowing me to escape into my room so I can work.

  Thank you, Reana Malori for being understanding.

  Thank you, Wendy Whitehead and Michelle D. Jackson for always checking up on me.

  Author’s Note

  This story is not as long as some of my others. That is because this is a Christmas novella. But while not every question will be answered, it has enough to satisfy you (I hope! -cue me nervously biting my nails-)

  And while I, personally, do not celebrate Christmas, being Jewish and everything, let’s hope I sprinkled enough Christmas details and Christmas cheer throughout the story to make you smile.

  Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays!

  -V. Vee

  Prologue

  Logan Steele Says Goodbye

  Logan Steele

  2015

  I kissed my girlfriend, Parker Leon, goodbye, wiping away her tears with my fingers. I knew she was upset about my leaving, and I also knew she didn’t fully understand why I’d chosen to serve in the United States Marine Corps, but it was something I simply had to do. I needed to serve my country, needed to do something, anything, to feel like I was somebody. Like I had a purpose. Parker had one. She was a principal at a local elementary school, she helped to mold and shape lives. My days were spent working at the lumber yard, and boxing for some extra cash.

  I needed to contribute to my world more. Needed to prove that my father’s words about me were untrue. I was not worthless. I was not pathetic. And I was not mooching off Parker and her adopted parents’ money.

  And though I know Parker doesn’t believe me, enlisting in the USMC, and knowing I would probably be leaving her behind? It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

  “Please don’t forget about me,” Parker whispered.

  I shook my head and pressed a kiss against her forehead.

  “That could never happen,” I promised her. “Don’t you know you’re my heart? I could never forget about you.”

  Parker nodded, though she glanced away. The look broke my heart, but I had to go. I didn’t have any more time to soothe her fears and worries.

  “I’ll be back, Parker,” I told her. “I promise.”

  Logan Steele

  2019

  I was finally home. Finally, back where I belonged. I stared up at the house where Parker lived now. Christmas lights of red and green, interspersed with white, covered the outside. An inflatable Frosty the Snowman © that looked as if it had seen better days, sat outside as if keeping watch. But it was the appearance of Santa Clause keeping vigil with Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and the a few shepherds, over the baby Jesus that made me smile the hardest.

  I’d been slightly annoyed when I’d discovered that Parker had moved out of our little apartment about a year after I left but hadn’t sent me her new address. But seeing her home, and knowing she was just as much of a freak for Christmas as always eased a bit of the ache within me. Besides. It didn’t matter if she hadn’t sent me her new information. I’d gotten rank. Security Clearance. I knew people. So it was easy for me to find her.

  Stalker? Maybe.

  Possessive? You bet your ass.

  Determined? No one more so than me.

  I knew she wasn’t married. I’d had someone watching her for days and they hadn’t seen a man coming in or out of her home, as a matter of fact, she’d barely left herself, so I was fairly certain she was still single. Still mine.

  And it wouldn’t matter if she did have another man in the house with her.

  Parker belonged to me.

  And though I’ve changed, and nightmares plague me, that fact was still true.

  The Marines had hardened me. I’d gone from being the big teddy bear Parker once loved to cuddle up with, to being battle-scarred and war weary. I had secrets I didn’t have before; and danger following me everywhere I went.

  I wouldn’t have come here, come back to Parker, if I had any other choice, because I needed to keep her safe, but I needed her more. My woman. The woman I’d lost touch with after going on mission after mission. On battle after battle. To country after country.

  But Parker was the woman I loved. Even after all these years.

  And I was going to do whatever I had to do, to make sure that when I left Arlington after Christmas, she was right there with me. By my side. Where she belonged.

  No matter what I had to do to make that happen.

  Chapter One

  Logan Returns

  Parker Leon

  2019

  I heard the sound of the animated creatures, laughing and playing, causing all sorts of mischief, long before I opened my eyes. I also heard two little voices, giggling and whispering to each other, extremely close to me. I checked myself internally. Had I had enough sleep? Could I possibly sneak out another hour or two before they realized that I was still alive and hopped on me to wake me up.

  Most importantly: Had I set the coffee maker’s alarm to automatically make my big cup of the good stuff or would I have to be cognizant enough to do it myself?

  “Mommy? We know you’re awake,” my daughter Noelle’s voice, innocent and yet firm in its childishness, made me smile.

  “No, I’m not,” I teased.

  “Yes you are, Mommy
!” Holly, Noelle’s identical twin sister—and the other love of my life—said as she poked my cheek.

  I laughed before pushing myself up in the bed. I shoved my curls—which I hadn’t had years ago, but which had sprouted and grown in abundance when I was pregnant with the girls—out of my face and released a deep exhale before I got in “Mommy Mindset.” I opened my eyes and gave my two little girls a smile. They were three, almost four years old, and though they were well-behaved, so beautiful they made my chest hurt, and more intelligent than any child had a right to be, there was still two of them and only one of me.

  It could have been two of you if you’d only mailed that letter. My subconscious liked to remind me, at the very least, fifteen times a day, that I was a single mother, and all alone in Arlington, Virginia, because I’d chosen to be. It wasn’t because Logan had cut off all contact with me, or even stopped contacting me. No, I had left him. But it had been a conscious, well thought out, decision. One I thought was best for everyone involved. Logan had discovered his “purpose” in the military and I’d known he was never going to come back, the realization had caused me pain at the time, so much I hadn’t been able to eat, were it not for the miracles growing within me, my reasons for living two months after he’d left.

  Our daughters. Our Christmas babies: Noelle and Holly.

  “Mommy? Why you so sad?” Noelle asked with a frown.

  I shook my head and reached out a hand to run it over my little girl’s head. “I’m not sad,” I told her. “Mommy is just thinking.”

  “’Bout what?” Holly questioned, and I turned to her with a grin. It was just me and my girls against the world. I’d lost both of my parents in a tragic accident a year before. I’d officially become an orphan again. Remembering their deaths still caused my breath to catch in my chest sometimes. No one had been able to explain to me how two older, highly educated, affluent, well-known, and wealthy black people, who were great contributors to the community, had been found, their car sprayed with bullets, in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in Richmond.

  My parents never went to Richmond.

  Their murders had left me with a hole in my heart, one that was also filled with confusion, but I was a single mother and couldn’t dwell on it or give it as much attention as I wanted to. Not when I had two little girls who depended on me for everything.

  “Just thinking about Grandma and Grandpa,” I told them, giving them a small smile.

  “I miss Grammy and Grampy,” Holly said, climbing up into my lap and placing her head on my chest.

  “Me too,” Noelle replied as she also climbed up in my lap.

  I wrapped my arms around my girls and placed a small kiss on each of their foreheads. “Me three.”

  We sat in silence for a long time until there was a firm knock on the door. My eyebrows lowered in confusion as I checked the time on the clock. It wasn’t time for my friend, Rachel Bradley, to come over just yet. She was bringing her kids over for a play date and also so I could have some much-needed adult time. She was in town because her husband had a game against the Baltimore Ravens, and instead of her and the kids spending their days in B-More, she was going to visit our friend, Kyra McCarthy, and then make her way down to Virginia to spend some time with us.

  But she wasn’t supposed to be at my place until the next day.

  I lifted my girls from my lap and placed them down on the bed, before I grabbed my robe, wrapped it around my body and made my way to the front door. I rolled my eyes when there was another knock. Someone was extremely anxious to get me to open the door.

  Which made me all the more eager to make them wait.

  I stood just in front of the red painted wooden panel and crossed my arms. Waiting. When there was another knock, this one harder than the ones previous, I growled softly beneath my breath.

  “Parker? Open up please! Let me know you’re okay,” a male voice came from the other side and I frowned before flipping the lock and twisting the doorknob.

  “Steven?” I gasped, staring up into the dark brown eyes of my co-worker, the vice-principal of the school where I worked as principal, Sojourner Truth Academy. “What’s wrong?”

  “I was coming by to bring you this month’s quarterly reports, when I noticed a man sitting in a SUV across the street. He’s been watching your front door for at least an hour, but he hasn’t gotten out. I was a little concerned, especially since it took you so long to open your front door.”

  Steven looked agitated and usually I would have waved him off, in an attempt to alleviate his concerns, but I looked over his shoulder and noticed the SUV parked exactly where he said it would be. I frowned, a feeling of unease building within me. Who the hell was that? And why were they watching me? I wasn’t that interesting. I was the principal at an elementary school, a single mother, an orphan…

  No one wanted anything to do with me. I had no enemies. And there was nothing fascinating enough about me to make someone want to stalk me.

  No one except Steven.

  My vice-principal had been unnecessarily intrigued by me since the day he was hired at the school over two years ago. He dropped by unannounced more than once, tried to engage in conversation with my daughters—which was a big no, no unless I was there to monitor said conversation—and was constantly trying to play the role of “boyfriend,” to me. Even going so far as to be upset when he found out I went on a date six months ago. The date had been a disaster, much to Steven’s happiness, but it hadn’t been the fault of the guy I’d gone out with. Tierney O’Brien was someone I’d met when he’d brought his niece up to the school to register her. I’d been slightly blown away by his stunning good looks. From his shoulder-length strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, thick, but neatly trimmed beard, very broad frame, and tattoos running along the side of his neck and on both forearms that I could see, Tierney was nothing like the man I’d given my heart to. While Logan had tattoos, and a goatee, he hadn’t been as broad as Tierney.

  At least not when he’d left for the Marines. There was no telling what he looked like now.

  Tierney had been the perfect gentleman on our date, so I’d been extremely disappointed that there had been no… spark. On either of our parts. He apologized to me as well, but while we wouldn’t work as a romantic couple, we’d stayed friends. He often contacted me from Baltimore, or wherever else he was when he traveled for work, to check on me. And whenever he came to visit his sister and niece he stopped by. My daughters loved him and often asked me why he couldn’t be their father.

  But how did I explain desire, passion, lust, and love when I was still hung up on the man who’d left me to go and serve in some ridiculous war and hadn’t returned?

  You didn’t contact him either.

  Damn, my subconscious was being super persistent about that little detail today.

  I reached out to pat Steven’s arm. “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably just someone who is interested in buying the house.” I pointed to the FOR SALE sign in my yard. “Remember, I’m selling?” I shrugged. “No doubt it’s just someone who’s interested enough to check out the house, but no interested enough to come knock on the door. No need to be concerned. Now…” I exhaled, having sufficiently calmed Steven’s—and my own—trepidation. “What quarterly reports are you bringing me that couldn’t wait for Monday? You know, when we return to work for our last week just before the Christmas break?”

  Steven flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, um… these.” He handed me the stack of manila folders from inside of his messenger bag. “I just wanted you to have them as soon as I finished with them and um… you know, to check on you and the girls.”

  I laughed. “Steven, it’s okay. I know. The girls and I are okay. I appreciate you always coming by to see about us, but it’s really not necessary. And as for these?” I lifted the folders and opened my mouth to continue but the words froze in my chest when the driver’s side door on the SUV opened and a man—a very large, bulky, older than I remember, go
rgeous, man stepped from within, and closed it behind him once he had risen to his very tall height of six foot five if I remembered it correctly.

  I gasped and shook my head, almost positive that my mind was playing tricks on me.

  “Parker? Parker? Are you okay?” I could hear Steven asking me a question, but it came to me in a fog. I couldn’t focus on him, not when the man from the SUV, a veritable blast from the past, came walking towards me, us, me, where we stood in the doorway.

  When he stopped at the foot of the stairs and smirked at me, I finally found my voice.

  “L-Logan?” I questioned breathlessly, not sure if he was actually there or if I’d conjured him from my fanciful musings. From my heartbreak and loneliness.

  “Hey baby. Miss me?”

  I couldn’t even respond. Instead, I covered my face and burst into tears.

  Chapter Two

  Parker and The Vice-Principal

  Logan Steele

  2019

  I’d sat in my car for as long as I could.

  Watching.

  Furious. With rage boiling and swirling in my veins.

  I’d watched as the tall, surprisingly muscled and toned, Asian man with black hair resting against his shoulders, stared at me suspiciously before marching up to the front door of my Parker’s home and knocking. I knew he’d been just as curious about me as I was about him. I mean, fuck, the man had stood on the sidewalk in front of the house for about fifteen minutes before he’d finally noticed me. Then he’d walked up and down the street for another fifteen, before eventually going to no doubt warn Parker about the man sitting in his car, unmoving, unfazed.