Field Stripped: 15 Steamy Military Romances

by Marissa Dobson

  “Dad! I meant it for Lucky. I’ve already heard his input on my interest with Gwen, I thought he had returned for a second round.”

  “Lucky can wait. It’s time you hear from me. I wasn’t pleased with how you ended things with Gwen before.”

  “I know, but this time is different. I screwed up.”

  “Damn right you did and you broke your mother’s heart in the process. Not to mention the state you left Gwen and the whole damn family.”

  “Dad…”

  “I don’t want to hear any excuses. I just want you to know if you screw this up again, you’re going to have all of us wanting a piece of your ass. Gwen is a good girl, she deserves better than what you’ve done to her in the past. I’m damn surprised she didn’t move on and find herself a good husband, someone who could treat her right.” He glared at Ace, everything about the look reminding him just how angry his father was before. “You’re not just getting a wife, but a child. You screw this up and you can find yourself a new family. Your mother and I raised you right, I won’t have you disgracing the Diamond name.” With that, Buck turned and walked back into the house.

  “Well, that could have gone better.” Ace leaned against the railing.

  “What did you think would happen?” Lucky took a swig from his beer. “We were all left to put the pieces together while you were across the country living it up. Gwen could barely walk into the house with tears springing to her eyes.”

  “I know I fucked up before.” With a clunk, he set his beer on the railing. “I failed her and the whole family, but not this time.”

  “For her sake I hope not.” Lucky leaned against the railing, as cool as the air that whipped around them. “That’s not why I came out here. I came to congratulate you.”

  “What?” He wasn’t sure if he heard his brother correctly.

  “Congratulations on getting your act together. Marrying Gwen might be the first thing you’ve done without your head up your ass and in your career. She’s always loved you and now she’s going to make an honest man out of you. I wish you both all the best.” Lucky stepped away from the railing and headed for the door. “Don’t screw this up.”

  Ace stood there alone with anger pulsing through him. He was tired of people thinking he was going to break Gwen’s heart again. Did his family think so little of him? Sure, he had made his fair share of mistakes in the past, but he wasn’t that bad of a person.

  He had just polished off the last of his beer when Gwen opened the door. “I thought you were going to stick by my side tonight. Instead, I get trapped in the kitchen with Wynn. Your mom came to my rescue.”

  “Come here.” He placed the empty beer bottle on the railing and held out his hand to her. She crossed the patio quickly. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “I’m sorry for leaving you alone with Wynn, I just needed a breather. My family can be a bit intense.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “Do I need to have a talk with my baby sister?” He ran his hands down her back, enjoying the feel of her pressed against him.

  “It’s fine, she’s just concerned. Your mom already had a few choice words for her. How did things go with Lucky and your dad?”

  “Could have gone worse. Lucky congratulated me on getting my head out of my ass.”

  “Who’d have thought your mom would be the most supportive.” She chuckled, sending the vibrations through him.

  “I know you’re upset Wynn isn’t supportive too, but she’ll come around. She’s just worried her asshole brother is going to break your heart again.”

  “You won’t,” she whispered.

  He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

  The love he had for her was stronger than anything he ever felt before. He wasn’t about to mess it up.

  “Look…” She pointed to the edge of the lawn. The moonlight was coming through the trees, casting a white, heart-shaped glow. “It’s an omen.”

  “An omen of our love…It’ll last through the darkest times and go on forever.”

  He lowered his head and claimed her lips.

  Marissa Dobson

  Born and raised in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, Marissa Dobson now resides about an hour from Washington, D.C. She’s a lady who likes to keep busy, and is always busy doing something. With two different college degrees, she believes you’re never done learning.

  Being the first daughter to an avid reader, this gave her the advantage of learning to read at a young age. Since learning to read she has always had her nose in a book. It wasn't until she was a teenager that she started writing down the stories she came up with.

  Marissa is blessed with a wonderful supportive husband, Thomas. He’s her other half and allows her to stay home and pursue her writing. He puts up with all her quirks and listens to her brainstorm in the middle of the night.

  Her writing buddy Cameron (a cocker spaniel) is always around to listen to her bounce ideas off him. He might not be able to answer, but he’s helpful in his own way.

  For more information:

  @MarissaMDobson

  AuthorMarissaDobson

  www.MarissaDobson.com

  Marissa@MarissaDobson.com

  Saving Private Blue

  by Nicole Garcia

  A Soldier to Love Book One

  Savannah St. Claire grew up in a town where she was constantly bullied. Her only friends were brothers Billy and Travis. The three of them were inseparable. Billy Blue joined the Army when he turned eighteen and was deployed to Afghanistan soon after. Four years later Billy returns home and things are forever changed for this man who heroically fought for his country. He not only has to overcome his physical limitations, but he must confront his feelings for Savannah. With his confidence broken he comes to the realization that there could be no way she would ever love him enough to look past the scars he possesses both inside and out. What happens when two brothers love the same woman? Can broken hearts be mended? Will true love prevail above all else?

  Prologue

  Billy laid on the ground looking up at the stars. If he were in a different situation it might have been something beautiful to enjoy but Kandahar, Afghanistan was a far cry from being in a peaceful place. Tonight he wasn’t on watch duty, someone else had taken that position while the other soldiers rested. Every night had been the same since the day he joined the Army. Nights filled with guilt, loneliness, and heartache.

  He missed Savannah so damn much since he uttered the words ‘I don’t love you anymore and we need to go our separate ways.’ He’d had no choice but to tell her that. If something happened to him while he was overseas and he never made it back to her, she would have been heartbroken. He didn’t want her to waste her life waiting to see if he would return home safely. He knew she would be home worrying every day and he wanted so much more for her. He wanted her to be happy, even if that meant giving her up and someone else taking his place. Billy shook that depressing thought out of his head. It made him sick to his stomach knowing another man would be kissing her, touching her, and making her laugh.

  He missed her laugh more than he could have ever imagined. He smiled at the thought. The sweet sound always did wonders for him. She could cheer him up on his worst day, and he never minded one bit that she snorted every time she inhaled a breath when she broke out into hysterics. It only made him laugh harder.

  Leaving her had been the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life and that included the ten grueling weeks of basic combat training he had to go through to get into the Army. But, she was the whole reason he’d withstood the exhausting physical trials day after day, week after week. Even when his muscles were on fire and his lungs burned from running for miles, he still pushed through. It was her face he saw that encouraged him to press on when all he wanted to do was give up and go home.

  Before he’d been deployed overseas he had asked his brother to watch over her. He told Travis to take her to a movie once in a while hoping it would take
her mind off of him. Although Billy knew his brother loved Savannah almost as much as he did, it kind of gave him piece of mind that someone in the family would be looking after her. According to Travis’ last letter they’d been spending a lot of time together since their mother had a stroke. Travis wrote to him about Savannah going over to the house practically every day to help clean and cook food for her while Travis was at work.

  Billy had gone home a couple of times since his deployment and Savannah never stopped by while he was there. His guess was that Travis must have told her he was coming so she knew to stay away until he’d left to go back to the barracks in North Carolina. In his heart he knew it was best they didn’t see each other because he wouldn’t have been able to face her. The tears he’d caused when he left was enough to tear his heart into pieces and there was no way he could stand to see her in any more pain than he already caused.

  He reached into his pocket and took out the last letter he’d received from her. He traced his dirt covered fingers over the curves and loops of her writing and made sure to slowly outline the hearts she always drew above the two I’s in his formal name William. The letter was still unopened. He never read any of the letters she sent him. There were so many times he wanted to open one of them just to see her handwriting, find out what was new in her life, or be able to breathe in the faintest scent of the sweet-smelling orange perfume she always wore. But if he opened even one letter, he’d have to keep it and that would give her false hope. He couldn’t lead her to believe that there still might be a chance for them to get back together. He wanted…no he needed her to forget about him completely. He was going to have to send this letter back unopened, just like all the rest.

  The first year he was away she sent him a letter every week. He’d received a bunch of them at a time while he was in between deployments and was stationed at Fort Bragg back in the United States. The letters became fewer and fewer over the last year and he was hoping she would stop writing him altogether so she could move on with her life. Thinking about him at all would only cause her more heartache. He was absolutely sure of it because that was exactly how he felt every time he thought about how he would never be able to hold her in his arms again.

  There had been plenty of days when he wished he’d never left home in the first place. But he wanted to be a man his mother could be proud of, and joining the Army was the only way he knew how. Besides, he loved his country. He couldn’t just sit around doing nothing when so many other men and women risked their lives to give him and the ones he loved the freedom to live peacefully day to day.

  Quitting was never an option for him. His father was a quitter. His father left his mother when he and Travis were still babies. He saw how hard his mother worked to keep a roof over their heads, feed them, and buy them everyday necessities. He vowed to himself at a very early age that he’d never be the coward his father was and it would be a cold day in Hell before he gave up on his family.

  Billy’s older brother was so angry growing up because of their father’s choice to leave his own flesh and blood without a care in the world. Travis had some trouble with drugs as a teenager, but he soon realized that suppressing his feelings was doing more harm than good. He cleaned up, went back to school and now owned his own business, an auto repair shop not too far from their mother’s house. Billy was so proud of him for turning his life around and taking care of their mother.

  Billy looked down at the letter in his hands one last time before he folded it in half and stuffed it back into his pocket. He rolled up his jacket, put it behind his head, and leaned back against the jagged rock wall. As he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep his last thoughts were of Savannah. Maybe she’d been looking up at the sky at the same time he was, wishing on the same star, and in some small way they were together just as they had been before. Just like they were always meant to be.

  Chapter One

  Two years later

  The loud boom of fireworks were all Savannah could hear. The Fourth of July had to be the one day out of the whole year she hated. That was the day Billy broke up with her and left home to join the Army. Four years had passed and the pain in her heart was still as fresh as the day he walked out of her life. She not only lost her boyfriend, but she had lost her best friend as well. There wasn’t a day that went by where she hadn’t thought of him at least once.

  Savannah’s parents had worried about her constantly, but she learned to hide her pain behind a fake smile. She didn’t want anyone to know how distraught she really felt. Why she still lived with her parents, she didn’t know. She had let them talk her into staying with them until she finished college. Now she had a college degree. She worked and saved most of her money, so it wouldn’t be much longer before she was able to move out.

  Twenty-four years living under the same roof with her mother and father was enough. It really wasn’t her father who annoyed her, but her mother was the real pain in the ass. Always telling her what to do and especially how to feel. When Billy left, the very next day her mother insisted she find another boyfriend. She never understood Savannah’s feelings for Billy no matter how many times it was explained to her.

  Hopefully, her parents would be leaving for the picnic soon, then she could sit and wallow in her self-pity without being pestered. Savannah got up out of bed, walked over to the window and slammed it shut. She waited for a few seconds thinking she had quieted the sound. After hearing another loud blast, she knew there would be no way to ignore it. Well, that was no use. She banged her head against the wall and grumbled loudly. Not only could she still hear the festivities going on, but it was starting to get hot in the room. There was no way in Hell she was going to open the window again. At least the fireworks weren’t as loud as they were when the window was open.

  She made her way across the soft plush pale pink carpet with her bare toes squishing into the fabric. She reached for the dial on the air conditioner and turned it on. Placing her face near the vent she allowed the soft hum and the cool air to relax her. She looked out the window and saw her father loading the car with food and some chairs with her mother following closely behind him.

  Her mother looked up at her window and Savannah tried to dart behind the curtain but it was too late. She was caught. She could hear her mother screaming her name from the driveway. She was so loud not even the closed window or the noise from the air conditioner could drown out her screeching. Savannah closed her eyes and bowed her head already feeling defeated before the day had even begun.

  Savannah walked over to the closet and threw on a pair of well-worn sneakers. She slowly made her way down the hardwood stairs and stood on the porch. She was intent on staying in the house all day, and even being a couple of steps from the front door was too much.

  “Ma, why are you yelling? What do you want?”

  Isabel St. Claire gave her daughter an angry glare and demanded she give them a hand. “Don’t talk to me like that, help your father with the chairs before he throws his back out again.”

  Savannah smirked and really wanted to laugh out loud because her mother’s Spanish accent always became more prominent when she was mad. “Fine, where are the rest of the chairs?”

  “They’re in the garage, and don’t roll your eyes at me.”

  As she walked to the garage she heard her father’s quiet voice chime in. “Isabel, give the kid a break. You know today is going to be hard for her. Don’t upset her more than she already is.”

  “She doesn’t respect me John.”

  “Yes, she does. She’s a good girl and you should cut her a little slack.”

  “You are too easy on her. She’s too spoiled and I’ve had enough of her sulking. Four years is too long for a young beautiful girl to be wasting her time on a man who doesn’t love her.”

  “Isabel, you know that’s not true. Billy loved her very much.”

  “If he loved her so much, why did he leave her, and why did he send back every letter she wrote to him?”

  “
Look, I don’t know. Nor do I care. The only thing I know is that our little girl is hurting. We should be doing everything in our power to make her feel better. She’ll come around, but it will have to be on her own terms and in her own time. We can’t force her not to love someone.”

  Savannah made her way back from the driveway carrying a folding chair under each arm. John walked over to his daughter, took one of the chairs from her and gave her smile. He always knew how to make her feel better. She walked past her mother and put the chair in the trunk, then took the chair out of her father’s hands and put it with the others. Before she had a chance to close the trunk, her mother came around the car and proceeded with questioning.

  “Why don’t you come to the picnic with us? There will be plenty of men there.”

  “Mother, if you mean the same guys that attend every year, and the same people who were so mean to me in school, then no thank you.”

  “The kids weren’t mean to you, you’re over exaggerating.”

  “What planet do you live on mother?”

  “Savannah!” John yelled. “Mind your mother.”

  “Dad, I’m sorry, but she is delusional. I was picked on constantly in school. Have you forgotten all the names they use to call me? I was called a spic and a half-breed. They used to stick gum in my hair and trip me in the hallway. I used to come home crying almost every day until Billy and Travis became my friends. I never fit in. They all have light skin, or blue eyes or beautiful silky hair. I was just a little bit too ethnic to fit in with them. My skin is too dark, my hair is too course and curly. I will never fit in here with those people.”

  “Why are you so ashamed of who you are? You have everything I never had growing up in Puerto Rico. My family had nothing and we lived in a two room apartment. All seven of us. I had to work from the time I was thirteen so I could help your grandparents out. We give you everything you want.”