Temporary Assignment The Complete Collection: A Military Romance

by KB Winters

  * * * *

  The rest of my weekend went by as it usually did. Later on in the afternoon, Heather called letting me know that my exit with a mysteriously sexy man did not go unnoticed by the group. I laughed my way through the story of how Tiffany tried to play it like she had turned Cole down first, but had told him about her ‘cute friend’ that could use some action. Both Heather and I had a good laugh at how ridiculously transparent that woman was before I regaled her with the juicy details of my night with the Marine.

  “A good girl never kisses and tells, Heather.”

  My statement had sent her into a fit of laughter before we agreed to meet the next day for lunch. An hour or so later, Kelly had called to check on me and I felt terrible for how miserable she sounded. She had never been a big drinker so I figured she must be feeling like shit, but she just laughed me off and told me that she was glad I had fun. There were two more weeks until her wedding and I knew she’d be busy finalizing all of the details, so I told her to call me if she needed any help before we hung up the phone.

  Saturday and Sunday passed by quickly and easily and before I knew it I was once again donning my normal costume and standing in the hallways directing the students to move along to their homeroom classes.

  “Ms. Rogers?”

  I looked over to see Candice standing beside me, her head bowed slightly.

  “Oh, good morning Candice. How is your hand feeling today?”

  She looked up at me in surprise. “It’s feeling much better. My brother got on my case about it, but he made me ice it all weekend and the swelling has gone down.”

  I nodded in response. “Did you go to the hospital to check that nothing was broken?”

  “Yeah, I mean, yes, ma’am. The doctor said nothing was broken, just to ice it and take ibuprofen for the pain. I should be back on the lacrosse field in a week or two, but um…I was wondering if you’d looked at the camera footage?”

  I looked at her for a moment. Her dark blonde hair was in a messy ponytail and her grey eyes were deceptively calm. I thought about letting her stew for a bit, but despite what many of the faculty members thought, I wasn’t actually a fan of being mean. I smiled reassuringly.

  “I did have a chance to look at it, and while I still don’t condone bad language, I did see that the physical aspect of the fight was purely accidental and therefore I won’t be suspending you.”

  Candice’s face lit up with happiness making it hard for me to keep my stern façade. “Oh, thank you, Ms. Rogers!”

  “You’re welcome, Candice. Go on to class now—you don’t want to be late,” I said giving her a pat on the shoulder. She was actually a few inches taller than me even with my heels on which was surprising. With another thank you, she hurried away down the hallway and I walked in the direction of the auditorium where we were holding an assembly for the juniors and seniors. Every year we had representatives from colleges, universities, and the military come and talk about opportunities after high school. It was usually held only for juniors and seniors, but occasionally I had to get onto a freshman or sophomore that thought they could blend in and skip a class period. I knew Heather was already there making sure all of the representatives had their booths set up, so I hurried in.

  I was expecting to see a few good looking Army, Air Force, maybe even some Marines and Navy officers in their best uniforms. I was not expecting to see a familiar head of blonde hair bent low and in conversation with Heather. I moved toward them as if propelled by some unknown force even as my mind screamed at me to go the other way.

  Heather’s gaze fell on me and she gave me a wide, yet knowing smile. “Ah, there’s our girl.” She was addressing the man who was turning to face me as if in slow motion. “This here is Capt—”

  “Cole?”

  His gaze fell on me and a warm smile stretched his lips—lips that not even forty-eight hours before had done sinfully delicious things to my body. I’d never taken him up on his offer, though the note was still on my dresser. Regardless, as I found myself face to face with him again, I knew now more than ever…

  …I was so fucked.

  Continued in...Temporary Assignment Book 2!

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you! I love you all and thank you for making my books a success!! I appreciate each and every one of you.

  Thanks to all of my beta readers, street teamers, ARC readers and Facebook fans. Y’all are THE BEST!

  And a huge very special thanks to my wonderful PA, Silla. Without you, I’d be a *hot mess! With you, I’m a hot mess, but without your keen sense of organization and skills, I’d be a burny fiery inferno of hot mess!! Thank you!

  And a very special thanks to my editor, Tina Rucci (who sometimes has to work all through the night! *See HOT MESS above!) Thank you for making my words make sense.

  Copyright © 2016 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  About The Authors

  KB Winters has an addiction to caffeine, tattoos and hard-bodied alpha males. The men in her books are very sexy, protective and sometimes bossy, her ladies are…well…bossier!

  Living in sunny Southern California, the embarrassingly hopeless romantic writes every chance she gets!

  Evie Monroe also lives in Southern California and when KB asked her to co-author her next books, Evie was ecstatic! Together, they’ve penned their first collaboration, Temporary Assignment, and have other exciting titles on the way!

  They hope their stories take you away to a hot Alpha-land where you can relax and enjoy!

  You can connect with KB on Facebook and Twitter! Come say Hi to Evie on Facebook! And stop by at KBWinters.com!

  Temporary Assignment

  Book 2

  By

  KB Winters and Evie Monroe

  Copyright © 2016 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  Published By: BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright ©2016 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Chapter One

  I was practically frozen in place while my heart beat so fiercely that I could’ve sworn everyone could hear it.

  “Cole!”

  The loud shout of joy broke my paralysis and before I could blink, a large pink blur cut through my line of vision landing on Cole. I saw his face split with a large wide smile as he hugged one of my students. Oh my God! Is she his kid?

  I let my mind race with every wild thought imaginable, when he looked up and smiled at me. I turned and fled the scene like the room was on fire. I ignored the stares of confusion—not pausing at all in my movements until I was safely enclosed in my office where I could let myself freak out alone—away from prying eyes. Despite the fact that this past Friday wasn’t the first time I’d engaged in a one-night-stand, it was the first time I’d run into said one-night-stand at my job.

  “Holy fucking shit,” I gasped out. I walked over to my desk in a daze and collapsed heavily into my chair. “This is so not happening.”

  I wanted to hide forever from the world right then. I’d been toying with the idea of calling Cole if only for a repeat of that night because quite frankly, it had been the best sex I’d had in years. I wouldn’t have minded a few more nights
of carnal pleasure with a man who was actually adept and attentive when it came to giving it, but now that would never happen. Not only did that man now know where I worked, but he seemed to have a teenage daughter to boot.

  “Not happening…this is so not happening to me right now.”

  “What’s not happening?”

  My gaze shot up to the doorway in panic, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was only Heather.

  “Jesus, you scared me,” I huffed out, trying with all of my power to look normal and not as ruffled and off-balance as I truly felt. “Is something wrong?”

  Heather walked fully into my office before closing the door behind her. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  I didn’t say anything at first hoping she’d let it go. My hopes were dashed when she crossed her arms and fixed me with a look that I knew all too well. I sighed in defeat. “Fine. Remember the guy that I took home Friday night? Well, you were just talking to him.”

  “Holy shit,” Heather breathed out. She looked at me with equal parts concern and envy. “I thought he looked kind of familiar, but I just figured maybe I’d randomly seen him around as one of Tiffany’s hang around guys.”

  I frowned at the mention of Tiffany’s name. “Well he’s not. He actually turned her down that night.”

  Heather paused and speared me with a shrewd look. I wanted to hide from her—sure that whatever came out of her mouth next, I probably wouldn’t like. “Well, he gets a gold star then for that at least.” Her response made me huff out a laugh. “No wonder her panties were in such a bunch. She probably has only been turned down like a handful of times in her life, and then to see the same guy who turned her down go for one of her frenemies…” She trailed off with a whistle.

  “I’m sure she was a lot of fun for the rest of the night.”

  Heather sneered. “She was a real peach—but anyway, enough about her, so this guy…what’s his name?”

  “Cole.”

  “Right, Cole. Was he good to you that night? Other than it being super awkward that your one-night-stand turned up at your job, did he do anything that night to make me warrant killing him with a paperclip?”

  I choked on a laugh. “You heard that rumor?”

  Heather raised an eyebrow. “Please, who do you think started that rumor? I’m a five-foot-tall Asian woman in a school full of horny teenage boys who have probably watched way too much fetish porn on You Tube or something—intimidation and fear are key. Now, answer the question.”

  I huffed out a breath. “No, he didn’t do anything that night that warrants death by paperclip. The night was…” I trailed off thinking back to that Friday night and how Cole’s hands had pulled gasps and moans from my lips. I could feel my face flush, but I did nothing to cover or hide it. It wouldn’t have helped anyway.

  “Wow.” Heather’s softly uttered praise pulled me from my thoughts and I looked up to see her smiling widely at me.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. It’s just…I’ve never seen you this wrecked on anyone before.”

  I frowned at her. That couldn’t be right. I wasn’t wrecked on the man—I barely even knew anything about him other than the fact that he was most definitely good in bed and had a body that would make nuns weep. Still, that wasn’t enough for me to be wrecked on anyone.

  “I’m not wrecked on him, Heather.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, say that without the dazed expression on your face next time.”

  “I’m not,” I insisted, raising my voice slightly. “Just because the sex was good doesn’t mean anything. Plus he has a fucking kid who is a student at my school. There is no way I’d even go there.”

  Heather’s expression changed slightly. “True. How old is he anyway? If he has a teenage daughter either he is at least in his mid thirties or the boy got started very young.”

  I looked down at my desk trying to remember back to Cole and my conversations at the club. Did he even tell me his age? I didn’t remember, but if he did then apparently he wasn’t too old for it to matter since I still had sex with him. Really hot sex. Something an older guy probably couldn’t handle.

  “I honestly don’t know how old he is. I thought he was near my age, but the daughter thing is throwing me off too.” My answer seemed to worry Heather. “If she’s sixteen, he has to be at least thirty-five, thirty-six”

  “Damn, that’s old. What does he do? I know you. You had to have asked him something about his personal life. Did you ask if he had a kid?”

  This time I shook my head. That I definitely didn’t ask. “I figured he was near my age so I didn’t even bother asking if he had any kids. I mean, it’s always possible…but you’d think if someone had a kid, they’d mention that right off the bat.”

  “Hmm,” Heather hummed. “I guess so. I mean I would, but then again I wouldn’t be able to date someone not okay with my kid.”

  “But we weren’t going to date though. It was just a random hookup—no more, no less. He gave me his number, but there was never any talk of dating,” I finished with a shrug.

  Heather tilted her head. “Wait, did he give you his number before or after you guys had sex?”

  “Why does it matter?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “It’s rude to answer a question with another question.”

  “Fine, after. When I woke up, he was gone, but he left me a note with his number on it and asked me to call him.” I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to keep focus on the conversation at hand. It would have been far too easy to let my mind wander back to the memories from that night and how good it felt to be filled by Cole. The look on Heather’s face made me pause. “What?”

  “Well…”

  “Well, what?”

  “Nothing, I just think that maybe—“

  Heather stopped talking when a knock came from the other side of my office door. We both looked at one another for a second before I stood up from my chair and walked over. I couldn’t imagine who it could be since I’d cleared my morning schedule so I’d be available to oversee the career fair—not that I was actually doing that at the moment—hiding in my office. I opened the door and to my surprise, I was face to face with the man in question.

  “Cole.”

  He smiled down at me seemingly unbothered with the fact that we were meeting again in such strange circumstances.

  “Hey! I was wondering where you went so quickly. Got a second?”

  I wanted to say no—I was too busy to talk to him right then, but Heather spoke up and beat me to it.

  “She has all the time in the world!” I whirled around to fix her with a glare. I knew my expression screamed ‘traitor’, but the sassy smirk she gave me let me know she didn’t care. She walked over to where I was clutching the half-opened door. “I need to go back to the career fair anyway and make sure everything is going smoothly. Why don’t you come in so that the two of you can talk privately?”

  I tried to keep the door where it was, but Heather managed to pull it open all the way making me wonder if the rumor of her abilities with a paperclip was actually a rumor after all. After she left and the door closed behind her, I took a deep breath to calm the frantic beat of my heart. Being once again in an enclosed space with Cole was doing embarrassingly wonderful things to my body and I swore I could smell his spicy scent filling my office. I needed to get him out as soon as possible otherwise I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.

  “So what can I do for you, Cole?” I asked, feeling relieved that my voice remained steady. I didn’t look at him as I moved to walk back to my desk. And…I wasn’t expecting a hand to grab my arm and stop my motion.

  “You never called.”

  His words made me look up in surprise. I could hear confusion and possibly disappointment in his voice. “I didn’t think you were expecting me to.”

  “Of course I was, otherwise I wouldn’t have given you my number with a note telling you to call me.” He let go of my arm, but didn’t move away. “Are you o
kay? Did something happen after I left?”

  I swallowed. “No, I mean yes, I’m fine. Nothing happened after you left.”

  “Then why didn’t you call?”

  “I didn’t think I really needed to,” I answered honestly. “It was just one night, remember? I didn’t think tha—”

  My words were halted abruptly by warm familiar lips and I couldn’t help the groan that escaped me, sounding like an animal in heat. Any proper thoughts of my actions or reaction to Cole’s touch quickly flew out of the window with the amount of pure lust that rushed through my body. I could feel his soft hair between my fingers, though I didn’t remember consciously deciding to move my hands. I groaned again when I felt the soft press of his teeth against my bottom lip. He was just as good as I remembered and I suddenly couldn’t remember why I hadn’t called. He pulled away far too soon and I had to fight not to follow as his lips separated from mine.

  “What?” I opened my eyes focusing on Cole’s smiling face. “Why did you stop?”

  “Go out with me.”

  I blinked twice. That was definitely not what I was expecting.

  Chapter Two

  I stared at myself in the mirror. “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes you can, and you will!” Heather’s voice rang out from my phone’s speaker. My acceptance of going out with Cole had been a shock to me. I hadn’t meant to say yes—I hadn’t meant to say anything really. What I’d agreed to—a date with the man who should have been a one-night stand—hit me after he’d already left my office, but not until after he’d kissed me breathless once again. I’d finished the rest of my work day on auto-pilot, hiding behind my closed door until I could escape to my car for a proper freak-out.

  “Where are you guys even going?”

  I shook off my thoughts before picking up another dress from my bed. Immediately after coming home, I had once again gone through my clothing, lamenting my lack of appropriate non-work wear before calling Heather in a panic.