Sunkissed

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Book: Read Sunkissed for Free Online
Authors: Janelle Daniels
was a hero.
    A hero who had fallen in love with a soldier.
    Drifting to sleep, Natalie’s subconscious conjured images of the war, of a lost love between a nurse and a soldier.
    In the morning light, the vivid dreams disoriented and unnerved her. She had been a nurse. Grant, a soldier.
    In the dream, the love and desire she had felt for him was exciting. They had made her feel complete, safe even. But awake, those unfamiliar feelings made her unsettled.
    Scrubbing the sleep from her eyes, she ripped off the covers. She needed to get out. Needed a change of scene. All of this, the mystery, the questions, were getting to her.
    She arrived at work at nine in the morning, around the time her employees began rolling in as well, steaming cups of coffee in their hands.
    There was always a buzz of excitement here. An explosion of ideas that ramped up endorphins.
    “What are you doing here, Nat? I thought you were going to take a few more days.” James looked at her with concern after she sat at her desk.
    “I couldn’t stay home any longer. I needed to work.”
    He leaned a hip against her desk, his creased charcoal pants bunching as he settled in. “What’s going on? Last I heard from you, you were asking me for an investigator’s number. Is everything all right?”
    She didn’t know where to start, but before she knew it, words were spilling out of her mouth. The picture, the engagement ring. The kiss. She told him everything.
    “And how was it? The kiss.”
    She looked up at the fluorescent lights before answering. “Mind blowing.”
    “Sounds nice.” His brown eyes twinkled with mischief.
    “It was. We have a connection. A strong one.”
    “And that scares you?” James asked, correctly reading between the lines.
    “Well, yeah. I don’t want to get seriously involved with anyone. I don’t want someone to start taking over my thoughts.”
    “And that hasn’t happened already?”
    Shooting him a look of exasperation, he held up his hands in a gesture of peace, his grin wry.
    Natalie couldn’t help but notice how good looking he was. His clothes were tailored perfectly, his thick black hair smoothed back in loose waves. He was always neatly shaved, his bone structure and strong chin striking in appearance. “You’re ridiculously handsome. You know that, right?”
    His eyes softened. “Thanks. And yes, I do know. Now, stop trying to distract me and answer the question.”
    She shrugged, but couldn’t quite pull off the picture she was trying to portray. “Sure. I’m attracted to him. There’s nothing wrong with that.” She casually turned back to her work. “I’m thinking of getting involved with him. So, yeah, he’s on my mind.”
    “Uh huh,” he said with a skeptically raised brow, but she didn’t say anything when he went back to work.
    I don’t think of Grant any more than what is normal , she tried to convince herself as she drove home later. But even as she thought it, her words didn’t ring true.
    “It is true,” she told herself.
    Frustrated, she devoured her dinner, jumping into bed with another one of her grandmother’s journals when she didn’t want to think anymore. She looked forward to reading more, the feeling closely resembling how she felt when she had put down a novel and was finally able to pick it back up again.
    She had been reading for a half hour when her eyes stumbled across the name Edward Walker.
    “Holy crap!” She struggled to untangle herself from the covers, leaning forward as she absorbed the words on the page.
     
    May 2nd, 1943
     
    The base has been unusually quiet lately, and the clinic even more so. With new Seabees coming in soon, it is almost certain that there will be more injuries. I can hardly bear to see these men injured, forced to work, create, and fight to protect our country. But I am so proud of them. We have only one patient now, Edward Walker, one of the instructors. He is quite young for the position. I’d guess no more than twenty-five, but

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