Read Wild Hearts (Novella) for Free Online Page B

“Let’s go to dinner tonight. You can take me to the Grand Plantation and give me your answer.”
    Sax resisted the urge to wipe off the residue, which would make him look like a five-year-old trying to get rid of cooties. He glanced at his watch, the one with the bullet scrape at the edge. “You’re gonna give me approximately eight hours to decide on my future?”
    “A girl can’t wait around forever.” She sat up, making him balance himself withthe sudden movement. “I’ve been waiting around for years already, while you went off and played American hero. I’m sorry about what happened over there in Mexico, but I’m glad you’re back. It’s a good offer, Sax. A woman waiting at home for you, keeping things pretty, cooking your meals, and making you very satisfied.” She winked. “You may not even want to stray. You did prove that you’ve got staying power, after all.”
    “How’s that?”
    “You stayed in the SEALs, put your life on the line, went through a whole buncha grueling stuff. If you can commit to that, sugar, you surely have it in you to commit to a woman.” She kissed the tip of her finger and touched it to his nose.
    As he watched her flounce up the walkway, her statement walloped him upside the head. He could make a commitment. Then again, look how that had turned out in the end.
    Mary Lou traded a greeting with his cousin Chad, who was coming down the concrete walk in his wheelchair. Chad spun around after she passed and enjoyed the view for a few seconds before doing another fancy spin and continuing on toward Sax.
    His father had installed the concrete walk before Chad came home from the hospital at Camp Lejeune. Chad, a lance corporal in the Marines, was the reason Saxby couldn’t get too upset about losing his job with the SEALs. Chad had lost both his legs courtesy of a roadside bomb.
    Saxby offered a hand clasp when Chad rolled up to the hammock. “Hey, cuz, how’s it going?”
    “It’d be much better if I had chicks like that coming over all the time bearing food and boobs,” Chad said, nodding back to where M.L. had gone. Chad had the Cole looks, though he’d never embraced the easy charm. Which probably gave him the best chance for fidelity.
    Saxby leaned back against the edge of the hammock, keeping his balance. “It’s not as pleasant as you’d think. Yeah, they’re happy to give you both the baked cookie and the other kind of cookie, but they all want something in return. Like marriage.”
    “Even knowing the Cole reputation?”
    “Yep, even with that. So, how’s the job going?”
    “Turns out I’m good at welding.” Chad made a motion that flexed impressivebiceps. The guy could lift himself off the chair to the ground, pass up the chair two steps, and walk up the steps with his hands to get back in.
    “Do you enjoy it?” Saxby could remember putting in hours welding, assembling, and doing QA at the family’s grill business. Cole Grills not only had some of the most kick-ass grills out there, they also employed a hundred and fifty people in town. For a while, Saxby had gotten so good at cooking on the wood-fire grills at family and company cookouts, he’d considered opening a restaurant. Then he’d caved and gone off to college.
    Chad shrugged. “I’m happy to have the job, and the pay is good. Working for family isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
    “Daddy and Granddad are fair bosses. I heard you’re doing a good job. You’re an inspiration to a lot of people, you know.”
    Chad scoffed. “Me?”
    “Yeah. You’re a hero for going over there and putting your ass on the line for your country.” Knox and Julian were right. Being injured had elevated Chad to military hero/god status in town. And hell, the guy deserved it. “You could have crawled into a bottle and whined about how unfair life is. But you came home and worked like a crazy man modifying your house, busted your ass off doing PT. Learned how to maneuver that chair like an