This is the final installment of the Christmas short I’m sharing on Weekend Writing Warriors.

Christmas time and at the end of his military service, Jake Reagan returns from deployment to an empty apartment.  Single again with his lease up, he plans on wintering on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his brother and work as a duck hunting guide. His first night there, he runs into an old flame at the hotel bar while waiting for the annual Ducks Unlimited auction to begin. This excerpts ends the story. If you want to read the entire story, click here.

She laid a hand on his arm. “Tell you what, I’ll loan you one of my shotguns, if you adopt one of the lab rescues at the shelter where I volunteer.”

Reading his heart had always been one of Sammy’s talents. “I’d love to, but Dean’s wife won’t be happy if bring in another dog for the winter especially since they already have two.”

“Well…” She winked. “I’ve got plenty of room for a man and his dog.”

An unexpected Christmas, he’d never imagined. Jake smiled, leaned close and tasted her full lips, falling back in time like he’d never left.

Merry Christmas!

For more fun at Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks, Sand and Sin releases on December 22.

Jax is a SEAL all about the mission, but a sexy bar owner has enough saucy wit to drive him off course.

Another installment of the Christmas short I’m sharing on Weekend Writing Warriors.

Christmas time and at the end of his military service, Jake Reagan returns from deployment to an empty apartment.  Single again with his lease up, he plans on wintering on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his brother and work as a duck hunting guide. His first night there, he runs into an old flame at the hotel bar while waiting for the annual Ducks Unlimited auction to begin. While catching up, she tells him she’s divorced and her son only visits her during summers.

“That must be tough,” Jake offered thinking it’d been hard enough to leave his dog when he joined the military.

She waved him off. “So, you’re going to help John on hunting tours this winter, I hear.”

“It wasn’t you, you know…it was just―”

“You needed to see the world beyond this sandbar, Jake,” she said without a resenting tone.

“And what I valued most, I left behind.”

Sammy arched a brow and slid a warming glance down his body. “What are you looking to bid on at the auction?”

He’d bid his last penny for another chance with her. “I need another gun,” he said and shotgunned the rest of his whiskey.

Check back next week as this Christmas short wraps up. FYI my next short novel, Sand and Sin releases on December 22.

Jax is a SEAL all about the mission, but a sexy bar owner has enough saucy wit to drive him off course.