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.

Another installment of the Christmas short I’m writing for Weekend Writing Warriors.

At the end of his military service, Jake Reagan returned 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 over the holidays and through duck hunting season as a guide. His first night there, he hopes to obtain a new gun at the Duck Unlimited auction but instead runs into an old flame at the hotel bar. In the last excerpt she reminded him that she moved back to the Outer Banks last year.

Dean had probably told him of Sammy’s return, but then his brother is the one who also said he could do better than the woman who could out shoot most guys. If he’d meant better as in high minded and high maintenance then he’d been wrong and the empty apartment proved it . “Sorry, times slips away when you’re gone so much. Gosh, how old is your son now?”

She sighed and glanced down the bar. “Daniel. He’s nine and lives with his dad since we split.” She sipped from her iced mug. “He likes going to school with the cousins he grew up with. He’ll spend summers with me because he likes the beach.”

Check back next week as this Christmas short continues. 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.