War had a way of breaking a man. With my duffle slung over my shoulder, I walked through the cheering crowd toward the road and the Uber I’d called.

I knew I’d left Tara, but I’d thought she understood why I had to enlist. It cut like daggers that she hadn’t been here. Though we hadn’t spoken in months, I thought maybe . . . maybe she’d come around. She hadn’t.

According to the app, I was searching for a tan Camry. Except it was one of those toy Smart cars that was parked at the curb. I dismissed it, craning my neck to search the many parked cars for a Camry.

The whir of a window going down caught my attention.

“Where to, sugar?”

I blinked as a woman with a southern drawl and cherubic face with pink cheeks grinned at me.

“I’m uh . . .” I stuttered, unable to think as her smile brightened. “I’m waiting for my Uber.”

Her smile went nuclear. “That’d be me.”

I frowned. “I’m waiting for a—”

“Camry. Sorry, it broke down this morning and I had to borrow this.” She spread her arms. “Come on. Time’s a-wastin’.”

There was no way I could fit my six-foot-four frame in the tiny car.

As if reading my mind, she added, “It’s bigger than it looks.”

She leaned forward, giving me an unobstructed view of her cleavage that promised more than a handful. A shot of lust ran through me. I gave myself a pass. It’d been how long since I’d been in the company of an attractive woman I wasn’t in combat with?

She swung the door open and sat back.

I groaned and shifted my bag, afraid my dick had tented my pants. She curled her fingers, gesturing me inside.

“Sugar, let’s get a move on. Once this crowd breaks, it’ll take forever getting out of here.”

She was right. People were already heading toward the parking lot.

Somehow I folded myself into the car. With my duffle on my lap, I could barely see out of the windshield.

She hit a button on her phone and a navigation app came to life with directions to my place. I leaned back and closed my eyes, willing my erection into submission. Sitting close to the woman with the wildflower perfume made that task easier said than done.

By the time we pulled down the long driveway to my family ranch, I’d almost calmed down.

I felt around for the door latch as she got out of the car. I released a breath when the door opened and my bag was hauled from my lap. The brown-haired beauty gave a toothy smile as I unfolded myself from the seat.

“Thanks, ma’am,” I said, feeling sheepish that she’d been the one to help me and not the other way around.

I wasn’t sexist, but with my upbringing, some would call me a bit old-fashioned.

“Ma’am?” She shook her head. “I’m not a ma’am. I’m Honey, sugar.”

“Honey?” I asked.

She eyed my shocked expression.

“Don’t judge.”

I fish-mouthed a second. “I’m Jake.”

“I like sugar better.”

She licked her lips as her eyes trailed down me. I felt naked, exposed, around this woman. She exuded a confidence I didn’t feel coming home from war. I was going to become what my father always wanted and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

“You need help with that?”

“With what?”

Her eyes focused on my groin and I didn’t have to look to know my dick was practically waving at her through my pants.

She stepped forward and the look in her eye was all invitation. That was enough for me. When she was close enough, I let her lean in before I buried my fingers in her silky hair and claimed her mouth. She tasted sweet, like mint candy.

For only a second did Tara’s face drift through my thoughts. She’d given up on us. I hadn’t heard from her in months, despite repeated attempts to contact her. I was free to do whatever the fuck I wanted. And right that moment, I wanted Honey.

We walked in tandem up the porch. I backed her against the front door, enjoying the feel of her soft curves against me. When she ground against my cock, I groaned in her mouth.

The ranch was on several hundred acres, and so far we hadn’t been seen by the ranch hands. But fucking this woman outside didn’t feel right. I pulled back and prayed she wouldn’t change her mind.

“Let’s go inside.”

She bit her lip before nodding. Holy fuck, I didn’t think I could get any harder. I shifted her off the mat under our feet before reaching under one corner to produce a key.

After opening the door, I didn’t waste time. I scooped her in my arms, letting her hook her legs around my back before kicking the door shut.

“Damn, you’re strong.”

My answer came in the form of a kiss as I headed toward the back bedroom, kissing her the whole way.

We were both so eager, we didn’t bother taking off all our clothes. She fumbled with the buttons of my uniform and I tried to unhook her bra.

I’d barely gotten my pants halfway down and a condom on when she shucked off her jeans, parting her sexy thighs. Dick hard as a rock, I slipped two fingers into her silky depths, testing her readiness. She was so fucking wet, I groaned as I sank my cock into her and took her mouth like I was possessed.

I trailed my lips down her neck and shoved up her bra to expose her round, full breasts. I latched onto one nipple as she arched against me. Her body was like heaven, and I felt like I was feasting on the most desirable woman I’d ever seen.

Her heels dug into my ass, urging me to pick up my pace. I’d wanted to relish the feel of her wrapped around me, but I gave into the pleasure and rode her hard.

When her pussy clamped down on my cock, I shot off, pulsing inside her, thrusting hard until I was drained.

Somehow, I managed to hold myself up with one arm and not flatten her against the mattress. To my shock, she wiggled off me and crawled under my arm to get free. I watched as she recovered her shirt and bent to find her jeans.

Her ass was like temptation. My dick found some life and started to harden again. Her eyes were like a magnet to my cock.

“Sorry, sugar, I got to get back to work.”

I gaped. “Work?”

She nodded. “Duty calls.”

“I thought Uber drivers made their own hours.”

“They do. But I work at the hospital and at a bar on my days off.”

“Three jobs?”

She indulged me with a smile. “Someone’s got to pay for my education.”

“You go to school too?”

When did she have the time? Finished dressing, she came over and patted my cheek.

“I’m no plus-sized model like Ashley Graham. This girl’s got to work.”

I didn’t know who Ashley Graham was, but I was too shell-shocked to ask as she turned to leave.

“Will I see you again?”

Her saucy smile should’ve been answer enough. “You have eyes, don’t you?”

She winked at me—fucking winked.

It felt like begging, which was something I was unaccustomed to. But I asked anyway. “Can I have your number?”

She stopped and planted her hand on the doorframe. “Let’s just call this what it is.”

“What’s that?”

“Me doing my duty.”

“Duty?” I questioned, feeling like a broken record as I repeated everything she said.

“Yes.” She studied me and then let her gaze travel around the room. “You and me. You’ve obviously come back from tour. Since you called for an Uber, I assume you’re alone. God knows how long it’s been since you’ve … Yeah, I get it, because a guy like you,” she laughed, circling a hand in the air, “I know what I am and you being nice enough to ask me for my number, I assume manners were bred into you. But once you’re settled, women will flock to you like flies in a cow pasture. I’m not stupid enough to think you’ll actually call. So let’s just enjoy the moment.” She made a show of breathing deeply, which only put her breasts on display. “And I’ve got to jet.”

She was gone before I could get a word in edgewise. For a second, I wondered if this was how women felt after a one-night stand—cheap and used. She’d judged me so thoroughly, it took me a few seconds before my wits returned. I stood, zipped my pants, and ran after her.

I opened the door only to have a cloud of dust spew back in my direction. What the hell had just happened?

I waited until her car disappeared around a bend and the dirt settled. I closed the door, thinking of all the things that I should’ve said. First was to deny her claims that somehow her not being a size zero mattered to me. In fact, I liked my women with meat on their bones. When Tara and I started dating in high school, she’d been what some people called big-boned. That wasn’t the case. By the end of our senior year, she’d lost the weight that had made her curves soft, though I hadn’t held it against her. Love was blind, like my mom always said.

When ranch life threatened to suffocate me, I’d enlisted. We came from a long line of proud ranchers, and money was the last thing my parents worried about. So I’d sent my duty pay to Tara for her acting classes and whatever she needed to get her career started. When I’d seen her a year ago during leave, she’d been excited about our future. We’d planned to move to Los Angeles when my tour was over.

But before I went back, Mom got sick. She’d ended up in the hospital with kidney disease. That’s why they hadn’t come to pick me up at the base. She had regular dialysis. The disease had progressed so much, she’d been added to the transplant list. One of my first orders of business since getting back home was to see if I was a match.

When I’d told Tara that I couldn’t move, she’d cut off all contact with me.

I closed the door and sank into Dad’s chair. The other assumption Honey had made about me was that I was some kind of womanizer—but the opposite was true. The only woman I’d ever been with was Tara. I wasn’t sure what had come over me with Honey. It was true that it’d been a while, but I’d been true to Tara the whole four years I’d been gone. What was it about Honey that had made me wild enough to forget the woman I thought I loved?

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I accepted the truth. Tara hadn’t spoken one word to me in almost a year. Calls and emails had gone unanswered. Even her mother stopped answering my calls. I’d had a long time to get over Tara.

The scent of honeysuckle invaded my nose. I should get up and shower. But I wanted Honey’s scent to linger on my skin a little longer.

I heard movement in the house when my parents arrived from Mom’s treatment, and my eyes flew open. The first person I saw was Mom. I got to my feet to help her, but she swatted my hand and drew me into a hug.

“Jake, honey, I missed you.” She kissed my cheek. “I’m not dead yet. I can walk. And you left your duffle out on the porch.”

I’d forgotten all about it. “Sorry, Mom.”

She patted my back while Dad ambled in carrying my bag. “Jake, my boy.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Dad had been an Army Ranger. Though he’d wanted me to stay and begin the process of taking over the family business, he’d respected my decision to leave and become my own man.

“Don’t give me that crap. Give your old man a hug.”

Dad was still a big man, but I no longer had to look up at him. I was a hair taller than he was now. Before we could say anything else, another person entered the house.

After seeing who it was, my eyes found Mom. She pursed her lips as if she regretted what was to come.

I looked back at Tara’s mom and her semipermanent frown—her signature look. She held a baby on her hip.

It was my turn to be confused.

“Is Tara okay?”

Martha didn’t often leave her home on wheels. When she did, she made a big show of how put out she was. So even though Tara and I were done, my heart sank at the idea that something had happened to her. Is that why she hadn’t returned my calls? Then again, why would she wait to tell me now?

“Tara’s fine. If you call leaving me high and dry with her kid fine.”

Kid? Tara had a kid? Was that the reason for her silence?

Martha wasn’t done. “Now that you’re home for good, you can take some responsibility.”

She thrust the baby at me. I had no choice but to grab on. The baby put a fist in its mouth and gnawed on it.

“What are you saying?”

But I didn’t need her to answer that. One look at the kid’s blue eyes that mirrored my own was answer enough. I did the math. I wasn’t a good judge of babies’ ages, but by my calculation, it could be mine.

“I’m saying I did my time with Tara. She ran off to be a star and left me saddled with a kid that ain’t mine.” I didn’t correct her that it was her grandchild. “She said you be the daddy. All the documents are in the bag.”

My gaze traced to the floor where a large bag sat next to the door. “Don’t call me,” she said, exiting and closing the door behind her.

The baby made a noise and I watched as bubbles escaped its mouth. Mom gave me a sympathetic look.

Babies were so foreign to me, I didn’t know if it was a girl or boy. Martha hadn’t bothered to tell me its name.

Dad, ever stoic, turned to me. “You’ll do fine, son. We’ll get through this as a family.”

I’d seen horrible things overseas. A baby should be a picnic compared to that.