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CHAPTER ONE
All hail the world’s shittiest welco committee
Kenna Sutton sat at the stoplight, chipped red nails drue She could feel the car full of soldiers to her left trying to get her attention On a typical day, she would rev the engine of her baby blue Dodge Challenger, invite them to a race they would inevitably lose But she was late—painfully late—to pick up one of their brethren A soldier returning thissix years overseas, whose fareet him So how had this landed on her shoulders? Just another perk of being Lieutenant General Sutton’s daughter
“Forget this,” sheher foot down on the accelerator and screeching through the red light Only onezone This last-ht be a pain in the ass, but she refused to let hi down to last a lifeti of importance, so she wouldn’t screw it up Too badly
Her knowledge of the an and ended with one fact: he was soic mastermind Well, that wasn’t entirely true She knew his na special, because he’d made himself indispensable to the Army Six years’ worth of indispensable And not one familiar face to latch on to when he landed
Kenna sed the unexpected wave of sy as her tires squealed The only benefit to waking up at the crack of dawn to pick up the stuffed-shirt geekster she envisioned was a chance to drive her baby Listen to the engine purr like a contented leopard With a wave of troops returning ho roads of Fort Black Rock shouldn’t have been empty, which meant the visitors were already at the site Dammit
She slowed down just in ti lot The first available space she saas at the very perimeter of the lot, but she ay too late to be choosey Seconds after she threw the Challenger into park, she’d snatched up heracross the parking lot, her heavy Dirty Laundry co on the asphalt
Running on a Sunday Fucking obscene
Car s had been decorated with painted flags and the na, bold letters Welco band playing “God Bless A her slow to a walk The Fort Black Rock er she put off being in their vicinity, the better
A uniforuard stopped her at the chain-link fence “Need to see your identification, ma’am”
He h God knew she had a healthy dose of the stuff She’d lived on base since birth and people—namely men—tended to know her They didn’t call her a cocktease behind her back for blending in, did they? With a sigh, she tugged the wallet fro a stick of um into her nized her last name because his eyebrows disappeared into his helht in”
“You’re a ge her wallet back into the pocket of her jeans as she went A group of photographers and journalists blocked her view at first, but as soon as she breached the hu fros over their shoulders strode into the ar women Babies were kissed Photos were taken Proposals were h to warm the blackest of hearts Even hers, apparently
Feeling the odd spark in her chest, Kenna looked away quickly, wincing as theband struck up their aard rendition of “Wild Blue Yonder” Wasn’t that song reserved for the Air Force? Holding the ho head, shethe sea of soldiers for an older gentleic lasses, had pasty skin…ht paunch froht? The second she dropped him off at the barracks, he’d probably dive on the first available video game controller Didn’ther Sunday the way she’d originally intended Counting sheep
“Excuse ravelly voice said behind her “Are you my ride?”