Page 1 of All My Heart

CHAPTER 1

AXEL

Isat on the back porch of my cabin, enjoying the quiet with the occasional rustle of an animal in the woods. I served my time, home earlier than I had told my family. I needed time to decompress and figure out who I was without the title of soldier.

I did what I was told. I hadn’t had to make any choices, other than where to take my leave, either with my family or, preferably, by myself.

A few years into my service, I bought this cabin and had rented it out for extra income when I was deployed.

The only issue with my view was the neighboring cabin, but I'd never seen anyone staying there.

After I finished my beer, I'd go inside and try to sleep. Then I'd read one of the paperbacks I'd picked up in town. Sleep was difficult.

I didn't want to go into town and risk running into my family.

They'd have questions like why I'd come home early and kept it from everyone. How was I really doing? What were my plans? And the one that kept me up at night: Who was I now that I wasn’t enlisted? I didn't have the answers, and until I did, I'd hide out.

The back light to the neighboring cabin's porch came on.

I tensed, instantly on high alert. Years of training kicked in. Was it a motion-censored light? Had an animal set it off? Was someone looking to break in because they never saw anyone at that cabin?

Then the slider opened, and a small figure stepped out. I squinted to get a better look but was careful not to move.

It was a woman with a towel wrapped around her body, hair thrown up in a careless bun on top of her head, tendrils escaping around her forehead, moving toward the hot tub.

I wondered if she was cold.

Then she dropped her towel.

My gaze was fixated on her breasts, her nipples hard points as she dipped one toe in the water.

I sucked in a breath so hard my chest hurt.

She stepped into the steam; her breasts disappeared below the surface of the water. She untied her hair, dipped her head back, and closed her eyes.

My dick was hard as a rock under the zipper of my jeans. But I didn’t dare move. I didn’t want to alert her to my presence. At best, I’d look like a peeping tom, at worst, a creeper.

I should have gone inside as soon as she turned on her light. Or at the very least, when she'd come outside wearing nothing but a towel. Once she dropped it, I was a goner.

She ran a hand over the surface of the water.

It had been too long since I’d gotten close to a woman for more than a one-night stand wherever I was stationed. I avoided the entanglement of relationships because my life wasn’t my own.

I wondered if she was renting the place for the weekend. A lot of the cabins in this area were primarily rented to vacationers. Almost no one lived here full-time, so it was the perfect place for me to escape from everything for a while.

This woman was interrupting my well-earned solitude. Irritation burned in my gut. I should go over there and ask her what she was doing and how long she was staying. My overactive watchdog brain demanded answers, and the reasonable side reminded me I wasn’t in the military anymore. I didn’t have a right to question her.

But my fingers itched to do just that. I wanted to cross the distance between us and get a better look. Was she my age or younger? Was she here by herself?

What was she doing naked in a hot tub when there was another cabin within viewing distance? Didn’t she have any sense of safety?

Maybe the property manager had told her no one was renting my cabin anymore, and the owner was deployed. I hadn’t told anyone I was coming home. No one would have known I was staying here.

My family was eagerly awaiting my return home, but I wasn’t ready to deal with people yet. And it looked like I was going to have a neighbor for the foreseeable future. A naked one.

I gripped the arm rests of my chair. It took everything inside me to stay in my chair and not take off across the trail between us to confront her.

Music played over the speakers that were mounted on the back of the house.

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