Tell it to the Marine

By Heather Long

PFC James Westwood isn’t a typical Marine. As a clinical psychologist, he recognizes his band of brothers needs a helping hand after their return home from the war. When his boss, Captain Dexter, encourages him to sign up for the 1Night Stand dating service, Westwood committed himself. What did he have to lose?

The last thing he expected was a date with screen goddess Lauren Kincaid.

Movie star Lauren Kincaid grew up splitting her time between the cold reality of the Hollywood scene and her family home in Plano, Texas. After two decades surrounded by artificial friendships and inflated egos, her greatest desire is to meet a real man, not a Hollywood talking head. When her agent suggests a 1Night Stand date, the only expectations Lauren allows herself to have are discretion and exclusivity. What she didn’t expect was having a gorgeous psychologist with rapier wit blow her away.

Everyone needs someone to hear them.

James and Lauren share an unmistakable connection, but when one of James’ patients suffers a crisis, Lauren more than proves her mettle. Can one night turn into happily ever after for this Marine and his movie star?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781613333068

Heather Long

Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Tell it to the Marine

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Heather Long

ISBN: 978-1-61333-306-8

Cover art by Mina Carter

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Look for us online at:

www.decadentpublishing.com

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Also by Heather Long

Decadent Publishing 1Night Stand

Always a Marine Books

Once Her Man, Always Her Man

Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here

Tell it to the Marine

Always a Marine - Book 3

A 1Night Stand Story

By

Heather Long

~DEDICATION~

To the men and women of the United States military. Thank you for your courage, your commitment and your sacrifice. Freedom is not ‘free.’

Chapter One

James Westwood leaned back in the chair, one ankle resting on the opposite knee. Matt McCall paced the far wall of his office, shaking with restless energy. Most of their sessions began with Matt sitting, but he always bounced to his feet and started pacing within thirty minutes. By the fifty-minute mark, he looked for escape.

Have you been practicing the breathing exercises? James wanted to draw him back to the session. Laid out with heavy furniture, comfortable chairs, and a tinted picture window, his office overlooked a sunken garden populated by flowers, shrubbery, tall trees, and an artificial spring. The soothing symmetry seemed to be having little effect on Matt.

At the end of the sofa, Matt paused and braced his hands against the frame, fingers digging into it. His lips were white with tension.

"Yes, I’ve been trying. They work, sometimes. Other times, I just can’t sit still. I can’t not pace. I went for a run last night. Couldn’t seem to stop."

How far did you make it?

Twelve miles.

James wrote that down on his white pad and offered the man a small smile. That’s better than last week. You went fifteen.

My mom called. Just twenty-four, Matt had served overseas for five years following his basic training. He’d still be with his unit if not for the death of his father coming hot on the heels of the crash he and several of his men suffered in a helicopter accident. The damage to his inner ear had left him with partial deafness and equilibrium issues.

How is Margaret? The catalyst for Matt’s tension seemed directly related to his inability to reconnect with his family, his friends, and his life beyond the Marines. I should give Logan a call. He should be back from Las Vegas. He might get more out of Matt in a pick-up game.

She’s mom. Matt shrugged. "She wants me to make plans to come home for the holidays. They’re months away, but with Dad gone, she wants me to swear that I’ll be there, and