Homecoming

By Meredith Daniels

Home is where his heart is.

Broken in body and soul, elite Special Forces operative Jack Dresden returns to Devotion, Georgia both dreading and longing to face his past. Leaving behind the only person who made him feel like he was right where he belonged was the hardest thing he'd ever done...until now. Seeing Dillon again brings back all those feelings, along with all the reasons Jack should stay away.

Pretending was never Dillon Bluff's style. Coming out right after high school, he faced the stigma of being gay in a small Southern town head-on. When Jack walks back into his life, Dillon knows there's no denying the smoldering hidden torch he's carried for his former best friend.

Jack's a mess and the last thing he wants is to hurt Dillon in any way. Fighting through terrifying flashbacks, Jack believes he's too broken to be any kind of partner to Dillon. But Dillon is determined to take control and show Jack's heart the way home.

Reader advisory: This book contains a character with PTSD and recollections of torture.

Publisher's Note: This book was previously released elsewhere. It has been revised and reedited for release with Pride Publishing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781786517081

Book preview

Men of Devotion

HOMECOMING

MEREDITH DANIELS

Homecoming

ISBN # 978-1-78651-708-1

©Copyright Meredith Daniels 2019

Cover Art by Erin Dameron-Hill ©Copyright March 2019

Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2019 by Pride Publishing, United Kingdom.

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If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Book one in the Men of Devotion series

Home is where his heart is.

Broken in body and soul, elite Special Forces operative Jack Dresden returns to Devotion, Georgia both dreading and longing to face his past. Leaving behind the only person who made him feel like he was right where he belonged was the hardest thing he’d ever done…until now. Seeing Dillon again brings back all those feelings, along with all the reasons Jack should stay away.

Pretending was never Dillon Bluff’s style. Coming out right after high school, he faced the stigma of being gay in a small Southern town head-on. When Jack walks back into his life, Dillon knows there’s no denying the smoldering hidden torch he’s carried for his former best friend.

Jack’s a mess and the last thing he wants is to hurt Dillon in any way. Fighting through terrifying flashbacks, Jack believes he’s too broken to be any kind of partner to Dillon. But Dillon is determined to take control and show Jack’s heart the way home.

Dedication

For everyone who believed in Jack and Dillon, thank you.

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Jeep: FCA US LLC

Nikon: Nikon Corporation

Chapter One

Jack Dresden heaved his duffel bag over one shoulder and tried to ignore the pain shooting up his side at the motion. Holding back a grimace, he trotted up the six steps leading to a very familiar front door. One he hadn’t stood in front of in ten years. The green garland and clear lights around the window casements and up the pillars reminded him that Christmas wasn’t even a week past. He couldn’t brush off the stab of guilt he felt when surrounded by the reminders of how he’d neglected his relationship with his family.

He took a deep breath, causing his battered ribs to scream in protest. He welcomed the physical pain. Anything to remind him why he was here. There would be time for regrets later. After pressing the doorbell with a finger he refused to acknowledge was shaking, he figured he’d better get it over with.

As if those inside had been waiting, which knowing his mother, they had, the door flew open before he had time to take his finger from the little white button. The sudden motion caused the wreath to give a precarious against the wooden panel, threatening to fall free of the hook holding it in place.

Finally! With that single word, Jack was enveloped in a hug that carried with it the scent of lavender, apples and home. The arms around him made his ribs scream out, but he couldn’t have pulled away if he’d wanted to.

Good to see you, Mom. He stepped back to look at the woman before him. She was smaller than he remembered. Her hair was styled in her usual way—some complicated twist he would never understand how she managed to do—but there were new lines across her face. The sight of them made guilt burn in his gut. He shouldn’t have stayed away so long.

For the past decade he’d told himself it was the job keeping him from Devotion, Georgia. But while being an operator in the elite Delta Force kept him busy, he could have made the time to visit. The fact was, he had been avoiding his hometown. Life in Devotion, Georgia hadn’t exactly given him fond memories. When he’d gotten out for basic training at eighteen, he’d left the small town in the dust of the bus tires. Sure, he’d come home after the first few months at his mother’s insistence. But once he’d been recruited by Delta three years into his service, he’d barely written home. First, it had been the grueling training, then the classified missions. Deep down, he knew it was because he was still running away.

Your father is in the living room. Jack hated seeing that weariness when she mentioned his father. They’d seldom seen eye to eye and it was this caustic relationship that had pushed Jack to enlist. Ten years later, he still felt the need to stand taller in his father’s presence and prove how much of a man he had become.

A retired Army colonel, William Dresden was not a man to trifle with. As an only child, Jack had received the brunt of his father’s drive for perfection. He’d always known the Army was his future—he’d just never dreamed it would be his salvation. His Delta brothers held him up and kept him strong. The seven men he served with had become the family he’d never thought he would have. He would trust any one of them to have his back and he knew that trust was reciprocated. They accepted him completely and only measured him by the kind of soldier he was. Which was one of the best.

How is he? Despite their differences, when Jack had read of his father’s diagnosis of prostate cancer, his stomach had turned to lead. The man was still his father, after all. It didn’t matter that he would never know who Jack truly was.

He has his bad days. A weak smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. Seeing you home should lift his spirits. Jack doubted that. Let’s get you inside and settled.

Entering his childhood home brought back so many memories Jack almost stumbled under their weight. So much of his life had happened inside the walls of the restored antebellum mansion. The good and the bad came rushing at him. His father telling him he would never make a good officer because he had gotten a B on a math test. Prom pictures taken on the grand staircase. Everything hit him like a ton of bricks.

Leaning to set his bag on the chair by the door, he let out a hiss of pain. One look at the concern etched on his mother’s face and he knew he’d done a piss-poor job hiding it.

What happened?

Just one of the perils of the job. I’m fine. He gave her a tight smile and she nodded. He knew she understood, that when it came to missions, information was need-to-know at best, highly classified more often than not. Growing up, Jack had seen his mother take the little information a spouse was given in stride. It didn’t stop the worry from creeping into her eyes.

If she had seen him a few weeks ago she wouldn’t have been so quick to accept his explanation. He had been a mess when his team had pulled him out of that stinking