Soldier on Her Doorstep by Soraya Lane Page A

saw it. Which meant she was stillwatching him. Darn it if her eyes weren’t like magnets drawn to him!
    â€œLet me get Lilly and my handbag and I’ll see you at the car.” Lisa forced herself to move. To walk away from him. She could feel him. Sense his big masculine presence. It was like when William had been home on leave, or between postings. The house had felt different. A feeling in the air. Only William had been a comfortable change. Solid, dependable. With Alex it was electric.
    Lilly made the house feel alive, kept Lisa from ever feeling truly alone, but she couldn’t deny that there was a sense of security, of strength, in a house when there was a man in residence. She dug her nails into her own hand. It was William’s residence. Alex was just a visitor. Passing through.
    But, wrong as it may be, there was definitely something comforting about having a man in her home. Even if it wasn’t the man she was supposed to be sharing it with.
    She looked at Lilly’s closed bedroom door. There was a little thump and lots of giggling. Then there was a woof. Lisa guessed what was going on. Boston would be lying on the bed, on his back, legs in the air. His head would be settled on the pillows. Lilly would either have a bonnet on his head, socks on his feet, glasses on his nose, a blanket tucked around him, or all of the above. She treated the dog as if he was a living doll.
    â€œWe’re going into town soon, honey,” Lisa told her through the door.
    â€œCan we take Boston?” Her voice was slightly muffled.
    â€œYes, we can take Boston.”
    Lisa let her forehead rest on the door. She owed a lot to that dog. Without him, Lilly would have been even worse. Would have been even more lost over William’s death.
    She heard a bout of giggles again. Lilly was definitely getting back to her old self. It was nice to have a daughter who was slowly filling up with fuel for life again.
    â€œGet a wriggle on, girl. Two minutes!” Lisa warned.
    Lilly didn’t answer.
    Strange as it might be, it was almost like things were getting back to normal again. Or as normal as life had ever been being a soldier’s wife. Having Alex here felt right. In some ways. But deep down she didn’t want it to be right. If she could wish for anything in the world, it would be to have William back.
    So where did that leave her feelings for Alex?
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    Alex looked out the window as they chugged along. He didn’t look at Lisa. He couldn’t. Even though he’d intended driving her in, she’d laughed, told him to enjoy the scenery and jumped in on the driver’s side herself.
    Seeing her behind the oversize wheel of the baby blue Chevy had been bad enough when she’d waved him over before they’d left. There was something about her that just got to him. The casual ponytail slung high on her head, the way she wore her T-shirt, even the way her fingers tapped on the wheel to music.
    He wound down his window and let a blast of air fill the cab. Boston straddled him and let his tongue loll out the window, nose twitching. Lilly wriggled next to him on the bench seat.
    â€œTell me again why Boston couldn’t ride in the back?” Alex wanted to know.
    Lisa laughed. Loud.
    Relief hit him. Hard. Like a shock to the chest. He’d wondered if they were ever going to get that easy feeling between them back again. He’d missed it.
    â€œLilly won’t have him in the back,” Lisa explained.
    He looked at the kid. She shook her head. Vigorously.
    Alex pushed Boston back and wound the window up. He liked dogs, but four of them squished up-front seemed a bit—well, ridiculous. He went back to scanning the landscape. He might be biased, given the years he’d spent seeing sand and little else when he was deployed, but Alaska was beautiful. Incredible.
    He’d dreamed of wilderness and trees and water every night before coming back to the US. Now he was here.