Tempting Andrea (eBook)

Jennifer Becker (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
150 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-073254-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Andrea has been living in hiding for years. Thanks to her twin sister who has always lived her life by her own set of rules. Andrea has lived in the shadows, afraid to make friends or connections. She never knows when her sister's enemies will find her again and she would need to run. 
Now she has found a home she can call her own, and friends that she doesn't want to leave. She can finally start to relax and start to live her life. Or can she? 
A new neighbor moves in across the street, Jack is hot, and a real ladies' man. He seems truly interested in getting to know her,  but he is asking too many questions. Can she trust Jack? Or Is she going to have to run again just when she was finally settling in?

Jack is assigned an undercover mission to get close to Andrea. She is suspected of stealing government secrets. Jack is all too eager to jump on the mission, he's ready to get payback for all she has stolen. The only trouble is Andrea is nothing like the woman he suspected her of being. There isn't a mean or vindictive bone in her body. Then her sister shows up with a world of trouble on her heels and Jack feels his loyalty sway. 
Will Jack be willing to blow his cover to help the woman he thinks he's falling for? Or will he turn his back on her to protect his country?

Textauszug

Chapter 3

 

 

 

“Thank you again for inviting me to dinner, Mrs. Krantz,” Jack said as he sat down at her dining room table.

“Maya, please, and you are most welcome,” she replied warmly as she took a seat across from him.

It wasn’t a large dining table. Big enough for four. Maybe four normal-size people. His legs stretched across the expanse, brushing the dress she had changed into at some point today. He had to shift his legs to the side and stretch them out, so he didn’t feel contorted.

Jack looked at the spread in front of them. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas.

“Maya, this looks wonderful. I hope you didn’t put yourself out for my behalf.”

“It wasn’t a trouble.” She waved him off. “Besides, I wanted to give you a proper welcome. We don’t get too many new neighbors anymore. In my day, it was a casserole dish or cookies. I like this much better.”

“Me too. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t invited me into your lovely home.”

“You would have eaten out or had food delivered, no doubt,” she responded, waving off his flattering words.

“I’m not much for eating out; besides, it in no way beats a homecooked meal.” Something he only ever did for himself. For as many female companions as he’d had, he had never cooked for one. He usually met them at the bar or a restaurant, and they were gone long before morning. No messy entanglements. He liked it that way.

“How true…well, no sense talking about it; eat,” Maya encouraged him.

Jack took a bite and almost groaned when bursts of flavor hit his tongue. Not to pat himself on the back, but he was a pretty good cook. However, this was something else. The chicken was so tender you could cut it with a fork. There was a zest from lemon and other spices. “Maya, this is incredible. Your husband was a lucky man.” He assumed since the man wasn’t there dining with them that he was dead.

“Thank you.” Maya beamed, her eyes drifting to a black and white portrait on the wall of a young couple under an archway. The lady in a dress and the man in uniform. Jack knew it to be their wedding photo. The couple looked at each other so lovingly that Jack couldn’t look at it for long. He had never seen so much love before except in his friends and teammates when they’d found their partners. “My Elijah and I were to together for fifty-two years before God took him.” Maya sniffled, a look of remembrance in her eyes.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.” Maya shook her head as if clearing her thoughts away. “Enough about that. How are you enjoying your new home? I know Mr. Stone took exceptional care of it, so I’m sure you haven’t found any problems with it, at least maintenance-wise.”

“He did take great care of it. He would have made my drill sergeant proud with his cleanliness.” Jack had been surprised by the cleanliness and care put into the house. He was used to hole-in-the-wall places, so he wasn’t going to complain about the upgraded digs. He could tell the previous owner had taken great pride in his home.

“You were in the service?”

Shit, he hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Long ago. That’s how I got this.” He pointed to the side of his face. Jack could see the questions bubbling behind her eyes. Best to shut those down now. “Anyway, the house is great. I can tell he cared for his home a great deal.”

“He did.”

“Was he married?”

“Divorced. His wife left him many years ago. Took the children, poor man. I hardly saw them visit. He became a bit of a recluse after that. It’s a shame he died alone like he did. No one knew he was dead until the police showed up and carted off his body.” Maya shook her head sadly.

Nick hadn’t told him that part, only that a house across the street from Andrea had opened up and that he had acquired it. No wonder the house had come furnished. “So you said you don’t get too many new neighbors…” Nick didn’t want to dwell on the late Mr. Stone and dying in the home he was staying in.

“No, this is an older neighborhood. I’ve lived here since the subdivision was built over forty years ago. We were one of the first residents,” Maya commented proudly.

“The things you’ve seen here and the people you’ve met.” To see this area go from a beach to a neighborhood would have been cool. Most of the stuff he saw was destruction and devastation.

“I know everyone who lives in the area. Then again, not many move out until they go to a retirement home.”

“But not you?”

“Why on earth would I do that?” Maya remarked as if in shock that it would even be suggested she go to one. “I have everything I need here. There is nothing in a nursing home I can’t get in this house.” To an extent, but then Maya seemed pretty fit for her age.

“It’s true, you are far from needing a place such as that.”

“Flatterer.” Maya tsked, but her cheeks still warmed. “But very true. I take extra care of myself.”

“And it shows. So how often do you get new neighbors?”

Maya looked off in thought while chewing. “You’re the first new resident we’ve had since Andrea.” Now they were talking. He was hoping the subject of Andrea would come up without him explicitly bringing it up.

“When did she move in?”

“Seven years ago.”

Jack paused in loading up his fork. The last base attack was six months ago, and yet she’d lived here for seven years. He hadn’t seen that coming. He’d figured she had moved here more recently. “You’re sure about that?”

“Nothing wrong with my memory, dear.” Maya chuckled.

Maybe this was just a hub for her like it was for him. This was turning into an interesting plot twist. “Has she ever told you where she was before that?”

“Why, Michael, are you interested in Andrea?” Her hawk-eyes narrowed. She was far more intelligent than he’d given her credit for. She would have made a good spy.

“Merely curious. Nothing against you and the rest of the neighbors, but it is nice to find someone close to my age. Perhaps we can find something in common. Or who knows, we could have moved from the same area.”

“She’s never said where she came from. She doesn’t talk much about herself, so I can’t help you in that regard. You’ll just have to ask her yourself. That’s what your generation is missing. Talking to each other face to face. It’s hard for people to meet nowadays with swiping and those other dating apps. It’s hard to fathom finding your soulmate through your phone.”

“It is. Let me guess, you and Elijah were high school sweethearts and had no need of such technology.” That always seemed to be the story with the older couples he’d met.

“Younger,” she leaned forward and whispered as if it were a secret. “We grew up in the same neighborhood. In middle school, I actually dated his older brother before Elijah showed any interest. The only time we’d ever been apart was when he went off to war.”

“He was a military man?”

“Yes, we got married with him in his uniform,” she stated proudly, pointing at the photo on the wall. “He insisted. Not that I complained. He looked quite handsome in his Army uniform.”

Jack turned in his seat to study the photo. “He was a pilot?” Jack liked Elijah that much more. He loved planes, the need for speed and all that, but a recruiter had changed his mind as far as careers went; although, he still admired planes as he saw them streak across the sky.

“Yes, bombers. I was always frightened a mission was going to blow him out of the sky like a firework.” She opened her hands to her sides then reclaimed her fork. “Thankfully, that never happened.”

“What did he do afterward?” Jack asked, turning back in his seat to look at Maya. He found himself curious about Elijah even though he should have been asking about Andrea.

“He did contract work for the military. A test pilot for new planes. He got his commercial license and did small jaunts for government officials and such.”

“It never bothered you, his military career?” Not all spouses were meant to be military spouses. It wasn’t for the faint of heart even with the most mundane jobs.

“Goodness no, what an odd question.” She chuckled as if she had never heard of such an odd idea. “I was immensely proud of him even though I was deathly afraid while he was at war.” Maya looked at him with a critical eye. “Why do you ask that?”

“My family wasn’t so supportive of my military career choice. They were all too happy when I was discharged and found a safe desk job.”

“I’m sorry, Michael. That couldn’t have been easy. I can admit I wasn’t always the most supportive when I wanted my husband home more with me, but it was who he was. He’d dedicated his life to helping others. I could never fault him for that.”

Maya was an incredible woman. Why couldn’t his own family have been as supportive as she was of her husband. “Did you have children?”

“Four. Three boys and a girl. One of them actually went into the Air Force. We lost one many years ago. The other two work corporate jobs.”

“Again, I’m sorry for your loss. Are you close with any of your children?”

Maya shook her head sadly. “They check in every once in a while, but they are scattered around the globe. So I entertain myself with neighborhood gossip and such.”

“So if there is a rumor about someone,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.5.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-073254-0 / 0000732540
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-073254-5 / 9780000732545