Combat Barbie

By Heather Long

The high school beauty queen...

The face of baby food, the darling of surfing commercials, and the exotic stunner who walked away with the Miss California title at eighteen, Mary Phillips has heard “you’re so beautiful” from childhood on. Tired of being her mother’s personal Barbie, she traded in her tiara and a lucrative modeling contract for combat boots and life as a Marine. She's lost good friends and seen more walking wounded than she cares to admit, but this Marine wouldn't trade her assignment for all the Manolo Blahniks in the world. What does it matter she has no one waiting at home?

The class nerd...

Kyle Stewart heard every variation as he went through school: nerd, geek, four-eyes, weirdo—and he rolled with it. He could count on one hand the number of girls who ever deigned to talk to him about something other than tutoring. But as the only self-made millionaire from his graduating class, he has the last laugh.

A high school reunion...

Despite the invitation, Mary didn't plan to attend the ten-year reunion. The last thing she wanted to hear was—"you could have been so much, what happened?" But running into Kyle at the local coffee shop reminds her that not everyone judges by appearance. Kyle once swore to rub his former tormentors noses in his success, but when the reunion rolls around, he’s reluctant to go. Seeing Mary again encourages him to confront his one lingering regret, and the millionaire dares to reach for happiness.

Can Combat Barbie and her nerd overcome the past to love another day?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Feb 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781613334928

Heather Long

Heather Long is a USA TODAY bestselling author who likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, and Marines. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romances as hot as her native Texas summertime.

Book preview

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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.

Combat Barbie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Heather Long

ISBN: 978-1-61333-492-8

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

Always a Marine Series

Once Her Man, Always Her Man

Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here

Tell it to the Marine

Proud to Serve Her

Her Marine

No Regrets, No Surrender

The Marine Cowboy

The Two and the Proud

A Marine and A Gentleman

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

~Dedication~

For everyone who survived high school and became who they were meant to be.

Combat Barbie

Always a Marine - Book 11

By

Heather Long

Chapter One

The music playing via her earbuds kept her running apace. Mary, Stormer to her friends in the Corps, jogged through the streets, weaving in and around the businessmen on their way to the office. Some people liked to run on the beach, others preferred the park or the hiking trails. Mary liked the city streets—the thrum of traffic building up, the throb of drums and steel guitar on her iPod, and the road rising up to meet her feet. She ran steadily, her clothing soaked with sweat, but even heading uphill didn’t slow her down.

It wasn’t like she carried a rucksack or wore combat gear. In fact, her shorts and tank top were as close to naked in public as she’d been in months. California breezes washed over her sweat-slicked skin and a wild grin hovered around her lips. It felt good to be home. It felt better to run. The tension at home had reached unbearable levels after just three days back in Los Angeles. Her mother wanted her to opt out of her contract and go civilian while she still had her looks.

Flames of resentment burned through her. Breathe. Three days on leave at home and she wanted to board the first flight for Dallas, but she planned a full week with her parents.

I miss them so much when I’m away, but I forget that most of the time, distance is what we need. I should have just gone to see Jazz. She can sex up her hot fiancés anytime she wants when I’m not around. Fiancés. Stormer snickered. Hard enough to believe that the tough gunny was getting married, even more difficult to wrap her mind around the fact she intended to marry two men.

Dropping her pace to a fast walk, she pressed two fingers to the pulse point on her neck. Four-count breaths brought her heart rate down. She paused at the corner to wait for the traffic light, and took the time to stretch. The area seemed vaguely familiar. It took a moment, but she realized her favorite coffee spot sat a block up.

The temptation of a rich, foamy pumpkin latte on the cool California winter morning verged on perfect. Pleased, she walked across the street and began a light jog toward The Orange Rind. A completely ridiculous name for a coffee shop, but since it sold fresh-squeezed juices and Slushies,

Reviews for Combat Barbie

[Mpho Angela Ashworth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kyle and Mary's story.....Heather Long does it again! Nice short read; I only wish the sparks had gone off A LOT sooner. The assurance of a HEA would've been nice, too. From the ending, we gather the 2 will go to Disney on holiday, Mary will go back to combat and they'll carry on dating. BUT what of the future?!