Soldiers in Heat: Desert Love

By Joanna A. Haze

All of Staff Sergeant Serenity Locket’s military career, people have assumed she’d gotten to where she has because of her exotic looks instead of her hard work. She’s more than ready to prove herself when she’s attached to a Military Police unit and deployed to Afghanistan.

Sergeant First Class Michael Para is heartbroken after his last deployment finds him divorced and alone. On his next tour, he’s determined to show he hasn’t lost his edge as a hardnosed Infantryman hell bent on making sure everyone under his charge pulls their weight, including the feisty female Staff Sergeant.

A brush with danger pushes Serenity’s and Michael’s limits. Against Army regulations and dating outside their race, they find themselves falling for each other. Is breaking the rules worth the risk? Find out in Desert Love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Passionate Writer Publishing
• Release date: Feb 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301843589

Book preview

Soldiers in Heat: Desert Love

by

Joanna A. Haze

Smashwords Ebook Edition

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Passionate Writer Publishing

www.passionatewriterpublishing.com

Soldiers in Heat: Desert Love

Copyright © 2013 by Joanna A. Haze.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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Books by This Author

Coming Soon

Soldiers in Heat: Boot Camp Bliss

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Dedication

To my fellow Vets past and present, we share a bond like no other. I thank you for the memories.

Chapter One

Serenity Locket read the orders in her trembling hand, and her heart sank. Attached to 38th Military Police Unit for deployment to Afghanistan stood out loud and clear. She fought hard to maintain her military bearing. Serenity stood in the Sergeant Major’s office as if her world hadn’t been turned upside down.

Staff Sergeant Locket. The sergeant major’s gray eyes cut through her. That will be all.

Snapping to the position of attention, she said, Thank you, Sergeant Major. Placing one foot behind her, she did an about face and left his office.

Making her way into the latrine, she held back her emotions until safely behind a stall. Serenity closed the door and let out a gasp of air. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she began seeing stars. Taking a seat, she tried her best to compose herself. Deployed? She wasn’t a MP. Though her sergeant major explained they needed women for female body searches, she still didn’t see why she was pulled.

Staff Sergeant Serenity Locket was classified 42A—Human Resources—but worked as the Personnel Supervisor at Fort Bragg. She processed soldier’s paperwork and normally set up the orders for deploying soldiers instead of going herself.

On top of not being an MP, she was also struggling with raising her son alone. She’d met what she thought was the love of her life right after Advanced Individual Training. They were both in training for 42A. At the end of school, he was sent to his first duty station in Korea and she was left with a bun in the oven. Though Brian swore they’d get married, it never happened. A few weeks after he arrived in Korea, he changed his phone number and stopped responding to emails. After five years, the only reminder she had of him still being alive was the continued child support allotments she received.

Serenity wiped away the tears she’d unwillingly shed. Crying wasn’t going to fix anything. In less than thirty days, she needed to prepare herself for deployment training and get her home life in order. She was heartbroken on leaving her son behind and her mother wasn’t going to be happy with the responsibility of a five year old. She’d have to get over it just as Serenity would. Coming out the stall, she smoothed down her uniform and went over to the sink to wash her face.

She returned to her desk as if nothing happened.

You all right, Big Serg? Specialist Williams, one of her team members asked.

Everyone knew nothing good ever happened when they saw the sergeant major’s door closed. He was a fair man by Army Standards; he treated everyone the same—like crap. Sergeant Majors were typically like an old beat-up dog. They had wounds but never died and always came back to exact their revenge in the end. Their sergeant major was more like the alpha wolf. He was in control, and everyone feared him.

I’m good, Williams. Have a seat. She motioned toward the empty seat at the cubicle across from hers. We need to finish processing these DD214s that just came back from Kuwait. Let the rest of the team know we’re having a section meeting at 1300 hours.

What about the conversation with Sergeant Major?

1300. She turned and faced her computer. Out of her peripheral, she saw Specialist Williams’ eyes were on her. He was waiting on an answer she wasn’t ready to give. She needed time to digest the set of orders lying face down on her desk. The word Afghanistan seemed to bore a hole through it. Her stomach turned.

I’ll let everyone know, Specialist Williams said.

Serenity saw the look Specialist Williams gave her as he turned away. He wasn’t buying her story of being good, no more than she felt it.

She enjoyed having Specialist Williams in her section. Though he was raised on a farm in Idaho, you couldn’t tell. He gravitated to mostly black people. He didn’t try to act black like some did, or rather their version of what black should be. Instead, he was himself and was accepted. When another black soldier asked why he didn’t hang around the other white soldiers, his response was, Why don’t you? That shut the other soldier up. His good heart was why he had been waiting at her desk. He didn’t want the latest gossip; he wanted to know if she was really okay.

He’ll just have to find out when everyone else does.

She pulled up the next soldier’s file and began processing the DD214. Within a few key strokes, she’d added the appropriate awards to the end of active duty orders.

Serenity held back a tear. In a year, someone will be doing the same for me. She tried to focus on her work and not the conversations she’d have to have with her mother. Her mother threw fits any time she went away for two weeks of training let alone twelve months. Though she explained her continued training was necessary for promotion, it didn’t lessen her mother’s tongue about her joining the military in the first place.

Her college academic scholarship was barely enough to cover half of her classes. She worked part time, but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t have the credit to get a loan she couldn’t afford on her own. Her mother adamantly refused to cosign, leaving her with no choice but to take up a full-time job. Two months passed and she realized working in a warehouse wasn’t enough. Out of options, Serenity enlisted in the Army