Ford: Alpha Company Renegades, #14

By Kali Hart

Tara

I have one rule when it comes to men:
Don't date anyone in the military.
Too many bad dates have left me jaded.
So when the hottest solider I've ever laid eyes on walks into my coffee shop and asks me out, it's almost impossible to say no.
I want to believe he's different than the rest, but it's too risky.

Ford

I've searched long and hard for The One.
But I've never found her.
Until the day I stop at a coffee shop and see her behind the counter.
I know it the moment our eyes meet.
She's The One I've been waiting for all these years.
I'll do whatever it takes to prove I'm not like the rest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9798223368533

Book preview

1

TARA

Your boyfriend’s here, Kiera, friend and faithful employee, says to me with a playful elbow nudge.

"He’s not my boyfriend," I hiss under my breath. It’s all I can do to keep my smile fixed as one customer slides to the pick-up end of the counter and another steps up to the register. Good grief. I can already feel the heat of my cheeks. They must be glowing. Not that it stops me from looking past the growing line and through the storefront windows. His massive truck is unmistakable—a pretty, dark blue color that reminds me of the ocean.

Kiera leans against my shoulder, dropping her voice. I don’t think he’s going to give up until you say yes.

Caramel latte with extra cream? I ask the next customer in line, ignoring the erratic pitter patters of my heart. Betty’s a regular of mine, and unless the season changes, she always orders the same thing. Normal. Right now, I need normal.

That right there is why I love coming here, Betty says to me in that sweet grandmotherly voice as she slides a five-dollar bill to me. None of those chain coffee joints ever remember my order like you do.

That’s their loss. My smile is meant to be of gratitude, but really it fills my entire heart. I opened my coffee shop, Cup of Joe, in honor of my late grandfather. I talked over the concept with him for months before he passed away, and he made me promise I’d always put the customer first in every inkling of the business. He reassured me that business would flourish if I built my brand around the customer and not the dollar.

Betty’s compliment lets me know I succeeded.

My grandson’s coming for a visit next month. I should bring him in here to meet you, Betty says to me, that mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

I think she’s already taken. Kiera volunteers her opinion before I can get in a word.

Betty looks back at the front door as Ford struts in. His presence is noticed by every person in the room, and I know it’s not just his Army uniform that’s drawing attention. Ford has a way of commanding attention everywhere he goes, and I don’t even think the man tries.

Ah, I see, says Betty, offering a wink, and sliding to the side to wait for her order.

Every day this week, he’s come in, ordered an Americano with an extra shot, and before I’ve finished making it, he’s asked me out. I have to admit, the first day it caught me off guard. The word yes nearly flew past my lips.

But I have one rule: I don’t date military guys.

I’ve been burned one too many times by a man, okay—a boy, in uniform. Looking for a good time, and nothing