Baby Im Back

although she guessed she should leave that privilege to whoever adopted him.
    At the sound of a car coming up behind them, Lora tightened her hold on the leash. The car was on the opposite side of the road, but the dog might still be spooked, or tempted to chase the wheels. When the vehicle slowed, she turned her head. At the sight of Barry leaning out the driver side window of his Jeep, her heart thrashed wildly in her chest. He was unbearably handsome in his dress uniform. She slowed to a jog and the dog barked a greeting to Barry, straining at the leash.
    “Hi,” he called, driving slowly to match her pace.
    “Don’t you mean goodbye?” she asked, hoping desperately she didn’t look as if she’d been crying.
    “For now,” he said.
    She stopped. “What do you mean?”
    He smiled. “I have to report to Norfolk to take care of some things. I’ve been offered the chance to set up a training facility for military dogs.”
    “Wow.” She was truly happy for him, truly sad for herself. “That’s nice—”
    “Here in Sweetness.”
    Her eyes widened. “Here?”
    He nodded. “The Armstrongs set it up—they have connections to every branch in the Armed Services, and donated the land.”
    Her pulse rocketed. “But…you’ve been all over the world, seen exotic places…are you sure you’ll be happy here?”
    He angled his head. “That depends…will you be here when I come back?”
    Her heart fluttered with the hope that he cared about her the way she cared about him. “Yes.”
    “Then I’ll be happy here,” he said, and put the Jeep in park.
    She looked both ways, then ran across the road and met his mouth for a kiss that resonated with promise and hope. How was it possible that life had changed so gloriously in only a few days? At her feet the dog barked excitedly. They laughed and parted.
    “I hope you’ll be here, too,” he said, offering his hand out the window to the dog. “You’ll be my first recruit.”
    “He’ll be here,” she said. “I was thinking of naming him Sealy.”
    He grinned. “Great name.”
    They kissed again, a slow, sweet pledge of their hearts. At the sound of a horn, she lifted her head to see a line of traffic had formed behind his Jeep. More horns blared and people cheered and hollered.
    Lora blushed, then they exchanged another kiss for the crowd. “Go,” she said, “so you can come back to me.”
    “Oh, I’ll be back,” Barry said, then he waved and pulled away.
    Lora’s heart overflowed. She knew he would.

    The End

Other works by Stephanie Bond

    If you enjoyed BABY, I’M BACK and are looking for full-length romances by Stephanie Bond, you might like the lively romantic comedy STOP THE WEDDING! In STOP THE WEDDING! a man and woman are determined to stop their parents’ wedding, and wind up falling in love with each other!

    #2 Kindle overall Bestseller--over 200,000 copies sold!

    Click here to down l oad a sample or to order STOP THE WEDDING! from Amazon!

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    Or try THREE WISHES, a magical romantic comedy. In THREE WISHES, an antiques dealer who’s in love with the governor’s girlfriend unwittingly releases a genie from a lamp and wishes himself into a hole the size of the Grand Canyon!

    “Wondrous…Love mixes with laughter to create joyous reading for romance connoisseurs.” —Romantic Times Book Reviews
    “A delicious fairy tale filled with warm, sweet, and desirable characters.” — Rendezvous

    Click here to download a sample or to order THREE WISHES from Amazon !

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    And for a heartwarming romance, try ALMOST A FAMILY. In ALMOST A FAMILY, a divorced couple reunites when their baby who was kidnapped ten years ago is found...alive.

    "Wonderful story, poignant, warm, emotion packed. Loved the characters. Excellent plot and happy ending." -- Rendezvous "[The author] writes quite perceptively about the complexity of familial relationships in this nicely developed tale of love reborn." -- Romantic Times Book Reviews

    Click here to download a sample or to or der ALMOST A FAMILY from Amazon !

About the Author

    Stephanie Bond was five years deep into a corporate career in computer programming and pursuing an MBA at night when an instructor remarked she had a flair for writing and suggested she submit material to academic journals. But Stephanie was more interested in writing fiction—more specifically, romance and mystery novels. After writing in her spare time for two years, she sold her first manuscript, a romantic