Almost Had You by Rachel Robinson

Clover:
I’ve always had a knack for following the rules. As a southern mayor’s daughter, I carry my strait-laced reputation like an Academy Award. There was never a need to question my place under the sun. It glitters. It’s splendid. I am blessed.From the second Mercer Ballentine, war hero, Navy SEAL extraordinaire stepped off the airplane, my life has been nothing but one hijinks after another. Nothing will ever be the same.It’s a good thing I’m ready for a change, because that man has tilted my world upside down. He might brandish roguish cowboy charm and rippling abs, but those things are no match for the wiles of a true southern belle.I always get what I want and I don’t want to follow anybody’s rules for another second.

Mercer:
Alabama. Home. A three-week furlough. Fighting a war that seems will never end is wearing me down and I’ve never needed a vacation more. My plans to unwind, drink myself numb, and catch up with my friends are thwarted by a taffeta covered pageant queen who is nothing like what she seems. My daddy is running against hers this election and the stakes have never been higher. I’m heading back to war.I don’t need attachments. I don’t need drama. I definitely don’t need to save this woman.Then again, I always want the things I don’t need, and you’ve never seen Clover Wellsley—there’s a madness to her beauty.
I need to make her mine.
If she’ll let me.