Once a Marine

"Love is a battlefield." Discharged under Don t Ask Don t Tell, former Marine major Cole Hammond is struggling to find a new identity. But PTSD casts a pall on everything, and his hard-nosed, homophobic father can t even bear to look him in the eye. To top it all off, he s pretty sure he s flunking out of law school. Marc Sullivan is a kind, sensitive romance author-slash-waiter with a thing for men in uniform. Cole s not wearing his anymore, but there s no mistaking the warrior Marc meets in the diner one rainy afternoon. Cole s sexy smile and Carolina drawl prove irresistible, but Marc s played this game before, and he always loses. Once a Marine, always a Marine, and if there s one thing Marc knows about such men, it s that they all leave him in the end. It doesn t help that Cole s practically closeted in public, or that he refuses to seek treatment for his PTSD. But like any good Marine, Cole s willing to fight for what matters. And like the characters in Marc s stories, he s certain that if they try just hard enough, together they can find their own happily ever after.