were posted at different bases, thousands of miles from each other, which kept them from ever crossing paths.
Until recently.
Two months ago, Kate had been transferred to Camp Pendleton, California. His base. His command. Now she was not only his once-a-year lover, she was one of his officers. He’d hardly seen her since she arrived. But for one or two brief meetings, where they were surrounded by other Marines, he hadn’t really spoken to her since their last morning in Japan.
He stood up abruptly, pushed one hand through his short, black hair and walked to the window. Staring out at the base, he told himself to get rid of the mental images he carried of Kate, naked in bed, her arms held up to welcome him. This wasn’t Japan. This wasn’t even R and R. This was work, and their two worlds were about to collide.
He felt as though he was on a speeding train heading for a cliff. The brakes were out, and there was no stopping the disaster looming just ahead. All he could do was hang on and wait for it.
A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts. He turned around, pulled in a deep breath and raced over the edge of the precipice. “Come in.”
The door swung open, she stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind her. Then she was there. Standing in his office.
At attention.
“Good afternoon, Colonel,” she said stiffly, her right hand slanted in a perfect salute.
“Major,” he said and returned her salute, despite feeling a bit awkward about saluting a woman whose body he had explored intimately, thoroughly. “At ease.”
She relaxed instantly and his gaze swept over her. Dark green, brimmed cap settled firmly on her head, her short blond hair curled under to lie just along her jawline. Her khaki uniform blouse was starched and ironed to perfection, and a row of ribbons and commendations lay just atop her left breast Her slim, straight dark skirt stopped just above her knees and she wore regulation high heels that did amazing things for her legs.
He lifted his gaze to her face before he could torture himself further with memories of those legs wrapped around him, holding his body within her tight, damp heat. Damn, this was not going to be easy.
Clearing his throat, Tom spoke up. “Kate, it’s good to see you.” The understatement of the century, he thought, and tried to will his hardened body into submission.
“Thomas,” she started and he had to smile. She was the only person he knew who always called him Thomas.
He took a step toward her, but she backed up and held out one hand toward him, palm up, to stop him.
“Thomas, we have to talk.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, knowing she was right to keep her distance. Ever since the day they’d met, there had been fireworks between them. Distance was their only hope. “We do. Kate, we can work with this situation,” Tom said. “We’re both professionals. Our private time together doesn’t have to intrude on our careers.”
She took off her hat, tossed it onto a nearby chair, then ran her fingers through her hair. He thought he detected a glimmer of a wry grin before her expression evened out again.
“I’m afraid that ship has sailed, Thomas,” she told him softly.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, not really sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Do you remember that last night in Japan?” she asked, gripping her hands in front of her waist so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Remember it? he wanted to say. The memories still kept him awake at night, his body hard, his mind filled with thoughts of her. They’d toasted each other over a bottle of champagne and spent an hour deciding where they would meet the following year, finally settling on Copenhagen. Then they’d gone out to the balcony of their ridiculously expensive hotel suite and made love under the stars for hours. The memories were so fresh, so ingrained on his mind, Thomas could almost smell the sea air, taste the champagne he’d dribbled onto her nipples and then licked off as she writhed beneath him, moaning his name.
He groaned silently as his body tightened uncomfortably. Aloud, he said only, “Yeah. I remember.”
His gaze locked on her face, he saw that she, too, was recalling that night. And if he didn’t know better, he’d swear that Major Kate Jennings was blushing. But Kate didn’t have an inhibited bone in her gorgeous body, so that couldn’t be right.
As their gazes met and held, he began to feel the first twinges of misgiving. She didn’t look like a woman who’d just dropped in on her lover for a little stroll down memory lane. “What’s this about, Kate?” he asked quietly. “What’s wrong?”
As he watched, her pale complexion went shades lighter. Not a good sign. She sucked in a gulp of air like a drowning woman, then blurted, “I’m pregnant, Thomas.”
Was that an earthquake?
Tom would have sworn the room had just trembled around him. He shook his head and flicked an uneasy glance at the framed picture of the President, hanging on the wall nearest him. Nope. The picture wasn’t swaying. There was no loud, trainlike rumble of sound.
So. It wasn’t the earth shaking.
It was him.
Katherine stared at him and watched several different expressions slide across his features. Stunned shock. Disbelief. Anxiety. And finally, acceptance. She recognized all of them. Hadn’t she seen the very same expressions staring back at her in the mirror only a month ago?
She hadn’t wanted to believe that early pregnancy test kit. At the time, she had still been so stressed from being transferred to Thomas’s base, she’d assumed that stress was messing up her cycle. After all, it wasn’t going to be easy to face her new commanding officer when that officer had seen her naked. So naturally, she’d bought a few more kits, hoping for a different result. But as she’d stared down at the four little test wands, each of them with a neatly stamped plus sign staring back at her, Kate had had to accept the truth.
She was single, thirty-two years old, a major in the Marines and pregnant for the first time.
Now, after living with the secret for a month, she waited to hear her lover’s reaction.
“How did this happen?” he said, almost to himself.
Her eyebrows lifted as she looked at him. “You said you remembered the balcony.”
“I do.”
“Then you also remember how neither of us wanted to get up and go inside for another condom.”
He rubbed one hand across his face as that one defining moment reared up in his mind. “Oh, yeah.”
“Yeah.” Unable to stand still another moment, Kate started pacing. Her high heels clicked against the linoleum floor, sounding like a rapidfire heartbeat.
Strange, she’d thought the burden of this secret would be lightened by sharing it. But nothing had changed. She was still facing a situation she had no idea how to handle.
And added to that, she couldn’t help worrying about what Thomas would say
