leave?”
In the soft haze of candlelight, her long, curly auburn hair looked golden, streaks of light and dark color coming together to blend into a whole that made him think of fires at night. So soft, so … “Early,” he said. “Have to be on base at six.”
She looked past him at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table. “It’s only midnight. We still have hours.”
“Not nearly enough time,” he said, knowing it for fact. But then if he had fifty years at his disposal, he didn’t think it would be enough time.
There was something about this woman that made him want to forget everything else in the world existed. He’d like nothing more than to lock them both inside this room and stay there.
But that just wasn’t an option. So instead, he resolved to make the most of what time they had left. To not waste it in wishing for what couldn’t be. He cupped her face in his palm and stroked the pad of his thumb across her cheek. Then shifting, he rolled to one side and levered himself up over her. He looked down into those forest-green eyes of hers and asked, “You gonna miss me?”
One corner of her mouth twitched into a crooked smile. “I might,” she said softly, running her hands up and down his back with feather-light strokes that fired the need coiled dangerously inside him. “But maybe you should remind me again just what it is I’m going to miss.”
“Oh,” he said, sliding one hand down to cup her breast, “I think I could do that.” His thumb and forefinger tugged at her nipple, and he smiled when she arched into his touch, tipping her head back into the pillow.
“Okay,” she said on a sigh, “it’s coming back to me now.”
The words hung in the air for a long minute, and he waited until her eyes were open again and she was looking at him. Then he said in a low, throaty growl, “I’m coming back to you, too, Kelly. Not sure when. But I’ll be back.”
She took his face in her hands and pulled him close. “Promise?”
He turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm. “Oh yeah, baby. I promise.”
Then he kissed her, drowning in the taste of her, silently telling himself to remember. Remember it all. Her scent, her touch, her taste. He wanted it all so clear in his mind that no matter where he was or what he was doing, he’d be able to bring this moment back.
She sighed and he caught that small, escaped breath and drew it down deep inside him, taking a part of her into himself. Tongues met and clashed, tangling together as the fire grew and threatened to devour both of them.
His hands moved over her curves, defining them, burning them into his memory. He felt her slide one hand across his back, down along his spine to his butt, then around, to cup him in her palm. His eyes squeezed closed and his back teeth ground together as he fought for control. But her hands on him were too much and she damn well knew it. When she shifted, encircling the length of him with her fingers, he growled from low in his throat and caught her hand, drawing it up to the pillow beside her head and pinning it there.
“Problem?” she asked, with a spark of knowing innocence in her eyes.
“No problem here,” he told her, and moved to cover her body with his.
“Glad to hear it.” She moved beneath him, parting her legs, lifting her hips in welcome.
Jeff accepted that invitation and pushed himself into the deep warmth of her. As her body surrounded him and her hands came up to encircle his neck, he rocked his hips against her. Retreat and advance. He moved within her, pushing them both higher, faster as they rushed together toward the completion that lay just out of reach.
He’d found something here. With her. Something unexpected. Something he wasn’t quite sure what to do about. Something he knew he didn’t want to lose, yet something he was going to have to leave.
His brain raced; every nerve ending in his body hummed. Then she clutched at his shoulders and held on for dear life, and he felt her body tremble and convulse just a moment before his own world erupted. And in that blinding flash, Jeff knew that being apart from her would be the most difficult thing he’d ever done.
And it had been. It had been a hell of a long eighteen months. But he was going back. He was keeping that promise to return. He only hoped she gave a damn. Wouldn’t it be a kick in the ass if he’d been thinking about her all this time and she hadn’t given him a single thought?
The Zodiac gun boat collided with the side of the destroyer, and the solid bump jolted Jeff from his wandering thoughts.
A rope ladder dropped from above, and as J.T. and Travis helped the diplomat clamber to safety, Deke looked over at Jeff and asked, “Thinking about that woman again, Gunny?”
Jeff shot his friend a look. Shouldn’t be surprised at the comment, he thought. The guys had heard plenty about Kelly on those long nights of inaction while waiting for the hoo-ha to start.
“Beats the hell out of thinking about you guys.”
“Guess so,” Deke acknowledged with a grin. Then he asked, not for the first time, “At least the way you tell it. So, this redhead of yours have any sisters?”
“Don’t know,” Jeff said, silently admitting that they’d never really gotten around to talking about family. They’d been way too busy with each other. “But I’ll let you know.”
“Good enough,” Deke said, and grabbed a handful of rope. “Five days and a wakeup and we’ll be stateside again.”
Jeff glanced at his watch. Ten minutes past midnight. “Four days and a wakeup,” he corrected, and slung his weapon onto his back before climbing the ropes. Four more days, he told himself. Then he’d wake up, grab the first flight to California and be knocking on Kelly’s door.
He swung his legs over the rail and clambered aboard. Good to feel solid ship under his feet again. Then, as he helped the swabbies pull the Zodiac out of the water, his brain started that slow wander again.
After eighteen months of sending her postcards and one too brief phone call, he’d be able to hold her, kiss her, taste her again. And he figured this time, maybe he would lock them both into her bedroom and not come out till they were starving to death.
Kelly Rogan stared at the latest postcard from Jeff Hunter. It had been mailed more than two weeks ago—from where, she wasn’t sure. He never told her where he was. Apparently that was a big no-no, militarywise. But occasionally she could figure it out from the picture on the card. Like say, the one she’d received with a lovely shot of the Eiffel Tower. But this one was simply palm trees and sandy beaches. Heck, that could mean anything from Hawaii to Fiji to Vietnam.
But it didn’t really matter, did it? It was what he’d written on the back that was important. She flipped it over and read again the words she already knew by heart.
Coming home. Be there by the end of March.
Have thirty days leave. Can’t wait to see you.
Jeff
End of March. That meant he’d be here any day now. And Kelly wasn’t at all sure how she felt about that. After all, his last two-week leave had changed her life forever.
