by Zoe York
“There might be some complicating factors on your end, too. I don’t know if you have a duty to report any changes of circumstances. I probably do, but I’d rather beg for forgiveness later.”
“I don’t think I do.” She touched his face again, smoothing her fingers over his brow then running them up into his hair. “I don’t want you to worry. We can tell people when we get back to Canada. Although my co-workers know we travelled together…”
“And I’m not going to be able to keep the fact that I’ve met an amazing woman from my team. I just won’t tell them we’re married or where you are.”
She could keep her ring in the wooden box he bought her. “I can work with that.” She pushed off his shoulders and stepped back. “Any other administrative details we need to discuss, husband?”
He grinned. “None that I can think of.”
She reached for her bag. “Then I’m going to slip into something special.” Her cheeks heated up, but they were no match for his gaze.
“Really?”
She nodded shyly. She wasn’t normally the silk and satin type, but it was a special occasion. “I went shopping the other day when you were running, and I bought something silky.”
She’d bought it for their last night together, but this was even more special.
He licked his lips, and whoa, that little reaction did some big things to her insides. “I can’t wait.”
She grabbed the small bag she’d tucked away, and dashed into the bathroom to take off the sundress she’d worn for the ceremony. She didn’t close the door, and from the other room, she heard Sean moving around. He took off his boots with two heavy thuds. He pulled back the blankets with a soft swoosh, and her nipples tightened in anticipation.
The lingerie she’d bought was little more than scraps of silk connected by criss-crossing ribbons, and it floated over her body like a whisper. She smoothed her hands over the flat of her belly and then glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Looking back at her was a woman she hardly recognized. No scrubs, no hastily gathered ponytail, and no dark circles under her eyes. Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders and her face sparkled with excitement. Bright eyes, pink lips.
Marriage suited her, even as it filled her with nervous energy. She dragged a deep breath into her lungs and reached for her toothbrush. She was delaying now.
And it wasn’t going to work.
With a gentle knock, Sean came into the bathroom. He was still in the cargo pants he’d worn for the service, but he was barefoot and bare-chested. He took her breath away.
“I…”
He laughed gently at the toothbrush in her hand, but gestured for her to continue. “It’s fine. But I couldn’t wait any longer,” he murmured, settling his hands on her hips.
She did a quick back and forth on her teeth, and when she leaned forward to spit out the toothpaste, he brushed her hair off the nape of her neck and whispered what were fast becoming her two favourite words.
“My wife.”
A thrill raced through her at how unbelievably special that sounded coming out of his mouth. The shivery-good feeling intensified as he kissed her back, his breath warm at the top of her spine.
She filled a glass with water then rinsed away the toothpaste taste.
Sean didn’t let go of her hips. He watched her in the mirror, his gaze hot. It was domestic and intimate, and as she wiped a water droplet off her lower lip, he tightened his grip.
Here?
Sure, why not consummate their marriage bent over a vanity? She bit her lip and leaned forward again, bracing her forearms against the counter as she watched him in the mirror.
With quick, efficient jerks, he undid his belt. The chink of metal was followed by a growling zip as he opened his fly.
Her husband.
SEAN TUGGED HER NEGLIGEE UP, baring her bottom, and she pressed up onto her toes. He told himself to slow down, but fuck, there was no chance of him forgetting this.
“I love you,” he said as he curved his hand over her hip, tracing her soft skin to where she was both soft and wet. “Is this is okay?”
He caught her gaze again in the mirror. She looked wanton and sexy as fuck as she smiled at him. “It’s perfect.”
She bit her lip and leaned forward, tipping her hips back, and he was done for.
No more going slow.
She was his, and the need to claim her roared loud and fierce inside him. She gasped as he rubbed against her, and her hand skittered forward to press against the mirror.
She was perfect. Smart and fierce and brave. Humble and kind. Gorgeous. Sexy as fuck.
She’d changed his life in two short weeks.
And now she was giving him this gift, her body, with nothing between them. Her gaze, lusty and aroused, locked on his face in the mirror.
But her gaze wasn’t enough. He needed her mouth, he needed her hands on him. Pulling back, he spun her around and lifted her onto the vanity. Her legs went around his hips, pulling him back into her body. Hot, wet, tight heat surrounded him as he surged into her, and he didn’t miss the way her breath hitched.
This was affecting both of them on a deep, fundamental level.
He buried his face in her neck as he grappled with his tenuous hold on his self-control. “My wife.” It was a chant, a prayer, a promise as he started to move inside her.
She rocked against each thrust, her bare heels digging into his ass. She tugged on his hair, urging him to lift his head up, and he took her mouth in a savage kiss, as primal as their mating. So much better than anything he could have imagined.
Maybe better because he hadn’t, really—who could anticipate this? He was lost in her.
She tasted fearless, and when he pulled back, just for a second, just to see her, she looked fearless, too. Her skin was flushed with passion, her eyes endless pools of want as she tugged on him. She looked on the edge of abandon and he was going to follow her right off that cliff.
He hadn’t even gotten her naked. That’s how desperate he’d been to forge this connection with her. As he skated his hands over her body, over the silk that decorated her curves, a foreign emotion welled up inside him, a need to bare his soul to her. To be tender.
He kissed her again, soft and coaxing, as he moulded her against him. As close as two people could be. Fused in every way. They’d need this moment to get them through the next few months. Need this promise, this vow, as much as the ones they’d spoken out loud.
He loved her with every inch of his body, with his strong legs that powered each thrust, with his arms that held her tight.
She reached between them, and he pushed harder, catching her fingertips as she rubbed her clit. He pressed his forehead against hers as they ground against each other, and he watched her face as she came apart. Then he followed her into the abyss, his brain exploding as he buried his cock deep inside her for his own release.
Holy. Fuck.
She clutched the back of his neck, breathing hard, and he crushed his mouth against hers.
His wife. His. Forever.
“I love you,” he whispered, his own breath ragged.
She whispered it back, and it filled him with an intense joy.
He kicked his pants out of the way then carefully eased her back against the mirror. Her legs shook visibly as she watched him run warm water and grab a washcloth. He pressed his hand to her knee, and she giggled.
“That was…”
“Wow.”
“Very wow.” She sighed and lifted her legs up, pressing her bare feet against the counter. He squeezed the cloth out, then carefully stepped between her legs again. She gasped as he wiped her, but she didn’t stop him.
He’d never done that before. It was messy. He liked it.
He washed her carefully, then dropped to his knees and kissed her tender flesh.
He licked her until she was squirming and breathing his name on every moan, and then he picked her up and carried her to the bed. He peeled her out of the silk, then co
vered her with his body and made love to her again, slow and long and perfect.
“DID you always know you wanted to be a soldier?” she asked after, as he spooned her and played with her hair.
“It was a given. We were raised to be soldiers. My father was a career officer. And I didn’t mind. All I wanted to do when I grew up was run away from home. I always knew I’d be here, somehow. I didn’t imagine it exactly like this…” He laughed as he kissed her shoulder. “But finding you, and falling in love on the other side of the world… that sounds about right. And I bet teenage me would definitely approve of you as part of the fantasy.”
“Do you miss your family?”
“Sure.” He said it readily. It was true. Just because he couldn’t wait to get away didn’t mean he didn’t also leave a part of himself back home when he flew the coop. “How about you?”
She should miss them more than she did. “I don’t have any homesickness.” She stretched her arms out and twisted onto her side, pillowing her head on her arm as she looked at him. “I grew up wanting to see the world, and not being able to afford to. This is the first time I’ve been able to really live anywhere other than the Vancouver area.”
He traced the line of her jaw, then picked up a strand of her hair and let it run through his fingers. “When we get back, where do you want to work?”
They’d talked about this already, but getting married changed things. It had changed him—but not his desire to come back and do another tour. He hoped it was the same for her.
She searched his face. “I don’t know.”
“You said we could try to be together as much as we want.”
She nodded.
“I want to be together. Period. I don’t want to try to fly back and forth across the country. I want to build a home with you. Wherever.”
That got a smile that did wicked things to his insides.
He leaned in and tasted her neck. “Or we don’t need to pick one place to live,” he whispered against her skin. “As long as we’re nomads together.”
“Nomads who serve the greater good?”
“That sounds perfect.”
She dusted her fingertips over his body, and his muscles jumped against her touch. “You want to do more tours.”
His chest tightened, because yeah, he did. But now he had a wife to think about. “If possible.”
She nodded. “Me too.”
Oh, thank God. He let out a shaky exhale. “Probably should have brought that up sooner, eh?”
She laughed. “Worried I wouldn’t have understood?”
“Not when I think about it for a second.”
“I understand.” She kissed him, her lips gentle and soft. “It’s all going to work out. Promise.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THEY FOUND Naples cold and wet when they landed for their stopover. It was a sombre reflection of Jenna’s mood, but she didn’t want to dwell on the weather or the countdown to saying goodbye.
They confirmed their spots on military transport back to Turkey for the next day, then checked in to military lodgings across from the air base.
“I should do some shopping,” she said as she stretched out on the bed. “Stock up on chocolate.”
Sean nodded as he unpacked his bag. He had everything in a sub-divided container. His shave kit, a smaller bag for socks and underwear, his phone and tablet in a neoprene case that had cable and charger slots built in. Neat, organized. Precise.
She watched as he pulled out the last bag from the bottom of the larger knapsack. His running gear. Sean was the only person she knew who traveled with two pairs of running shoes, and only used them for running. He had an indoor pair for treadmill training, which she hadn’t actually seen him use, and an outdoor pair that had seen a decent number of hours given the guy was on vacation.
He held the running gear bag long enough she knew he wanted to get outside.
She climbed off the bed and crossed to him. “If you don’t need to go shopping, we could split up. I’ll shop while you get a run in.”
He gave her a startled look. Did he not know that she saw him, and loved him, for who he was? “It’ll be my last chance for a few months,” he said, almost apologetically. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”
“No, of course not.” She frowned and tugged on his shirt. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just in a weird mood.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’m going to miss you like crazy.”
“Same,” she whispered. “I was thinking that the cold drizzle was a fitting backdrop today. You’re a little crazy to want to run in it.”
“I’m in a run through the cold, wet rain kind of mood.”
She kissed his lopsided grin. “I suppose it’ll be hot soon, and you’ll miss the rain.”
“If each day of sweltering hell is another day closer to being back with you, I’ll gladly take it.”
He got changed, and they headed outside together, where the rain had let up. He took off on a loop around the base, and she watched him disappear around the corner. A minute later, the shuttle bus arrived and she hopped on.
It took nearly two hours to find everything she wanted to take back to Urfa, and she was worried she’d taken too long, but when she got back to the hotel, Sean was still running.
Instead of heading back upstairs, she found a seat on a bench under an overhang and she watched him. He hadn’t seen her yet, she didn’t think. She’d spotted him as the shuttle approached, disappearing around the far corner of the base, and now he’d nearly completed the lap.
Jesus, he was fast. He didn’t even break stride when he finally saw her, just waved. “One more time,” he gasped.
It only took him a few minutes. When he stopped in front of her, he was drenched with sweat. But his grin was back.
Back in their room, she stripped down with him, and washed his back as he stood under the hot shower. He rolled his neck as she slicked soap bubbles over his muscles there then leaned forward as she moved down his body. His legs were a thing of beauty, defined muscles and warm, smooth flesh covered in soft, golden fuzz.
He shivered as she swept her hands up the insides of his thighs, then up onto the hard, flexing tightness of his butt. That made her achy in an instant. And suddenly it felt like they hadn’t had any time together at all.
She swallowed hard as she stood again and pressed against his back, her arms wrapping around his waist. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, and her voice cracked. It sounded like a cry, and she hadn’t meant it to. She wouldn’t cry, that was silly.
They’d see each other soon. They’d have all the time in the world together… soon.
“The summer feels so far away,” she admitted, her words as jagged as the first rough sound had been.
Sean pivoted under the shower and picked her up, his hands sure and his body strong even after a long run. “We’re going to be together again before you know it.”
He kissed her hard as he pressed her against the tiles, cold against her back. He radiated heat. He radiated confidence and energy, and she knew she needed to trust him.
“Count in weeks,” he whispered into her neck as he pushed inside her. “Seventeen weeks until we’re together again.”
Could she hold her breath that long? She closed her eyes and pulled him close. She didn’t need to make it easier. If she wanted to count in days, hours, minutes, she would. Maybe the prick of panic would feel good. A hundred days. Three thousand hours without her husband.
“We’ll write.” God, his voice was cracking now, too, just like her heart. If he couldn’t be carefree about this, there was no hope for her.
It wasn’t fair to find love like this. There was no pause button for how big their feelings were.
“We’ll send pictures, too,” she whispered.
He cupped her face, kissing her until she smiled. Then he slid his hand down her body, stroking her neck, her breast, her waist, before he hitched her leg up and thrust deeper.
She
arched between him and the tiled wall, welcoming him into her body. Her husband. “I love you,” she breathed.
He said it back, an echo she didn’t know she needed until the words ripped from his mouth and made her cry out. Deep inside her, he swelled, making the final few drags desperate and perfect and everything she needed. A rough, hard, overwhelming push into release.
She wound her legs around him, holding him tight as her body shook. He buried his cock deep as he followed her orgasm with his own, filling her with his seed.
“I love you,” he growled again.
She’d hold on to those words, too. And the memory of him running like the wind.
THE RETURN to work was easier than expected. It helped that Jenna’s expectations were rock bottom, of course. But she’d come back from Spain with a new sense of hope and boundless energy.
Of course she ached for Sean. She dreamed of him at night and woke up reaching for him every morning.
But she filled her days with patient care and her evenings with long, rambling emails to her new husband. Sometimes he was able to reply, other days she knew she'd be sending the message into the void and that was okay. It made her smile to think of him coming back from a reconnaissance mission and finding a few emails waiting.
When he was able to reply, his letters were long and loving and funny, filled with promises for the future. It was hard to believe that this was her life. That this was her love and yet every day that passed proved she wasn’t dreaming.
Days turned into weeks, and she counted them down just as Sean had told her to. Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen. He warned her that he would have to disappear from time to time, and he did. The first long break was stressful. Nine days went by without a response to her emails but then he returned and sent along some pictures of himself in the field.
Tall, smiling, handsome.
And pink along his cheekbones. He was getting a sunburn.
If she were at home, she would send him a care package with sunscreen. Instead, she was stuck not that far from him in the grand scheme of things, but limited in terms of access and support.
