by Cat Johnson
First thing, he’d head to the house and spend an hour or so with the kids. He hadn’t seen them yet since getting back from Kabul and had already called to ask if he could stop by tonight. If he canceled, Debbie would no doubt punish him next time he asked by not letting him see them on a day that he wasn’t scheduled to.
After that he’d head home, throw some clothes in a bag, grab a few hours sleep and get on the road by dawn to avoid the morning rush hour traffic around DC.
He’d be in Stamford with Ginny well before lunch tomorrow. Perfect.
She was going to be shocked to see him standing at her door. When he whipped out that ring, even more so. Just the thought had him smiling.
CHAPTER 7
Ginny slid her reading glasses higher up her nose and tried desperately to concentrate on the manuscript she was being paid to proofread.
She’d started taking on proofing jobs, in addition to her usual editing, because the rent on her crappy one room apartment above a storefront stretched her budget to nearly the breaking point each month. If she wanted to have any money for travel to see Thom, she needed to bring in some extra cash.
Usually printing out the manuscript and reading the paper copy made it easier to see the mistakes than trying to do it on a computer screen. Today, not so much.
Knowing her mind had wandered, she sighed and forced herself to read the prior paragraph one more time.
Sure enough, there was a mistake. Marking it with her red pen, she started to wonder if she’d missed anything else.
She should probably start the chapter over to be sure. Hell, with her mind all over the place today, she really should go back to page one.
A more diligent person might do that, even if it would take her an extra hour, at least, to finish the job. She’d have to decide if she was that kind of person later, after she’d gotten through some more of this damn book that seemed as if it would never end.
Still in the pajama bottoms she’d slept in and a fresh T-shirt she’d thrown on after getting up—her usual work at home outfit—she snuggled deeper into the sofa cushion. Her bare toes were feeling chilly on this cool, rainy June day, so she pulled the throw over her legs and settled in to get down to work.
Resolved and settled, she might have been able to concentrate, if there hadn’t been a knock on the door.
“Shit.” She was going to have to answer that.
Sliding off her glasses, she glanced down at herself and decided she looked good enough. At least she had on a bra and had gotten around to brushing her teeth and washing her face this morning.
It could be Molly or it could be a package delivery. Either way, whoever had arrived unannounced before noon would have to take her as they found her.
She peered through the apartment door’s peephole to see who the unlucky person would be.
When she saw him, she sucked in a breath.
Yanking on the doorknob, she remembered the lock and wrestled to get it open, before flinging the door wide.
She was in Thom’s arms in seconds, airborne, her legs wrapped around his waist as he held her close and tight.
“I missed you.” His voice was muffled as he spoke against her hair.
“I missed you.” She pulled back far enough to locate his lips and planted a quick hard kiss on him before saying, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“But when I talked to you yesterday you didn’t—”
“I asked for leave,” he said as he took another step into the room while still holding her. “I had to see you. I couldn’t wait.”
She’d seen that look in his eyes before and knew what it meant. They were on the way to the bed. She glanced back toward the door, still open to the hallway. “Wait. The door.”
He pivoted to shoulder the door shut then turned back toward her bedroom—or rather toward the folding screen that separated the bed area from the living area.
She was about to remind him to lock the deadbolt—habit from being a woman living alone—when she remembered who she was with and stopped worrying. If anyone dared to come into her apartment uninvited while Thom was there, she had a feeling they’d be very sorry they did.
Besides, there were much better things to think about than hypothetical burglars, such as how good his muscles felt as she pressed close . . . and how good they’d look once she got him out of the T-shirt and jeans.
Thom didn’t set her feet back on the ground until they were next to the bed. With his hands free from holding her he tangled them in her hair and leaned low. “Need you so bad.”
The feeling was mutual. She chose to show him rather than telling him and stood on tiptoe to close the short distance to his lips.
This—these moments—were what made it all okay. The separation. The distance. The frequent lack of communication. It all faded away the moment they finally saw each other after being apart.
But it was also at that very moment that the clock started ticking down to the inevitable time when they’d have to part again.
How long did they have this time? How long before she’d be saying goodbye to him again for weeks, if not months? Twenty-four hours? Forty-eight hours?
It was never long when he came to see her, which was why she preferred going to him. Besides, she hated knowing seven hours of his short precious leave had been wasted on the road as he drove to be with her.
Thinking of saying goodbye when they’d just said hello flooded her eyes with tears. As he kissed her and roamed her body with his hands she desperately tried to keep the tears from spilling over and careening down her cheeks where he’d see them, if not taste them in her kiss.
Dammit. Why couldn’t she just enjoy the time they did have together, rather than ruining it while thinking about his leaving?
He pulled back just far enough to say, “Don’t cry.”
Too late to hide it now. She drew in a stuttering gasp. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” Thom shook his head. “Don’t be sorry.”
He didn’t give her opportunity to say anything else as his mouth covered hers in a need-filled kiss.
It had been months since they’d stood in the same room. Just as long since they’d sated their need for each other.
Her body won the tug of war for dominance with her mind and she was happy for that. She hated that her anticipation of the pain of Thom leaving so often robbed her of the enjoyment of the short time she had him there.
Obviously, she was deranged and incapable of even enjoying—
Thom lifted her and tossed her onto the mattress, following her down and pushing all thought from her mind as his body covered hers.
“Damn, I missed you.” His kiss became more demanding as he snaked his hand beneath the waistband of her pajama bottoms.
He groaned as his hand connected with her bare skin. Pushing up and off her with both arms he sat up on his knees and tugged the bottoms down her legs.
“Don’t ever start wearing underwear, okay?” His eyes appeared out of focus as he began to strip her.
“Okay,” she agreed, rather than tell him she’d never actually leave the house without putting on underwear. Since she was in pajama bottoms and at home most of the time, it didn’t seem important to discuss it any further.
As Thom leaned low and she felt the heat of his mouth between her thighs, she decided she’d probably do whatever he asked of her anyway. Including forego panties in public, propriety be damned.
Things always moved fast when they’d been apart for a while. Between his mouth and his hands on her, she was gasping in moments. Shaking as her muscles tensed and the climax broke over her body that had been too long denied.
She was still throbbing with aftershocks when Thom climbed off the bed and started flinging off his clothes. Then he was on top of her, his lean muscles and rock hard body feeling as perfect as ever beneath her hands. She held on with both hands, gripping his strong arms, anchoring herself, body and mind as he plunged
inside.
He gasped as he moved, “I’m not gonna last.”
“It’s okay.” She didn’t know how long they had together, but she assumed it was long enough to do this again, at least once.
Breathing hard, he sped his stroke, held deep and shuddered.
Collapsing, he rolled to one side before his weight crushed her. He flopped back onto the pillow and threw one forearm over his face. “Damn. I’m sorry. I couldn’t hold on any longer.”
“It’s fine.” She moved closer so their legs touched, just happy he was there with her. In the same country. In the same state. In the same bed. It was all more than they’d had recently. “I’ve got nowhere else to be. We can do it again.”
“Oh, we’re definitely gonna do that again,” he said, laughing.
She took advantage of the opportunity to escape to the bathroom to get cleaned up while Thom lay, still fighting to regain his breath. Ginny swung her legs over the other side of the bed and slipped off to the bathroom.
In private, she washed away the dried tears from her face and swiped on some quick light makeup. The natural look was one thing, but she saw him too infrequently to completely abandon putting on at least a bit when he was around.
She pulled on a robe before going back out, where she found Thom watching her from the bed, right where she’d left him.
Feeling nostalgic and vulnerable again, she tried to memorize the look of him there so she could revisit it when he was gone again.
All that thought did was make the tears threaten to emerge again.
Thom frowned. “You still look sad. What’s wrong, baby?”
“I don’t want to ruin your visit. Let’s not talk about it.”
“No.” He pinned her with his stare. “That’s not how this works. We’re a team.”
“Yeah? What’s our name? SEAL Team 2 for the two of us?” She joked to lighten the mood, without much luck.
“Uh, no. There’s already one of those. Come on. Tell me. What’s wrong?”
“I miss you already.” The tears really let loose at the admission, in spite of his smile.
He reached for her, grasping her hand in his and pulling her closer. “But I’m right here.”
“You won’t be for long. You’ll have to leave again.” She let him pull her to the bed and kneeled on the edge of the mattress.
Thom locked his gaze on hers. “I know. Things have been particularly crazy lately. It’s Ramadan.”
“What?” she asked, confused.
He shook his head. “Nothing for you to worry about, but I swear to you, usually I spend seventy-five percent of the time training and a lot of that happens right in Virginia.”
“But I’m not in Virginia. I’m here.”
“Yeah. That’s kind of what I came here to talk to you about. About changing that. Soon, I hope.”
Heart pounding, Ginny listened to his words. What was he saying?
“How is that going to change?” she asked, breathless.
Thom blew out a huff of air and said, “I guess this is as good a time as any.”
He dropped his hold on her and got out of bed. He walked, barefoot and naked, to the jumble of clothes on the floor.
After pulling on his underwear, he bent to grab the jeans he’d dropped. He felt in the pocket as he said, “I had been hoping to a least have on pants when I did this but . . .”
Through her tears, she watched him pull a ring box out of the pocket of the jeans in his hands. It was like standing indoors and trying to see outside through a rain drenched window. Everything appeared wavy and watery as he got down on one knee and flipped open the box.
She dashed away the tears with both hands and tried to get a clearer view because inside that box was a thin gold band featuring a single sparkling diamond.
“Will you marry me?” As he stared up at her holding that ring, her dark haired warrior, the man she loved to the point of pain, there was nothing in the world she wanted more.
There was also no way to control the tears that fell anew.
She nodded until her curls tumbled across her eyes. Blowing the hair out of the way she swiped at her tears again.
“Is that a yes?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Thom stood.
He stepped closer and took her hand. His larger one warmed hers as he slid the ring onto her finger. She felt the tremble in his hands, or maybe it was her who was shaking.
She didn’t have much time to think more about it as Thom’s eyes narrowed and he pressed closer, cradling her face in his hands.
“Come here, soon to be wife.” He kissed her as if it were the first time, but at the same time with a familiarity that came from years of loving each other.
“Are we heading back to bed?” she asked, through the kiss.
“Mm, hm.” His response was muffled by her mouth.
She didn’t argue. There was nothing she wanted more than spending every second with Thom. It didn’t matter what they did—eat, walk, snuggle on the sofa in front of the TV. . . If she was touching him, even better. And if he was naked?
Yeah, that proofreading job was going to have to wait. So was everything else on her schedule.
He was hard again. She felt him pressing against her as he backed her toward the bed, sliding the robe off her shoulders at the same time. “You might as well stop putting your clothes back on. I’m just gonna take them off again.”
“You put on your underwear,” she pointed out.
“Thanks for reminding me.” He pushed the offending item down his legs and kicked until they went flying to the floor. “There.”
Wrapping his arms around her until she was captive in his embrace, he tumbled them both to the bed. He was over her, pressing her into the mattress with his weight, his muscles flexing beneath her hands as she wrapped her arms around his back.
She clung to him as he moved and felt her body react to his, tightening, poised for release.
Running her hands down, she pulled him in tighter, closer against her and cried out with the orgasm that hit.
A tremble ran through him as he moved, slow and deep, as her body gripped his until her spasms slowed. Then Thom’s stroke sped.
He loved her fast and hard until she felt him straining above her. He drove into her with one final stroke and groaned before he collapsed on top of her.
It was a while before he rolled off her, but she didn’t mind. She’d happily be crushed by him. But when she was free she extricated her hand from the tangle of bedding and stared down at the strange sight of the ring on her finger.
He angled his head on the pillow to glance her direction and laughed. “You know, I was a little worried about asking you.”
Bracing his head on his hand as he propped up on one elbow, Thom reached out to take hold of her left hand. He ran his thumb over the ring.
“Really?” Ginny frowned. “Why?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I was afraid you’d had it with all the bullshit. With the travel and me canceling on you all the time. I was afraid that you were tired of it all and me.”
“No. I love you too much. I’d never get tired of you.” She shook her head, baffled that he could possibly not realize how much she loved him. How much she wanted to be with him all the time.
And now she would be. That fact still hadn’t settled in yet.
He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s good, because there’s something I have to tell you.”
Uh, oh. By the look on his face and the tone of his voice, she guessed she wasn’t going to like it.
CHAPTER 8
“It looks like we can apply for the license today. Thirty bucks. Bargain.” Thom leaned closer to the screen. “Fun fact, if we get the license today we can legally get married tomorrow.”
With hair still damp from his post-sex shower and dressed in nothing but a pair of U.S. NAVY shorts, he looked yummy and right at home on Ginny’s sofa. She wouldn’t mind if he was on it a who
le lot more often.
He was going away again soon, he’d already told her that, even though he wouldn’t say exactly when or to where, but they had until Sunday night. That was still days away. Days they didn’t even have to leave this room if they didn’t want to.
Thom looked up from the laptop. “Ginny?”
“Hmm?” Cradling her tea mug in both hands and thinking more about his muscles than his words she forced her attention to what he was saying.
He smiled. “What have you got in that mug? You celebrating our engagement with a drink without me?”
She walked to the sofa. Perched on the edge, she tried to pull the sides of her robe closer to her legs with one hand. “Just tea. What did you say before?”
“I said, if we get moving and can make it to the,” he referred to the screen, “Stamford Government Center on Washington Boulevard before fifteen-thirty today we can get our license.”
Stupid military time. Narrowing her eyes as she concentrated, Ginny was just doing the math and subtracting twelve from fifteen in her head when Thom smirked.
“That’s three-thirty.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.” Annoyed he’d caught her figuring it out with her shitty math skills she scowled, until she realized what he was saying. “Wait, today? Why?
“There’s a one day delay between getting the license and getting married. Doesn’t it make sense to have it in our hands so we can do it whenever we want?”
“Yeah. Does it expire though?”
He shook his head. “Not for sixty-five days.”
“Sixty-five days?” she squeaked.
“That’s two months, plus a couple of days.”
She frowned at him. “I know. I can do that math. Just not stupid military time. But that’s so soon. You want to get married within the next two months?”
“Yes. I’d get married tomorrow if you wanted, but definitely after I get back from this next assignment. The sooner, the better. Don’t you want that too?”
“I do. I want to be married to you, more than anything in the world. I’m just not sure I want to get married that fast.”
He stared at her with a blank expression that told Ginny he didn’t grasp the nuance.
