The Soldier's Promise

by Patricia Potter

  And Amos? Josh was proud of him and how far he had come these past weeks in Covenant Falls. Maybe Amos hadn’t had the chance to be just a dog. He’d been trained to be a soldier.

  “I have some dog toys inside,” he said to Nick. “Why don’t you come in and pick out a few they might like? And maybe, just maybe, there might be a dog treat or two, as well.”

  Nick and the dogs went in first, then Josh held the door open for Eve.

  “Rummage as much as you like,” he told Nick, who moved quickly, both dogs at his side.

  Eve stood in the doorway, and he relished the astonished look on her face. “You have furniture. You actually got furniture.”

  “Yep.”

  “It looks like you,” she said.

  “I hope that’s good.”

  “Oh, yes. It belongs here.”

  So do you. He wanted to say the words so badly but resisted. He put a hand on her shoulder, his fingers touched her cheek and she leaned into his palm. Seconds passed. Magical seconds. Filled with unsaid words and an intensity that shook him to the core. Suddenly he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  What in the hell was he going to do about it?

  He breathed slowly. Nothing now. Her son was in the other room, would be here in a moment. He lowered his hand. “Will you go out with me?”

  She looked at him for what seemed forever. “Yes,” she said simply.

  “When?” He felt awkward.

  “Tonight. I’ll see if my in-laws can keep Nick after practice.”

  “Where do you go on a date in Covenant Falls?”

  “Well, there’s Maude’s,” she said with a grin.

  “I have a better idea. I can buy a couple of steaks and cook them outside,” he said. “I cleaned that darn barbecue pit and haven’t used it yet.”

  “And I have a bottle of good wine and can make a salad.”

  Their gazes met, and emotions swirled. Attraction rippled between them, so heated he had to take a step backward. He took a deep breath. “Done,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at...seven.”

  She gave him directions to her house. “I could just drive over here,” she said.

  “That wouldn’t be a date,” he replied.

  “You’re not worried about my reputation?” she teased him. “Last time I checked, I was over twenty-one and single, and right now I don’t care what anyone thinks, except for my son, and I think he would approve.”

  The air seemed to thicken between them, and the tension was almost unbearable. A decision had been silently made, and he sensed his life would not be the same.

  He stepped back and she turned away from him just as Nick, followed by the two dogs, came back into the room. He had a KONG ball in his hand and a stuffed fox with a long, long tail. “Mom, he’s got more toys than we do.”

  Eve looked at Josh with a raised eyebrow.

  He defended himself. “When I picked Amos up, I didn’t know what he liked, so I bought out a pet store. All for naught. He wouldn’t have anything to do with any of them.”

  “Maybe if you put cheese in the KONG, he would,” Nick said earnestly.

  “I’ll give that a shot,” Josh promised.

  Eve laughed, but it was a shaky laugh. “And that reminds me, Nicholas, my lad, that we have to take Braveheart back home and get you a snack before baseball practice.”

  “But Braveheart wants to stay.”

  “Translation, Nick wants to stay,” she said.

  “I think they will see each other again,” Josh said. “Soon.”

  “Can you come to baseball practice?” Nick asked.

  “Not this afternoon.” Josh discovered he wanted to go, but he had a stronger commitment. “I have some shopping to do.”

  “What about the game Saturday?” Nick persisted.

  “Afraid not, sport. I’m working on a roof.”

  “Aww.”

  “Give me a full report,” he said, “and I’ll be at the next one. Okay?”

  “Did you play baseball?” Nick asked.

  “In the army. I ran track in high school.”

  She glanced down at his bad leg.

  He shrugged, but he realized how little they knew about each other. The superficial stuff, sure, but not what made them who they were. Track was what had saved him.

  “Take Braveheart to the car,” she told Nick. Her son started to protest, then obviously thought better of it. Nick snapped the leash on a reluctant Braveheart and disappeared out the door.

  “Are you sure about tonight?” he said.

  “Yes.” She stood up on tiptoes and brushed her lips against his.

  Then she was gone.

  * * *

  EVE SAT THROUGH the baseball practice calmly enough, but her emotions were rioting. She talked to the other parents as if a momentous decision had not been made today. And she knew it had. She was opening the door. Opening her heart. And it terrified her.

  They left the field at six, and Abby took Nick home with her for an overnight visit. It made sense, Eve said, since she had to be at the roofing party early Saturday. Abby could take Nick to the ball game, then bring him to the roofing.

  She reached home at six-twenty and had forty minutes to get ready. She made a quick salad first. Lettuce, tomatoes, green onions and a little Gouda cheese with a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and herbs. It was all she had at the moment.

  Animal duty came next. She checked the horses’ water, then fed the dogs before letting them out for a few moments. Now she had twenty minutes. Darn, but she felt like a schoolgirl on her first date. She wondered whether she was ready for the fallout of her decision to have dinner with Josh. They had been relatively discreet until now. By tomorrow, though, she expected everyone in town would know they were dating.

  It was really foolish, she knew, for a single woman of almost thirty-five to be worried about something like that. But she had worked hard to build a professional and responsible image, and she was protective of the programs she’d fought for. She didn’t want anything to affect them. And her in-laws? It was one thing to urge her to date again, another to watch it actually happen, especially with someone new to town, someone who might well want to move.

  Be careful, she kept reminding herself, but nothing worked when she was with him. They gravitated toward each other like lodestones. She took a quick shower, ran a brush through her hair and pinned it back with a barrette. She dithered over what to wear. Certainly nothing fancy. It was just a dinner at home. She finally chose her favorite lounging wear: an elderly but clean pair of jeans and comfortable gray pearl shirt. It was time that he knew the real Eve, who would rather be on a horse than in a city hall office. She slipped on a pair of low-heeled sandals.

  She grabbed two bottles of red wine she kept for company dinners, then looked at the clock. Five to seven.

  She didn’t have to check for him out the window. Captain Hook and Miss Marple considered themselves the watchdogs. They started barking.

  She wondered whether she should wait for his knock, decided that was silly and went to the door. She had the immediate impression that he was as nervous as she.

  “Hi,” she said brilliantly.

  “Hi, yourself,” he replied, equally as eloquent. Then he smiled as his gaze swept over her. “I like this Eve,” he said, and she knew he meant it.

  She thrust the wine bottles into his hands and grabbed the salad. The dogs were standing in a semicircle in back of her.

  “The motley crew, I assume.” He was wearing his usual jeans and a blue denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He’d shaved, and the faint scent of aftershave was intriguing. But then everything about him intrigued her.

  She suddenly relaxed. This was Josh. The Josh she’d spent an afternoon with at the falls, who’d rescued
her son, whose gentleness with Amos had touched her. “In all their glory, or lack of it,” she replied.

  She locked the door as they left. He had gone ahead and put the wine bottles in the car, then held the Jeep door open for her. Their hands met, the warmth flowing through her. She saw the same awareness in his face. Neither moved for a moment, then she ducked inside the Jeep and fastened the seat belt.

  He went around the car and stepped inside. When he turned on the ignition, music came from a CD player, and she was surprised to hear classical music—a symphony she recognized. She didn’t know why she was surprised about anything concerning him. Whenever she thought she had him pegged, he startled her again.

  “I like your music.”

  “Me, too,” he said with amusement.

  “I took you for a jazz man. Maybe country.”

  “I like that, too. And blues and folk. Some pop.”

  “Anything you don’t like?”

  “Heavy metal.”

  “We’re musically compatible,” she said.

  Then they were at his cabin. Amos was watching at the window. “I thought it would be all right to leave him for twenty minutes,” he said. She started to get out of the car on her own, then noticed him limping quickly to get to her side. She waited, clutching the salad. He opened the door, offered his hand as she stepped out. He didn’t let go as they walked to the cabin. She moved closer to him, the salad now clutched in one arm.

  They went inside. Amos padded over to Josh and stood next to him. Protectively, she thought. She put the salad down on the table and scratched Amos’s ears, then looked around. He’d added a lamp between the sofa and lounge chair in addition to the two light fixtures in the ceiling. The evening sun that flowed in from the front windows gave the walls a rich golden glow.

  She looked at the room anew. She’d been distracted earlier, watching Nick and Braveheart interact with Amos. But now it had her full attention.

  A few books had been added to the bookcase, along with a stereo, giving the room a more lived-in look. She liked it. She liked it very much. It was like him. Masculine. Straightforward. Minimal but comfortable. Comfortable wouldn’t have fit two weeks ago, or even two days ago. But now she stood with him, and she was comfortable. There was still that edge. Maybe there would always be an edge. But she liked him. Really liked him, as well as being so physically attracted to him. There was no pretense about him. Even those protective walls of his now seemed surmountable.

  “It’s wonderful,” she said and saw him relax.

  “I’ll get the wine,” he said.

  She watched him walk to the car, the limp barely detectable. She had seen it much worse, and she wondered whether he was working to hide it. She didn’t have time to look longer because he was back, putting one bottle on the dining room table and opening the other.

  “No wineglasses,” he said wryly.

  “Now, why am I not surprised?” she said, reaching up and kissing his cheek. “I’m learning what is important to you and what isn’t. Any glass or cup will do just as well.”

  He gave her an approving look and went into the kitchen. She followed him and had time to look around. He’d painted it a soft yellow with white trim. The appliances, all obviously new, were white, as were the cupboards. The floor tiles were a swirling mix of cream and yellow. Sunlight flowed through a large spotless window. The kitchen was bright and happy. She wondered from what part within him it came.

  He reached up into a nearly empty cupboard and took down two water glasses, then located a corkscrew. “I found this at the market. Alas, no wineglasses,” he said with a crooked smile. He easily opened the bottle and poured them both a glass, handed one to her. He tapped his glass with hers in a toast. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said simply.

  Her heart filled to almost breaking as she took a sip, her gaze never leaving his face. “I am, too,” she said, but the words were inadequate for what she was feeling. She took another sip to cover her confusion. How could she feel so...full of need, so hungry for his touch? Each look, each move, caused her pulse to beat erratically.

  He put his glass down and took hers from hands that suddenly stopped working. He put her glass down as well, then raised his hands to her face and skimmed the backs of his knuckles along her cheekbones. “You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse.

  She wasn’t. Never had been. She was always the freckle-faced girl next door. But at this moment, looking into his eyes, she felt beautiful. His hands moved downward, skimming her body, igniting fires wherever he touched, fires that turned into a conflagration. Her legs were rubbery, her breath faster.

  Then he bent down and touched his lips to hers with a tenderness that overcame any reservations she might have had. His kiss deepened and the heat between them was like the deepest blue of a flame. Swirling eddies of desire enveloped her. Her arms went around him and held him close. She wanted to touch and feel and taste. Her lips melded with his, and her body quivered with need. Her heart thudded, the noise pounding in her ears.

  She warned herself to be cautious, but she’d well known this might happen and she had chosen to come anyway, and now warm, irresistible feelings flowed through her like a tide. She felt the tension in him, the barely restrained passion of his hands as they moved down her body.

  Then he tensed and pulled back. “Eve?”

  She knew what he was asking. She knew the risk. That he might leave and never come back and leave her heart in pieces. But she had lived like a nun these past years, avoiding risks, and now she couldn’t afford to avoid this one. She was in love with him. It had only been a few weeks, but she knew. There. She’d admitted it to herself. It was hard to believe that something this powerful could happen in such a short time and yet...there it was. Tom had been right. She was going to grab what she could get.

  She nodded.

  He released her and handed her the glass of wine while he went around the windows and pulled the curtains and dimmed the lights. He led her into his bedroom and Amos padded behind them. Once inside he took her in his arms again. “Are you sure?”

  She had not been in his bedroom before. It was monk-like with the one single bed, one chest. But then he had been army for nearly two decades, ready to go on a moment’s notice. So different from her own homes.

  But at this moment, she didn’t care. She wanted to feel him next to her, in her, as a part of her. She wanted to invade that aura of aloneness that was so much a part of him, and make him laugh and take away the horrors he’d known, and which still obviously haunted him.

  “It’s not very grand,” he said.

  “I think this is perfectly grand,” she replied and meant it. She loved this cabin and what he’d done with it.

  * * *

  JOSH SWALLOWED HARD when she spoke because he knew she meant it. To her, the cabin—small that it was—was grand. It was something else to him. It had meant survival to him. It had saved him from experiencing what so many other vets had suffered and were suffering. It had given him purpose and, along with Amos, had helped subdue the nightmares.

  But now it had become something else. Something he had forgotten existed inside him. And Eve had been there, quietly cheering him on. From that first day when she had trespassed on his land, she had challenged him when he needed challenging. She’d somehow led him to care again when he’d been so reluctant to let himself do that.

  He tightened his arms around her and relished her warmth, the way she felt next to him. His lips caressed hers with a possessiveness that jolted him. She was warm and alive and she had brought light into his life. Light and laughter and caring. He wanted her more than he thought possible.

  “Are you sure?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  “Oh, yes,” she said. “But...”

  He held his breath.

  “I wish you would act with more
alacrity.” Her eyes laughed up at him.

  “I’ll try to improve,” he replied with a grin.

  Damn, but she was amazing. He never knew what to expect—the serious Eve or the sassy one that popped out when he least expected it. But he hastened to follow her suggestion. He kissed her again and felt her hand move to the back of his neck, stroking the sensitive nerves, plunging him into waves of sensation.

  He was all thumbs as he tackled her shirt, but he finally undid the last button, then he undid the bra, thinking how perfect her breasts were. Round and firm. The nipples were already growing rosy and hard. He leaned down and his tongue ran lightly over one of her breasts, then the other.

  Then she undid the zipper of his jeans and pulled them down. He stepped out of them, taking his boxers with them, and she stepped out of her slacks.

  His hands went to the small of her back, turning her and guiding her down on the bed. They settled next to each other, hands joined, asking for nothing more at the moment than just being together. He studied her body. Hers was so perfect. His looked like a battlefield, but all he saw in her eyes was wonder.

  She touched the various scars where shrapnel had hit him during that last battle, including the faint one on the side of his face. Then she kissed him, slowly, sensually, until he was throbbing with need.

  He touched her breasts, then moved his mouth down to her body, caressing, tasting, nibbling until she was trembling and straining toward him. He felt her pulse quicken, and then he was on top of her, teasing and touching until she cried out. He turned away for a second to open the small package he’d bought earlier. Then he turned back to her, angled his body above her.

  He probed slowly, taking his time, waiting until she wrapped her arms around him, letting him know she was ready.

  She made a small cry. He felt her body tremble, then move instinctively to welcome him. Sensations flamed and sent waves of heat glowing through every part of him. He moved in rhythm with her, a wanton dance that grew more and more frantic until he heard her cry out. Then, still connected, they rolled to the side, each clutching the other as waves of pleasure continued to rock them. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to relish every last quiver.