Dave inched the plank forward. Beads of sweat trickled into his narrowed eyes. For a moment, everything blurred. He eased the plank beneath Tara’s heel. “Okay, here it comes….” And he nudged it forward one slow, torturous inch at a time.
For the next five minutes, Tara felt as if her life was over. But the plank was smooth from age and weathering, allowing it to slide friction-free beneath the sole of her boot. She tried to remember to breathe, but kept holding her breath.
Dave maneuvered closer to Tara. The plank was now in position between her foot and the mine. “Okay, Burt, roll that rock up on it…and be nice and delicate about it….”
Tara saw the other team members watching them, saw the fear and anxiety on every face. Their expressions mirrored how she felt. Hearing the crunch of sand as the boulder was eased up on the lip of the plank, she froze.
“Good…good,” Dave murmured. “A little more now…yeah…we got it on the edge. Good…”
Tara heard the relief in his voice. Some of her fear abated because he sounded so positive. Every joint in her lower body ached. She was beginning to tremble in earnest from the hips downward. The crunching sound started again. She felt the boulder come up against her heel.
“Okay, babe, I want you to slowly ease your foot forward about two inches….”
Tara realized Dave had slipped and called her by the endearment. She knew the sergeant had heard it. Right now, that wasn’t important. As she carefully slid her boot forward, she found it easy to move along the smooth planking.
“Great,” Dave whispered. He was holding the board down with both hands, using his full weight to keep it steady. The mine wouldn’t go off under the circumstances unless it was very old. Not all Russian land mines were state of the art, he knew. Many went off without reasonable cause. Breathing through his mouth, he watched Burt roll the boulder forward, until it met the heel of Tara’s boot.
“Excellent, excellent,” Dave whispered. “Okay, Tara, this is it. I want you to slide your foot forward and off the plank. We’ve got the boulder on it now, plus my weight. Go ahead…move. And once you do, get as far away from us as fast as you can. Understand? Run to the team. They’re a safe distance away.”
“But…what about you and Burt?”
“We’ll be fine. Just do it, Tara…Now!”
Holding her breath, she slid her boot off the plank. Instantly, she heard the grinding of the boulder rolling forward.
Rushing away, she raced toward the team, who gestured for her to run to them.
Panting heavily, she stopped and turned around once she reached them. Her knees were wobbly and she found herself swaying dizzily. Someone took her M–4 off her shoulder. Another man helped her sit down in one of the all-terrain vehicles. Her gaze, however, was riveted on Dave and Burt as they knelt over the mine. Hands pressed against her heart, she felt raging fear for both of them. What if the rock wasn’t the right weight? What if, as Dave eased his own weight off the plank, the mine exploded?
Seconds seem to drag like hours for Tara. She watched as Dave slowly inched back, lifting his hands away from the plank. The banked terror in both men’s faces turned to relief as they slowly got to their feet and backed away.
Within a minute, it was all over. The boulder stayed on the board, unmoving. She saw Dave turn, sling his arm around Burt’s shoulders and slap him with hearty congratulations on the back before they both jogged forward. The entire team broke out into a cry of victory. Someone handed Tara a bottle of water. She thanked him and drank deeply, her throat parched.
As she lowered the bottle and wiped her wet lips, she saw Dave’s gaze pinned on her. Oh, how she wanted to fly to his arms, but she knew she couldn’t. Tara sat there on the verge of tears, battling them back. This team deserved her courage, not her sobs. Another time, she would cry and release this backlog of fear from her brush with death.
Right now, as Dave approached, she wondered what would happen next between them. In the midst of a terrible situation, they’d both confessed their love for one another.
Chapter 5
“We’re home,” Tara said as she walked back into the operations building where her life-changing mission had started nearly three months before. No one heard her say it because the families of the returning Spec For teams were surging around the heroes of Afghanistan. Dave had gotten separated from her by the crush of wives, children, parents and siblings who were joyously greeting the weary warriors.
It was 0300 in the morning, but Fort Campbell’s Ops building was bulging with loved ones who would have their men home for Christmas, which was two days away.
Shouldering her pack and rifle, Tara moved slowly through the jubilant crowd, her gaze pinned on the double doors that would lead outside to the snowy darkness. They’d had snow at Tarin Kowt before they left, and now here.
Tara forced back her tears as sadness filled her. Her time with Dave was at an end, she knew. Because he had been assisting the team that came in to replace them in that corner of Afghanistan, he hadn’t been able to devote any personal time to her. Tara understood and accepted that; a new team coming in had to get to know the lay of the land, the procedures and protocols that had been established.
“Wait!”
It was Dave’s voice rising above the din of noise. Tara halted near the doors. She saw him moving toward her, his green beret on his head, his face smooth-shaven once more and a glint in his dark eyes. Instantly, her heart speeded up. The look he gave her lightened her soul and made her hope again.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said with a grin as he pushed opened the brass-and-glass door for her.
Outside, Tara breathed deeply of the cool, refreshing air as they carefully moved down the concrete steps. Families were still coming and going, but the crowd had thinned.
“Over here,” he said, and pointed to a stately elm that stood in the center of the snow-covered lawn. He hefted his bag and rifle as he walked alongside her.
Tara dropped her pack near the gray trunk of the tree. Its girth was wide, indicating how old it was. Snowflakes twirled lazily out of the darkness above them. Straightening, she saw Dave drop his pack, too, and sling the M–4 over his left shoulder.
“This is a great night,” he told her with a grin, his breath a white mist in the frosty air.
“Yes, it is….” Tara smiled faintly. She leaned against the tree, feeling exhaustion threading through her. “It’s great to be home….”
“Speaking of which,” he said, lowering his voice so that only she could hear, “we haven’t had time to be together in the last couple of weeks.” Dave saw her lashes lift, revealing those heart-stopping blue eyes of hers. Since the incident with the land mine, he’d sworn to himself that he would treat every minute with her as if it were the last. Mouth tightening, he whispered, “Tara, I want you to stay here, with me…. I know you have thirty days leave coming. Stay here, babe…let’s explore what we have. Give ourselves the time we need under less pressured circumstances to see if it’s genuine. I know it is, but we need to do this for ourselves.” He stopped himself from reaching out to touch her cheek. Her hair had grown longer, the dark strands framing her oval face—a face he loved fiercely. Searching her eyes, he said, “What do you think? What do you want to do?”
“I wasn’t sure, Dave. About us…. You know—wartime romance and all…”
“Listen to me,” he rasped, coming closer, his head inches from hers. “If that mine situation brought one thing home to me, it’s that what I feel for you is real and deep. And lasting, Tara.” How he needed to kiss her! The last time had been two weeks ago, and he ached to crush her warm, soft mouth beneath his. To feel her strong, womanly arms come around his shoulders as she pressed herself wantonly against him.
“I thought you might want to go home to your family?”
He shook his head. “I’ll call them. They’ll understand. How about you? Your family?”
“Well…I had wanted to be with you. I was going to phone them, too….
”
Heart lifting with relief, he looked around. They still couldn’t be too familiar with one another; showing affection for a fellow officer in public just wasn’t done. “That’s all I need to know. They’ve got you billeted at the BOQ, Barracks Officers Quarters?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll walk you over there. It’s not far from here. And then I’ll get a lift home to my apartment, which is off base. How about I pick you up tomorrow, say, at 1500? That will give us both a chance to sleep in and get over this jet lag. Pack your bag, because you’re moving in with me, babe. We’re going to celebrate Christmas together….”
“This smells so good,” Tara said as she cut into the thick, juicy portion of baked turkey. Dave’s apartment was small but surprisingly warm and comfortable. It was 1600, late afternoon, and he’d dropped by the BOQ to pick her up, then had brought her home. He’d made a complete turkey dinner for them all on his own, which surprised her. Most men didn’t know how to boil water, much less cook.
“Like it?” Dave sat at her elbow at the small rectangular table, which was beautifully set with a white linen tablecloth. A bright red poinsettia graced one corner. The gleaming silverware, white china and goblets of crimson wine added to the festive atmosphere. In the background, Christmas music played, inspiring warm feelings in Dave. Tara was his family now…or at least he hoped so.
“Yes,” Tara murmured. Looking at the fluffy mashed potatoes slathered in thick, dark brown gravy, and the chestnut stuffing, she added, “Did you sleep at all? This feast didn’t just appear out of nowhere.”
He grinned. “I got up early,” he admitted. “Helluva change from eating MREs out in the Afghan desert, isn’t it?”
Chuckling, Tara said, “Sure is. Sand in every bite. We’ve probably eaten enough dirt to last us the rest of our lives.” She drank in how handsome he looked in civilian clothes. The winter storm was still blanketing the Midwest, and Kentucky now looked like a picture postcard. Dave wore a bright red sweater, a college-style white shirt beneath it, the collar starched and pressed. The jeans he wore fit his lower body to perfection, and Tara had to squelch the urge to run her hands across his hips and down his hardened thighs. Dave simply invited a hands-on approach, and she felt another kind of hunger stirring in her.
“I like the look in your eyes,” he confided in a conspiratorial tone. As he passed her the small bowl of cranberries, their fingers touched and he met her shy smile. Dave thought Tara looked incredibly beautiful in her pale pink angora sweater with its cowl neck. The tan slacks she wore flattered her lower body, reminding him of the delicious curves he’d memorized with his hands on those few, precious nights they’d spent together at Khalid’s home.
“I guess I’m hungry in other ways, too,” Tara confided. She felt heat moving up her neck and into her face. Seeing an understanding glint in Dave’s green eyes, she placed the cranberry bowl on the table between them.
“You’re dessert to me, no question.”
“And vice versa.”
“It’s been hell waiting,” Dave said as he sipped the burgundy wine, “but worth it.”
Frowning a little, Tara finished off her meal and put her plate aside. “Dave, you know I have to leave after thirty days. My job is in Washington, D.C.”
Picking up the plates, he stood and took them to the small kitchen, setting them in the sink. “Yeah, I know.”
“Kentucky is a long way from D.C.” Tara got up and followed him into the kitchen as he ran water over the plates and set them in the dishwasher.
“I’m working on that,” he murmured. Turning toward her, he wiped his hands on a nearby towel. “Right now, the most beautiful gift I’ve ever been given is standing in front of me….” And he stepped forward and placed his arms around Tara’s shoulders. Grazing her chin, he raised it and looked down into her worried gaze. “Love always finds a way, babe. Believe in that.”
Closing her eyes, Tara moved against him and slid her arms around his waist, her head pressed against his chest. Just the soothing sound of his heart beneath her ear calmed some of her anxiousness. “I want to, Dave. I really do….”
Kissing her soft, clean hair, he marveled at the glossy reddish strands mixed in with the darker ones. “Listen, if we could save your life after you stepped on that land mine, anything else is a piece of cake, believe me.”
Laughing, Tara raised her head and melted beneath his dancing green gaze. His smile was careless and boyish. “You know what I’d like to do right now?” she said playfully.
“Name it and it’s yours.”
“I want to go outside and make a snowman. I love making them.”
Dave nodded. They needed to work off this meal, anyway. “Let’s go do it….”
As daylight changed to darkness, the snow stopped falling. By the time the snowman, a substantial specimen, was built, Tara saw the moon rising above the naked branches of the trees in front of Dave’s apartment. Her breath a white mist, she laughed as he came over, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and admired their mutual work.
“Great teamwork.” The snowman had a green beret on its head, a red scarf around its neck and twigs for arms. Tara had found just the right size stones from around the edge of the building to make its eyes, nose and mouth. “A Spec For snowman,” he exclaimed.
Laughing, Tara said, “He looks ready to enlist, Captain.”
Pulling her against him, Dave murmured, “The last two hours flew by. Look at that moon. She’s beautiful.” And he pointed upward into the dark sky. The moon was past its first quarter, shining like a silvery lantern and casting shadows around the yard where they stood.
“Every full moon was dangerous for us over in Afghanistan,” Tara whispered. Absorbing Dave’s nearness, the feel of his arm across her shoulders, she saw him lose his smile and nod. The bright light of the moon made them targets when they roved around at night looking for the Taliban. The dark of the moon was always their friend, she had discovered.
“I know… Hey, let’s go in. I want to love you, Tara….”
Closing her eyes, she smiled softly and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. “Yes….”
In the bedroom Tara found a queen-size bed with a downy quilt of white across it. Her heart raced with anticipation as she stood near it, with Dave next to her, his hands on her hips as he looked down into her uplifted face. His fingers moved to the hem of her sweater and she felt him begin to slide it upward. The moonlight shafted through the gossamer lavender curtain panels, casting beams across the oak floor where they stood.
The fine prickle of the sweater grazing her flesh as he lifted it over her head made her shiver. Beneath it, Tara wore a pale pink silk camisole and no bra. As she watched Dave place the sweater over a straight-backed chair nearby, she smiled at him.
“My turn…” She stepped boldly up to him and eased his red sweater off.
“I like this,” he murmured wickedly, and allowed her to open his shirt, one button at a time. When he saw her fingers tremble slightly, he leaned down and gently teethed her earlobe. For a moment, she didn’t move. Smiling, he knew he’d found a delicious spot that gave her pleasure. With his mouth against her temple, nuzzling soft, silken strands of her hair, he breathed in her fragrance as a woman.
“Keep going….” he rasped near her ear.
Laughing softly, Tara said, “You’re making this tough, Dave!” And he was. His mouth trailed a series of soft, provocative kisses across her brow, and then he teethed her earlobe once more. The prickles came again, wild and electric. Finally, she divested him of the shirt. It fell in a heap at their feet.
Placing her hands on his hard, flat stomach, she felt the warmth of him and the strength of him. Sliding her palms upward, she ran her fingers through the short, dark hair across his massive chest, making him groan. Tara closed her eyes and felt her knees weakening as his large, square hands grazed her breasts beneath the camisole.
“Just getting to touch you,” Dave breathed, as he worked on the closu
re on her slacks, “is grace to me. You know how you go through life trying to do right by others? You get burned so many times and you wonder if it’s all worth it.” He opened his eyes and drew back to drown in Tara’s vivid blue gaze as the slacks fell with a whisper around her ankles and feet. Helping her step free of them, he felt her hands settle on the waistband of his jeans.
“Grace,” Tara said. “I like being seen as grace in your life.”
“I never thought I had any,” Dave murmured, easing out of the jeans and pushing them aside. Gripping her hand, he led her to the bed. “Until now. Until you came into my life, babe.” Lying down, he brought Tara alongside him. Her legs were long and strong. Moving his palm from her hip down one firm, smooth thigh, he added in a deep, husky tone, “You’re my gift, you know that? I knew it from the first moment I saw you, but I fought it.” Shaking his head, he began to ease away the camisole from Tara’s body. “Stupid me.” He grinned crookedly as he rolled over to look at her breasts for the first time.
Tara couldn’t speak as his roughened hand slid reverently around the curve of her breasts. Instantly, her nipples hardened and she moaned, pressing herself against him. Before her mind turned completely to mush, she pushed the boxer shorts he wore down his hips. Dave helped by removing them and casting them aside. All that was left were her silken panties, which he turned his attention to next.
Wild tingles moved provocatively over her skin when he slid his index finger beneath the band. As he flattened his hand against her belly and eased the panties down her legs, Tara felt a hunger she’d never experienced before. She looked up and saw him smiling down at her, like a man who was proud of the woman he loved. The moment he settled his hand on her rib cage and caressed the curve of her breast again, she sighed.
“You saved my life….” she whispered tremulously, arching against him, wanting more. “I could see how much you loved me then, Dave. I saw it in your eyes. I heard it in your voice….”
In Love and War Page 12
