Page 63 of Duty Bound

Lily stared at her. What the hell. Why not tell Soraya the story? It wasn’t like she was going to see her again, anyway, and it felt good to talk to someone about the mash-up of emotions she’d been experiencing.

“I met him once, a long time ago.”

Soraya stirred the stew, nodding encouragingly.

“I didn’t much like him. I thought he was cocky, self-assured, and one of the most arrogant men I’d ever met.”

Soraya laughed. “But you were mistaken?”

“Very. He’s not like that at all.”

“I understand. He has made a strong impression on you, yes?”

Lily nodded miserably. Strong was an understatement. Heart-racing, heat-provoking, leg-weakening. Any—or all—of those would be more appropriate. Not to mention the effect he had on other areas of her anatomy.

Soraya shrugged. “The past is the past, we cannot change it. It’s the present that’s important. You still have control over that. You can decide what happens next with you and this handsome, arrogant man.”

Lily’s heart twisted painfully. “There can be no future for us. Spade was his best friend. Blade won’t betray his memory.”

“That’s a shame.” Soraya pursed her lips. “You two look good together.”

She shrugged. It was what it was. “I feel so safe around him. Maybe I’m mistaking that for attraction.”

“Having a man capable of protecting you is very attractive.” Soraya nodded knowingly. “That's what attracted me to Stitch when he first came to my village. He was here asking questions about the Taliban and seemed so powerful. So… how do you say? Macho?”

Lily nodded.

Yeah. Macho was a good way to describe him.

Them.

Blade.

She felt a surge of longing so strong it almost made her wince, but Soraya hadn’t noticed. “Yet he wasn’t aggressive like the other soldiers I’d met. He was kind. I could see it in his eyes.”

“Blade said that’s how you two met.” An odd match, but at the same time, they were so perfect for each other.

“My father was ill, and Stitch treated him with an antibiotic. I thanked him by cooking a meal for him and his friends. After that, I knew he was the man for me.”

“But he went away again?” Lily had thought they’d only gotten together when Stitch had gone AWOL.

Soraya looked up. “He was in a bad way when he came back. The Taliban killed his friends. He’d witnessed it and had been unable to help them. You can imagine how a doctor might feel after that. Badly in need of a break, he left his unit. He needed time to emotionally heal and didn’t want anyone to know where he was. My father, who is a very important man in the village, took him in. We hid him for weeks, until he recovered.”

“That was very brave of your father.”

“He is a brave man.”

“What happened then?”

“Stitch became part of the family. It helped that he spoke Pashto. He helped my father, treated people in the village—everybody fell in love with him.”

Lily could see that happening. Stitch, with his good looks, wide smile, and easy charm would easily have integrated himself into the community.

“Including you?” It was a romantic story.

“My father was against the union, at first.” Soraya checked the stew. “But eventually he came around.”

“I'm glad it worked out for you,” Lily said wistfully. She dumped the chopped tomatoes into the bowl.

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