Page 116 of Protective Heroes

She waited.

“Remember when we were talking about me going back to Afghanistan?”

Her face paled, and she jerked away from his hold and into a sitting position. She dragged the sheet up over her breasts, and it hurt him to see how she shielded herself. He rubbed a hand over his face, wishing this was just a bad dream.

“When?” Her voice broke.

“Week’s end.”

Her mouth fell open. “Three days?”

He swallowed hard at the pain swirling inside his chest and nodded.

She rocketed out of bed, wrapping herself in the sheet. “When were you going to tell me? You brought me here knowing this information, yet you kept it from me?” Her voice pitched louder.

He got off the bed and tried to take her in his arms, but she refused to let him comfort her. Or maybe it was her way of saying he didn’t have her at all now that he was leaving. A burning took up residence in his gut.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you first, but I didn’t want this to feel like an end.”

“What did you want it to feel like?” Angry tears made her eyes sparkle.

He spread out his hands. “I wanted it to feel like a beginning.”

A sob left her, and he took her against his chest and rubbed her back, her hair, and kissed the spot between her streaming eyes. “I’m in love with you, Allison. That isn’t going to change once I go.”

“Damn you, Lincoln. You broke down all my walls and now you’re going to leave me vulnerable and bleeding!”

He felt like such an ass. How to fix this? He couldn’t let her walk away from him. He had to go to war knowing she was his.

“Do you love me, Allison?” He kissed her earlobe, sending a shudder through her. When she didn’t answer, he kissed the corner of her mouth. “Do you love me, baby? Not just how I make you feel in bed.”

She shook in his hold.

He brushed his lips gently over hers. Once, twice.

“Yes, I love you, Lincoln! Now take me, show me how much you love me and that you’ll come home to me!” She dropped the sheet, exposing her full beautiful body, her peaked nipples and wet pussy.

He picked her up and showed her just that, and for a very long time.

Nine

Allison stared into her steaming coffee mug at the little mocha-colored heart shaped there by the barista and tried not to cry. Right now, Lincoln’s unit was getting ready to deploy, and he’d be gone for months. A year maybe.

Or he may never return to her.

She bit her lip and fought off that thought before it could make her despair any worse.

Jessy rested her hand atop Allison’s. Her friend looked worried for her. “It’s going to be all right, Allison. This is how all Army wives feel.”

“I’m not an Army wife.”

“Not yet, but you will be. Lincoln’s in love with you, and you clearly love him enough to wait for him. I have eyes, woman. I see. Hell, the aliens from two galaxies over can see what I see.”

She nodded knowing her friend was trying to make her laugh but all she managed was a soft smile. She used her coffee stirrer to zig-zag through the heart in her coffee, breaking it into pieces. “I don’t know how I’ll live without him. We just met and now he’s being taken away from me.”

Jessy patted her hand again, her eyes mirroring the sadness Allison felt. She turned her hand upward and squeezed her friend’s. “You’re such an empathetic friend. Thank you for agreeing to have coffee with me.”

“Of course, and the Rise and Grind beats Walker’s. I’m glad you suggested it.” Jessy took a sip of her caramel macchiato, and Allison tried her cappuccino. The warmth and sweetness improved her mood slightly, and her tears receded for the moment. She’d cried what felt like floods already—enough to fill up Willow’s Pond.

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