Page 9 of No Second Chances

Linc kisses me again and then goes to clean up.

Honestly, I don’t expect him to come back after the door opens quietly. He does, however, shutting off the light before he crawls back into my bed. It isn’t until he’s pulling me into his arms that I realize he isn’t leaving.

“You don’t have to stay,” I whisper sleepily.

He snorts. “Yeah. I do. This is the only place I want to be.”

I’m not sure if he says anything else after that, because I’m drunk on him. His scent, the way it feels to be wrapped in his arms, everything. My heart breaks a little at the fact that I can’t keep him forever.

For now, I’ll forget that problem, leaving it to face later.

Sleep comes first. Running away from my feelings can wait.

* * *

Linc

Kennedy sneaks out as soon as the sun comes up. I have to force myself not to go after her and drag her back to bed. After a perfect night together, there is no chance in hell that I will ever be able to get her out from under my skin or out of my head.

Except my phone starts to go off as soon as the door closes behind her. I know, without even looking at it, that everything with Kennedy is going to have to wait. There is only one number programmed to ring through my silent setting. Being recalled back, having my vacation cut short, and not getting to make sure Kennedy knows how I feel, I do the only thing I can and leave one of my dog tags behind so that she knows we aren’t done. Not by a long shot.

“Fuck.”

That was six months ago, and I swear I can still smell her on my skin. I’ll never be able to get Kennedy out of my mind. She seems to always be there, even when I’m stranded in the middle of the desert all the way across the world without a single reminder of her. Except the memory of our night together that I can’t forget, even if I try.

I’m so deep in thought that I completely miss Remy joining me on the back of the Humvee. I don’t, however, miss the cough that says he wants my attention.

“Are we ever going to talk about Kennedy?”

Even him saying her name has me on edge. “No.”

I refuse to talk about her, not with him or with anyone.

Remy knows we spent a night together. How could he not when I walked out into the hall to see Kennedy staring at her brother’s still-packed bags. She’d been crying, asking him not to go even though we had a job to do. We had signed a contract with the military that was pretty damn unbreakable. When she figured out what was happening, Kennedy had turned to me. She made me swear to bring her brother back alive or not to come back at all.

“She won’t talk about you either,” he says sullenly. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I thought you should know.”

This is the first time since that day that we’ve discussed Kennedy at any length. Just knowing that she won’t talk about our night together does something to me.

“She’s wearing your dog tag though. My mom said she won’t take it off.”

His words are almost enough to destroy me, but I don’t give in. Instead, I nod and turn away before the emotions in my throat get the best of me. Giving her that, a piece of me, was the most important thing I could give her. Thinking about it makes my hand itch to reach up and rub that little piece of metal. Maybe she does the same thing and thinks of me.

Remy sighs and then pushes off the back of the Humvee that we are currently using as a rest.

“Figures.” He turns back to face me with his rifle in his hand. “Don’t make me shoot you for hurting her. I’d hate it, but I’d still do it.”

A nod is all I can give him. It’s not like I can tell him the truth. His sister refuses to talk to me. She doesn’t answer my calls, emails, or instant messages that I send to every social media profile she has. I’m turning into a fucking stalker and there is nothing I can do about it. I love her; I always have and always will. I just need to get in front of her and make her see me.

“Hey, dicks.” Danny slaps Remy on the shoulder and joins our circle with Daisy, his service dog, by his side. “Parker’s having a boy.”

“No shit?” I push off the Humvee and grab my brother up in a brief hug, ignoring the way Daisy tries to press between us. “Another boy in the family. That’s great news!”

He is grinning, like he constantly is nowadays. “Yeah. I’m happier than a pig in shit.”

Danny and Parker got married literally hours before we got on a plane to leave for Afghanistan. He left his new wife at home with our family to help her get through it.

“You’re cutting it close, aren’t you?” We still have another two months left, and honestly, he’ll be lucky to get home in time for his son to be born.

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