Page 43 of Evening Shadows

He scoffed. “I just need to lean on you, not have you carry me.”

“You’ve never had a woman ride to your rescue, have you?”

“No,” he said shortly. He guessed he’d soon learn how it felt.

“Right,” she said. “Evening meal.”

No meal arrived that evening.

***

“Ihope we’re home for a while after this op,” Lance Milton told his teammates over their comms.

Ken with Jesse—Captain Hamilton—in the lead Humvee listened to his team, but his attention, like he knew theirs was, was focused on the surrounding area. They’d left civilization behind and passed only small areas with a few shacks left standing. That didn’t ease their threat, but it made things harder for a terrorist to follow them without notice.

“Why’s that?” Adam Shodun asked with a chuckle.

They all knew the answer before Lance even spoke, as he’d mentioned it many times over.

“This time I’m going to get her pregnant,” Lance stated matter-of-factly, as if he’d already done the deal.

With Lance being the closest thing to a best bud that he had, Ken knew the reasons for his need to impregnate his wife. Lance figured it’d make Sam leave the police force so he didn’t have to worry about her so much.

When they’d met Sam, he, Lance, and Adam had been drinking beers and talking shit at a sports bar. When Adam’s now wife then sex interest, Beverly, walked in with her extraordinarily beautiful friend, Adam had moved faster than a rattlesnake striking to get the two women to the table.

Immediately, Ken had felt the burning attraction to Sam. Her long blonde hair flowed past her shoulders and gleamed in the overhead lights. When her shining blue eyes, met his, an instantaneous lust hit his gut with a bare recognition of a deeper emotion.

No question about it, he wanted her. However, unlike his teammates, having a wife didn’t fit into his plans. Their job could mean their death at any time, and he couldn’t do that to someone who counted on him, loved him. He didn’t understand how some of his teammates could.

Yet something about Sam tugged at him. With Beverly and Adam’s heads together, oblivious to everyone else at the table, he and Lance had given Sam their full attention, and she’d divided hers between them. He’d chalked that up to her being polite.

Meeting her in the hallway, and with Ken on his way to inebriation, he took one look at her in that sexy, red dress and her wide, smiling eyes and couldn’t control his next actions. Whisking her into his arms, he’d pulled their bodies close and melded their lips together. The touch of their chests and lips sent a pulse through his torso that frightened him.

Moving his lips, his tongue searching her mouth and dueling with hers, and his hands roaming her body, all wound into a fire that pulled him back to reality.

The depth of reach to his soul would remain imprinted in his heart. As would the hurt in her eyes when he told her that it would never happen again. Nothing would happen again. He’d then left.

Eventually, Lance had asked her out, and the two had fallen in love and married.

His heart had crashed into a million pieces. He’d been happy for his bud and knew, listening to his plans for Sam, his emotions jumbled knowing he’d pushed her away before they’d even had a chance.

“You say that every time. Maybe you’re shooting blanks. You might want to let Sergeant Patrick give it a shot,” Adam taunted.

Oh, shit. Why would the man say something like that? Even if he’d known Ken was in love with her, he didn’t want Lance to know that.

To end this conversation and with Adam and Lance together in the second vehicle of their convoy, he halted their fun. “Eyes out, boys.”

Something about the cluster of homes they approached bothered Ken. He couldn’t say what because nothing looked amiss.

“Ken, you might want to put the pedal to the metal. I don’t like the look of this settlement,” Jesse said, confirming his suspicion.

Not questioning either of their gut instincts, he increased the speed of the already flying convoy. No one spoke, and without the need for an order, all followed Ken and Jesse’s actions.

Passing the settlement on their left, Jesse leaned toward that side and scrutinized the area. When he nearly turned completely around in his seat, Ken’s adrenaline pumped double-time through his veins. He pushed the accelerator down further, even though it had little to go before it hit the floorboard.

“Fuck!” Jesse shouted before an explosion rocked behind them and, in the rearview mirror, Ken saw the fire bomb the second vehicle. “Stop,” he ordered. Whether right or wrong, Ken did.

No man left behind.No matter the branch of service, special operators didn’t leave their comrades.

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