Page 42 of Forever My Soldier

“You’ve got girl problems.”

I frowned. “Jenna—“

“And you broke up. Again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist.”

“It’s not that simple,” I relented, giving in to sharing like he obviously wanted—he was such a married man now, it was sick.

“She’s complicated. Always has been. So what’s new?” He shrugged.

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“It’s why you love her, though,” my brother reminded me. Not that I needed the reminder.“So what gives? You going to go begging for forgiveness for whatever you did because we both know you must’ve done something?”

“Why did you bring it up if you were just going to bust my chops?” I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned. “She lied to me, Damon, and I don’t know if I can forgive her for this one.”

Damon waved it off, as if it didn’t matter. “So I was wrong, obviously. Listen, even so, we both know that’s bullshit about you not forgiving her,” he explained. “So the real question here is, how are you two going to move forward?”

“How can you be so sure? I didn’t even tell you what she lied about. Oh, and then there’s her ex.” I brought my hand to my jaw and scratched my stubble. “You should have seen the way she reacted when she saw him. It felt like she was—” I couldn’t even finish that thought. “She looked surprised to see him, but in a good way.”

“Take it from me, man. Women are puzzles. Sabrina and I had an altercation early on in our relationship and I didn’t understand why she was so upset with me. The real problem? I wasn’t listening closely enough.” Then he laughed. “You know, maybe you’re reading the whole thing wrong.”

“None of this is black and white, Damon. I don’t know what the hell was going on in her head and I don’t know why she lied to me, why she felt the need to lie to me all these damn years.”

“That’s the thing. It’s been a long time, brother. Can you really hold whatever it was that happened all those years ago against her? There must’ve been a reason, she’s not one to do something without a reason. If you want my opinion, I’d say, it’s time you asked to hear her side of things. You’ll probably regret it if you don’t.” He put his elbow on the small workstation holding the computer next to him and leaned over. “As far as I’m concerned, you need to get your head out of your ass and go fix things.”

Was he not listening to what I just said?“Damon, how many more times can Jenna and I give this another go? And this time she lied to me. I have never lied to her.”

“Shit, I feel like I’m listening to a broken record. And who gives a damn about the past? The two of you are stubborn as bulls, but you love each other and if you think you don’t belong together, then you’ve lost a few screws, man, because no woman will put a smile on that ugly mug of yours like she does.” After a beat, he said, “It’s time you get your girl back.”

My girl, I mused. I liked the sound of that, always had. I couldn’t help but let my mind go back in time to the first time I called Jenna my girl. I’d never forget it.

“You know, it should be a crime for you to look as good as you do in that dress.” I was following behind her and lightly swatted her ass, wanting to do so much more than that.

She looked back at me, her eyes wide. “Deke! Someone might see you.”

We were walking down the hall in her apartment building, where she’d live when she went to college and I went off to the Army, and I couldn’t wait to get inside already and have my way with her. “No one’s around, princess.” I wrapped one arm around her waist and tickled her side a bit, making her giggle. We were on borrowed time and I knew I had to make the most of whatever we had before I left.

Jenna began looking at the numbers on the doors and then shook her head. “We’re on the wrong floor, Deke. How could we be so stupid?” She always got frustrated with herself when she made a silly mistake. It came from years of her parents insisting she be perfect. Good thing I didn’t give a crap whether she was perfect or not.

I pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “It’s just more of an adventure.”

“To take another elevator ride?”

“Yeah,” I said, my hands working their way under her dress.

She swatted them away. “We’re in public,” she reminded me. “And how do you figure that?” she asked as we turned around to get back on the elevator we just came off of.

I gave her a playful grin, my hands ready to pull her close again. “The inside of the elevator isn’t so public,” I pointed out.

“Oh, no.” She chuckled and shook her head. “No, we can’t. What if someone sees us?”

“No one’s going to see us. That elevator is slower than molasses and the way I see it, we can stop it and I can have my way with you before someone gets here.”

She blushed and swatted my shoulder. “You’re so bad, Deke.”

“Isn’t that why you love me?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not the bad boy you think you are.”

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