Page 49 of Forever My Soldier

I’ll confess this to you: sometimes I still dream you’ll come home and we’ll get back together. Like no time has passed at all, we’ll pick up right where we left off.

Come home to me.

Your princess,

Jenna xxx

I put the letter off to the side and cursed to myself. Why did she agree to the break up if that wasn’t what she really wanted? I knew it was hard on both of us, but I thought I was doing the right thing by her letting her go. I fisted my hands and slammed one of them into the coffee table, before running it through my hair. “Dammit!” I loudened my voice.

Every time we turned around there was an obstacle in our way, mostly of our own making, but not this time.

I had seen enough, I decided. I didn’t need to know more. If Jenna wanted me to know, she’d tell me the rest of it. We had a lot to talk about, especially the baby, but none of it was going to stop me from being with the woman who loved me, who I loved.

Before pooling everything back together and dumping it back in the box, I came across a necklace. It must’ve fallen to the bottom when I was digging earlier. On the necklace was my mother’s engagement ring.

I remembered it like it was yesterday. I had to make sure that she knew before I left that I planned on marrying her when I returned. “This is my promise to you,” I remembered whispering. “When I come back, I plan on marrying you.”

I stuffed the ring in my pocket for the time being and closed the lid on the shoebox.

I walked upstairs and found Jenna on my bed, holding a picture frame, staring at it. I glanced at my nightstand where she plucked it from and knew exactly which one she was holding. It was a photo of us. I was holding her in my arms and she was laughing, her mouth to my ear. “We make a cute couple,” I said breaking the silence.

Jenna gasped, immediately turning around and sitting up. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.”

“So did you finish looking through the box?”

I nodded. “I saw enough of it. I’d like to hear the rest from you, though, if that’s okay.”

She nodded and smiled “Absolutely.”

“Good. If this is going to work, we have to be totally honest with each other from now on. No more keeping secrets. Even if we think we’re doing it for the right reasons.”

She crossed her heart. “I promise. No more secrets.”

I nodded again, getting to the part I couldn’t gleam from the box, but had to know just the same. “Where does that leave your feelings for Michael?”

Her eyes widened and she gasped. “What? I don’t have any feeling but disgust for that man.”

“I saw the way you reacted when you saw him again.”

She shook her head. “It’s not what you think. I was shocked, that’s all.” She leaped off the bed and stood in front of me. “Please, Deke, you have to believe me. I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”

I cupped either side of her face. “I believe that, princess.”

“Where does that leave us?” she purred. “I want to be with you.”

“Oh, princess, you have no idea how badly I want to be with you, too.”

Her eyes possessed a playfulness I wasn’t used to, but liked seeing in her. Her teeth raked over her bottom lip and she backed up, traveling her hands down her torso before bringing her shirt up over her head and tossing the fabric on the floor.

She was still wearing a bra, but her breasts were spilling out of it. Her cheeks turned pink. “Come on, Deke, you’re not going to make me beg for it, are you?”

“Patience has never been one of your virtues.”

Her gaze met my obvious desire and she tilted her head. “I don’t know, it seems like you may be patient, but he is not.”

I lifted her up and she squealed my name. “Deke!” I placed her on the bed, took off my shirt, undid my pants and brought them down, too. I was all for going slow and taking our time, but she was right, we were both impatient and I couldn’t wait one more second to be inside of her, to feel her warmth around me. I lowered my body over hers and undid her bra. I hovered over her for a moment to fully enjoy her full breasts before rubbing them against my hands. ”You fit perfectly in the palm of my hand. Always have.”

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