Page 69 of All Along

“They kept me sane. Whenever I thought I couldn’t run another mile or sleep another night in the sand, I’d re-read your letters.” He smirks. “Plus, those care packages you sent made me the most popular guy in my platoon.”

“I wish I would have sent you more.”

“Bunny, you sent a care package practically once a month.”

“The postal workers all know me by name.”

He rolls his eyes. “This is Smuggler’s Hideaway. They already knew who you were.”

Speaking of Smuggler’s Hideaway. “Why didn’t you ever come home before? Your family met up with you in Germany a few times but you never came home. Why?”

He glances away. “I was being stupid.”

“Only I get to say when you’re being stupid. Tell me why and I’ll render my verdict.”

“I was afraid to see you.”

Those words stab my heart and fill my veins with ice. Caleb – the man I was obsessed with – was afraid to see me. “You were afraid of me?”

“Not afraid of you.” He presses a quick kiss to my lips. “I could never be afraid of you.”

“Are you saying I’m a wimp?”

“I’m saying I was afraid if I saw you, I wouldn’t be able to resist you.”

Oh. This I can handle. I waggle my eyebrows. “I am pretty irresistible. But why would you want to resist me?”

“I didn’t want to screw up your life.”

“Screw up my life by giving me love and affection?”

“Told you I was being stupid.”

“It’s over now.” I blow out a breath. “We need to stop dwelling on the past and move forward.”

“Agreed.” Caleb caresses my turquoise bracelet. “I can’t believe you kept this all this time.”

“Of course, I kept it. You gave it to me for my twenty-first birthday. The only gift you gave me by the way. You owe me a bunch of gifts.” So much for not dwelling on the past anymore.

“I do, do I?”

“Yep. I’m keeping track. I’ve given you birthday gifts every year for the past twelve years. You’ve given me one. You owe me eleven gifts.”

“Can I pay you back in orgasms?”

My nipples tighten at the promise in his voice but I feign indifference. “You’re going to give me orgasms anyway.”

He twirls a strand of my hair around his finger. “Maybe you could get some of those smutty books you read out and we can reenact the best scenes.”

I sniff and stick my nose in the air. “I’ll have you know not all my romance books are smutty.”

He smirks. “But some of them are.”

I can’t deny it. Some of them are more than a bit smutty. A girl’s gotta eat when the man she’s obsessed with is overseas fighting enemies.

“But you’re not an alien or a werewolf.”

He nibbles on my jaw. “I’m happy to bite you.”

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