Page 53 of My Forever Soldier

“Ollie?”

“Mmm.” She could do little else other than murmur while he was touching her, her body like liquid beneath his hands.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said.

Olivia opened her eyes and wriggled onto her other side so she could face him. As he stretched she ran an open palm down his chest, hovering when she reached his stomach, until in the half light she saw a thick, jagged scar that curved from the edge of his belly around his lower back.

She woke up fast, leaning forward to see how far it went. How had she not noticed this before? When he’d walked out of the bathroom before dinner?

Luke stayed still as she stared.

“How did you get this?” Her fingers wouldn’t leave his skin, tracing it over and over.

“Afghanistan.”

He didn’t look worried about her asking, but he shut his eyes. Olivia put her hand on his chest again, her head tucked into the hollow of his arm as he flung it out over the pillow. Seeing his injury had jolted her wide-awake.

“I was shot. Had to pull the bullet out myself, then I blanked out,” he told her, his tone grim. “I woke up alive, so that’s what counts, and I didn’t even need surgery.”

She hadn’t known how close she’d been to losing him for good. That he could have died without them ever having the chance to make things right. Before she could even say goodbye to him.

“I’m glad you’re home safe now,” she said, tucking in tighter against him. Her only problem now was thinking about him going back again, being sent somewhere with more bullets, with more chances of him coming home in a body bag.

Luke leaned closer and dropped a kiss on her head. “Me, too.”

Olivia wanted tonight to be just about them, about what they’d just shared, what had changed between them. But the idea that all this could be over when he left again, that he could die and leave her a widow? She shuddered.

“Luke, did you...I mean…”

He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her. She could see the question in his face, in the way his eyebrows drew closer together.

She took a deep breath and pushed it out. “Did you lose anyone close to you over there?”

The color drained out of Luke’s face, but he didn’t pull away.

“Yeah. I lost more than one man over there.”

She didn’t know what to say. Olivia just held him tighter, hoped that he would feel her strength.

“There were guys everywhere I served, guys that I lost.” He paused, but she didn’t look up at him. Just kept tucked into his arm as she listened. “Then when I was on my last tour, with Delta, after months and months of being undercover…”

Olivia waited. She squeezed her eyes shut as she heard his voice choke.

“I lost my partner.”

She clasped him close, wanting to protect and cocoon him, yet not knowing how. What could she even say to that?

“Were you with him?”

Luke nodded his head against hers.

“He died in my arms and then I had to leave him or get killed myself.”

She let him hold her tight, listened as his breathing became rapid, as if he was trying hard not to cry, before settling to a more even pace again. There was nothing she could say to make him feel better, nothing she could do. So if he wanted to hold her, then she wasn’t going to move a muscle.

“Good night,” he whispered, his breath soft against her ear.

“Good night,” she murmured back.

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