What Part of Marine Don't You Understand - By Heather Long Page 0,16

forward, and his mouth slanted across hers. Closing her eyes, she sank into the kiss, delight shooing the surprise away. Rising on her tiptoes, she fisted his shirt. His lips were soft and firm, and the kiss started out sweet and quickly turned hard and wet when his tongue demanded access. Opening to it, she sighed at the delicious invasion.

The rasp of stubble on his cheeks grazed her, but she leaned into the kiss. Shivers raced up and down her spine, and she moaned a little when he broke the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers. His pupils appeared dilated in the low light, and his harsh breathing matching hers.

“Tomorrow?”

She swallowed. “I’d really like that.”

“Okay.”

Dizzy with the passion in the single kiss, she exhaled and pulled her hands away slowly. He was so warm beneath the cotton shirt. How much warmer would he be if he weren’t wearing it?

“Lock the door,” he reminded her and she nodded.

“Okay.” But neither moved. Would it be so bad to invite him inside?

He preempted her invitation. “I want to stay. But that’s not a good idea.”

“No?” Disappointment deflated her.

“Not yet.” He caressed her cheek. “You are so beautiful.”

Her heart flip-flopped. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Maybe.” He grinned. “Go to bed.”

Biting back a groan, she retreated a step before she did something foolish and threw herself at him. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.”

She knew a promise when she heard one. Hating herself, she let him go and sagged against the closed door. Holy hell on a biscuit….

“Lock it,” he ordered from the other side and she laughed.

“You’re pushy.”

“Uh huh. Lock it.”

Flipping the deadbolt, she peeked through the peephole. He winked at her and left.

Blood still pounding, she grabbed her guitar rather than go to bed. She wanted to write about that kiss…. The Long Kiss Goodbye….

No. Not goodbye.

The Long Kiss Till We Meet Again….

“It needs work.” She licked her tingling lips, giddiness swirling through her. “I kiss you hello, you kiss me goodbye, our bliss denied…okay…yeah….”

Chapter Six

“You’re pretty calm today, Matt.”

They sat in James’ office for their daily session. Thirty minutes in and he hadn’t started pacing. But he didn’t feel the need, amazingly enough. Only managing about six hours of sleep the night before—but they were the best six hours he’d slept in months.

“I’m good today. Really good. Actually finished my application for courses at UTD. They have quite a few that I can do through the distance program.” He glanced at his watch. “I have a call with the admissions counselor later to go over any questions they have.”

“What courses are you planning to take?”

“Engineering. I used to have a knack for it and I like building. They just need to go over my grades from high school. I’ll probably have to take some refresher English classes. Papers were never my strong suit, but I have the math cold.”

Engineering as a career path came from a long conversation with his mother in the recent weeks. They talked by phone every other day or so. While the chats had begun as stilted, they’d relaxed into them faster with each opportunity.

His mom had some pretty good ideas about what used to interest Matt and they compared notes. Engineering fascinated him in high school, but putting it aside, he’d enlisted. It was definitely time to dust off the old ideas and explore them.

“I don’t imagine you can take a full course load through distance learning for engineering.” James’ tone asked for caution, but Matt waved it away. He’d thought about that.

“I know, but most of the core courses for the basic part of the degree—English, history, math—those I can do. I can also brush up on language skills. It’s amazing what they have in the course catalog. That also gives me time to work on my issues and be ready for on-site instruction in a few months.” He was leagues ahead in his progress. By next semester, he’d be ready to go on campus.

“We can’t put a time table on this….”

“Doc, it’s good. I know. We have to take each day one step at a time, we have to talk this through, and I have to remember without reliving. I’m doing great. These daily sessions, my workouts, Nao—” He coughed. He hadn’t planned to shake the cat out of the bag. The chances of diverting Doc’s attention were pretty slim.

“I heard you were spending time with Naomi Sparks.” No censure seasoned the statement, just an observation.

“I didn’t know you were a fan of gossip.” Other than Logan, he hadn’t mentioned Naomi to