touching down in Kabul, to grab a meal before they went wheels up again, this time to the first of a half dozen FOBs—remote military forward operating bases in the mountains. The chosen FOBs were all regular stops on the standard USO tour, and the President was determined to visit at least one of them during his upcoming trip.
As members of the special advance advisory team in charge of providing information to ensure the President’s security during his impending visit, they would have to evaluate them all.
Over at gate one, Max had set down the various pieces of luggage he’d been carrying, and was group-hugging his wife and children. It wasn’t until he kissed Gina that Sam realized exactly what Jules had said.
I just wanted at least to be able to say goodbye properly.
Jules’s wanting to say goodbye properly had nothing to do with time, and everything to do with the fact that while Tarafashir was ruled by a U.S. approved monarch-slash-dictator, and while visiting Americans were treated with respect, the royal family and governing body was socially conservative, and homosexuality was illegal.
And that meant that even though Jules and Robin were lawfully wed in the state of Massachusetts, saying goodbye with a PDA more extreme than a handshake was likely to get them thrown into jail.
And that—a goodbye said with a handshake—was not okay with Sam.
Not while there was a chance—a slim one, but definitely a chance—that Jules wouldn’t return from this mission.
So Sam unloaded the car seats next to Max and Gina, who were still lost in their own private world, and he quickly kissed Alyssa on the mouth. “Don’t get on that plane until I get back.”
She laughed at that. “I won’t, because I’m not taking Ash to Afghanistan.”
“Good.” He grabbed Jules with one hand, and Robin with the other, and pulled them over toward the obvious international sign for the men’s head. The bathroom was a single-seater with a door that didn’t lock. Pushing it open, Sam saw that it was, at least, empty.
“Tech check,” he said to Jules, who nodded his understanding as he ushered Robin inside, closing the door tightly behind them.
Sam then stood in front of that door, arms folded across his chest, his message clear to everyone despite the potential language barrier: Find another bathroom. This one’s taken.
CHAPTER TWO
“Tech check?” Robin repeated, confused as Jules closed the men’s room door behind them.
No doubt Jules had understood Cowboy Sam’s cryptic message, because he was scanning the ceiling and the walls, and even looking along the concrete floor and behind the toilet that hadn’t been cleaned. Ever.
“No surveillance cameras,” he told Robin. “We’re good.”
“Ah.” Now he understood. And it seemed a shame to waste the privacy that Sam had conjured up for them, but there were things Robin needed to say. “I know I’m not supposed to tell you to be careful. I’m supposed to say be safe.”
“I will be,” Jules said as he pulled Robin into his arms. “Both as careful and as safe as I can manage.”
Which was great, but in reality, that might not be careful and safe enough to bring him home alive.
Two trips to Afghanistan ago, Jules had come perilously, heart-stoppingly close to coming home in a body bag.
One trip to Afghanistan ago, Robin didn’t eat or sleep the entire time that Jules was gone.
“I love you,” he managed to say now.
“I don’t have to do this,” Jules started to tell him, but Robin cut him off.
“Yeah, you do. And I’m gonna be okay. Sam and Gina need me to help with the kids. It’s going to be fun.”
Jules laughed. “You’re a terrible liar.”
Robin corrected himself. “It’s going to be as fun as it possibly can be.”
“Hmmm,” Jules said as he looked at Robin.
“Call me,” Robin said. “Or email. As often as you can.”
“I hate doing this to you. Putting myself in danger. It’s not worth—”
“Oh yes it is.” Robin cut him off. “It’s worth it. You’re worth it. You’re you. I love you for being you. Why would I want you to be anyone but who you are?”
Jules’s beautiful brown eyes welled with emotion. “God, I love you,” he whispered.
“Then kiss me, babe,” Robin said. “And then go get on that plane.”
And Jules did.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’m sorry, what?” Sam turned to look at Gina, who was the closest thing he had to a languages expert in his current six-person team.
It was a team that consisted of an eight-month-old, a one-year-old, a three-year-old, and two twenty-somethings who were hopelessly in