okay?” His eyes skimmed down her body looking for marks from his teeth or hands, but her skin was glowing, a creamy caramel that enticed him. He slipped his hand between her legs and lifted one. “Did I hurt you, Ivy?”
She shook her head and rubbed a hand under her nose.
He looked anyway, separating her. But the lovely pink of her sex was unblemished.
She slapped at his arm lightly and when he turned back to her he noticed a deeper flush to her cheeks.
“Jake,” she protested and tried to close her legs. “You didn’t hurt me,” she said. “I was just a little overwhelmed. Women get that way sometimes when---when—“
“When what, Ivy?” He pressed, tracing the curve of her cheek with a finger.
“When something as beautiful as that happens.”
Yes, that. More than sex. Deeper. Soul-searing. Melding. And he realized that this was it, what Ivy was talking about, what she insisted on—the complete fusing of himself with her that can only be accomplished when he truly let go. And she openly received.
“You’re amazing,” he said.
“We are,” she agreed. She was sleepy and her voice was heavy.
They’d had a long day, beginning with the kayaking tour that had ended when they’d found the kid literally dangling by a thread. They’d gone from there to lunch, had run errands together and then Jake had dropped Ivy off at her apartment so that she could get ready for work. She hadn’t had the chance for even a cat nap, although Jake would have made the time if Ivy had wanted it. But the morning’s drama had caused a current of anxiety to hum along in her blood. She’d told him she wouldn’t relax completely until she saw the boy for herself, at the hospital, and knew that he was okay. She’d texted him an update before her shift: Kid’s name Jeremy. Bkn leg, concussion, awake n feeling it. Parents send big thank u.
There weren’t always happy endings. Both he and Ivy knew it. They lived it. But every win felt good and he was glad she’d gotten it this time. He would like to lasso life and hold it steady for her. An impossible task, and yet, in some way that was exactly what they did for each other. So this was love.
Jake lay back on the pillows and pulled her close. He had fallen in love with Ivy. The thought curled around his heart. It was a warm fit, like slipping into a glove. A perfect fit. He drifted off thinking about the obstacles they would face and the best ways to overcome them. And he didn’t doubt that either would happen. He was a military man. He would deploy again and they would face long stretches of separation, but they had the tools they needed to remain a strong couple. If they continued to talk to each other. If they prioritized. And compromised. All of which they’d been pretty good at so far.
The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d insisted on taking their time, finally having the time to put into a relationship, to let it develop naturally. Inside a week, Ivy had pinned his heart. But life was crazy like that.
He knew she was sleeping when her body relaxed deeply into his. He stroked her back because he loved the feel of her skin, could feel through its softness her vitality, and he wanted her truly settled in before he drifted off.
The dream moved sinuously around his brain, not fully developing until Jake was sound asleep. He was back in Afghanistan. The desert wind swept across the flat plains, kicking up sand and debris. He slipped his goggles into place, but hated even the slight limitations it placed on his peripheral vision. He was holding rear, his men scrambling ahead, leading the hostages they’d reclaimed. If they made it back to rendezvous as planned, the entire execution of the mission would come out at twenty-two minutes. Years of training tested in the time it took to boil eggs.
The radio squawked in his ear, the static an annoying rub. He’d counted heads, listened to the voices of his men through the transmissions, but looked back anyway. Someone was missing. But how could that be? The building, primitive and slapped together out of plywood and plaster, shuddered in the wind. The windows had screening stapled over them—his men had punched out two of them in order to pull the three hostages to safety. There was a desolate kind of quite to it