Page 84 of Echoes in the Storm
“You did not,” I counter.
“How do you think I got the split lip?” Duke wrestles my sweater off next to find I never put my bra back on. “Fuck, Cam.”
“Well,” I say, lifting my eyebrows as I stretch out beneath him, “according to you this is all yours, so have at it, soldier.”
“Fucking ’ey, it’s mine.” He ducks down to suck one of my nipples into his mouth.
I moan at the exquisite feel of his hot lips on me, and at the word replaying through my mind:mine.There’s something carnal about the way Duke says it. As much as I’m an independent woman, it makes me want to submit to this man in every way—I love that.
“Don’t leave me again,” I say, threading my fingers into his hair. “I couldn’t survive if you did.”
He crawls over me until we’re face to face. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. Not unless you’re coming with me.”
And I believe him, because after all, he came back. It broke my heart at the time. Hell, it still tears me apart when I think about how I felt hearing him leave that night. But I can see his reasons clearly now. The storm has passed, the clouds have lifted, and the sun is shining brilliantly what we have. I never would have been able to see how bright our future is with the clouds of regret forever over our heads. We each needed to settle our pasts, accept our losses, and come into this with a clear head to give it a fair chance.
I run my hand through Duke’s hair as he lays hot kisses between my thighs, thankful that we’re here, however hard the road was.
A few short months ago, I sat in my living room wondering if there ever was such a thing as love. Wondering if I would ever really know how that felt again, or if I was doomed to vanquish the emotion to the furthest reaches of my memories.
Today, I can say without a doubt that I believe in love again.
Duke
“What the fuck have I done, Cody?” My hands ache with my frustration. I clench them into fists to save from tearing the fabric in my hands to shreds.
“I can’t believe you were in the army, bro, and you still can’t get a Windsor knot right.”
“There were ways around it.” I jut my chin out of the way as my little brother wrestles my tie into submission. “How much time do we have?”
“Plenty.” He tugs the tie tight, and then pats me on the shoulder. “Stop stressing. You’ve literally got to walk out the door and you’re there.”
Still. Doesn’t keep me from panicking that I’m going to fuck this up.
Cam didn’t want a church wedding.
She gave me one of her signature lectures about how she’s not religious, and so having one wouldn’t make sense, somehow, putting in one hundred words what she could have said in twenty.
I christened the kitchen counter with her the second she shut her goddamn mouth.
Turns out the things that used to drive me crazy about her drive me crazyforher now.
“Ready?” Cody slaps me on the shoulder.
“I think so.”
He laughs at the clear panic on my face. “Bro, you do realise you’ve been married before, right? This isn’t your first rodeo.”
“No, it’s not. But it’s my first with Cam, and I want it to be perfect for her.” I check my reflection, making sure the collar of my shirt sits perfectly beneath the lapels of my dress uniform jacket.
I can’t deny the pride that chokes me every time I lay eyes on the medals displayed on my chest. I only wish there could have been more, because that would have meant I was able todomore.
“Come on then.” Cody stands off to the side with his hands slung casually in his dress pants. The smile on his face chokes me up worse than I already am.
He’s proud. Fuck, he wasn’t proud when I went to war, let alone when I came home alive.
“You’ve done good, Brother,” he says with the barest twitch of a smile. “You’ve done good.”
I give him a slap on the shoulder and a tight nod as I pass by and head out to kick the day off.