Dad’s palm slammed into the table. “No, they don’t. It’s that attitude that gets people killed. There’s a hierarchy for a reason. If one person falls out of line, good people die.”
“But Eden said Lincoln saved all those people,” I argued. “No one died because he saved them all.”
“In that instance, yes. It doesn’t always work out that way. He’s gotten lucky, but luck runs out. It’s my job to stop him before that happens.”
“So that’s it?” I sat back, crossing my arms as my chest deflated. “You kicked him out because of something that hasn’t happened yet?”
“No, I reined him in before something like that could happen.” He shook his head, his jaw tight. “The investigation served its purpose. We found out the truth, and we acted accordingly.”
“What does mean?” My head dropped to the side, fear suddenly gripping my heart. “You said you didn’t do anything to him.”
“I didn’t do anything to him,” he muttered. His hands balled into fists as he glared at me. “The Navy needs him, so I gave him a choice.”
“What choice?” My voice was tight and thick with emotion.
Dad’s features relaxed, and I even saw a flash of sympathy in his eyes. “I told him he would have to command his own unit if he wanted to stay.”
“Command his own…” I trailed off, not really believing what I was hearing. “You’re sending him to war to keep him away from me?”
“It’s not to keep him away from you.” His gaze hardened again. “Lincoln has needed a push for a long time. You just happened to be the push he needed.”
“Are you kidding me?” I stepped back, my hip crashing into the counter. A sharp jab traveled up my side, but I didn’t care. “I’m the push he needed? He didn’t need a push, Dad. What’s wrong with being happy with where you are?”
“He wasn’t happy where he was. He was born to lead, Sofia. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have taken control regardless of his rank. As I said, the Navy needs him. It was time for him to finally step up.”
Spiky trickles of terror danced down my spine. “Step up how? Where did you send him?”
“For now?” He sighed, his shoulders coming down as if he felt defeated. “We’ve sent him home, but he’ll be leaving soon. He’ll be gone for six months.”
“Six months?” I whispered. Hot tears jumped to my eyes and welled in the corners before leaking over. “You’re sending him away for half a year because you think it’s time for him to step up? That’s bullshit, Dad. All you’ve done is to force him into a position where he didn’t want to be. After effectively eliminating all his other options by launching an investigation to prevent him from doing something he hadn’t yet done.”
Dad opened his mouth again, presumably to tell me how wrong I was. I didn’t stick around to listen. He’d asked me to hear him out, and I had.
Arguing with him wouldn’t get me anywhere. More importantly, arguing with him wouldn’t keep Lincoln here. If anything, it might just turn his tour into twelve months instead of six.
Obviously, I’d been a fool for believing Dad would do the reasonable thing and admit his mistake. Instead, my own father had gone and corralled the man I loved into an impossible situation.
And in doing so, had put me right there with him.
Chapter 37
Lincoln
Life had a weird way of working itself out sometimes. Less than twelve hours ago, I’d been in a cell convinced that my career had gone up in flames.
I never, for one second, would have guessed what had been about to happen. The weird thing was that once it had, it was like things just fell right into place.
All my doubts about advancing in the Navy had disappeared, and I’d suddenly been able to admit to myself what had been holding me back. Me.
Charles and I had spoken after the meeting let out. He’d stuck by my side as I’d gone through the process. I now knew where I was headed and when. I also knew what was expected of me over the next couple of weeks before my unit deployed.
My unit. It was still kind of hard to believe, but I was actually fucking pumped about it.
After having spent the last couple of months thinking I might just be done, it felt fucking good to be back. Back but better.
Eden was still in the hospital but was being transferred to a rehabilitation unit before the end of the week. Charles had taken me to him and had also been the one to tell us that once Eden had recovered, he would be joining my unit.
It was great fucking news.
The only thing putting a damper on it all was the fact that I’d be leaving Sofia for six months. I still had to talk to her about it, but six months wasn’t that long in the greater scheme of things.
Grinning as I stepped out of the shower, I dried off and knotted a towel around my waist. I’d wanted to call her before I’d even gotten back to the house, but I’d been in desperate need of a shower and a shave.
I couldn’t wait to tell her the news. Not only that I was staying in the military and had agreed to command a unit but also that Charles and I had had a long talk.
After pulling on some sweats, I picked up my phone to finally call my girl when there was a knock at the door. I pressed dial anyway, then held the phone to my ear as I went to see who was there.
Sofia’s ringtone met my ears before I could open the door, and my heart did flip-flops in my chest. She was here. I was finally, fucking finally, going to have my girl in my arms again.
When I opened the door, though, I did a double-take. It was Sofia standing on the other side of it, but she was a mess. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she hiccupped when she looked up at me, her entire body trembling.
“Lincoln,” she breathed out before surging forward and slamming her chest into mine. Her arms wound around my neck, and she held on to me like I was her life raft in the middle of a gigantic storm. “You’re here. You’re really here.”
“I’m really here, baby,” I whispered into her hair, roping my arms around her waist and holding her to me. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Can we talk inside?” she asked but didn’t let go of me.
I nodded, lifted her off the ground, and carried her into the house. After kicking the door shut behind us, I walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, then arranged her to sit on my lap.
She pulled her head back, bringing her swollen, red-rimmed eyes to mine. “I’m sorry I’m such a disaster. I just had another huge fight with my dad, and I don’t even really know what to say to you. I only knew I had to come see you.”
I reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering as they ghosted across her jaw and cheeks. “You can say anything to me, babe. Why don’t you know what to say?”
A deep breath puffed out of her, and she hung her head until her forehead touched my shoulder. “I can’t believe my father did what he did to you. I also can’t believe that I was the reason he did it. Saying ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“Hey.” I frowned, sliding my fingers under her chin to lift it before catching her face between my hands. “Why do you think you have to apologize to me?”
Confusion clouded her eyes, and a deep line appeared between them. “You must hate me. My father had you tossed in prison and now he’s forcing you to go to war. All because of me.”
For a long minute, I could only stare at her. “That’s what you think?”
“No, that’s what happened.” Her hand came up, and she pressed her palm against my forehead. “Are you feeling okay? You seem dazed.”
“I’m not dazed.” A smile crept onto my lips as I took her hand in mine. “I’m fine. I promise. More than fine actually.”
“How?” She cocked her head, running her free hand repeatedly over her dress on her thighs. “I’m so nervous that I’m sweating profusely and my heart isn’t beating right, and you’re fine? You just got out of prison, Linc. Because of me.”
“It wasn’t really a pri
son.” The corners of my lips inched up farther. “I was in a holding cell. It was fine. I wouldn’t go back to take a vacation there, but it wasn’t so bad.”
Her body stilled when she noticed my lips. “Why are you smiling right now? At me? You do realize I’m the reason all this is happening, right?”
“No, you’re not.” I trapped her other hand, folded both of them in mine, and brought them up to place soft kisses on her knuckles. “Everything that happened was because of me. Your father has been right all along, baby. I need to do this. I’ve always needed to do this.”
“What?” Her head jerked back, her hazel eyes alight with ire. “What are you talking about? He’s not right. He’s forcing you into doing something you don’t want to do.”
“No, he’s not.” I kept both her hands in one of mine, lifting the other on the side of her neck to stroke her cheekbone with my thumb. “I was holding back before. I thought I was happy where I was and that advancing was pointless, but I was wrong.”
“If you’re happy where you are, then don’t let him force you into advancing.”
I shook my head, keeping hold of her when she tried to let go of my hand. “He’s not forcing me into anything. He gave me an option, and I realized I wanted to take it.”
“But—”
“No, Sofia, I really do want it. I was holding back before because I had no reason to want to be better. I had nothing and no one to push me or to make me strive for more.” I squeezed her hand, my eyes moving from one of hers to the other. “I have a reason now. You.”
“What?” She focused on me. “I don’t want to be the reason you feel forced into taking on more responsibility.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying you’ve made me want to be better. You’ve inspired me to make something of myself instead of standing in my own way.” I took a deep breath. “This will give you time to push through the last of your studies as well.”
Sofia searched my eyes, the fight slowly draining out of her body. “I was going to transfer to be closer to you.”
I brushed my thumb along her jaw, bowing my head to touch my forehead to hers. “I love you, Sofia. I want a life with you. Six months is a long time to be apart, but we can do it.”
“I love you, too.” Moisture glistened in her eyes, but I felt her give a small nod. “I know we can do it. We can do anything if it means getting to have a life together.”
“Exactly. Don’t be mad at your dad, baby. He’s given us what we needed to grow into the people we are now.”
I closed my eyes and ran the tip of my nose up the length of hers. When I reached her brow, I placed a kiss on her left eye first before doing the same to the right.
Sofia’s breathing hitched, and her hands ran from my elbows to my shoulders before they slid around my neck. Her head tipped back as she offered me her lips.
I took them gently, giving her every ounce of emotion inside me as I pulled her closer. Sofia’s fingers wound into my hair, tugging lightly as she lifted herself onto her knees to plant one leg on the outside of mine.
With one leg now on either side of my hips, she scooted closer to straddle me and mashed her chest against mine. Between me being shirtless and her wearing a sundress that only hit about mid-thigh, there was enough of our skin touching that I couldn’t resist deepening our kiss.
Elation spread from my chest as I kissed her with everything I had. She loves me. She fucking loves me.
I hated that she thought what had gone down was her fault, but I hated it even more that she thought I was capable of hating her. Determination coursed through me to prove to her that I adored her, loved her. I’d go to the brig for her every day of the week if that was what it took, and I still wouldn’t be capable of hating her.
Sofia’s soft lips moving with mine and the feel of her heat even through my pants distracted me from my thoughts. Talking didn’t seem like an option anymore, though.
We’d both gotten carried away by our feverish kisses. If I had to guess, I’d bet that she was feeling as much of a need to show me how much she loved me as I was feeling about her.
We’d been separated for days, but it had felt like much longer under the circumstances. I needed to know that she knew how much I loved her and still wanted her despite Charles’ role in our separation. As she lifted her head and started peppering kisses across my jaw and down to my throat, I knew she felt the same way.
Both of us needed to know the other was okay, really okay. Both of us wanted the other to know that we really were okay, and I, for one, felt the most insane, intense need to make love to her to prove all of this to her.
Once again, we were on the same page. My hands flexed on her thighs just as she nipped my earlobe.
“Take me to bed, Lincoln,” she whispered, her fingertips scraping against my skull. “I need to feel you. I need to know that you’re really here and that we’re really okay.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.” The bedroom felt like it was way too far away, even though it was only about ten feet to the door.
But I also wasn’t going to fuck her on a couch today. Worshiping another person’s body prior to making love to them felt like something that needed to take place on a bed, so that was where we’d go.
Undertaking what felt like a gargantuan task, given the fact that I had a raging hard-on and a burning need to touch the girl sitting on top of me, I gripped the backs of her thighs and stood up. Sofia gasped against my skin, then wrapped her legs around me. “You really have to stop trying to carry me around. We can’t have you going off on deployment with an injured back.”
“Carrying you around will never injure my back,” I said, groaning when she accidentally brushed against my dick as she tried to get situated. “But not getting inside you soon might kill me. Just hang on tight, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, a hint of amusement in her tone. Thankfully, she kept still for the remaining few feet to the bedroom. Well, she kept everything still except for her tongue. It happily tortured me by licking along the curve of my ear.
“Jesus,” I muttered, nipping at her collarbone just before setting her down at the foot of the bed. “You really are trying to kill me.”
“Nope.” Her eyes were hooded when she looked up at me, vulnerability and lust shoving at one another to be the dominant emotion shining through. “I love you, Lincoln. It’s just good to know that you still want me as much as I want you.”
“It’s like you’re reading my mind today,” I said. But then she reached for the sides of her dress and dragged it over her head showing she had nothing on underneath it. I nearly swallowed my damn tongue to keep it from rolling out like I was a character in a comic book—again—but I was used to this reaction when it came to her.
It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen her in her underwear or how many times I’d seen her naked or gotten to touch her, I still lost my fucking mind every time. All my thoughts scattered and my body took over.
Today as I moved closer to her and pulled her back into my arms, one thought remained. “I love you, Sofia. I think I fell in love with you the same night I met you, and I will love you for as long as you’ll let me. You’re perfect, and I’m never going to let you forget it.”
Chapter 38
Sofia
Naked and exposed to him in more ways than one, I looked into the reddish-brown eyes of the man I loved.
I had fears, sure.
Fears that he wouldn’t return to me as the same man he was now.
Fears that he’d grow to resent me for the decisions he had made as a result of my father’s influence.
Fears that he wouldn’t return at all.
But in that moment, I pushed them all aside. Fear wouldn’t stand in my way. Fear wouldn’t hold me back, and it wouldn’t dictate my actions.
I knew our admissions to one another could spell disaster. I knew I could have walked away, and maybe I should have.
My instinct for self-preservation seemed to
have taken a nice, long hike. In its place was nothing but absolute love for this man, and I was willing to take the consequences of that love. Even if I didn’t know yet what they might be.
When Lincoln let me go and laid me gently across the bed, I saw that same love echoing back at me. He looked at me like he thought he was crazy for even thinking that I was actually there. He looked at me like I was a painting in a faraway land he never thought he’d see. He looked at me like he’d have another freaking Taj Mahal built just to signify his love for me forevermore.
As a monument of love, I’d always thought the Taj Mahal was a little ostentatious. But that was because I’d never known a love like this existed.
I totally got it now. Building a legit wonder of the world to show your love for someone had never made more sense to me.
Lincoln crawled onto the bed with me, his lips finding mine and never leaving them again. Our kisses were frantic but slowed after a while so we could soak in the feeling of being together.
When he finally ran his fingers up my thigh, it was also slow.
Almost reverent.
Every brush of his fingertips and every sound he made confirmed the words we had spoken to one another. He loved me. He loved me, and I loved him.
His skin was warm and his body hard as he hovered above me. A set of dog tags he wore now but never had before rested at the hollow of my throat.
I felt him rock hard and ready to go between my legs, but he didn’t rush things. Nor did he make a move to progress things at all.
Our hips rolled together, his shaft resembling the brick the walls behind the bed were made of. Whenever his cock brushed against my clit, I shivered and released little noises into his mouth. My legs hooked around him again, my ankles twining together at the base of his butt.
My chest pressed against his, my skin touching him in every possible way and place. Both of us were emitting gasps and sounds of pleasure as we made out like horny teenagers.
Eventually when I couldn’t take it anymore, I rolled his sweatpants off and kicked them away from the bed. Feeling him bare against me was a rush like I’d never felt before.
Let Freedom Ring Page 25