If You Believe in Me
Page 6
The second time took longer, but was gentler, too, and she wept when they came together, wrapped tightly around each other, expressing their love in every possible way.
Afterward, they went down to the kitchen, where Amber scrounged for enough food to cook a healthy meal while Kale tried to call his parents.
“Voice mail.” He hung up her old-fashioned wall phone and reached around her to pick a carrot off the cutting board. “I don’t want to leave a message. They’ve been through enough.” He bent to kiss her and then grinned. “I can’t believe I’m here. Holding you.”
Amber twisted so he cradled her against his chest and kept chopping. He was so warm and solid. All the years without him seemed to shrink to minutes. “As soon as your parents are home, we need to do our Christmas dinner. It helped us through while you were gone, you know.”
Kale’s arm snugged around her waist, and he rocked them a little, not saying anything. She could practically feel the guilt radiating off of him. He was probably thinking of all the special events he’d missed.
The past was the past, and it didn’t matter right now. Amber didn’t want to spoil his homecoming with it. But she couldn’t avoid the gigantic, looming question hanging over their heads any longer. “What about your commitment?” She turned to face him and toyed with his dog tags, unsure why such a simple strand of metal made a man so masculine. She wanted to hate them, what they represented, but she couldn’t. “To the military?”
“I’m done,” he said unequivocally, locking his hands at the small of her back.
“Really?” She didn’t think it was going to be that easy. “When?”
His eyes shifted, and she sighed.
“Be straight with me.”
“I’m not actually… Shit.” He banged his head lightly against the cupboard behind him. “My assignments are classified. I can’t give you the details you need. But I am done, Amber.” He bent toward her, squeezing her hand around his tags. “My contract is terminated. I promise you.”
“No more separations?”
Another eye shift, but he didn’t try to evade this time. “I don’t know. I’ve developed business plans for a consulting group, but if I follow through, it would mean traveling. I thought maybe, with your degree, you’d want to work with me. We could do it together.” His eyes tracked around the kitchen, to the walls she’d filled with photos of her friends and the groups and committees she was involved with. “I don’t want to take you away from what you have here, though. We’ll have to—”
But Amber was so excited she couldn’t stand still. She didn’t need all that anymore. She could take her life off hold. “I love it. I don’t need to stay in Hempfield. It would take a little time to break away, but of course I want to work with you.”
He laughed. “Wait until you hear what the job is before you agree to it. I learned that lesson the hard way.” He sobered. “I won’t lie, it’s not going to be easy. There are gonna be a ton of adjustments for both of us, and I’ve known guys, families, who couldn’t do it.”
“I know,” she assured him. “The Internet is a great research tool. I’m not blind to what we’re going to have to get through. But Kale…” She laid her hand on his chest and drew a breath that shuddered from the pleasure of having him here. Alive. Within reach. Everything else would follow, even if they had to wrestle it into place. “I believe in you. In us. If you believe in me…”
If he says he does…
He kissed her hand, where she’d used string to hold the ring on until she could get it sized. “I do. I promise you, I will never give up. The way you never gave up on me.”
…we’ll live happily ever after.
About the Author
Natalie J. Damschroder writes high-stakes romantic adventure, sometimes with a paranormal bent. Since 2000, she’s published 10 novels, 7 novellas, and 14 short stories, many of them exploring magical abilities, but all with a romantic core. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her perfect partner of a husband and two daughters who are so amazing, they’ve been dubbed “anti-teenagers.” Learn more about her at her website, www.nataliedamschroder.com, follow her on Twitter @NJDamschroder, or like her Facebook page at /NJDamschroder.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
About the Author
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
About the Author