Rediscovering Peace (Military Love Book 1)

by Rogers, Steffy

  “You’re not dreaming. I am right here and I am not going anywhere. I am yours. I love you, Skye Taylor Donovan. I can’t wait for the day when I change that last name of yours.”

  I must have thought out loud but I didn’t even care. In this moment, I felt certain that Braden and I would be together for the rest of our lives.

  “I love you too,” I mumbled and soon I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 11

  Braden

  Things with Skye and I were perfect. I was the happiest damn guy alive since she stopped running from me. I had almost given up on her and let the best damn thing in my life go again. But I promised myself once I found her again I wouldn’t ever let her leave. Skye was the one and I was certain of it. I knew I wanted to marry her and have children with her. Not too much longer and I would be getting out of the army. As much as I loved my job, I knew it was time. I had deployed twice and if it wasn’t for me not being able to deploy again I would definitely stay in. I had never planned to make the military thing a career but over the years, I had grown to like it a lot. It was a scary thought that soon I wouldn’t be a soldier anymore.

  Luckily, I had Skye and her support meant everything to me. I wasn’t stupid. I knew she was happy that I was getting out. After everything with Oliver, she needed to know that I would always come home to her. Skye was the most important thing in my life and that alone was reason enough for me to retire from the army. I had already explored my options and decided to go into law enforcement. I didn’t want to leave serving my community and country completely and being in law enforcement was the next best thing. I wasn’t sure what route I was going yet, but I leaned towards becoming a crime scene investigator. I could see myself doing that.

  One night Skye and I were out for dinner. Our apartment often got crowded with Faith and Caige living there as well so we often escaped for a while. I loved Skye’s friends but I sure wouldn’t mind having a house to ourselves. I wanted to be able to walk around naked without having to worry about bumping into someone. I thought it was the right time to move our relationship along further. I was ready for the next step.

  “So, baby, I have been thinking.” I opened the conversation.

  “About what?” She looked at me curiously.

  “Well... I was thinking maybe you wanted to start looking for our own place. I know how much you love living with Caige and Faith and I really don’t mind. But I would much rather live with you by myself. It gets to be too much with them around sometimes. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s a fantastic idea. I am ready to move in with you. I knew we would have to eventually look for our own place and I have already talked to them about it. They have also decided to look for places on their own. We are going to sell the apartment and split the money we make off of it.”

  “Wait. You guys own the apartment? How do I not know about this?”

  “Umm... It’s not something we talk about really. Faith and I make good money and Caige inherited some money when his grandma died. Plus my parents had been saving for my college all my life and I had a little bit left over when I finished.”

  “Wow. That’s awesome. Not a lot of people can say they are homeowners at your age.”

  “Well it’s easier when there are three people. But yeah we paid it off in no time. So when do we want to start looking for a new place?”

  “How about yesterday? I want to have you to myself as soon as possible,” I explained. She was smiling at me and I felt my dick harden. The girl was my undoing. Soon I would have her to myself all the time.

  After a while we left the restaurant and went to the beach for a walk. It was a beautiful day out and Skye loved the beach. She always said how much the beach settled her.

  “We should try to find a house here on the beach. You would be closer to work,” I suggested. Her eyes lit up at my idea.

  “Are you sure? I love the beach. But I am not sure we can afford it.”

  “Babe, I also have some money tucked away. They do compensate us pretty well for deployments. All the guys always spend it on stupid stuff like big cars and alcohol, but I saved every cent of it for when it came time to buy a house.”

  “You really want to move to the beach?”

  “Skye, I will move anywhere with you, as long as you are happy.” I planned on doing everything in my power to always put Skye’s needs first. I didn’t care where I lived as long as I was with her.

  “Braden, sometimes I really think I am dreaming. You are so good to me. I will get in touch with a realtor tomorrow and see what’s out there. Thank you for doing this for me. I have always wanted to live on the beach.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. Kissing Skye was my second favorite thing in the world. First was making love to her and seeing her fall apart for me. She tried to be in control of everything but when we were in the bedroom together she gave over the control to me. Lately she had been wanting to play a lot and I loved that new side of her. Our relationship was constantly growing and I was more than ready to make her my wife, but I was waiting for the right time.

  “Skye, I am going to see my dad tomorrow. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.”

  “Of course, Braden. I am so sorry I have been so caught up in work and all the crap with Oliver that I completely forgot about your dad. How is he?”

  “He’s okay I guess. Still drowning his sorrows in alcohol. I told him that I found you but I am not sure he remembers. He was pretty drunk.”

  “Gah. I really need to stop being so selfish. You are helping me so much with my stuff and I never once stopped to see how your dad is or how you are handling it. I am a crappy girlfriend.” She was upset with herself.

  “Stop beating yourself up, babe. You’ve been through a lot lately and I don’t expect you to take on my problems with Dad. I just think he would be happy to see you, he loved you.”

  “I am your girlfriend. I am supposed to be there for you. I will try to get off work early so that we can head over there as soon as possible. We should also plan a get together with your dad and my parents. I think it would be great for your dad to get around people.”

  My girlfriend was perfect. Though our path hadn’t been easy lately I was certain that our love could overcome everything. I pulled her to me and kissed her. Soon I was lost in Skye. I could kiss her all day and be the happiest person alive. She pulled back and had a mischievous grin on her face. Uh oh. What was she up to?

  She pulled her shirt over her head and stood in front of me with a pink lace bra and her jean shorts. She was so damn beautiful. My dick immediately stood at attention.

  “You want to go for a swim?” she asked while taking off her shorts and underwear. The sun had already set and the beach was almost deserted. Perfect timing to go skinny dipping. I peeled off my clothes in record time while Skye got rid of her bra and panties. As soon as she was undressed she took off in a sprint towards the ocean.

  “First one to make it in the water wins,” she yelled. I took off behind her but didn’t try to catch up with her. I liked admiring her naked body. The best part was it was all mine. Mine. I sure loved the sound of that. I had known back when we first dated that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Skye jumped in the water and started screeching.

  “Fuck. The water is so cold.” I busted out laughing. She obviously hadn’t thought the whole thing through too well. It was the end of June and though the weather had been beautiful the ocean was still cold. I followed Skye into the water and scooped her up in my arms. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and my cock hardened at the feel of her naked body on mine.

  “Skinny dipping, huh? I have to say I love this new side of you, love,” I whispered as I lowered my lips to hers. She was grinding her hips against me and I needed to be inside of her.

  “Baby, I can’t really prepare you for me out here in the water. But I want to bury myself inside of you.”

  “I am ready for you. I always am. Please make love to me.” Ho
ly hell. I didn’t know what I did to deserve a girl like Skye, but I would take it. I didn’t even want to think about a life without her. She was the air that I breathed. She lifted herself up and grabbed on to my shoulders for support. I positioned my dick at her entrance and slipped into her tight pussy when she lowered herself back down. She was so damn wet and ready for me. I took one of her nipples in my mouth and slightly bit down on it. She gasped at the feeling and I felt her tremble. I sucked and licked both her nipples. Her walls were clenching around my dick and I knew she was close. I picked up the pace and pounded into her. I wasn’t going to last long but I needed to make sure she came first. I would always put her pleasure before mine.

  “Yes, Braden, please don’t stop. You feel so good inside of me.” She dug her nails into my back and I knew I would have scratches but I didn’t care. Knowing that Skye was marking me just turned me on more.

  “Baby, I can feel you tightening around me. I won’t be able to hold off much longer. Come for me, sweetheart.”

  Skye let go and her vagina was pulsing around me as she called out my name. I pushed into her twice more and found my own release. We stayed tangled up in each other for a little while longer. It was easy to lose track of time when I was with her. I felt her shuddering and saw the goose bumps on her body and knew she was getting cold. So I walked us back to the shore. We both got dressed and headed for my truck.

  Skye held my hand the entire ride home and seemed content with her surroundings. My heart was beating out of my chest with love for the woman next to me. No one could ever compete with her. I had thought that Chelsea would help me get over Skye. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. You only get one shot at the once in a lifetime kind of love – mine was Skye.

  When we got home, we hopped in the shower together and I ended up pushing Skye up against the shower wall and making love to her. We were insatiable for each other, and I hoped it would always stay that way. We settled in bed with a movie and Skye cuddled up to me with her head on my chest. Soon I heard her breathing even out and knew she was asleep. I turned off the movie and finally fell asleep myself.

  A few hours later I felt Skye shaking me.

  “Braden. Braden, wake up. Baby, please. It’s a dream. It isn’t real.”

  What the fuck? Then the dream came crushing back to me. It was the day our Humvee had blown up. Fuck. I just wish the dreams would stop. I needed to make an appointment with my counselor.

  I reluctantly opened my eyes and looked at Skye. She was holding her cheek. What the hell?

  “Skye, did I hurt you?”

  “It’s okay, Braden. You were thrashing around in your sleep and caught me by accident. It’s nothing. I know you would never hurt me on purpose.”

  Fuck. I had hurt her. I had been so good with keeping my nightmares at bay. Tears were sliding down my face. I had hurt the one woman I loved. I didn’t care that she thought it wasn’t a big deal, to me it was. I had hit her in my sleep.

  “Oh God, baby. I am so sorry. I swear to you I will go talk to my counselor. I’ll see if I can change my meds. I can’t let this happen again. Until I have figured this out I will sleep in the guest room. I am not putting you at risk.”

  “Braden James Parker, stop right there. You have been doing so good with your nightmares. This was the first time in a long time that you had them. This,” she said pointing at her face and I cringed at the sight. “This is nothing. Shit happens. I know you have demons and I am willing to take the risk. I will not sleep separated from you. Not now. Not ever. You belong here with me in this bed. I want to go to your counselor with you. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone.”

  Where in the world did this amazing woman come from? She deserved so much better than me but I was happy she wanted nobody else but me. I vowed right then never to take her for granted.

  “Baby, you shouldn’t have to sleep next to someone who doesn’t know if the nightmares will come back that night. I don’t want to hurt you again, hell, it shouldn’t have happened the first time.”

  “I don’t care, Braden. Remember when I told you I was done running? I meant it. That means I will support you when it gets tough as well. You are staying here in this bed with me. Our bed. End of story. Now let’s try to get some more sleep.”

  She pulled me close to her and soon she was quietly snoring. I was too scared to fall back asleep so I just laid there watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful even with what just happened. After a few hours I got up to take a shower. The nightmare was still lingering in the back of my head. I just wished I could get rid of the images of my soldiers. I had felt so helpless when it all happened. If only I would’ve listened to PVT Madison, things could’ve gone differently. It was my fault that he and Warner were dead. It didn’t matter how many times my counselor told me there was nothing I could’ve done, there had been. I could’ve turned around. I felt Skye get in behind me and she wrapped her arms around me.

  “I hate waking up and you’re not in bed with me,” she grumbled.

  “Sorry, babe. I didn’t want to wake you. You were sleeping so peacefully.”

  “Are you okay? Are we okay?”

  “Of course we are okay, sweetheart. Don’t ever doubt that. I am making an appointment today and I will let you know the details when I have them. It means a lot that you want to go there with me. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “Well, you won’t ever have to find out. I am not going anywhere. I am in this for the long run. Are we still going to see your dad tonight?”

  “If you’re still up for it. I haven’t gone to see him in over a week. I need to check up on him.”

  “I am going to ask Caige to give me a ride to work. That way you can just come and pick me up whenever you’re done with work. Now get out of here so I can get ready for the day. We have a new guy starting today so I have to get in early and prepare the training. Like I don’t have enough to do already.”

  “Okay, baby. Have a good day at work. I will be thinking about you.”

  “Me too. I love you.”

  “I love you too. Always.” I looked at her. Luckily her cheek wasn’t bruising – it was just a little red. I felt guilty enough as it was I really didn’t want her to be bruised up.

  I put on my uniform and drove to the base. I couldn’t wait to put this chapter behind me and start a new one with Skye. The army had been my escape for the last eight years but now that I had her back I wanted to be home with her every night rather than being in the field for weeks at a time. I was early and saw that Seth was already here too. He was sitting in his car, and I decided it was finally time to find out what had happened between him and Faith.

  I opened the passenger door of his SUV and slid into the seat.

  “Morning, Seth. You’re here early.”

  “I haven’t slept all night. Krystal and I got into it last night and she ran out on me. So I spent all night looking for her making sure she wasn’t doing anything stupid. Well I finally found her about an hour ago at her parents’ house.”

  “Why the fuck are you still with her, Seth? You guys are miserable with each other.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that? Every time I bring up divorce she threatens to fucking kill herself. It’s not that easy. Fuck. I hate my life.” He slammed his fists down on the steering wheel.

  Wow. I had known that Krystal was a bitch but I didn’t know she was playing him like this. I had seen her at the mall the other day with some of her friends and she looked like she was happy. Sure, you could never see when someone was depressed, but I had a feeling that Krystal was just using it against Seth. Why, I didn’t know.

  “To make it worse, I completely fucked up with Faith.” That piqued my interest, something really had happened.

  “What do you mean?” I asked casually.

  “The other night I asked her to dinner with me. As friends of course. I can’t explain it but there is something about her. I want to spend every minute of every day with her mak
ing her happy. But I am married. Anyways, we went out to dinner and had a great time. I didn’t want the night to be over yet so we went to the fair. She had powdered sugar on her cheek and when I went to wipe it away I almost kissed her. I came to my senses and pulled away. The hurt in her eyes when I rejected her still haunts me.

  “Well I drove her home and she said something about just having fuck buddies. I got so angry. Why is she selling herself short? She deserves a guy who worships her. I told her as much. One thing led to another, we kissed, and she pulled me into the apartment and her bedroom. Well you can imagine the rest. But the chicken shit that I am, I waited till she was asleep and sneaked out. Fuck. I know she feels something for me too. But Krystal... I am so fucked.”

  “What the fuck, Seth? You slept with Faith? You are fucking married!! I don’t care that you’re not happy but you should’ve never put Faith in that situation. That explains everything. You know, she is dating this guy Jordan now. You want to know something else? She is not fucking happy. Apparently that’s her way of trying to get over what happened.”

  “Wait! She’s dating someone?”

  “Yes she is.”

  “Fuck. I pushed her to this. God. I just hope he treats her right.”

  “What is wrong with you? You need to get your shit together and dump Krystal. I think she’s feeding you lies to keep you around.”

  “You don’t understand, Parker.”

  “You’re right. I don’t. I don’t understand how you can be with someone who you’re not happy with. What I do understand is that what you feel with Faith – you only get that once in your life. So either you get your head out of your ass and fight for her or you stay in that terrible marriage and suffer for the rest of your life. Just know one thing – if you so much as look at Faith while you’re still married, I will beat your ass. You might be my best friend, but she’s like a sister to me and I will be damned if I let you hurt her again.” With that, I got out of the car and waited for my guys to show up for formation.