Disarm by June Gray Read Free Book Online Page A

chest.
    “I have to tell
you something.”
    “Can you tell me
tomorrow? I was having a nice dream.”
    I pushed against
him. “No, you need to know now.”
    His eyes remained
shut. “So...?”
    “I love you,” I
whispered.
    Henry was so
still that if it weren’t for his rapid heartbeat, I might have thought he had
fallen back asleep.
    I pushed up to
one elbow. “I said I’m in love with you.”
    One corner of his
mouth curled up. “I already know.”
    “What? For how
long?”
    He finally opened
his eyes and fixed them on me. “You’ve always been in love with me. You just
needed time to remember.”
    “But…”
    He laughed at my
dumbfounded expression and pulled me back down into his arms. “I love you too,
Els. Now go back to sleep.”

 
    I wanted to call
in sick the next day, but Henry had a lot of last minute things to take care
of, like making sure his training and medical papers were up to date. “I also
have to update my will,” he said as we sipped our morning coffee with my
sitting on his lap.
    His will.
    My spine
stiffened, that one word bursting my happy little bubble. All of a sudden my
fears came racing back, crushing my lungs.
    Henry felt the
sudden change of mood. He squeezed my side and said, “I will be okay. Updating
my will is just customary.”
    I stood up and
faced him, intent on swallowing my fears. “Of course it is,” I said, giving him
one last kiss. “Well, I should get going.”
    His hands rested
on the back of my legs and slid up my skirt. “Have a good day,” he said
huskily, his fingers playing with the edge of my panties.
    I kissed him and
pulled away. “Bye.”

 
    I ate my lunch at
my desk, turning my head every time someone walked by, hoping that Henry had
found a sliver of time to come see me again, but he didn’t come. I stared at
that red rose sitting inside an empty glass water bottle and ate my food like a
zombie. I couldn’t even tell you what I ate, I was so
out of it.
    After work I
rushed home, jittery with the knowledge that the seconds were ticking by. As I
drove I convinced myself to live for the moment, to pretend that tomorrow
didn’t exist—and almost succeeded until I walked in the living room and
found a pile of his stuff on the floor. Two dark green duffel bags with his
name embroidered on the side, folded ABUs, tan boots, gloves, a helmet. My
heart stopped when my eyes rested on a body armor vest. I picked it up,
wondering how something that wasn’t even that heavy could protect a big man
like Henry when it hadn’t been enough to save my brother.
    This was really
happening. Henry was really going to leave tomorrow.
    I dropped the
vest, suddenly too exhausted to even hold myself up. I sank to the floor and
stared at the deployment pile, trying to convince my lungs to simply keep
breathing.
    “I didn’t know
you were ho—” Henry stopped when he saw me. I must have looked like a hot
mess, but he didn’t mention it. “I have something to show you.” He held out his
hand and pulled me up off the floor. We walked through the living room and he
opened the sliding door that led to the balcony.
    “I wanted you to
have your camping trip,” he said, stepping aside so I could see. He had placed
one of our kitchen rugs on the cement balcony and erected a tent on it. Beside
it stood a camping stove and two metal skewers.
    I peered into the
tent and found our sleeping bags zipped together to make one oversized one.
“Nice.”
    “But there’s
more,” he said and produced a box of graham crackers, a bar of Hershey’s
chocolate, and a bag of marshmallows.
    “You’ve thought
of everything, Captain Logan,” I said with the best smile I could manage. I
gave him a kiss, pushing the sad thoughts to the back of my head, pretending
for at least tonight that the pile of stuff in the living room didn’t exist.

 
    Having sex in a
tent is not so bad, but when you’re suspended three floors up with a six foot
man on top of you, it can get downright