Jake by Rian Kelley Page A

should live with more urgency. I just want to make sure that the decisions we make today don’t lead to regret later.” He turned a fork over with his fingers and studied the tines as he sifted through words for the ones that felt right. “I told you I lost a man my last tour. He was married. Had a few kids. But you know what? He lived life. The guy was always smiling. He had only one greeting. ‘Seize the day.’ And he lived it.”
                  “Why were you ordered on R&R?”
                  Jake glanced toward the ocean. Only the whitecaps were visible, like sheets undulating in the wind. “I needed it. I went back for Arturo,” he confided. “The gunfire was close and they were using hand held missile launchers, too. It made hearing each other almost impossible—caused static on our radios and forget trying to shout to each other. But I heard him. For one clear moment, with artillery flying and the discharge from automatic weapons shattering the air, there was a moment of nothing. And that’s when I heard him.” He paused, caught a breath of air, and continued. “No words. He wasn’t capable of any. But his last breath.
                  “I couldn’t leave him there. His family needed closure, needed something to bury.” He shook his head. “And there was just no way I could leave his body out there, to become a symbol
    of enemy taunting.             
                  “I put him over my shoulder and ran a quarter mile to our transport. That was May eleventh. I’ve been in fast-forward ever since.” Until he saw her on the side of the road and then everything inside him came to a screeching halt. “My CO thought a break would do me good. The General agreed. I wasn’t happy about it. Not at first. But then I found you, half-naked on the side of the road, and realized that I’d struck gold.”
                  “I wasn’t half-naked,” she protested, but her voice was mild. “I’m sorry you lost Arturo. You’re a brave man, Jake. And honorable.” Her fingers pleated the cocktail napkin her wine glass rested on as she dipped into her thoughts. “I’m sorry I’ve been pushing.”
                  She lifted her eyes and met his gaze. Jake noticed the color in her cheeks and the way her teeth sawed her lower lip. It made him want to reach across the table and suck that lip into his mouth, kiss her deeply, make her cheeks flame with passion.
                  “Especially since I agreed to Saturday night.” She shrugged. “I’m impatient. I don’t remember being this way since, well ever. You don’t even have to touch me. Sometimes it’s the way you look at me, or its standing close enough I can feel your warmth, breathe in your scent, and I want you. We’ll wait until Saturday. And we’ll have a normal date. We’ll do that dinner cruise—“
                  “Whoa!” Jake pushed his menu aside and leaned across the table. “Hold up. You’ve got me where you want me.”
                  “I know you told me I could take advantage of you,” she smiled, but her amusement fast turned sultry. “And I’d really like to do that, but it wouldn’t be right.”
                  Jake’s head was spinning. Three hours. He was primed. He was ready. He wanted it. And so did she.
                  “I was kidding.”
                  “I know.”
                  “I’m not now,” he wanted to make that clear.
                  “I don’t want you to compromise your principals,” she explained.
                  “We’re having sex tonight,” he told her, glancing at his watch. “In two hours and forty minutes. And it’ll be the best decision we’ve ever made.”
                  She gazed at him, considering. “That’s a lot of confidence for a man who five minutes ago was worried