Long Way Home by Ann Vaughn

together that last time back home.  I wore a bikini
sometimes at parties.  I wanted the guys to think there was someone back
home waiting for me, so they’d leave me alone.”
             “You
wore a bikini low enough for this to be seen?” he asked incredulously.
             She
smiled.  “Hey, ya got it, flaunt it.”
             “Hence
your need for the tattoo of a semi-imaginary boyfriend.”
             She
looked up into his eyes and stroked her hand over his cheek.  “You look
pretty real to me.  Besides, they’d heard us on the phone together
before.”
             “Must
have worked.”
             “Well,
that and the fact that they were all intimidated by me.”
             He
shook his head.  “I’m sure they placated themselves by saying you were a
lesbian.”
             “Yeah,
there was some of that talk, too.”
             “Got
some ink of my own,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head.
             Tessa
came up on her knees to inspect the tribal dragon on his left pectoral.
 It was black ink, intricately done, and within the swirl and points of
the design, where the heart of the dragon was, were the initials T.K. in red,
right over his heart.
             “T.K.,”
she said, touching the letters.
             He
rubbed the heel of his hand over the ink, catching her fingers under his hand.
 “You’ve never been far from my heart, Tess,” he confessed.
             “Aww,
you can be sweet.  My hometown golden boy,” she teased.
             She
kissed the tattoo then pulled his head down to kiss her lips.  That they
both marked their bodies with the other’s name said worlds about their
feelings.  Shane smoothed his hands over her hair and face, pushing her
back to the mattress.  Tessa looked up into his blue eyes and what he saw
in her eyes took his breath away.  Absolute trust.  It was as if they
were back on that blanket by the waterfalls.  She looked at him in that moment
like he was everything in her whole world.
             “I’ve
missed you so damn much, Tess,” he whispered.
             “I’ve
missed you, too, Shane,” she admitted.
               She
wrapped her legs around his waist and when he slid inside her, they both took a
deep, calming breath, both realizing they’d just come home.  They made
love tenderly, rediscovering and reclaiming each other.  He found other
battle scars on her body; she kissed the scar under his eye and on his knee
from his fight with her father all those years ago, found other battle scars on
him as well.
             In
the afterglow, she lay nestled against his side, her ear over his pounding
heart.  For several long moments they lay silent, each lost in their own
thoughts, still stroking each other.
             “You’ve
seriously not been with anyone since me?” he asked, stroking her hair.
             She
looked up at him, her eyes serious.  “No,” she confessed softly.
 “What about you?  I’m not naïve enough to think you’ve been celibate
all these years.”
             He
was idly stroking her hair, loving the feel of its silky strands between his
fingers.  “No, I haven’t…but there’ve only been a few and nothing serious.
 No real relationships since you.”
             She
smiled then laid her head back on his chest, letting her fingers lightly
explore his six-pack abs.  “Why do you think that is?  Are we too
career minded?  Or is it really that we are perfectly matched like Miss
Nettie and her friends said?”
             “Probably
both…talk to me about this assignment, Tess.  I gotta be honest, it scares
the living daylights outta me to think about sending you into that.  Have
you really done your research on them?  I’ve had run-ins with them over
the last few years.  I know what they are capable of.”
             She
got up and