Page 120 of Duty Preserved

“I’m glad Ethan let you extend your assignment here so you could protect me from my bedding each night.”

“Andrew helped. Called Ethan separately and told him I’d be useless anywhere else. Said I’d mope.”

“Would you have moped?”

He nuzzled my face up so I could look at him. “Let me see.” He kissed me deeply. Then he pulled back and placed my head back under his chin. “Without the enjoyment of your lips as often as I would like, yes, I would have moped.” He settled his hand against the side of my neck, his fingers warm against my skin. “Three more weeks.”

The fellowship. Three more weeks, and the year and a half I’d spent on this reserve would be officially over. The transition plan for the next fellow was already in my files.

We’d been talking about what would happen after this for weeks.

“Have you thought any more about it?” he asked.

“I’ve thought about nothing else.”

“And?”

“I want to be wherever you are. The details will figure themselves out,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment. His thumb traced a slow line along my neck.

“That’s very unlike you. You plan everything.”

“I’ve planned everything in my life since I was twelve years old.” I covered his hand on my neck with mine. “I didn’t plan you. And I really like how that has turned out.”

His phone buzzed on the nightstand. He reached over without letting go of me and checked the screen. A grin broke across his face.

“Andrew.”

He tilted the phone so I could see. A photo of Andrew at a physical therapy clinic, both thumbs up. Below it: PT cleared me for full duty. Ethan’s already got me on the roster for a new contract.

He set the phone back on the nightstand and pulled me against him.

“He’s going to be fine,” I said.

“He’s going to be insufferable. There’s a difference.”

I smiled against his shoulder. We stayed like that until the camp began to stir outside the window.

I sat up first. “I have to go to work.”

“I know.”

“So do you.”

He swung his legs off the bed.

I watched him pull a shirt over his head. The muscles across his back shifted under the fabric as he tugged it down. He slid his strong legs into his duty pants and buckled his belt. I had to stop myself from thinking about wrapping my own legs around his.

His boots were on the floor beside the door, next to mine, both pairs with soles caked in red Kenyan dirt. Once we had our shoes on, we made our way across camp to the mess tent to get our morning coffee. We stole one more kiss from each other before he went to his work and I to mine.

I walked to the vet facility the long way, past the training ground.

New recruits had arrived three weeks ago. Ten of them, barely older than the original rangers had been when Donovan had first shown up. They stood in a loose formation on the packed dirt while Zayn was explaining to them the importance of their training.

Jomo was at the far end, crouched beside one of the new kids, walking him through breaking down a rifle. The boy fumbled the bolt carrier, and Jomo caught it, handed it back, and waited for him to try again.

Baraka stood with his own pack between his legs, waiting for Zayn to finish lecturing so he could take the recruits on a ruck march.