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Cameron was leaning against the wall next to the bench I was sitting on, and Jayden was on my lap, his hands encased in mine because he wouldn’t stop picking and biting at his nails. My hands were clammy, and my heart was in my throat. I’d never been nervous about anything in my life.
But I was nervous about meeting Ethan.
People began pouring out of the hallway to our left, and Jayden lurched off my lap. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my cargo pants, the chains hanging from my belt loops and pockets jangling against the metal bench. My eyes scanned the men in uniform walking out of the—
There he was.
Ethan Ripley.
He was as big as he’d looked in his pictures—tall and broad-shouldered, looking like he was ready to carry the weight of my world on his shoulders just as he’d promised two letters ago. He was stepping away from a man headed straight for Jayden, who was still standing in front of me.
That’d been something weird, too. That program managed to pair the three of us up with men in the same platoonandstationed at Fort Eisenhower, the local Army base in Augusta.
Maybe forming relationships between soldiers and civilians and helping soldiers find their happily ever afters was something they were into. Because nothing else made sense in my mind.
Ethan’s smile was warm, his eyes filled with adoration as he made his way over to me, his military-issue boots softly thumping across the white floor. When he reached me, he simply held his hand out to me, palm up, leaving this decision in my hands, just as he’d promised he would.
I knew if I left right now, he’d let me. But I also knew that wouldn’t stop him from showing up at my house later. Ethan had made it very clear that getting rid of him would not be easy.
And honestly, I didn’twantto get rid of him.
So, with my pulse thrumming at the base of my throat as fast as a bird’s wings when lifting off into flight and my heart hammering against my breastbone, threatening to slam through it, I placed my hand in his.
Warmth engulfed my fingers as his hand closed around mine, and tingles shot up my arm. Slowly, I stood, running my eyes over him for the first time. His uniform did little to hide just how fit he was, and the fingers of my free hand twitched with the urge to touch all those hard muscles.
Because he was mine now, right? I could do that.
Ethan cupped my cheek when I let my dark eyes meet his hazel ones, and he stroked a thumb over my skin right beneath my eye.
“You’re even more fucking stunning in person than you were in that picture,” he rasped. He smiled, and my heart skipped a beat in my chest. “Thank you for meeting me here, boy.”
I shivered. He’d been calling me baby and boy for weeks now, buthearinghim call me that,hearingone of those names fall from his lips…Fuck, I had not been prepared.
“Wish I could say the same,” I retorted because I just couldn’t ever seem to be a nice human being.
Ethan chuckled, his eyes lighting up in amusement. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to my temple. My heart stuttered in my chest again, and my hand tightened around his.
What had he done to me?
“Come with me to get my bags,” he murmured.
I followed him over to the baggage claim carousel and then dug my keys out of my pocket, handing them to him. “You’re driving home.”
He arched a brow at me. “Home?” he asked.
I licked my lips and nodded. I wanted him to come to my house. I wanted to see if I could experience what my friends had been experiencing throughout college. My body was more than ready, my cock harder than it had ever been before in my life. Because of Ethan.
“Yeah,” I croaked. “Home.”
He hummed, thankfully not making a big deal out of it, and then stepped forward to grab his bag before nodding his head toward the exit. “Let’s go then.”
I led him out to my car—an old beat-up gray Honda Civic. He ran his eyes over it. “Not going to lie, I thought you would’ve driven something black.”
I snorted. “Nope. This was cheap. Buying a house was more important to me than a fancy car.”
He smiled at me over the roof of the car as I yanked open the passenger door, grunting when it stuck before flying open. “You’re right; buying a house was more important.” He winked at me. “I’m home to take care of you now though.”
I grunted and slid into the passenger seat, but the idea of being taken care of for once, having someone I could rely on who wasn’t my best friends…my heart clenched in my chest. I wanted it badly now that the opportunity was right there in my hands.
