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“I don’t give a shit about that,” I told her as I pulled her hand from her face. “Give me a kiss, Sunshine.” Then I pounced, giving her no time to protest anymore. Once our mouths came together, she put in a hundred percent, without another word.
My girl was so damn responsive and round three was inevitable. We both laughed though when Ash jumped off the end of the bed, letting out a bark, and took off out of the room. She’d come in early this morning, curling up at the foot of the mattress, but I guess she didn’t want to see what happened next.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen. You need to rest,” I told her.” But damn, she was hard to resist.
“I’m fine, Big Guy and it’s what I wanted, so stop worrying.”
Looking directly into her mystical green eyes while I held her in my arms once again, I knew that whatever she wanted she could get from me.
Her wish was my command.
“Fine, who am I to deny you pleasure?” She giggled at that and cuddled a little closer.
Since we were here together and comfortable, I figured it was as good a time as any to talk, even knowing when I opened the can of worms that I would be on the hot seat too.
“Will you tell me about the tat on your lower back?” When I asked, her face changed from the carefree look she had on it, to a little sad. But Summer was tough and after a minute she seemed okay and explained when and why she had got it.
Just as I had assumed, it started with her parents but didn’t end there as it also had to do with others looking down on her growing up with her seizures and stuff. Other parents and kids at their country club, students at school, etc.
“It took me a while to believe the words and I decided to put them on me so I could never forget them. I may forget from time to time like when I knew I was sick and thought I wasn’t enough for you.” Her eyes glittered with unshed tears that had been ready to drop at any moment.
What the actual hell?
“Sunshine, you are perfect and if anyone isn’t good enough in this relationship, it’s me, for you. You hear me?”
She shook her head back and forth. Then she said, “You are perfect too.”
A smile broke across my face because this woman made me damn happy, something I wasn’t sure I’d truly be again, after losing my mom and after what happened to Luke.
“How about we agree that we are perfect together?”
Her droplets of tears spilled over, but when she spoke, I knew they were tears of joy.
“Deal, want to seal it with a kiss?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.
“You bet your sweet ass I do,” I said as I leaned in and we made out like teenagers who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
When we broke apart, both panting as if we’d just run a marathon, she asked what I’d known was coming.
“Will you tell me about the tattoos? I know one has to do with your mom and you have told me about her, but what about this one?” She softly moved her hand over the tat on my arm. “I know it has to do with Luke since his name is there, but you haven’t told me about him yet.”
I wanted to be with Summer for the rest of my life and that meant her knowing all of me. So I swallowed the huge lump in my throat and began.
“A group of us were on patrol late one evening and Luke and I broke off to check out an old building just about a half-mile up the road away from the others to make sure it was secure. As we approached the rickety old door, Luke noticed a car sitting up toward the end of the building and slowly approached to make sure nobody was inside it as I held my position at the door watching the area.”
My breathing grew rapidly as I told the story of the hell I remembered and the mind-bending fear of the next minutes that took place that evening. Pausing, I wasn’t sure I could finish, but then Summer’s small hand settled on my chest over my heart, giving me the strength to continue.
“Luke was about ten yards away from the vehicle when the night exploded around us with a blast from the car bomb that went off right in front of us. Shrapnel hit my leg and I went down hard to the ground, ears ringing, and excruciating pain in my limb.”
Craving Summer’s comfort like a lifeline, I needed to touch her. So I pulled her closer and rolled her right over the top of me so she blanketed me in her warmth. She laid her head on my chest and waited until I could carry on.
“Luke’s terrified screams will never leave my memory, and neither will the picture of how I found him or his last words.”
There was no way to make it through this without crying and so I let the tears come, spilling free and my gutted soul wept for one of the best men I knew.
“I swear I tried to get to him faster, I really did, but even then it wouldn’t have made a difference. I crawled on my stomach, reaching him, and pushed myself to sit up, dragging him in my arms. There was a huge piece of metal sticking out of his side that must have come off the car, he had cuts everywhere, and there was blood trickling from his mouth.”
My heart raced as the memories were almost too much to bear.
