“Then you name it, Kace. Anything.” Hestarted to reach for her. She veered back. He yanked his sunglasses off and dropped his hands. “You want me to get out, I’ll get out. You want me to pull strings and get us to Germany so you can go teach and research over there, I’ll pull every damn string I can. I’ll take a year remote in Korea so I can come back here to Gellings again. Anything. I just—I miss you. I want you. God, Kaci, Ineedyou.”
Heneededher? “Nobody needs me,” she whispered.
Suddenly she was wrapped up in him, a capable hand cradling her head against his shoulder, his viselike grip a steel beam holding her against his hot, hard body while his voice resonated in her ears. “Kaci, so many people need you. Your friends need you. Your students need you.Ineed you. You’re everything missing in my life. You’re my light. You’re my laughter. You’re my love.You’re my home. I didn’t want to be in the sandbox. I didn’t want to be at my house. I didn’t want to be back here at the squadron. I wanted to be with you. The last four months, all I’ve wanted is to be with you. Wherever you are. I want to be with you.”
This. This was everything she’d ever wanted. Everything she’d ever needed. She couldn’t have let him go if her life depended on it. “Did you fall and hit your head over there?”
His chuckle rumbled against her body, and her long-dormant feminine parts stirred to life.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered into her hair.
“Maybe I’m still mad at you.”
His fingers trailed down her neck. “I hope so. I have a lot of groveling and apologizing and making amends to do. I should’ve told you I was leaving. I should’ve told youhow much I cared. I’ll make it all up to you though. Please, Kaci. Please let me love you.”
As if she could tell him no for anything. He could’ve asked her to go with him to the moon.
He was here.
He’d missed her.
He knew her, and he still wanted her.
Helovedher.
“Is this good quiet or bad quiet?” he whispered.
“I missed you too.” She lifted her face to his. The worry and vulnerability and just plain exhaustion etched in his expression tugged at her soul. “Oh, Lance.” She cupped his cheeks, went up on tiptoe, and pressed her lips to his.
She couldn’tnotkiss him.
A low groan rumbled out of his chest. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth, and sheforgot where she was, forgot what day it was, forgot her own name.
Her name didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that she was his. And time and distance and airplanes couldn’t change that.
Cheers went up all around them.
She reluctantly pulled out of his kiss. “My students,” she whispered.
He grinned, then pressed another kiss to her cheek. “And the cannon.”
She laughed and wiped her eyes.
He knew her too well.
She might not have wanted another military man in her life, but she was keeping this one.
And she wouldn’t want him any other way.
Six months ago,the last place Lance would’ve expected to find truecontentment was on his couch with a fully clothed woman talking his ear off. But tonight, despite his body being tired from the long flight home, he couldn’t stop smiling, and that sassy twang was utter music to his ears.
“And when we landed in Germany, that pilot had the nerve to ask everyone to come back and fly their airline again. Like the dang man thought we all should’ve liked it as much as you crazy people do.”
He slid his fingers through her silky hair and lost himself in her unique Kaci scent. “Can I go with you in May?”
She arched a brow at him. “Oh, I see what’s going on. You’re thinking you found yourself an easy way to go on fancy vacations.”
