“We haven’t had a chance to talk and just be by ourselves.”
“Now, why in the world would I want that?”Damon asked.
Emma looked away and then back.She tried to hide the hurt his words inflicted, but he saw everything when it came to her.She had always been so expressive.
She inhaled and squared her shoulders.“Can I write to you?”
God, what he wouldn’t give for letters from her, but if he started anything, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Jesus,” he said.It was loud enough to get people’s attention.“The last thing I want or need are letters from a child.”
Her chin lifted.“I’m nineteen, Damon.I’m not a child.Besides, you’re not that much older than I am.”
He always enjoyed her temper and sassiness.It always made him think of his hand on her bare ass and turning it a pretty shade of pink.
He wondered how she would take it when he showed her the Dom side of his personality.He guessed it would worry her at the beginning, but a Dom is exactly what this woman needed.
He tried to laugh.“In my eyes, you’ll always be a child—my best friend’s little sister.That’s it.Now, go play with your little friends.”
The devastation in her eyes about killed him, and when they noticed the quiet, they turned to see most people at her birthday party staring at them with different levels of surprise and anger.When he looked back down at her, he noticed the dark blush of embarrassment was now mixed with the despair and tears she tried to hold back.
Emma closed her eyes for a moment before looking up at him again.Her eyes didn’t meet his.Instead, she stared at his throat this time.“I see.I hope you stay safe and come home.”
“Come home to you?”he couldn’t keep himself from asking.
“No.You just killed any feeling I had for you.I get the sense you’re being a bully for a reason, but I can’t guess why.It doesn’t matter anymore because you’re leaving.Goodbye.”
He almost reached for her when she turned and walked away.He watched her walk into the house and gently close the door.
Damon turned to see her brother, Trent, and his friend come up to him.
“Let’s talk,” Trent said.
His friend, Trent, knew why he did what he did because he had told him, and although he understood, Damon could tell he wasn’t happy about where it happened.
“I already know what you’re going to say, man,” Damon said.“And you know why.Just leave it.I need to go.I have to get up early.”
“I know.I’m taking you to the airport, remember?”Trent said.
“No.You need to stay here and take care of your sister.”
“My parents are here,” Trent said.
“It doesn’t matter.She’ll need you.Besides, I’ve got another ride.”He didn’t, but being with Trent in the morning when he left would be harder for him to leave, and like he told Emma, he didn’t have a choice.
The two men stared at each other for a long moment.Damon could see the same sorrowful emotion in his friend’s eyes that he knew was in his.He knew both had in the back of their minds that it might be the last time they would see each other.
Trent pulled him into his arms and hugged him tight.“You’re a butthead, and I’ll miss you.”
Damon swallowed.“I’ll miss you, too.”
Trent slapped him on the back.“You’d better come home to us in one piece.”
“I’ll try my very best.”Damon handed Trent the bottle of beer he barely touched.He waved to a few people but kept walking, not wanting to talk to anyone.
He hadn’t come home again for five years.When his first tour was up, he had reenlisted for another four years because Emma was several states away in college.He knew staying away from her would be next to impossible if he were in the United States, and he thought she needed college experience.He wanted her to have a thrilling, joy-filled four years before she came home and he snatched her up.Now, she might not want anything to do with him.
Damon looked out the airport window as they walked along.Fuck, he might still be gone if not for being injured.The thought of ever returning to that hellhole made his gut tense and his throat tighten.
