“Well, Sebastian,” she said, leaning in close and whispering into my ear, “now you have something to think about when we’re apart, or when you’re doing a tour. Now you can imagine me talking to you.”

I groaned as her words made my limp dick twitch again.

“Are you fucking kidding me? With twenty other horny Marines sharing the same grot?” I winced. “Aw, hell! I won’t be able to get rid of that image now.”

She laughed, deep and throaty and totally fucking sexy. “That’s kind of the point, Sebastian.”

I shook my head, slowly.

“Fuck, Caro! You are so fucking amazing. Did I ever tell you that?”

I felt the mattress move as she sat up and smiled at me.

“You may have mentioned it once or twice, but feel free to repeat yourself.”

Then she slapped my chest. “Come on, let’s go shower. I’m hungry. For food.” And she jumped off the bed and headed for the shower. I closed my eyes, drifting quietly, about a foot above where my body was laying on the bed.

I don’t know how long I lay there, but I was aware that the bathroom door had opened, with warm, damp air and the scent of citrus gusting across the room.

Caro leaned down and kissed me firmly, and even though my eyes were still closed, I could feel the smile on her lips.

“Are you going to be moving anytime soon, Sebastian?”

“Nope.”

“Come on! You need feeding!”

“Just gonna lie here and die a happy man,” I muttered.

“Sebastian! Get up! I’m hungry!” she laughed, poking me in the ribs in the one fucking place that was ticklish.

I rolled away from her so she leaned down and bit my ass.

“Hey, no fair!” I groaned.

“I thought Marines were supposed to have stamina,” she grumbled, nipping me again.

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” I complained. “No need to be so rough, jeez.”

I struggled to my feet, my legs shaky, feeling like I’d just finished a twenty mile hike carrying 80 pounds of equipment. I mean, it was kind of embarrassing. On some missions, I deployed with 100 pounds of equipment if I was away for a few nights, and I was in better shape at the end of each day than I was right now. It was a mind-fuck that she could affect me like this. Shit. I was is in so much trouble.

The shower revived me enough to jumpstart my brain, but I still was a little out of it. Well, a lot out of it.

“You okay?” Caro asked. “You seem a little discombobulated.”

“Fuck, yes,” I said, nodding my head, “and I don’t even know what that means. Fuck, Caro, I can’t get over that. I mean, you barely touched me. It was just … hot.”

She smiled, her eyes warm and wicked. “Ah, the power of words.”

“There’s going to be payback,” I muttered.

“Sebastian, if I wasn’t so damn hungry, I’d be dragging you back to the bedroom now and tying you down until you made a dishonest woman of me.”

Wow, who was this woman?

“Jeez, you’ve gotten so bossy. I like it.”

She laughed happily. “You’ve been taking orders from the wrong people, Marine—but I’m going to help you with that.”

“Can’t wait,” I admitted, shaking my head in disbelief.

I pulled her into a hug, burying my face in the sweet-smelling hair at the side of her neck, still damp from the shower. It was one of my favorite places.

“I have missed you so much,” I said, fucking terrified by the power this woman held over me.

“I’ve missed you, too, tesoro.”

We stood there quietly, our arms around each other, neither of us willing to break the spell.

Eventually, I heard her stomach rumble and I stepped back smiling down at her. “Let’s go eat.”

L’Acquapazza was on the waterfront. And Salvi was right about the views, but I couldn’t help thinking that he meant his cousin would enjoy the views of Caro, so I made sure we were given a seat in the corner.

But she stopped by the entrance, her gaze drawn toward a dozen well-thumbed newspapers that stood in a rack by the door. She pulled one out and carried it to our table as we sat down, turning to the middle pages and scanning for international news, specifically about Afghanistan.

“Always the journalist, Caro.”

Her eyes snapped up to meet mine. “I bet you can tell me how many people there are in the restaurant without looking,” she challenged.

I was surprised that she’d noticed me checking out the place; I thought she’d been concentrating on the newspaper.

“Six couples, a table of three men, two male waiters, and a kid filling the water glasses who had better take his eyes off of your tits if he wants to live.”

Caro laughed. “See! You’re always working, too. Did you think I hadn’t noticed that each time you sit with your back to the wall so you can see who’s coming in?”

I smiled but didn’t answer. She was right, but the other reason I kept my back to the wall was so that I knew an attack couldn’t come from behind.

One of the waiters handed us each a menu.

“What the hell is that?” I asked, pointing at one of the items. “Cipolline agrodolci alla Cinque Terre. Is that onions?”

“Yes, sweet and sour onions: it’s a local delicacy. You want to try them?”

“Normally I’d say yes, but I’m really craving … steak,” I grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re so American! You want fries with that?”

“Yeah, now you mention it. Anyway, I’ve got to keep my strength up. This woman I’ve met is milking me dry. She can’t keep her hands off me.”

“What a slut.”

I winked at her. “Well, she hasn’t been that slutty, but I’d really like to see her in slutty stockings and garter straps—no panties.” Oh freakin’ yeah!

“Hmm, well I’m sure we can arrange it at some point, but I have to admit, Sebastian, I don’t actually own anything like that.”

“Not at all? I thought all women…”

I stopped when I saw the expression on her face. I was kind of a novice at relationships, but even a dumb grunt like me knew that you don’t talk about past women with your present woman. Major fail.

“Maybe all your previous women, Sebastian,” she said snippily, “but no, not me, I don’t.”

I winced and kept my eyes on the menu.

“Sebastian,” she said, slightly more calmly, “apart from you, I last had a date nearly three years ago. And there’s not a lot of need for slinky underwear on assignment to military bases—well, not for me, anyway. Maybe you know differently?” she raised her eyebrows, making a joke of the situation, but I was caught up by something else she said.

“Why don’t you date, Caro? I mean, you’re fucking gorgeous, anyone can see that, and you’re clever and funny. Any man would have to be blind not to want you.”

Her expression softened and she glanced away briefly before looking back at me and meeting my gaze.

“I’ve just … not been that interested. No one’s really caught my eye.”

I still found it crazy that she’d been single for so long. Fuckin’ happy about it, though.

“Oh, wait, Major Parsons asked me out,” she smiled. “Mike—from the hostile environment training. He was pretty cute.”

“That bastard!”

She looked a little surprised at my reaction. Really? She wanted to tell me that Limey guy had hit on my woman and didn’t think I’d be pissed as all hell?

“Sebastian, I said no,” she said hurriedly. “And actually, he was really sweet about it. He wasn’t pushy or anything.” Then a puzzled look crossed her face. “What were you thinking, that first day, when we saw each other at the press training? You looked really mad.”

Wow, was that only a week ago?

“Just so fucking shocked,” I admitted. “I saw the name ‘Lee Venzi’ on the training list. I recognized it because I’d read some of your articles…”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. I check out all the journos who go on these gigs. I want to know what kind of shit … sorry, what kind of writing they do. I thought yours was good.”