I held out my arms while she stroked the towel across my body: my back and shoulders, chest, stomach, arms and legs; slowly, carefully, methodically, soaking up each droplet of moisture.

“There you are—all done.”

A weird, achy feeling settled in my gut. I didn’t know what to call it, but it felt like caring; it felt like love.

Watching her closely, drinking in every feature of her face soft and pink from the shower, I handed her a fresh towel, then carefully rubbed her hair with a small hand towel.

“You shouldn’t sleep with damp hair,” I said.

I don’t know why I said that, because I did it all the time, but it felt like something a guy should say to the woman he loved. And for some reason my words made her smile.

“Sebastian, I’ve done a lot of foolish things—reckless, you might say—since I met you: sleeping with damp hair doesn’t figure particularly high on that list.”

I frowned. I didn’t like her describing being with me as ‘reckless’.

But then she dropped a soft kiss onto the tip of my nose.

“Race you to the bedroom!”

She ran from the bathroom and launched herself onto the bed.

“You’re so slow, Hunter,” she laughed at me. “You’re really out of shape. Maybe you should go for a run, like you told your CO.”

I gave her a wry grin as I walked naked from the bathroom.

“Tomorrow, Caro, I’m getting a fucking shit-load of condoms, and I’m going to make you regret every word you’ve just said.”

She lay there smiling up at me, looking like sin and sex all rolled into one fucking amazing package.

“Like I said, Sebastian, promises, promises. I keep hearing about these fuckathons, but nothing ever happens.”

Damn woman! I was going to make her regret challenging me like that. I just needed to find a fucking farmacia and then I’d buy me enough preservativi to wipe that smug look off of her face. Period.

But then she yawned loudly, and I couldn’t help smiling down at her as she snuggled under the sheet. I slid in beside her and pulled her against my body, breathing in the amazing scent of her damp skin.

With her in my arms, all the bullshit fell away. The years of wanting her and missing her and trying to hate her; surviving boot camp; the hell that was Iraq. Ten, long, lonely years of wanting what I couldn’t have, of seeing Ches fall in love, marry, have children—all the things I thought I’d have with her. And in four days I’d be gone again, knowing what I’d be missing, daring to hope that she’d wait for me this time.

“God, Caro. You make it all worthwhile. Thank God for you.”

“I love you, tesoro,” she whispered.

Waking up in the morning, the first thing I saw was Caro’s beautiful face. She was still sleeping, her breathing slow and steady.

I watched her for the longest time, scared by the depth of emotion I felt for her, that I’d always felt for her. I knew she thought that a 17 year-old boy couldn’t understand adult love, but she’d been wrong about that: nothing had changed for me. She was still the only woman who’d ever owned my heart.

I wondered what sort of man I’d be when I came back from my next deployment in Afghanistan. Each tour changed you, hardened you, closed off a part that you could never talk about. And I couldn’t tell her that this was one of the most dangerous missions I’d ever go on. We’d have to travel deep into the mountains in a region where the Taliban were actively recruiting. It was impossible to tell who was friend and who was enemy. And the whole point of the mission was to make friends with powerful people in hard to reach places. The guy leading the mission was from the Marine Expeditionary Unit. MEU is a quick reaction force, deployed and ready for immediate response to any crisis. Normally, this was 2,000 plus men, with air and ground combat elements and logistics under one commander. They were a tough crew, and I knew that they’d have picked a competent guy to lead our significantly smaller team of a dozen men. But if anything went wrong, air support was more than 30 minutes away. You could do a lot of dying in 30 minutes.

Caro shifted against me and her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey.”

“Ciao, bello!” she said, her voice husky with sleep. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not long. Just enough time to remind me that I’m a lucky bastard.”

She smiled sleepily and stretched, her warm body pressing against mine.

“I could get used to this, Sebastian, waking up next to you.”

But then her smile turned sad, and I knew that she was thinking about the time expiration on that.

“So, what’s the new plan?” she asked, forcing herself to be cheerful. “Do you want to see some more of Tuscany, or should we go further north?”

I was confused. Since when was that the plan? “What about Salerno?”

“It’s too much driving, Sebastian,” she said, shaking her head. “We don’t have a lot of time and you…”

“Hell, no! I want to see where your dad came from as much as you do. Fuck the driving, Caro! We’re going to Salerno. If you get your beautiful ass out of bed, we can be there in maybe five hours.”

I could see that she wanted to give in, but was worried about the miles we’d be clocking up if we carried on heading south.

“Anyway,” I said, “we’re out of condoms, and much as I’m enjoying being creative, I really just want to fuck you into next week.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide the huge smile on her face.

“Such sweet words, Sebastian. How did you get to be such a smooth talker?”

“I don’t know, baby,” I grinned, “but it works every time.”

“Every time, huh? But you know, I have to say, last night wasn’t particularly creative—we weren’t even naked.”

I laughed loudly.

“Not creative? Hell, Caro, I managed to keep a conversation going with Cardozo; I thought that was pretty fucking creative.”

“Is that the name of your CO?”

“Yeah, he’s an okay guy.”

“He must have his hands full dealing with you.” She paused, giving me the stink-eye. “What’s his wife like?”

I grinned back at her. “Blonde, attractive … about forty. Why, are you jealous?”

“Of course,” she said, without missing a beat.

I shook my head and kissed her gently. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, baby.”

I’d meant to reassure her, but as soon as our lips touched she moaned low in her throat, pushing her body against mine, her tongue plunging into my mouth. It was so fucking hot, my body ignited.

“Caro,” I groaned, as she ran her hands over my thighs.

“Shh, tesoro.”

She kissed down my chest and stomach, then took my dick in her mouth, which shut off every lucid thought I had. The feel of her warm, wet tongue working over the head of my cock—you could have shot off my kneecaps and I’d still be a happy man.

I was just about coherent enough to slide my fingers towards her pussy, working her clit so she got hers, too.

Ten minutes later, we were both flat on our backs, panting. I had the biggest fucking smile on my face.

“You ready to get up, baby?” I asked, stroking her perfect ass.

“Mmm, if I have to,” she mumbled. “But to tell you the truth, I’d be quite happy staying here all day, if someone brought us food. And condoms.”

Her comment was very fucking motivating, so I kissed her tits quickly, just to be polite, then kicked the sheets back, making her flinch.

“Hey!” she complained.

“Up,” I ordered, standing over her, waiting for her to move.

When she pouted and glared up at me, I leaned down and fastened my teeth over her left nipple, tugging gently.

“You cheat,” she grumbled, finally rolling out of bed and staggering the short distance to the shower.

I swatted her ass, just to help her along.