“Mostly?”

I grinned. “Sometimes we did other stuff.”

Triple R X-rated.

“Stuff? I’m not sure I know what you mean by ‘stuff’,” she laughed, then she rubbed the front of my pants, palming my hardening dick.

“Caro!” I groaned loudly. “Fuck, I just came to make sure you were okay in here. I have to get back to the comms room.”

“Right away? You can’t take a few minutes?”

I could hear the disappointment in her voice.

“I really can’t, baby,” I said, kissing her hungrily. “Grant’s waiting for me.”

“You’re such a tease,” she snorted, slapping my ass. “You come in here, raising my expectations…”

“That’s not the only thing that got raised,” I admitted as I adjusted my junk.

But she just laughed at me. “Well, I’d have been happy to meet those expectations, but apparently you have to go be a warrior.”

“Actually, I have to go be an interpreter … I could try and come back later, Caro.”

Her smile dropped away and she held my face as she looked into my eyes.

“Sebastian, seriously: do what you need to do. You know where I am, and I trust you to know whether or not it’s safe to take that risk. It worries me that I’m a distraction here for you. The most important thing is that you focus on your job. We’ve got the rest of our lives after that.”

The rest of our lives.

I kissed her again, then rested my forehead against hers.

“I’m a lucky bastard—thank God for you, Caro.”

“I’ll see you at breakfast, Marine,” she said, running her hand over my short hair.

“One other thing,” I said, needing her to know that this was important, “there’s been some radio chatter and the Taliban definitely know we’re here. I don’t think they’ll do anything tonight—they’re not in position, from what I can work out, but if you hear someone yell ‘incoming’, get your body armor on, keep your head down, and stay in here away from the windows. Whatever happens, Caro, stay in here. Everyone out there knows what they’re doing: we don’t need your help. You know what I’m saying, baby?”

She nodded then wrapped her arms around me more tightly. “I promise. I don’t want you thinking about me when you have more important things to concentrate on.”

I had to smile at that. “There isn’t anything more important than you.”

But I did have a job to do—and if I did it right, it would keep everyone safe. I kissed her again, then tore myself out of her arms and made my way back to the comms room.

Jankowski was hunched over a coffee when I walked in, talking to another guy who had his back to me.

The Lieutenant frowned when he saw me. “Where’ve you been, Hunter? You know we can’t use the local terps on this.”

“Taking a dump, sir,” I said, slouching into the empty seat and picking up the headphones.

The other guy turned around and grinned at me. “Well, well, well, if it ain’t the Hollywood Marine!”

I turned and stared. “Fuck me! Sergeant Chivers! How you doin’, man?”

Mark Chivers was a guy I’d met on my first tour in Iraq. We’d hung out a bit before I’d gotten picked for interpreting work. He’d gone to boot camp at Parris Island, NC, and called everyone who’d trained in Cali a ‘Hollywood Marine’. We called them ‘Swamp Doggies’.

He grinned at me. “Lookin’ good, Seb. Who’d y’all fuck off to get sent to this shithole?”

“Much as I’m enjoying this touching reunion,” grunted Jankowski, “I’d really like to know what the fuck the enemy is saying about us, or is that too much to ask, Hunter?”

“On it, sir,” I said, as Chiv winked at me and turned back to the radio operations.

I spent the next four hours listening to comms traffic. The Taliban definitely knew we were here, but so far it sounded like only a few of them were on the ground—more were being summoned. It was clear that someone knew something; what that was remained unclear. But the coincidence of them sending reinforcements at the exact time of this new mission, well, I’d have to be a fucking moron not to make the connection.

Eventually, as the comms chatter died down, Jankowski let me go off duty. My head was pounding from being immersed in heavily-accented Pashto and Dari for the first time in three years. The intense concentration left me feeling drained. I needed to sleep; but first I was going to check on Caro.

Her door opened quietly, and I watched for half a minute as the slow, even rise of her chest showed that she was asleep. I could only see a dim silhouette, but being near her, that was enough. All thoughts of heading to my own cot died. Instead, I curled up awkwardly at the foot of her air mattress and was asleep in seconds.

I wasn’t sure how long I slept—not long enough—when Caro’s alarm woke us before dawn. The right side of my body ached from where I’d been lying on the concrete floor. I stretched out cautiously.

“Sebastian!” she gasped, obviously surprised to see me. “What are you doing?”

“Hey, baby.”

“How long have you been there? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Couple of hours,” I yawned. “I didn’t want to wake you—you looked so peaceful.”

She crawled across the narrow mattress and wrapped her arms around my neck, burrowing herself against me.

“You didn’t even take your boots off,” she murmured into my neck, her lips tickling my skin.

I laughed quietly and kissed her hair. “Didn’t see much point.” I climbed to my feet reluctantly. “Gotta go, baby.”

“Already?” she said, disappointment shading her voice.

“Yeah, need to get a wash and shave before dawn patrol.”

“You’re lucky,” she said with a wry smile. “I’m relying on baby-wipes while I’m here. You’ll get to know me in a whole new way, Sebastian.”

I winked at her. “Looking forward to it, baby. See ya later.”

The sun was just beginning to appear behind the mountains, casting long shadows across the compound. I took a turn in the shitter, then lined up at the outside water butts to take a cold shave.

After I’d stowed my shaving kit, I booked it back to the comms room.

A different radio operator was in Mark’s seat, but Jankowski was there again. I didn’t have time to do more than salute.

“Hunter, you’ll be out on foot patrol this morning. Grant wants some hearts and minds work, and he’s hoping that you’ll pick up on any vibes from the locals. Go get some chow before the briefing in 20 minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

I decided that my two Shiite terps should stay at the compound today. I didn’t want any trouble with the locals.

They didn’t seem to care when I gave them the news—it would be an easy day for them where they could sit on their asses, drink sweet tea, and still get paid by Uncle Sam.

I left them as they started their morning prayers, then walked over to the line for breakfast. I could see a bunch of bootnecks flirting with Caro. She was laughing at them, a huge smile on her face as she snapped some photographs. I couldn’t help my hands balling into fists, and I had to concentrate really hard not to say or do something that was going to piss her off. But it really went against the grain to see her surrounded by horny guys and not do anything. This relationship stuff sucked balls.

She saw me and threw a soft smile in my direction. I heard her voice, and knew that she was trying to reassure me.

“Gentlemen, it’s too early in the day for all that.” All of what? “I haven’t even had my breakfast MRE yet.”

I relaxed a fraction as the banter dropped back a notch, but I could tell that they liked her—even more when she shared a bottle of soy sauce that she’d brought with her to try and make the MRE rations taste better. Breakfast was more noodles and unidentified meat—also known as ‘Meals Rejected by the Enemy’ or ‘Man Ready to Eat’. Whatever it was, it tasted like ass and was about as chewy.

I was surprised when Grant sent for Caro to join the morning briefing. She wasn’t going to hear anything particularly interesting—I’d already had my main orders from Jankowski.