Free Camouflaged (Hiding From Love #0.5) by Selena Laurence Page B

neck, squeezing almost as hard as my heart.
    I stroked her hair. “It’s all right. It was just one guy and he’s, uh, gone now.”
    She leaned back and looked at me. “What do you mean ‘gone’?” she asked in a little voice.
    “Pretty much what you think I mean.” My voice was gruff, and I felt nauseous as I spoke.
    “Are you sure?” She absentmindedly held my hand.
    “Well, he’s not moving and there’s no sound. My guess is if he’s still lying there in another hour we can be pretty damn sure.”
    “Oh, God,” she whispered, her voice breaking.
    I pulled her close to me again. “I’m so sorry, Alexis. He was coming at us and he fired at me. All I could think was what could happen if he got to you. I couldn’t risk it. I would have tried to scare him off, but it was dark and it all happened so fast.”
    “Stop,” she said weakly. “Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault. You did what you had to. It’s so awful. I’m sorry you had to do that.”
    She looked up at me with her eyes leaking her heart all over her face. “I’m so sorry, Gabe. It’s my fault. If you’d been here by yourself you could have gotten out of this. I’m like dead weight tying you down, and now you’ve had to kill someone.”
    I looked at her sharply, holding her shoulders so I could keep her facing me. “Don’t. Don’t say that. No one knows what would have happened if I’d been here alone. Most likely I would have gotten myself killed taking some stupid risk. I’m a soldier, Alexis. I carry guns, I shoot them, and sometimes I kill people. It’s not my favorite thing, but it’s the job. I’m also charged with protecting people. Mainly Americans. You’re an American, and I was assigned to protect you. I’m doing my job, whatever it might entail. That’s not on you and it’s not on me—it’s just the job.”
    “Have you had to do it before? Kill someone?”
    I sighed, remembering back to that day in the village square, Nick charging into an angry mob of armed Taliban sympathizers. “Yeah, once before. I wasn’t a virgin here, so it’s all good.”
    She laughed through her tears, and I pulled her closer as I lay down on our little pallet. She rested her head on my chest and I stroked her smooth hair, feeling my pulse relax as I matched my breathing to hers. I was tired, really damn tired, and before I knew it, I’d drifted off into a black, dreamless sleep.

W hen I woke, the sun was high in the sky and the front half of the cave was lit. I could feel the weight of Alexis’s head on my chest, and I smiled to myself, not moving for a few minutes so I could enjoy the sensation. Maybe this snuggling thing wasn’t so bad after all, although I doubted it’d feel the same with other women.
    Alexis moaned in her sleep and my morning wood grew exponentially. See, there was a problem with snuggling. It was a fucking turn-on and I wasn’t allowed to do anything about it. I didn’t know what demon invented the whole idea, but I could bet it wasn’t a man.
    Eventually I had to get up and see about getting us out of our little cave. I gently shook Alexis. “Hey, babe, time to wake up.”
    She opened her eyes and leaned up, startling when she saw me and then flushing a pretty pink. I grinned at her. “Did you forget who you were sleeping on?” I asked.
    She sat up the rest of the way, clawing hair out of her face. “Of course not.” She bluffed.
    “What were you dreaming about?”
    She cleared her throat and turned away. “Nothing, why?”
    “You were talking in your sleep a few minutes ago.”
    She blushed more. “What did I say?” she asked with a sharp tone to her voice that wasn’t usually there.
    “Nothing, I swear.” I put my hands up indicating surrender. “You were just making little kitten noises or whatever. Honestly, it wasn’t a big deal.”
    “Okay,” she said softly, still not looking at me.
    “Hey.” I decided to change tack, trying to put her in a better mood. Hell, maybe she was