Free Fall Out (Against the Tides #1) by Katheryn Kiden

ARIANA
    THE SKYPE TONE ringing out from the speakers of my laptop has me rushing to the bedroom and leaping for the bed. I check my face in the mirror on the wall in front of me before hitting the answer button. It's hard to breathe because I know any second the call will connect and the screen will fill with Brett’s smiling face. I find it hard to believe that it has been eight months since I’ve physically touched the love of my life, but soon enough, that will be over.
    Just as expected, the smile on his face is the first thing that comes into view and one immediately spreads across my face. His white shirt stands out against his dark tanned skin and I want nothing more than to hold him close so I can relearn what he smells like.
    He laughs. “Are you just going to sit there and stare or are you going to say hello?”
    “One more week!” I squeal, covering my mouth and laughing when I realize how loud I am. I’m sure the other guys there with him don’t appreciate the whole squealing wife thing, but I can't help it. 
    “Does she make that noise in the bedroom too, Coleman?” I hear someone behind the screen ask. Brett picks something up off the table beside him and throws it before turning his attention back to me and smirking.
    “It’s been so long that I don’t remember, but I plan on finding out if I can make it happen more than once.”
    “As long as you come home in one piece I’ll do anything you want.” My eyes widen and my face heats when I realize that I actually said that out loud and everyone there with Brett just heard it.
    He sits there, smiling while he waits for me to pull my head out from behind my hands. “One hundred and sixty hours until I can finally touch you again. Seven days until I can kiss you, until I can taste you. One week until I can wrap my arms around you instead of my pillow.”
    “Such a sap," I giggle. 
    “You made me this way. It’s your fault. All your fault.”
    “You sleep wrapped around your pillow?” I throw my head back and laugh. Knowing he misses me that much might be sexy, but I can’t stop laughing. The thought of this big badass soldier cuddled up with a pillow because he misses his wife that much is absolutely hilarious.
    Brett shrugs. “It smells like you,” he mutters.
    “How?”
    “I may have brought one of your shirts with me in a bag,” he mumbles shyly.
    Aww .
    Knox, Brett’s best friend drops down into the camera’s view and grins. “Good thing he only brought your shirt and not those thongs he mumbles about in his sleep. I’m afraid to know what he would be doing to that pillow if he had.”
    “And... moment ruined,” Brett grumbles, shoving Knox out of his space. I yawn and even though I try to hide it, he sees and checks his watch. “Babe, it’s only eight there. Why are you so tired?”
    My entire mood dampens when I think about the reason that I didn’t get much sleep last night. While most women who know their husbands will be home in a week would be rushing around trying to get everything set up for them, I’m having nightmares about him not making it home at all. I can’t bring myself to get everything ready for him until I know he’s on a plane and on his way home. It's how it has always been. 
    “Babe,” Brett says, pulling me out of my head. “I’m coming home. I promise. In six days I will be on that plane and on day seven I will be coming home to love you for the rest of my life. We’re going to have babies and grow old together just like I promised you on our wedding day. Those nightmares you have about me not being there anymore are going to go away.”
    He’s right. We’ve made it this far without letting the distance get between us. He has been gone eight months without getting hurt. Surely we can make it another week; we’ve done it before. 
    Taking a deep breath, I force a smile and launch into everything he’s missed since the last time we talked. I watch every move he makes as I tell him about