Free One Day You'll Be Mine: Steamy Contemporary Military Romance by Alana Hart, Lauren Lashley Page A

her legs, ready to hear the madness coming from Presley’s mouth.
    “He said he told you he’d fallen out of love a long time ago. But you both decided to remain married for Jordan, because you didn’t want to break up your family while he was young, and didn’t have anywhere to go if you left.”
    “The nerve of him!” I was fuming.
    “Natalia!” Kelli patted my knee. “Calm down! Jordan’s asleep.”
    My hands balled into fists as I attempted to control my emotions. I could feel my face burning from Presley’s allegations. I looked at the both of them. “Hollis and I have been together twenty years. He never told me he was gay!” Gesturing to Presley, I said, “You don’t even look gay yourself.”
    Presley smiled. “Not every gay man is effeminate or flamboyant.”
    Kelli cleared her throat. “Let’s get to the point. You said you knew about Natalia. Why did you make yourself known now? Why tonight? Fuck that. Why should we believe you?”
    Now it was Presley’s turn to become emotional. “Because Hollis was giving me the runaround about spending the night. It made me wonder why a man who wasn’t with his wife anymore couldn’t spend the night with a man he claimed he loved.”
    Pain etched across his face as tears started to fall. He explained that he was all right with Hollis pretending to be just friends in public, as the military was an unforgiving place for homosexual relationships. But as things grew, he wasn’t content with having him just in bits and pieces.
    When Hollis resisted moving things along because of the marriage, Presley realized he was being lied to. He called off their affair, telling Hollis he couldn’t be with someone who wasn’t going to be all in with him. That’s when Hollis showed up at his door one night, with a ring, and roses.
    “He asked me to marry him after he retired. When he retired, he’d be able to divorce you, and we could live privately as civilians without military scrutiny.”
    He looked down on his ring, fingering it as he spoke. “I was so happy, at first, but then I realized I’d be a fool to believe him at just his word. If you and he weren’t together, you wouldn’t need him to be home every night.
    “I was going for a midday jog last week, and I saw your car outside her house.” He pointed to Kelli. “We actually live on the same street. I placed the flowers there because I figured it’d give me the answers I wanted. You guys would be happily holding hands in public or something, or there’d be no reaction.”
    “So you were stalking me!?” I cut in, my voice shrill with disbelief.
    “No. But your schedule and habits are predictable,” he said. “My job requires behavioral analysis and pattern recognition. You keep to a pretty strict routine.”
    “Did you observe her when she saw the flowers?”
    I did, actually. I sit at the end of the cul-de-sac. I watched you trip, use your hand on the hot ass hood of the car, yelp, and then scream with delight over those roses.”
    He started to break as he said, “You looked so happy receiving them. At first I was amused, because I thought the joke would be on you. But the joy only lasted for a few seconds when I realized he was full of shit. He never told you anything. I was just his secret. The joke then, was really on me.”
    “Why are you here then?” I asked.
    “I felt we both deserved the truth,” he said, pulling himself together. “And to be honest, I’m in love with Hollis. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. No one’s ever made me feel the way he does.”
    He paused, then added. “And I know he loves me too.”
    He looked at Kelli, who said, “You still haven’t told us why we should believe you?”
    “Your husband has a birthmark on his inner thigh. He screams ‘Oh Fuck!’ when he comes. And he adores foot massages.”
    I gasped, and then swallowed. It was too much to hear, but I looked at Kelli, and nodded somberly. “He’s right about