Free The Navy Seal's Promise by Soraya Lane

turn. Only it wasn’t who she expected.
    “Hey,” she whispered, still not taking her eyes from Jack.
    “You look like a woman in love,” Luke told her, arm going around her
waist.
    Saskia dropped her head to his shoulder, so tired she could have shut her
eyes and gone to sleep against him. “Just seeing him gives me the strength to
go back, knowing that I’m coming home to him.”
    They stood in silence, before Luke took her hand, softly intertwining his
fingers with hers. “I think it’s time you went to bed,” he whispered. “You’ll
both be up early in the morning.”
    She let him lead her away and into her bedroom, but she hesitated,
looking back out into the hall. They were in her parents’ house, her son was
sleeping only two rooms away, and going to bed with Luke just didn’t seem
right.
    “It’s not that I don’t want to be with you, Luke, but….”
    He shook his head and took her hand again, tugging her into the bedroom
and toward the bed. “Your son’s going to be bursting in here in the morning and
you feel weird about doing it under your parents roof?”
    “Yeah, something like that,” she mumbled. She was a grown woman, it
wasn’t like she was embarrassed about having a relationship with a man and her
parents knowing about it, but he was right.
    “I promise I won’t try to take your clothes off,” he told her, eyes
shining with laughter. “But there’s no rule against holding you, is there?”
    Saskia couldn’t help but grin. “No, Luke, there’s no rule.”
    He walked backwards and led her to the edge of the bed, lying back down
against the pillows and holding out his arms. “I think we both need the sleep.”
    She crawled onto the bed, flopping down on the pillows. “You must be
beat. At least I slept on the way.”
    Luke lay on his side, propped on his elbow, looking down at her.
    “Am I ever going to see you again?”
    His question took her by surprise. She looked up at him, searching his
eyes as his hand searched out hers. They linked fingers, holding on tight, not
saying a word.
    She wasn’t going to pretend that she hadn’t thought the exact same thing,
but…
    “Luke, I’m leaving tomorrow and you don’t even know where you’re going
next,” she said.
    He shrugged. “I know where I’m going, I just can’t say. And right now I
think I might know the one thing that’d bring me home.”
    She stared at him. They’d only known each other… how long? A day? Almost
two? But it felt like they’d known each other for so much longer.
    “Luke, it’s not that I don’t want to see you again, because I do.” She
took a deep breath. “I wouldn’t have done what we did if I didn’t feel
something for you.”
    Luke smiled down at her and dipped his head, brushing his lips across
hers so tenderly that her heart started to skip to a faster beat.
    “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that you’re going
tomorrow,” he whispered, his breath stroking across her skin.
    “So what are you proposing?” she whispered back, feeling nervous about
what might come.  
    Luke lay back, his head on the pillow beside hers, fingers still looped
through hers. “Is it crazy to think we could meet up when we’re both back? To
actually give this,” he paused, propping himself back up again, “ us , a
real go?”
    Saskia grinned and pushed herself up on her elbow. “I don’t think it’s
crazy at all,” she said. “I’d really like that.”
    Luke laughed. “Only next time around I’ll at least take you on a proper
date first instead of just seducing you in the back of a truck.”
    Saskia swatted at him, punching his arm. “Luke! You make me sound like…”
    He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
    Like she was going to say. “This might just be the best Christmas
ever, you know that?” she asked.
    “Why?”
    Saskia lay back again. “Because I made it home, and because I met you,”
she confessed.
    Luke shuffled closer and wrapped both his arms around her, kissing