Free Long Way Home by Ann Vaughn

“Low
man on the totem pole.  I got lucky just being able to get off for this
weekend.”
             “We
have a short window to come home before we ship out.”
             He
stopped walking and glanced at her, feeling a shot of fear shoot down his
spine.
             “Where?”
             “Afghanistan.”
             “God,”
he breathed, pulling her back into his arms, holding her as if she might
disappear at any moment.
             She
clung to him for several moments before turning her head and kissing his
throat.
             “Come
on, Shane.  Take me to the falls.”
             He
took a deep breath.  “Yeah.  Let’s go.”
             He
took her to his truck and held her hand while they drove to his land and the
waterfall where they first made love. 
             “It’s
so beautiful here,” she sighed when he parked and she jumped out of the
truck.  It was dark but there was a full moon that gave off just enough
light so she could see where she was going.  “Never thought I’d say this,
but I’ve missed being home.”
             “There’s
something to be said for this place,” he agreed.  “I can see why my dad
walked away from DPS to come back here when he did.”
             “You
want to come back some day, too, don’t you?”
             “Someday. 
Don’t you?”
             She
shrugged and sat down. 
             “I
guess I haven’t thought that far into the future.  Kinda hard when all I’m
thinking about is how not to get shot.  Or blown up.  Or shot,” she
said on a laugh.
             “That’s
not funny, Tess.”
             She
looked over her shoulder at him.  “Come on, Shane, you know I’m basically
a secretary.  I’m with Captain Gibson more often than not.  Even over
there, I’ll be where he is.”
             He
rubbed the back of his neck and sat down beside her.  “Yeah, but…you’re
still a soldier.  You will have a gun and be over there, in harm’s way.”
             “Well,
yeah, I’ll be in Afghanistan, but it’s not like I’ll be on the front
lines.  Captain Gibson won’t even be on the front lines.  He’s the
C.O.  The Rangers will be out on their missions…I’m battalion support and
the Captain’s liason to HQ.  I’m more likely to get a paper cut than
anything else.”
             “It’s
not as easy as that and you know it.”
             “It
really kinda is.  Like I said, I’m battalion support for a group of
Rangers.  It’s like I have a whole troupe of Big Brother Badass types
looking out for me.”
             At
that he laughed.  “Yeah, I’m sure they all have a lot of brotherly
thoughts when it comes to you.”
             She
laughed with him.  “Most of them do.  There are a couple who’d like
to be more than friends but I think they’re too afraid of the Captain to ever
try anything with me.”
             He
met her eyes in the moonlight.  “Would you want them to try anything with
you?”
             “Nope. 
I value my career too much.  Captain Gibson took me under his wing early
on in my career.  I could have ended up in a much less challenging role in
the Army had he not intervened.  I owe him a lot and there is no way in
hell I would do anything to jeopardize my position with him. 
Fraternization isn’t allowed and I make sure to let all the guys know that
isn’t an option with me.  Luckily, since they are elite Special Forces
types, I don’t have to really worry about anything after the initial rebuff.”
             “So…you
don’t have a boyfriend?”
             She
leaned closer to him.  “Just a long distance one,” she whispered, an
instant before kissing him.  She crawled onto his lap to straddle him and
pulled his shirt from his jeans, still kissing him into a frenzy.  When
she reached for his