Free Killing Honor by S. M. Butler

angled my body toward him.
    “Are we?” I cleared my throat, because if I didn’t the lump in my throat would turn to tears. “It’s been two years, Brody. In that time, you knew where I was, but I had no idea where you were.” 
    I shook my head, fighting away tears. “I was here, waiting for you. Every day was a fight for me to get up, to take care of our children, to do the grocery shopping, and pay the bills… I know it’s nothing compared to your experience. My life was never in danger. I wasn’t ever fighting for the freedom of our world. But that doesn’t make it easier for me. Because I was here, fighting for us. For our family.”
    I regretted the outburst as soon as it left my lips, because Brody’s face completely shut down, all emotion siphoning away. I was losing him.

Brody
    I was a bastard for not seeing how me being gone had affected Devyn. She was near tears, fighting them as hard as she spoke. And I still couldn’t tell her that I might have compromised our family’s safety.
    “What are you saying?”
    Devyn sighed and leaned back against the couch. Frustration bled from her in waves. She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes for a moment. “I just… You’re hiding from me. I see it, when you think that you’ve got it covered so well. There’s a lot of stuff going on inside you that you’re not telling me. And that’s not how we worked before you left, and that’s not how I want it to work between us now.”
    Fuck. She always had seen right through me. In that moment, I loved her more than I had before, and simultaneously cursed her for knowing me too well. “I can’t talk to you about the mission, Devyn.” I wished I could.
    “I know that.” The words came out clipped. She understood, but that didn’t make it any easier for her.
    “That alone… there will be other missions that I’m not going to be able to talk about.”
    “I know. That’s not what I mean.”
    “Then what is it, Dev?”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “Then tell me.”
    “I mean, being a SEAL means I can’t talk about some things. The mission I just came back from… It’s part of an ongoing operation. And if I tell you, I’ll put you in danger.” 
    Fear coursed through me in a way that left me cold.
    “Is that… I mean… is it going to cause problems between us? Knowing that I have secrets like this from you?” Please say no . For her to reject me now would kill me.
    Devyn’s jade eyes watered, but her jaw set in that determined way I loved so very much. “I promised to support you when we got married.” She leaned over and kissed the corner of my mouth. I turned toward her, to kiss her back, but she pulled away. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it. I don’t want you to forget that your family’s lives depend on you too. Me. Riley. Jackie. We need you.”
    My chest ached, overwhelming me with the urge to kiss her. I wrapped my arms around her, pressing her against me. Our lips touched like an electrical storm, lightning shooting out between us, connecting us. Her hands slid up to my shoulders. She moved to her knees, twisting her body to face me without breaking the kiss.
    Her fingers dug into my shoulders as she straddled me, pressing her body against me like she was taking ownership of me. Hell, she had to know she already owned me. Lock, stock, and barrel. I was hers. And I’d do anything I could to make sure she would remain safe.
    I broke the kiss, trying to regain the breath she’d stolen from me. But I needed another taste. I gripped her hips, digging my fingertips into her pelvis. I closed my mouth over her breast’s tip, nipping slightly through the thin tank top. Beneath it, she wore a lacy bra whose stolen peeks when she’d bent over or the girls had pulled at her shirt teased me most of the day.
    She arched toward my mouth. I moved my hands to the small of her back, supporting her. I pulled back, and slid my hands upward with the tank top, baring her skin inch