“You’re forgiven. I should have realized your rules needed to be broken earlier. You and I, we were never a fling.”
“I know.” Amy rested her elbow on the bed, wanting to be closer to him. She wished she could crawl through the screen and wrap her arms around him. “I wish I could kiss you.”
“The curtains closed. You could always show me what happens when you dream about our dance.”
“I’m not that wild.”
“Sweetheart,” he said, smiling. “I’ve seen you blindfolded.”
Amy laughed, leaning closer, accidentally causing the computer to slide down the bed, taking the attached camera with it. She rose to set it back in place.
“Wait,” Mark’s voice called as she made the adjustments. “Are you wearing your lucky underwear?”
She quickly adjusted the screen to show her face. “I thought I might need a little extra luck.”
“What happened to your pants? And don’t give me the my-dog-ate-them line. You’ve used that excuse before.”
“I was in a hurry.”
“I think you wanted me to read your underwear.”
She smiled. “Maybe.”
“Stand up,” he said. “Let me see.”
Leaving the computer perched on the bed, she stood and moved away slowly.
“Sweetheart, you have no idea how sexy you are.” His voice was low and rough.
His words, the blatant wanting in his eyes, ignited her daring. She reached for the hem of her T-shirt, drawing it up, revealing her stomach. “Tell me.”
Heat flashed in his brown eyes. “The fact that I can’t get my hands on you right now—”
“Scramble. Scramble.”
The order blasted through the base’s PA system, drown
ing out Mark’s voice.
“I have to go.” His desire vanished, replaced with cool, calm focus. Reaching out, he touched the screen.
Amy moved closer to the computer, lifting her hand to meet his. “Go. Save a life. I’ll be here when you get back.”
The raw emotion on his face, as if he’d been waiting for years to hear those words, sent her rocking back on her heels.
“I love you, Amelia Mae.” He stood and slowly backed away from the screen.
“I love you, too,” she called, holding his gaze for one last moment before he disappeared through the curtain. “I love you, too.”
Epilogue
“ARE YOU SURE you can handle this on top of your practice?” Amy asked, tossing an emergency bag of doggy treats into her carry-on.
“If I say no, are you going to cancel your trip?” Eloise challenged. “You haven’t seen Mark in six months. If he’s going to be stationed at the air force base in New Mexico for a month, maybe more, wouldn’t you rather be there, too?”
“You’re right. But we could stay a few more days. Mark isn’t scheduled to arrive until the end of the week.”
“You need to use that time to move into your rental apartment near the base,” Eloise pointed out. “Set up your big surprise.”