“First time for everything, Sebastian.”
“Please, Caro,” he said, pouting cutely at me. “I’ll be good. Promise.”
“Hmm, I’ve heard your promises before.”
He looked so sad and sort of lost, I couldn’t resist him anymore.
“Okay, one kiss. But that’s all!”
He grinned at me, delighted he’d got his own way.
I stowed my laptop back in its case, and sat on his bed. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down gently.
I snuggled next to him and lay my head on his chest while he stroked my back.
“We’re okay, aren’t we, Caro?”
I could hear the anxiety in his voice.
“Getting there.”
I wriggled free of his arms and planted a quick kiss on his lips. He held me briefly, then let me go, an expression of regret on his face.
“Night, Chief.”
I turned off my bedside light and heard him murmur.
“Night, boss.”
The helicopter was so loud I had to hold my hands over my ears. The whirling blades kicked up plumes of yellow dust that coated my nose and throat so I could taste them. A man in desert fatigues was yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear the words. And then his face disappeared in a bloody mist.
“Caro, wake up!”
Sebastian was shaking me hard. I sat up, wide-eyed and trembling.
“Fuck, Caro,” he said, more quietly. “Another nightmare?”
I nodded silently.
“Come here, baby.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tightly into his chest.
I gulped in air; my lungs burned as if I’d been underwater for a long time, and I could almost taste the acrid dust in my mouth.
Damn, that had been a bad one.
“What was it about, baby?”
I shook my head. “Just a nightmare.”
“You can tell me anything, Caro,” he said, rocking me slowly.
No. Not anything. Not that.
But he didn’t press me, and I was happy just to have him hold me.
After a few minutes, my heart rate had returned to normal.
“Scoot over,” he whispered. “I’ll just stay till you go back to sleep.”
“Thank you.”
He slid down next to me and I felt his warm body press into mine. There was no anger, no ugly accusations, no tension: just his gentle hands around me.
Finally, the nightmare drifted away, and I slept.
When I woke up the next morning feeling happier and refreshed, bright sunshine was filtering through the shutters, and Sebastian’s body was still twined around me in the narrow bed. His breath was hot on the back of my neck and his heavy arm pinned me down.
I tried to wriggle out from underneath him, but he mumbled something unintelligible and pulled me in more tightly.
It felt good waking up in his arms. Hell, it felt better than good, it felt… right. We still had some issues to resolve – pretty important ones – but I began to feel hopeful that we were getting there. Like I’d said.
I stroked his long fingers that were resting across my stomach, and I felt him move, stretching out in the bed like a big, old sleepy cat.
I shifted around so I could look at him.
A slow, sexy smile appeared on his face as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
“Wow, I’ve got this beautiful woman in my bed: I really like this dream.”
“Actually, Sebastian, you’re in my bed.”
“Oh, yeah. You must be one of those fast women I heard about at boot camp.”
“Hmm, well, I think that lecture was supposed to warn you off them.”
“Oh, I guess I didn’t hear it right. I suppose that explains why I didn’t get into Officer Candidate School.”
“Did you try?”
He shook his head slowly. “Nah, not really. Not my thing. I took some college classes for a while, but then… I was already fucking around. Guess I pissed off the wrong people.”
“You’d make a good officer, Sebastian. Maybe you should think about it.”