Authors: Adrianne Byrd
She must have disturbed the night’s silence judging by how fast Jett whipped out his weapon and pointed it directly at her. “Don’t shoot,” she ordered, but out of self-preservation she lifted her firearm as well.
For half a heartbeat an awkward stalemate ensued before Jett’s hauntingly familiar baritone drifted toward her. “Sydney?”
Instant tears burned the backs of her eyes but she kept them from falling. If it wasn’t for the unbearable pain in her leg, she was sure she could convince herself that this whole thing was some supernatural dream.
Jett remained still while his eyes pierce through the thick bush in front of him. He’d recognized the voice that had bid him not to shoot immediately. However, a part of him believed his mind was playing tricks on him. Had he actually found her? And if did—now what?
“Major Garrett, is that you?” he asked and waited. Seconds that felt like minutes lapsed and the small bush he kept his weapon level on rustled. Finally, she limped into the moonlight not unlike a Hollywood scarlet stepping into the spotlight.
Jett gasped at the sight of the red, swollen burns stretched across the right side of her face. The left side was smudge with dirt and her lips were cracked and beginning to peel. Despite all of that, he was certain he’d never seen a more beautiful sight.
Sydney was alive.
He lowered his weapon and laughed with relief.
She lowered her gun and eyeballed him as if he’d lost his mind. She was at least certain one of them had. “Why...how...?”
His laughter faded into a light chuckle as he stepped toward her. “I recently deployed to the re-established Black Knights at Osan. I’m a part the combat, research and rescue team.”
She sighed with relief. “Did Capt. Johnson.”
Jett lowered his head. “Capt. Johnson made it back safe and sound back to Osan. You don’t have to worry.”
“But what’s going on? What happened?”
“We’re not exactly sure. Kim Jong test fired seven nuclear weapons yesterday. We don’t know whatever else they’re up to.”
Sydney’s shoulders drooped under the pressure of despair and she whispered a quick prayer that Puck was alive and well. But there was something off about Jett’s sudden appearance.
“Where is the rest of the team?”
Jett exhaled a deep breath and gave a solemn shake of his head. “We ran into un-friendly fire.”
“Don’t tell me the combat rescue team
needs
a combat rescue team as well.”
“All right.” He sighed. “I won’t tell you.”
Sydney laughed at the absurdity of it all as she tried to ease herself back onto the ground. In a flash, Jett was at her side and sliding a supportive hand around her stiff back. Just as quickly, her brain diverted from the intense pain throbbing in her leg but took note of the pleasurable warmth radiating his body. Every nerve ending tingled to life as if it recognized its missing half.
Her gaze shot to his and she read in his eyes that he felt it too.
“This isn’t exactly how I pictured our reunion,” he murmured.
Sydney’s breath caught at the way he casually mentioned he’d been thinking of her. Their current predicament had a way of disassembling one’s pride. “This isn’t how I envisioned it, either.”
Their gazes remained locked as so many emotions rushed through them; but instead of voicing what they felt, both decided to show it.
Jett’s head descend through the moonlight like a handsome, mythical God from the heavens. Sydney slid her arms around his neck while her mouth parted in anticipation of his kiss. When their lips sealed, time erased the past three years and the lovers had returned to the black satin sheets of their honeymoon suite at the MGM casino.
Now as then, she couldn’t get enough of his hungry mouth or his ravishing hands. The taste and feel of him was so exquisite, her tears came unbidden and rushed from the corners of her eyes. She pressed against him, wanting and needing to get closer.
When his lips deserted hers, she nearly cried out in protest, but his mouth returned to ignite a trail of fire down the column of her neck. Sighing, she rushed her fingers through the short crop of his hair. It felt too good to be back in his arms again.
Emerging from her abyss of joy, she realized he was murmuring something into her ear. She struggled to concentrate and was soon able to make out his words.
“I never stopped loving you. I never stopped...”
Her entire body quaked and trembled at his confession, but the muscles in her throat constricted beneath the weight of her relief.
There were so many questions and too much to say, Jett doubted a lifetime was enough time to say it all. But Lord, he could feel it. Even if she never said the words to him again, Jett knew she loved him.
The first sprinkle of rain was welcomed as a coolant to the blistering heat simmering between them, but as the fat drops quickened into hard sheets, he finally broke the spell to glance around for better shelter. Nothing readily met his eye. He could make a tent with the tarps rolled in their survival kits.
“Let’s get a little deeper into the bush,” he suggested and reached down to gather Sydney into his arms. However, her immediate yelp of pain startled him.
She pulled away and doubled over.
“What...where are you hurt?”
Sydney tried to answer but the pain in her leg was all consuming and she could do little more than gasp for air.
Jett noticed the tourniquet wrapped around her leg and was nearly destroyed by the thought of the pain she suffered. The rain pounded them mercilessly and decision needed to be made.
Less than five minutes, Jett removed both his and her tarps from their survival kits and built a rather large tent to protect them from the soggy ground and pelting rain. It was a rather big risk to position something so large not quite sheltered by trees or bushes, but Jett was afraid to move to Sydney until he was able to get a better look at her injury.
He retrieved and switched on a small flashlight. When he reached to inspect her wound, Sydney protested.
“No. No. It’s all right,” Sydney panted, brushing his inquiring hands away. In truth, she feared at any moment she would black out from the pain.
“I know it hurts,” Jett comforted. “But I need to take a look.”
Sydney sucked in a breath and felt a fresh wave of tears rise. She’d spent the past twenty-four hours more or less just
wishing
away infection. Deep down she knew the truth—knew that the hot flashes she experienced was likely contributed to a rising fever. If Jett inspected her leg, she knew her bubble of denial would burst.
“Syd, please. Let me take a look,” he said gently.
Slowly, she removed her hand and glanced away. As Jett poked and prodded to get a better look, Sydney winced and grounded her teeth through his examination. No matter what, she promised herself that she wouldn’t ask him how bad it looked.
But what if it needed to be amputated?
At long last, Jett sighed and rewrapped his wife’s leg. Since she didn’t readily ask his opinion of the injury, he didn’t offer it. After all, he wasn’t a doctor—but he didn’t need to be one to know she needed immediate medical attention.
“Don’t worry,” he encouraged with an emotional tremor in voice. “I’m going to get you out of here.” He turned off the flashlight and darkness surrounded them.
At that moment, she knew if they were ever rescued that she would lose her leg. Jett started to move away, but Sydney reached and pulled him close.
“I’m—I’m...” What—scared, sorry-? She licked her dry lips and forced herself to be strong. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She buried her head against his broad chest and basked in the security it offered—even though she knew it was a false sense of security.
Jett’s arms tightened around her as they lay back onto the tarp. For the longest time, Sydney remained still-content to listen to the sound of her husband’s heartbeat and the rain. As the silence stretched, she realized that one of them needed to mention the pink elephant standing between them: the past.
However, he beat her to the punch.
“Why didn’t you ever file for divorce?”
Chapter 26
Why hadn’t she filed for divorce?
She must have asked herself that very question a million times in the past three years. She’d practiced some flippant answer if ever their paths crossed and she needed her best poker face.
I’ve been busy. I was waiting for you to file.
Such answers were mind games. The same games she’d sworn once she didn’t play.
“Syd?” he asked and then offered, “I can tell you why
I
didn’t file.”
“No.” Tears fell with the rhythm of the rain. “I didn’t file because...I didn’t
want
a divorce.”
Jett’s arms tightened around her shoulders while her confession hung between them. Her heart squeezed painfully during his ensuing silence and she wondered if it had been a good idea to sacrifice her pride.
Where does one draw the line between pride and love? She realized, with crystal clarity, one cost and destroyed the other. Hadn’t pride prevented her from running after him these past three years?
Sydney burrowed deeper into the nook of his arms and wished she could gaze upon his features. But it wasn’t safe to risk turning the flashlight back on.
“I know I said a lot that last night we were together. Most of it I didn’t mean. I was just so...hurt. To the point that I wanted to hurt you back. I know that sounds childish-”
“There’s not a day that goes by I don’t regret hurting you like that,” he said. His voice was like a warm blanket against the night’s chill. “I had good intentions that got twisted and...”
Sydney placed a silencing finger against his lips. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Jett gently removed her hand. “I don’t want it to be something lingering between us. When I said that I loved you, I meant it. I still do. I stayed away all this time because I knew you hated me. I didn’t think that you could ever forgive...” His voice trailed and for a long moment the rain seemed to speak for him. “Each day the divorce papers didn’t show up in the mail, my hope grew. I just believed,” he said, gathering his courage. “If we were meant to be our paths would cross again some day.”
“And here we are,” she half laughed and half sobbed. “So much time wasted.”
“Do you...”
Still love me?
But again he lost his voice. Why was it that he always had to ask for love?
“I do,” she whispered and carefully inched her body upward to steal a kiss. She was surprised by the salty taste of tears, but it only made her heart burst with more love. “I love you James Colton. I will always love you.”
“What about...Captain Johnson?”
Confusion clouded her eyes. “What do you mean?”
Jett searched her eyes. “I saw you with him...graduation morning...at the track.”
It took a moment, but then the clouds cleared.
“He kissed me,” she said, remembering.
Jett nodded.
“I didn’t kiss him back.” She held his gaze. “I don’t love him. I never have.”
Tenderly, Jett gathered her close and kissed her as he’d never done before. Their tears blended together and the world faded away. Controlling their physical urges became a true test of their military discipline.
The need to be truly reunited body and soul became an all-consuming desire, but Jett didn’t dare. He couldn’t and wouldn’t chance further injury to her leg. However, Sydney was making it hard for him to refuse her advances. When it came to their relationship—their marriage, she regretted so much and she didn’t want to regret this night—if it turned out to be their last together.
Groaning, Jett wrenched away from her soft lips and then swore under his breath because of the pain of his erection. Here they were lost in enemy territory, camouflaged and huddled in a makeshift tent in a heavy downpour, and all he could think about is making love to his wife.
Uncle Sam would be proud.
“Please, Jett,” she begged when he continued to resist her. She peppered kisses along his chin and neck and slid her hand well below his waist.
“We shouldn’t...your leg.”
“We’ll be careful,” she promised softly—smoothly. “Please.”
This could be our last night together.
She didn’t know why that thought kept roaming through her mind—but it did. “Make love to me.”
Despite their many layers of clothing, Sydney felt Jett’s hardening erection in her hand and knew she was just inches away from getting what she wanted.
“We’ll be careful,” she whispered again and captured another kiss. “We’ll be careful.”
“We’ll be careful,” he agreed as his hands became jerky with need. He remained true to his word and took an extraordinarily long time undressing her. She didn’t say a word, but he sensed that he still caused her pain when he removed the tourniquet and then removed her G-suit and subsequent clothes from her body.
At one point, he heard her sharp intake of breath and thick blade of guilt and stabbed his heart.
“We should stop,” Jett said immediately.
However, Sydney could not be persuaded. Silently, she sat up and reached for him. At first, she just took his hand and slid it down the valley of her breasts until it rested on a chain around her neck. He felt the circular object and his breath caught.
Her wedding band.
“I haven’t taken this off in three years,” she whispered and then pulled the chain over her head. “It’s time I wear it where it belongs.” She removed the ring from the chain but before she could slide the band around her finger he stopped her.
“Wait,” he said. “Let me.” In the next second, a small beacon of light beamed from the flashlight as Jett took the ring from her fingers. “We should do this right.”