The white noise of the constant din of the turbine engines, combined with the warm air brought him to a near-catatonic state.
He was tired, thirsty, and hungry. His clothes were wet with perspiration and in the cramped space, his body ached from having worn the sixty-plus pounds of tactical gear and weapons for the last several hours.
Deep inside Kade felt a strange sense of belonging in the country that had been destroyed by decades of tyranny and years of war. He couldn’t explain why he felt that way. Sometimes this felt more like where he belonged than home did.
He looked at the men who sat beside and across from him in the aircraft. Many he couldn’t converse with given their language barriers, yet he still considered them his brothers. They were bound by the ties of shared experiences in the face of danger, all feeling the same sense of duty and devotion to a purpose greater than themselves. Their dedication was to those they served, those they protected and, above all, to each other.
The landmarks indicating the approach to their final destination appeared on the horizon, and they prepared for their descent. The chopper made contact with the ground with a a jolt and came to a stop.
The turbines began to whine down as the ramp dropped. They exited the aircraft with the standard sense of urgency to assemble on the edge of the apron where a headcount of personnel would be taken and weapons cleared.
There would be pats on the back from those who weren’t on this op. Congratulations given for another successful mission. As hungry as Kade felt on the ride back, his appetite was now gone. A beer would be nice at a time like this, but their station was dry.
“Sir?” one of the men called to him as he walked toward the bunkhouses.
He waved behind him before continuing in the same direction. Tomorrow they would assemble for the hotwash. There was no need to relive the mission again now. He’d do plenty of that in his dreams.
After shedding his gear, Kade walked into the ten-by-ten room that was his home more often than the five-thousand square-foot house he had back in the States. He laid on his back on the single bed, put his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. This tour was almost over. Soon he’d be on a transport that would take him first to the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany where he’d debrief. Unless he was called to report for another mission, he’d be stateside for at least two months.
2
When he was deployed, Kade dreamed about the seaside village of Cambria. One spot in particular. The place was called Stave, and it was a combination wine bar and tasting room. He liked wine well enough, but that wasn’t why he dreamed of it. No, it was the woman who owned it that he found himself fantasizing about day and night— Peyton Wolf.
When he met her, Peyton’s blonde hair was pulled back away from her face, accentuating her pale, sage-green eyes. He’d never seen eyes that color before.
It was her smile that reeled him the rest of the way in, and her warmth. Being around Peyton calmed him, gave him a peaceful, easy feeling.
He’d attended a wine dinner she hosted at Stave, one that featured wines made by his brother Maddox.
From that fateful night on, he made a point of visiting Stave whenever he was home on leave, and soon he and Peyton became friends.
Kade asked her more questions than he answered, although she didn’t ask very many. It was as though she knew that he couldn’t talk about what he did when he was gone for weeks at a time.
On what he found out later was a particularly long Friday night—when a group of tourists decided to hang out far past closing time—he sent Peyton an email. In it, he told her he’d be gone two weeks longer than he’d originally anticipated, but hoped to see her the night he got home.
A few minutes later, she responded asking if he was suggesting they go out on a date. When he answered that he was, she didn’t respond. It brought a smile to his face, imagining that his blunt assertion after almost four years of being nothing more than her friend, freaked Peyton out.
He got it, though. She was single mom with two young sons, who had gone through a messy-as-hell divorce. Was she gun shy? Of course she was. Would he let that stop him? Never.
Three sleeps until he saw her again, and he couldn’t wait.
Rather than go home, Kade drove his truck straight from the airport to Stave. Peyton wouldn’t be in yet, but he wouldn’t mind waiting.
He ordered a glass of wine and some food—the kind he could never get when he was at one of the bases he was regularly sent to. Addy, the woman behind the bar, brought him a loaf of just-out-of-the-oven French bread, and a plate with different kinds of cheese, smoked salmon, and fruit.
He took a bite, closed his eyes, and groaned. When he opened them, the woman in so many of his dreams, stood in front of him.
“Welcome back,” she said. Her cheeks were pink and after she spoke, she lowered her eyes.
“Thank you. It’s nice to be back. Actually, it’s more like heaven.”
“When did you get in?”
Kade picked up his cell phone and checked the time. “About an hour and a half ago.”
Peyton laughed. “I guess you were hungry.”
Not being able to stop himself, Kade let his eyes wander the length of Peyton’s body. “Very,” he said, looking back into her mesmerizing pale green eyes.
He told himself if he could get just one kiss from her, that would be enough. It wouldn’t be though. As much as he craved her food, he craved her body more. For four years he’d lusted after Peyton Wolf, and while he knew they
