“Please, for the love of God, say you used the peephole before you opened up the door wearing just a T-shirt.”
“Of course I did. Where are your shoes?”
He squinted down at her. “Hey, wait a minute, that’s my T-shirt.”
“Possession is ninth-tenths of the law.”
“Are you going to let me in? Or are we going to talk in the hallway?”
She backed up and he walked in. The bed wasn’t made. As a matter of fact, she’d been in it, and he could see she had been reading on her e-reader.
“What are you reading?”
“I’m pretending I’m back in high school and reading To Kill a Mockingbird,” she said.
“Harper Lee, damn good author. That book makes me tear up every time I read it.”
“You re-read books?”
“My favorites, yes. I usually take a book with me each mission. Last time it was one of Mark Twain’s.”
“Reading gets me through the tough times,” Daisy admitted to him.
Leo reached out, then drew back his hand. “This has been some of the toughest for you, hasn’t it?”
“Full disclosure?” she asked quietly.
He nodded.
“Absolutely some of the toughest. But some of the best too. But I just don’t believe in good like this. You know?”
Leo frowned and this time he did touch her cheek. “No. Explain it to me.” He guided her to the bed, wishing there was a damned chair or something in the room. But nope, just the bed. He sat down beside her.
She nuzzled her cheek into the palm of his hand. “This isn’t real.”
“Yesterday afternoon and last night sure as hell felt real to me. Hell, even this morning when you woke up in my arms felt pretty damn real to me.”
“Was it? Or is it just when we’re in desperate times? How do I know this is real?”
Leo dropped his forehead so that it rested lightly on hers. “Is that how it feels to you? That our only connection is when emotions are high because of outside events, and it has nothing to do with you and me?” I sure as hell hope not.
He watched as Daisy processed his question. Her brain was such a turn-on, even when it went a little sideways, like now. He’d bet his bottom dollar that she didn’t have much relationship experience to draw on, so this was tough for her.
“Let me ask this question another way; could you picture yourself having been comforted by someone else that day in Afghanistan? Ending up in another man’s arms? Kissing another man? Taking another man into your body that afternoon?”
“God no,” she gasped.
“Well then?”
Daisy cupped his cheeks and tried to kiss him.
“No, none of that. We did that yesterday and you ended up confused. We’re getting this straightened out right now.”
“But it was so good,” she murmured.
“Absolutely it was. But I want to know that this has legs. Are you going to go sideways again and think this is only for hotel rooms in foreign countries? Because if you are, I’m opting out.”
Shit, did I just say that?
She pulled back and looked at him. “Leo, I’m not using you for a booty call. I heard you when you were ‘teasing, not teasing’ yesterday. You said girlfriend, right?”
He nodded.
“I’m not good at relationships, though. I work all the time, and I don’t have balance or anything normal. Somebody thought I should have a cat once, and Effie thought we should start with a plant. It ended up dying.”
He touched her hair. “It was from over-watering, right?”
It was her turn to nod.
“See, you don’t neglect things, you just haven’t figured out how to handle some aspects of life. Number one rule, respond to my damned texts.”
She puffed out a laugh.
“Do you know what the number two rule is?”
“Answer your calls?”
“The girl gets an ‘A’. Now tell me why you didn’t.”
“It’s complicated.”
“I have three sisters, of course it’s complicated.”
“I was kind of scared. You know, about it being too good and not real. I was afraid if I picked up you wouldn’t be as good as I remembered, and then the good memory would go away. And Leo?” She grabbed his face again like she really wanted him to listen. “That was the best memory ever. I couldn’t afford for it to go away.”
If he’d been standing his knees would have gone weak. Her answer couldn’t have been more perfect.
“And now?”
“I’m still scared,” she breathed out. “Scared you’ll still change your mind and leave for good.”
He pulled her into his arms and she gave a small moan of pleasure.
“I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, and this will last,” he whispered into her ear.
He felt her shaking her head.
“Okay, I’m here and we’re going to make beautiful memories, moment, by moment, by moment, by moment. How about that?”
She nuzzled his neck.
“Yes, please. That I can believe in.”
At the camp the next day, Daisy was trying to keep Maysa calm. She couldn’t blame her for being nervous. Effie had outdone herself. Somehow, she had managed to scrounge up two cameramen with actual shoulder-mounted camcorders, with lights. She’d also found someone who could operate a drone to take aerial footage of the camp. The children were fascinated, but Maysa was nervous as hell.
“How did she find these people?” Leo asked Daisy.
“She’s magic. Just like you found the hammer and the stakes.”
“That was small potatoes. This is amazing.” Leo took Daisy’s empty water bottle and replaced it with a full one.
“Maysa, Effie has hired these gentlemen to help you tell your story. Their cameras are just like what is on a phone, only bigger.”
Maysa shook her head in disbelief.
“Effie, can you get them to
