Worth The Wait (A Military Romance Book 2) Read online

  Amy stared at her questionably.

  “I mean, he said she was just a friend and you are his everything. So that had to make you consider he was being truthful.”

  Amy’s gaze drifted from Erin again, going back to the windowpane.

  “I just don’t want you to do anything drastic before you’ve had a chance to investigate this thoroughly.”

  “I get what you’re saying, Erin, but you weren’t there. I mean, as soon as he exited, my entire soul lit up with happiness. It was such a potent feeling that I was sick with it. I don’t even know how the heffa made it to him first with the way I took off into a sprint.” Amy turned back to her friend and noticed the smirk on her face. “What’s so funny?”

  “I can just imagine this big ol goofy smile on your face and your feet moving a million miles a second,” Erin chuckled.

  “Yeah, well, you can imagine my horror to see them embrace the way they did.”

  Erin’s smile faltered.

  “It just about rocked my entire existence.” Amy let out a frustrated breath.

  “So, he knew you were there and he embraced her back?” Erin lifted a brow and folded her arms.

  “Not exactly.”

  Erin’s eyes rolled from top to side. “What do you mean?”

  “He didn’t really hug her back, but he let her linger too long. What am I supposed to make of it?”

  “This is what you will do,” Erin said. “You’re going to pretend like it never happened.”

  Amy frowned and went for a rebuttal, but Erin lifted her hand in the air to stop her.

  “It sounds like Luke has some explaining to do, but not enough where you should kick him to the curb.”

  “Oh, you just determined that after your little deliberation or something?”

  Erin chuckled. “I know you’re feeling sassy, but you don’t have any proof that he did anything wrong. If he had a few conversations with this girl then okay, make him tell you what’s up. Because Amy, Luke belongs to you. You’re not about to let this skank, whoever she is, walk away with him. For all you know, she could know you two are in a relationship and purposefully showed up to mess with you. Just so you can turn your back on Luke and she can hop her skanky tail in and take him.”

  Amy held her arms up. “What is this, high school all over again?”

  “No,” Erin said, “but the more things change the more they stay the same. You’ve been waiting for this, now she’s already killed your reunion. Don’t let her kill your joy. You need to go back home and enjoy your time with Luke. Think about all the times you’ve prayed to God that he was here and now he is, at your apartment no less, probably soaking wet in a steaming shower.”

  Amy’s thoughts shifted to Luke in her shower and instantly her nipples hardened.

  “I’m sure not only has his persona changed but his physique too, hmm? He’s been in the army for six years. His body is most likely more buff and cut. Thick hands, washboard abs, strong thighs, big di—”

  “Okay!” Amy shouted flustered. “Jesus, have you seen him because those descriptors are pretty dead on.”

  “Oh honey, it’s how Caleb looked when he first arrived; like he’d been experimented on in a laboratory far far away.”

  The ladies chuckled.

  Well,” Amy said, “I haven’t actually had a chance to see beneath the jeans he had on today but I’m willing to bet…” Amy’s words trailed off and she bit her bottom lip. “Damn you,” Amy whispered, causing Erin to giggle. “Over here getting me hot and bothered now I’ve got to go.”

  Erin nodded. “Go on then, get out of here. I guess we’ll postpone the dinner.”

  “No!” Amy shouted. “I’m going to rock his world and we’ll be starving afterward, so we’ll need to eat.”

  Erin fell over in a guffaw and shook her head.

  “Go get him tiger.”

  3

  By the time Amy made it back to her condo, all her bravado had left the building. Without a doubt she wanted to be with Luke, sexually or otherwise. But the fact remained, Amy needed answers and if Luke didn’t say what she needed to hear, Amy would regretfully break up with him and that would devastate her.

  The elevator doors opened, and Amy strolled toward her entry. She reached into her purse and fumbled for her keys. As she searched, music could be heard coming from inside. She paused her rummaging and peered over at the door then leaned in to listen.

  “Justin Timberlake?” she said to herself. Why would Luke be listening to Justin Timberlake? A brief flash of the brunette from the airport inside Amy’s apartment with Luke assaulted her mind, making her instantly upset. “I’ll kill him,” she whispered, returning to her hunt for the door keys. It didn’t take her long to find them the second time, and Amy entered her door like the devil was on her heels. There was a smart retort on her tongue as she sailed through, but she choked it back when her eyes caught a glimpse of her space.

  Roses, fresh and long stemmed, filled her walking area and countertops in a plethora of bouquets. A gasp shot from her lips and her eyes enlarged as she rotated three hundred and sixty degrees. Each spot was covered allowing her no room to move through the sea of flowers.

  “Oh my God,” Amy said, just as Luke strolled from the kitchen. A single rose was in his hand and he held it under his nose with a piercing stare on her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “The last thing I would ever want to do, is hurt you in any way. I know I owe you an explanation. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please, don’t ever leave me like that again. I’ve waited so long to reunite with you.”

  There was pleading in eyes and immediately Amy became choked up.

  “How… how did you do all this?”

  Luke pulled the rose from his nose and created a path to her. His closeness came with heat that drew Amy in a cocoon of warmth. He looked down at her and caressed her face with the palm of his hand.

  “Nothing is impossible when it’s important. I know what it looked like at the airport, but you do trust me, don’t you babe?”

  Amy exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

  “I do, but I’m still confused. What is going on between you two.”

  “Nothing.”

  “Then why does she know when your plane lands or that you’re even coming home. I feel like you’ve been keeping secrets from me, and I can’t tell you how much it hurt to see you embraced by someone else.”

  “You’re right, that’s my fault. I shouldn’t have…” He paused but held her stare.

  “Shouldn’t have what?”

  Luke let out a sigh. “I should’ve made my intentions clear to her.”

  “What were your intentions?”

  “She is a friend that was there during some of my dark moments.” Luke reached out and grabbed Amy’s shoulders when he saw her visibly flinch.

  “Was I not there, Luke?”

  Luke didn’t respond immediately. He needed to be careful with his next words. His gaze traveled over her ivory face. “You were, but just like there were times when my phone call was hours or a day late because of unforeseen circumstances, the same can be said when I reached out and you weren’t available. There were several instances that my phone call went unanswered. Some of those calls were unexpected and you were at a nail competition.”

  Amy participated in designer nail talent shows. She would sometimes spend thousands of dollars having her nails tricked out into a monstrosity that she considered artwork. When Luke went off to the Army and she went on to Pensacola University, Amy, found out about the competitions through an advertisement on one of the school’s billboards. It peeked her interest and helped her find a way to pass the time while Luke was away. But, after her third show, Amy began to take genuine interest in the competitions. She’d been a runner-up once and took home the silver medal twice. Gold would be sweet but silver was just as euphoric to Amy.

  These shows were much like beauty pageants where for weeks at a time, participants would
be on the road, traveling from city to city battling it out with different teams. It never dawned on Amy, that during those times, she was missing Luke’s calls. They had an air-tight schedule, one that she made sure to uphold.

  “I never knew I’d missed your phone calls. You know I planned and made sure none of my talent shows got in the way of our time.”

  “I know,” Luke said, “and you’re wonderful for doing that.” His hand rubbed up and down her shoulder. “But, for me, the scheduled time was not always the right time. I tried, same as you to keep to the timetable, but my life was one rollercoaster ride after the next. There was never a dull moment and trying to adjust wasn’t easy. Believe it or not, whenever I got a chance, I called you.”

  Amy’s eyes widened.

  “What do you mean? My uncle never told me you called outside our normal preplanned times.”

  “That’s because I told him not to. I knew if he did, you would be upset.”

  “You’re damn right I would’ve, and I’d have made sure the next time, I was around. But I was never given that chance. Instead, you found someone else to confide in.”

  Luke’s gut tightened, and he locked his jaw and let out a rushing breath. He slipped his arms around her waist and drew her so close they were practically sealed as one skin.

  “I don’t want to argue with you, Amy. All I’ve ever dreamed about was the moment when I would be close enough to touch you like this.” His hold tightened. “You are the only one I want, and I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. Forgive me.”

  They stared at each other, breathing in the air that the other released. Amy’s eyes faltered, and she nodded, and Luke pressed her so tight against him that she inhaled his natural scent. A kiss, soft and slow was placed on her forehead then his warm lips lead a trail down the side of her face. He kissed her neck, and his heated mouth sent a shrill of heat cascading over her skin.

  “Shower with me,” he said leading a trail of kisses to her mouth. The softness of his lips and firmness of his tongue invaded the inner recesses of her mouth and she moaned as their lips meshed.

  Without giving her a chance to deny him, Luke swept Amy up in his arms and carried her to the master bathroom. Inside, he held on to her while simultaneously reaching out to turn on the shower stall. The spray of water rained in a steamy downpour that surrounded them in a mist of fog. He sat her on her feet and helped her out of her dress. When she was naked, his penetrating stare ate up her form, and his breathing went from normal to silent as if he were not allowing air into his lungs. His gaze traveled up to her perky breasts, and his eyes seemed to shade over. Amy was thoroughly turned on by his perusal, and she leaned her back against the wall and perched a foot up on the edge of the claw-foot tub.

  When Luke took her, he did it swiftly. Before Amy had a chance to blink, she was in Luke’s arms. Her legs circled his waist, and she pulled and yanked at his shirt. They managed to get it over his head, but it caught around his neck, and arms, refusing to be tossed, revealing his washboard abs. Amy’s hands slid down the pecs of his chest and dived down to his jeans. She fumbled to get them unbuttoned, but when she did, Luke lifted her and removed them from his carved hips with ease.

  Now in his birthday suit, Luke stepped into the shower and pushed Amy’s back against the shower wall. The head of his cock glided across her vagina with a slow dragging dig. Amy shuddered, and a whimper left her lips.

  “I’ve been waiting so long for this,” he said.

  Luke’s voice had grown deeper, and his lips hovered above Amy’s ear with their chests compressed. His mouth touched her temples, placing a kiss there so tender that it relaxed her bones further. Desire built within them and without a chance to change her mind, Amy was consumed with each inch of his extended shaft.

  “Oh…” she moaned.

  Amy’s hands clenched his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh. Luke filled her completely, burying himself to the hilt.

  “Oh… my God,” Amy moaned again. She hadn’t expected to be so thoroughly taken. Luke had surely grown up and not just in height.

  He kissed the side of her face while his hips rocked in and out smoothly. She held on to him as if letting go would cause her to combust into a million tiny embers. The heat that covered their skin became a blanket of instant perspiration, and their breathing kicked into gear as did the bump and grind against the wall.

  “Oh… Luke,” she purred. “Baby, oh my God.”

  Luke’s strokes became intense as his hips dipped and drove inside her. Slaps of diffusion from their joining penetrated the walls, and a thunderous sound, something like a growl trekked from Luke’s lips.

  His mouth discovered her neck, trailing down her shoulders as their rocking became animalistic. Amy screamed and held on for dear life while Luke found pleasure in consuming her whole. How they would move forward from this moment remained a mystery; one they would have to endure together. But right then, Luke and Amy set aside those thoughts and filled themselves with one another, completely immersed in their joining.

  4

  It was the marathon that Amy had been practicing for her whole life. When Amy and Luke were teenagers, they tried their hand at sex. It had been alright then, kind of flimsy with neither of them knowing exactly what to expect. Now, Amy couldn’t recognize Luke’s sexual craving because his insatiable desire was a riveting ride that made her heart stomp and her thighs quiver.

  It was four a.m., and Amy had woken up from a deep slumber. Groggily she glanced around with the understanding that she was home but discombobulated in the same notion. It felt like her whole body had been massaged from her head to her toes, and her body still buzzed with a stinging satisfaction. A strong arm was tossed over her side, bulging in the thickness of corded muscle and hairy forearms. His vanilla skin spanned the length of her form keeping Amy wrapped in a blanket of warmth.

  She tried to swallow, but her mouth felt parched and she prayed silently that she didn’t sleep with her mouth open and a snore cackling from her lips. How embarrassing. Amy shut her eyes and let go of a soft breath then wondered if she should try and break free from his hold to run to the kitchen.

  Her hand slipped down to ease Luke’s arm away while her body slithered from his grasp. Surprisingly, it worked, and Amy tossed her legs over the bed, her feet sinking into the plush carpet. Turning to look back, Luke hadn’t moved. He lay still breathing softly with only half of him covered with the duvet from the waist down.

  The magnificence of his body revealed a constant regimen that Amy was sure he kept on a daily basis. Being so thoroughly cut and buff must’ve taken extreme dedication in whatever gym Luke was afforded while away. A smile crept across her lips, and for the moment, Amy stood there staring. She couldn’t believe Luke was actually home and a part of her regretted that their reunion had been spent talking about what’s her name in the first place.

  She vowed from that moment forward to put the ordeal in the back of her mind. Amy did trust Luke, so she would give him the benefit of the doubt. Turning on her heels, Amy padded softly into the kitchen in search of a bottle of water. The cool refrigerator temperatures tickled her naked skin as she stood with the door open drinking. Instead of going out for dinner with Erin and Caleb, Luke and Amy made love into the midnight hour. Their sexcapade had awakened her mind and body making her come more times than she had in her entire life. Amy shuddered just thinking of it. Erin would understand. Besides, she is the one that shooed Amy off to come home and do exactly what transpired, and she was sure Erin would want details the next day.

  After quenching her thirst, Amy left the kitchen and returned to the bedroom where Luke now laid on his back with his hands behind his head. Amy crept back under the covers and slid next to him laying her head on his shoulder and slipping her arm across his toned waist.

  “I missed you,” his baritone voice beat.

  A shiver slinked down Amy’s skin. “I’m back now, like I never left.” She moved in to kiss his cheek, but Luke turned his head
and her lips met his mouth. The kiss was hot enough that a curl of tingles fled down Amy’s flesh.

  “Mmmm,” she moaned.

  Luke turned to her fully wrapping the full length of his arms around her. He pulled her in and her leg flipped over his side causing her pussy to grind across the top of his hardened shaft.

  “Round three?” she purred.

  “And four, and five, and six…” he growled.

  The early morning sun did not wake Amy from her slumber. Frankly, she was comatose with nothing in her mind but dreams of she and Luke. As he stood next to the bed watching her, Luke had to wonder how the hell he almost messed up the most important thing in his life. Amy didn’t deserve to feel slighted, and he could understand why she would. For longer than Luke could stand, he put himself in Amy’s shoes. He imaged her stepping off the plane and being greeted by an unknown man. And not just a hey, hello but a full-on embrace and a lingering stare. His heart thundered thinking about how he would’ve blown a head gasket, and for a second, he had to wonder what Jessica was up to. Jessica was not uninformed. She knew that Luke and Amy were an item. True, he’d told her he was coming home and when, but he didn’t think anything of it, especially that she would be waiting for him when he arrived.

  Truly, he and Jessica had had many relatable conversations. Jessica’s brother was also a soldier in the United States Army. Their friendship to Luke was merely a conversation thread that took his mind off things happening behind the scene that Luke most certainly could barely deal with like when Caleb’s convoy was attacked. Luke and Caleb had been friends from childhood, so enrolling with a friend and not just one, but two of them since Micah was also headed across the line with them, pulled them even closer. It nearly killed Luke to find out Caleb’s partner had been killed. He’d gone berserk, demanding to know if Caleb survived the attack.

  It had taken too long for his lieutenant to confirm that Caleb was okay and the entire recourse of time, Luke sat conflicted and unable to do anything. His inability to keep his head on had him tossed in solitary because in the Army, you couldn’t give up, regardless of the circumstances. Luke was fine with that until that first incident, but afterward, he couldn’t figure out how he’d ever been able to move forward should something happen to Micah and Caleb.