Page 61 of A Hero Comes Home

He sighed into her open mouth.

She groaned.

The kiss went on and on, a reshaping and relearning. His hands roamed her back and shoulders and behind. Her hands cupped his face, holding him in place.

Finally, he drew back and looked at her. Her lips were moist and parted. Her eyes half-lidded with arousal.

“Come,” he said, taking her hand and leading her inside.

When he locked the kitchen door behind them, she arched her brows in question. “We don’t want any friends bringing goodies to just walk in,” he explained.

She giggled.

Lord, he hadn’t heard her giggle in a long time. Years, maybe.

She had to help him up the steps as he leaned on her shoulder, refusing to go up backward on his ass at a time like this. Which of course led to them stopping every other step to kiss and pet. Once, when she accidentally, or perhaps not so accidentally, brushed her hand across his erection, he almost tipped over backward. After that, there was no more stopping. Still, it took them fifteen minutes in all, to get from bottom to top, Jake figured.

In their bedroom, Sally turned down the quilt and sheets, then stood watching as he pulled his T-shirt over his head, toed off his athletic shoes, then shrugged out of his briefs and shorts, all in one swoop.

“You are so beautiful,” she said.

“I am not!” And that was the truth. He was too thin, and covered with scars, and bent in places he shouldn’t be.

“Yes, you are, Jacob.”

He touched the eye patch and held out his one leg to display the vicious marks of damage.

“They make you more attractive.” She raised a halting hand when he was about to disagree. “Really. They do.”

Okay, if his broken body made her more amenable to sex with him—hell, if it turned her on, who was he to argue?

“Your turn, baby,” he said and waved a hand for her to get naked, too. Meanwhile he arranged himself on the bed, propped by two pillows, to watch. He put a third pillow over his lap because, frankly, his hard-on was becoming rather embarrassing. Well, not embarrassing so much as distracting. To him, anyway.

“Is that an order?”

“Definitely an order.”

She gave him a sharp salute. “Yes, Captain, sir!” Then, with a wicked gleam in her eyes, she kicked off her sandals one at a time. One landed on the bed next to him, way too close to vulnerable territory. Good thing he’d had the foresight to cover himself. He lobbed it back at her. The sassy wench caught it with a laugh and tossed it aside, over her shoulder.

Then, still being sassy—did he mention he loved when his wife became Sassy Sally?—she moved to the bottom of the bed and turned her back to him. She was wearing a loose sundress with wide shoulder straps. She dropped one strap, slowly, then the other, holding the dress up in front with both hands to her chest. Without turning around, she asked, “Is this what you had in mind?”

“Not even close.”

She dropped the dress to puddle at her feet and just stood for a moment, letting him take in her nude form from behind. Then she wiggled out of her bikini panties. She had the cutest butt, leading up over the curve of her hips to a narrow waist. She glanced over her shoulder and asked, “Better?”

“We’re getting there.” Then he added, “Man, you’ve still got a perfect heart-shaped ass.”

“You and your heart-shape nonsense!”

“Turn around now. Slowly.”

She did, and he inhaled sharply. He always did when looking at his wife. She wasn’t so cocky now. Instead, she looked downward, not meeting his eyes. She’d always been insecure about her body, apparently still was. Yeah, she was average in height and build, and she was far from voluptuous, but who wanted that? Her breasts were a little bigger, and she had light stretch marks on her belly, from three pregnancies. Pregnancies which he’d caused. So, in a way, they were his marks on her. Yeah, convoluted macho man thinking. In any case, Sally set the bar for perfect womanhood in his mind.

“You gonna just keep looking, soldier?” she taunted. “Maybe the flag can only go half-mast these days.”

“If I were in better condition, I’d leap off this bed and show you just how high this flag can fly.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” she teased.