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I shook it and replied faintly, "Nice tome a little closer, so close that my breasts were a hairsbreadth away from his chest and I could feel the warmth of his body like a blanket His neck was eye level and part of me wanted to reach up and smell him up close With effort, I refrained His free hand came between us and tilted my chin up

I stared at him I had fantasized about this exact position ain the circle of Noah’s ar preparedthat preceded it His head dropped, and for a breathless ht kiss htly and pressed a kiss to ainst o Just dropped both of his hands and stepped one pace back He tucked his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans, and for the first time since I had laid eyes on him that day, he looked uncertain

"Touess ere friends who had breakfast at 9 am on Saturdays

"Toh I was fatigued, I lay in bed and could not sleep, h i eachto class with Noah, holding his hand As I drifted off, I are of a sense of dread at the idea that I was pacifying ain

Noah

Walking out of the apartood excuse for staying I had hinted at sleeping on the sofa, but Grace chose to ignoreother than studying and watching movies wasn’t lost, either

I had barely restrainedher down across the cushions She didn’t seeht of her on that sofa with anyone else hten in resentirls, but I never had to be In high school, there were always girls anted a taste of the other side of the tracks When I was a Marine, there was no shortage of wo for a si still, which was about all it took to find myself some randoh school, I never wanted to connect with so town as soon as possible In the Marines, there was never any time to develop a relationship It was basic, then deployment And then Grace happened

When she first wrote me, I only wrote back because our CO told us we had to, but then I realized I looked forward to getting her letters If it wasn’t for Grace, I wouldn’t have received anything froe items would’ve been cast-offs froirlfriend or someone back home There were plenty like me whose unit was their family

So maybe my initial responses to Grace were driven by self-interest At soreater ie cae that the person behind those letters cared whether I made it home

But I still had no finesse, and after I separated from the Marines, I fu that she’d just wait around until I was ready to coood thing I only needed a few hours of sleep My nights would now be spent figuring out how to get a woman I cared about into my corner, rather than the best way to take an opponent to the mat

Chapter Five

Dear Grace,

My biggest fear, huh? I don’t think I ever told you about my recruith school on career day Bo had skipped and gone somewhere to drink the day away Lucky bastard I would’ve cut class that day, too, but I had too many skips and arned that if I had any o to su to happen

Anyway, I end up talking with the Army and Marine recruiters Their spiels are pretty si the hell out of Nowheresville is my priority The Marine recruiter nods and says he felt the sae paid for, and , the second intriguing, the third I could care less about Turns out the last one is actually the biggest benefit of joining

Later, the recruiter follows up with s about joining I tell hin, only I’ between the Marines and the Arest mistake ever I adhs and says, "you’ll be infantry, son," and I sign

When I get to boot camp they tell me the Marines are a branch of the Navy The Navy, Grace The Marine recruiter must have noted that I had an aversion to water, because every punishment I ever received ater-related

Thepeople ainst me It ain’t water anymore

~Noah

Grace

A soft knock onI sat up, disoriented The sun was filtering through the sides of otten to plug it in last night The dark screen stared up at ly It was dead Crap What time was it?

I scra with her hand raised

"Knock, knock," She lowered her hand Her expression was unreadable and that was sufficient to alert

"What time is it?" I looked at her bare wrist "Why don’t atches?"

"Because we have phones?"

"My phone is dead! I’m supposed to h fro to lasses hung from his collar He wore a watch, only I couldn’t tell the tirabbed Lana’s ar has he been here?" I asked, running to the bathrooot here," Lana said

"My God, what should I wear? Do I have time to shower? How could I have overslept?"

"Yes, take a shower, but don’t wash your hair We’ll put it up It kind of looks like sexy bedhead"

I screamed a little when I looked at myself in the mirror I had a pair of boxers on and one of Josh’s old shirts My hair was matted on one side and stuck up about four inches from the top of my head I couldn’t believe Noah saw me like this

"Go out there and tell him I’m sick," I instructed Lana as I turned on the shower and waited for the hot water to climb four stories from the basement

"Sick hat?"