His skin was hot and dry, and his muscles gave way easily under the pressure of her fingers. He groaned with pleasure, which made her flush, but she kept on, moving her hands from his shoulders and neck down to the middle of his back, down to his waist, and back up to the middle again. She found herself watching the curve of his ear, noticing the little pinpricks of hair on the side of his neck where it had been shaved away and now was growing back.

She made herself look away.

“Do you mind switching that lamp off?” he said drowsily. “It’s more relaxing with it off.”

She obliged him, hoping that he would soon go to sleep. The door to the hall was partly open, and the light from out there cast a wedge onto the floor. Otherwise, all was dark. The only sound was the rain on the windowpanes.

After a few minutes, she removed her hands from him. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”

He rolled over onto his back, and propped himself up on one elbow. She could see his eyes shining. “Please don’t leave me alone, Anne,” he said, and he reached out and found her hand in the dark. “I don’t like to sleep alone.” He laughed a little. “Can’t stand to be alone. Haven’t been alone in so long, except on some damn nights when the guy next to me got killed and I didn’t find anyone else till morning. Doesn’t exactly make you feel good about being alone, you know?”

Her stomach felt nervous. “Would you like me to sit here in the chair next to you until you go to sleep?”

He tugged gently on her hand. “Sit down next to me, would you?” He sounded as scared and willful as a child. “My nurses always sit with me.”

Anne was skeptical. “They sit on your bed with you?”

“Yes,” JJ said.

He sounded so sincere that Anne didn’t question him further. Carefully, she sat down on the edge of the bed next to his hip. She could almost feel the gaping space behind her where his leg should have been. He hadn’t let go of her hand.

She told herself there was no need to be frightened. “You’d better get some sleep now,” she told him. “You’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Can I ask you for one more thing?”

“What’s that?”

“A little kiss good night?” he said, sounding sheepish. “I mean, like the way my mom used to kiss me good night, on the forehead? So you know that you’re not alone?”

Anne considered the matter. She thought of Harry. Finally, she decided there could be no harm. And she felt sorry for JJ: This was his first night home, and his whole family had deserted him. “And then you’ll go to sleep?” she said.

“Scout’s honor,” he said.