He’d never really deeply probed his feelings about the issue, to be honest, but what he was saying felt like it was right. Every time he’d come home in his fatigues, he and his fellow troops had gotten plenty of attention, but it hadn’t really been attention that was about them personally. While he appreciated it on one level, on another it had made him acutely uncomfortable.

People staring, people pointing, people applauding… and none of them had known what it was like. Some of the times he’d been fine, other times he’d wanted to run and hide from all the eyes. And he was lucky; he hadn’t been part of any missions gone bad. Most of his duties had been pretty routine. At one point he’d been assigned to be part of one of the teams instructing the military police in Afghanistan, but the program – which had had a one of the highest fatality rates in the country – had been discontinued a few weeks before his team had been deployed.

And Jake had been relieved. Which had made him feel like a coward. He would have gone, of course, but he hadn’t been looking forward to it. He’d hated telling his parents and glossing over how dangerous that particular assignment would be. Had dreaded counting off the days leading up to it.

So when the program had been discontinued and he’d been given leave instead, coming home and hearing the applause and gratitude from in the airport had made him feel like a fraud.

Then he’d gone to Stronghold and started getting reacquainted with everyone and met Sharon, who obviously thrived on attention. Courted it. Reveled in it.

He hadn’t exactly been friendly to her and she’d given back as good as she’d gotten… and he’d liked that. Being the focus of her attention hadn’t bothered him, and he’d kind of gotten off on constantly verbally sparring with her. Of course, holding her against him and not verbally sparring was nice too…

A little smile curved her lips and she tilted her head at him as she began to walk her fingers up his chest. “Oh? Well you have my attention now…”

The invitation in her voice was unmistakable.

It was his little sister’s and best friend’s engagement party.

His entire family was in the house.

Sneaking off to have sex with his fuck buddy would be incredibly crass.

None of the other women he’d ever dated would have dared hint at it.

They would have been appalled if he’d suggested it.

Ah… fuck it.

“I’ve got more photos upstairs in my old room,” he said.

Sharon’s smiled turned absolutely wicked and his cock responded immediately. Yeah, he definitely liked being the focus of her full attention.