“Yes, of course I do.”

“I would love to see it.”

“Cool.” He smiled.

“Cool.” I kissed his grinning mouth.

“You need more days off. Imagine if we had an entire week to ourselves, no family dinners, no work in our way,” he said against my lips.

His fingers moved from my scalp to the ends of my hair. I loved the way his thick fingers wrapped around my dark strands, gently twisting between and around them. I felt so dazed by his attention, so content and warm. I realized that I could actually sleep if I wanted to. That was a first for me, to be so relaxed that I could fall asleep before the sun went down. It had everything to do with him.

Kael started humming a song and told me about this little-known band he found in a bar in Kentucky after he graduated basic training and how he recently heard their song on the radio. I smiled as he hummed a few more bars and started to kiss down his chin, around his collarbone and shoulders. His skin was so soft under my lips and his body shuddered when I kissed the scar tissue that framed his shoulder blade.

Kael’s phone started to ring on the nightstand. He jumped up and I moved away as he grabbed it, my eyes reading the screen.

“It’s Mendoza,” he said, showing me the phone.

I nodded as he answered.

“Hey, you—” Kael started to speak, but he was cut off by shouting. “Hey, hey, man, slow down.” Kael’s voice suddenly was different; he was now Sergeant Martin.

“Where you are?” Kael was out of my bed, sliding his shirt down his chest. He grabbed his jacket from the floor and put it on.

I didn’t know what to do as I sat there on the bed and Kael moved around me. He was totally focused on Mendoza, in full-on mission mode.

“I won’t tell Gloria or anyone where you are.” Kael looked at me. “Don’t go inside. Just wait outside. I’ll be there in fifteen max. Don’t go back inside,” he repeated.

I got out of the bed and moved toward Kael. He held his finger up to tell me to keep quiet.

“I’ll be there soon, everything’s fine. Don’t talk to or call anyone else until I get there, you could get reported,” Kael instructed.

He seemed to have such great empathy, his soul glowed from the inside. It astounded and impressed me. He was showing me what a thoughtful man looked like: beautiful brown skin, a-thousand-seas-wide sympathetic eyes, and a considerate heart. It struck me that I hadn’t seen this in a man before—at least not in real life. But Kael showed me exactly what compassion looked like.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him. He nodded.