A Special Ops Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

omen for things
to come with his wife. With all his heart he longed to make it home to Vivianne
and envelop her in his arms.
    Just the thought of their reunion sent happy endorphins
through his brain, almost like the sensation of eating a very hot pepper and
feeling it all over his body. Although he knew they had some hurdles to overcome,
simply laying eyes on the woman he loved was enough to thrill him to the very
core.
    Once again, he went through security without any problems.
He’d need to rent a car now and hoped the credit cards Arora provided would
work.
    Before anything else, he checked his email, hoping to see
one from Vivianne. We’re so close, baby. She had written. Happiness
swelled in his chest but quickly deflated as he read on.
     
    Thank you for being so honest, Aiden. I know that it took
a lot of effort on your part to convey your feelings in writing.
    I have something to tell you, too. I don’t believe that
I’ve crossed any lines or done anything wrong, but this is something you should
know about. As hard as it is to write this, you really must know if we are
serious about making our marriage work.
    This concerns your friend Travis. Since he lives just
down the street, he started coming around more this last year when you were
away on missions. In all honesty, it was so nice for me to have someone to talk
to, and soon I realized how much I needed that. At first, he and I both saw it
as just a close friendship. I’m not sure exactly when things changed, but I began
to notice he came by more and more often to check on me. He also started to hug
me—innocent friendly hugs at first and then more frequent, more intimate hugs.
So I guess I knew his feelings had changed. But I didn’t tell him to back off.
    Then, things changed when you told me about that girl on
your last mission. I’m not sure if you truly understand how much that hurt me.
I know we talked and talked about it. I tried to explain how deeply that
situation affected me, but I never felt you really understood my devastation.
We had been trying to get pregnant for a year and a half, as you know. But I
felt like a bad wife and that something was wrong with me because I couldn’t
get pregnant. When you told me about her I felt like I failed twice. We were
fighting so much about your job during that time, and I felt sure she would
understand your responsibility to your job, and everything else about you, a
lot better than I did. I started thinking about how you could be happier with
her and could even start a family. I was consumed with fear, insecurity, and
jealousy.
    I found myself telling some of this to Travis. I’m sorry.
I knew that would hurt you, especially since he was a friend. But that might be
part of the reason why I did it. I wanted to hurt you like you had hurt me.
    I wasn’t sure how far I would take it, though. In August,
a week before you came back, he hugged me goodbye and leaned in to kiss me. I
didn’t kiss him, Aiden. I pushed him away and said no. He left.
    I feel guilty because I intentionally did something to
hurt you. I also feel guilty because I was thinking about doing things that
crossed the line, even though I didn’t act on those thoughts.
    You came back, and we tried to talk through everything—about
trying to get pregnant, your emotional affair, and our constant arguing. I
didn’t want to throw in something else to confuse the situation, especially
since it was over by then.
    I know you wanted to wait till we could talk in person,
but I’m scared to say all this to your face. Not scared of you. Just scared of
what this will do to you.
    I do love you, Aiden, with all my heart.
    Talk to you soon,
    Vivianne
     
    His heart sank lower and lower as he read each word. Anger
soon followed his heartache, along with every emotion in between.
    Among the emotions he felt was pure, red-blooded male
jealousy. Next, he imagined plowing his fist right through Travis’s nose.
Travis was shorter, smaller, and weaker than