Because of You: A Loveswept Contemporary Military Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

beneath his rough hands. She was tender and beautiful, and for once he truly wished he had more time before he left. He’d never know if tonight could have led to something more. “You, too.”
    She blinked hard and Shane wondered at the sudden emotion he saw flicker in her eyes. “Be safe this year?”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “You do that.”
    He kissed her then, sweetly this time, and he was intensely glad that she didn’t stiffen or pull away. He hadn’t ruined this precious moment after all. “Good-bye, Jen.”
    “Good-bye, Shane.”
    He swallowed the bite of hard emotion that lodged suddenly in his throat. She’d given him one hell of a memory to carry with him into the desert.
    He’d hold the memory of that kiss with him even as he walked—willing and able—into a war. He’d volunteered to serve, but tonight, for the first time, he was walking awayfrom something precious. Because of Jen, he had a reason for coming home.

Chapter 3
    Shane walked into the gym, taking in all the activity around him, trying to see how things were set up for this deployment. In the center of the gym, soldiers waited in line for medical approval in order to officially begin their season in the desert. Good times had by all. Reaching the bleachers, he dropped his assault pack on the bottom step, laid his M4 on the floor at his feet, and took a seat, resting his head on his forearms. For the first time in twenty-four hours he was able to close his eyes.
    He never slept the night before deployment. The first time he’d deployed, he’d been too nervous to sleep and had crashed hard on the plane, waking up somewhere over Turkey. Last night, though, he’d lain awake for different reasons. His stitches had been throbbing like a bastard, and there’d been blood on the bandage this morning. He was doing his best to ignore that, though, along with the pain. He just had to make it through today without a physical and he’d be fine.
    Shane sat fully upright, wincing as the sudden movement jarred his stitches. He looked around, hoping no one had noticed. To be deployed, a soldier had to be one hundred percent medically ready, and he did not want to give anyone a reason to suspect that he was not. No one knew that less than a week ago, while he was on vacation down in Corpus Christie, catching a few catfish, he’d had to make a quick side trip to the local civilian hospital. So far, he’d manage to keep anyone in the army from finding out, andhad kept it out of his official medical records. The way he saw it, his lack of appendix wouldn’t be the problem getting out of here today. His
recent
lack of an appendix could, especially if Trent or Carponti found out, as they’d make damn sure he didn’t deploy. They wouldn’t do it out of spite, but rather worry. It was Shane’s job to worry about the guys, not the other way around. He realized that Trent had the authority to make him stay behind, and Carponti had a big mouth. If Carponti knew, everyone else would, too … and that was not going to happen. Shane just had to grin and bear the pain. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d stepped over the fine line between hooah and stupid.
    The medical line was a final clearance that was damn sure going to stick it to him, and not in a good way. He overheard one of the nurses say “exam.” Shit. A couple of the guys didn’t come out from behind a white curtain looking too happy. He’d counted at least five that had been pulled off flights and they weren’t even halfway through the line. He had to find a way to get on that plane without seeing a doc.
    But more than just his stitches had kept him up last night. In truth, Jen St. James was the primary reason he’d had trouble sleeping. Even now, his body tightened at the memory of her kiss—Jen had given him a taste of what might have been if he hadn’t been going off to war. Deployments were filled with long bouts of boredom and loneliness, punctuated by bursts of pure terror and