Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Hastings rolled his eyes every time I sent him on random missions, but he never complained. The guy’s cast had been cut off last week, but he’d been denied his request to replace me down here. Honestly, I couldn’t be pissed. This was my job, and like it or not, deployments were a part of it.
A fact Morgan knew all too well, which didn’t exactly work in my favor. Once I got home and had her back in my arms, it would only be a matter of time before we went through this again. Hell, I’d be up for Lieutenant Commander in two years, so a PCS wasn’t going to be far behind.
I missed both my girls like hell, and we weren’t even halfway through this deployment. Seeing Fin’s face every morning and night was its own special form of torture. I could see her, but I couldn’t hug her, and each time the screen went black hurt my heart more than the last. I’d missed her first day of kindergarten, which was something I’d never thought I’d say.
But she’d had Claire, right?
And Morgan.
Fuck, I missed Morgan. I missed her smile and her laugh. I missed walks on the beach and the moments she’d open up. I missed waking up in the middle of the night with her body wrapped around mine and her head on my chest. Did I miss the sex? I was a guy, and it was the best of my life, so yeah, of course, but I missed the connection more. I would have given up sex for the rest of my life if it meant I could just hold her every day. I’d probably negotiate a few kisses, though. I missed her kisses so much I nearly groaned just thinking about them. She’d never been able to hide her feelings when her mouth was on mine.
The fact that Finley spent her afternoons with Morgan gave me hope. Not that I was using my kid to keep my girlfriend or anything. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do to actually keep Morgan, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t fighting like hell. I’d meant every word I’d said to her the day I left. I loved her enough to carry us through this. Hell, I loved her enough to carry her through a thousand of these, but I still hated myself for putting her through it. There weren’t enough gifts in the world to make up for the spike in her anxiety attacks.
But a giant blow-up apple still might help.
“You know girls like chocolate and flowers, right?” Sawyer asked, smacking my shoulder as he took the seat next to me. “I mean, if you’re ordering blow-ups, there are way better models that serve way better purposes.”
I scoffed.
“Leave the man alone. He’s long-distance wooing,” Garrett remarked from the corner of the room where he was playing a video game.
“Just saying.” Sawyer waggled his eyebrows. “And who the fuck says wooing, anyway? What is this, the eighteen hundreds?”
“Wooing is the only word I can describe for what’s going on over there,” Garrett threw back. “What else would you call constant effort with zero dates and zero encouragement?”
“Harassment,” Sawyer quipped, then cringed. “Shit, that was a step too far.”
I leveled a look at him over my laptop screen.
“I said I was sorry!” He put his hands up. “We all like Morgan. We’re all pulling for you. We all understand why she…did what she did, and we all think she’s worth it.”
“Don’t say we all, like we sit around gossiping about Montgomery’s love life,” Garrett chided.
I honestly didn’t give a fuck if they approved of my actions or my relationship—or lack thereof. The only two opinions I cared about in the world were Morgan’s and Fin’s. “Right. Thanks.”
He spun his chair to face the monitor behind me. “You keeping an eye on Ingrid? She’s starting to look nasty.”
I looked over my shoulder at the named storms heading our way. “Nah. Looks like she might skirt by the Bahamas, and she’s only a two. The boys at Clearwater will handle her. Jerry’s got my eye, though.”
When the fuck had I become callous enough to think of hurricanes as rescues and aftermaths instead of destruction and lives lost? We were called in for storms every year up and down the coast, and it never failed to affect me, but I’d stopped panicking at model projections years ago.
Sawyer whistled low. “He’s a big son of a bitch.”
“And headed this way, if those models are right.” The last thing Puerto Rico needed was another fucking hurricane, but we were here and ready to help if he hit.
“What do you think he’ll end up at?” Sawyer rocked back on his chair.
“That guy?” Garrett slid his chair out from the console and peered at the monitor. “He’s going five.”