Live Free and Love (5 page)

He hadn’t realized how much he had been drinking until Tina had lined up all his empty bottles of Ketel One.

When she had finished counting, he cringed at the number. He had been in a haze of alcohol since returning home, not knowing what to do with the feelings welling up inside him.

Danny kept pacing, trying not to look at the bottle as he went. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he wanted to find a way to deal with this without liquor.

He glanced at Kristina. She made all this easier. He wasn’t afraid to express how he felt around her. If it all became too much, he knew he could break down and she would be right there, offering him her support. She didn’t press him to talk, but instead waited for him to speak about how he felt. It meant the world that she was here with him.

He didn’t know what he had done right to have her here, helping him through this, but he could thank his lucky stars that she was.

As Danny paced, the screaming in his head slowly lessened, and the tightness in his chest began to ease.

The two faces that haunted his dreams faded, but didn’t disappear. He was starting to think they never would, but at least the panic he felt when he saw them decreased. He stopped pacing and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“How are you?” Kristina asked.

Danny took a couple of deep breaths. “Better.” It was all he could get out.

Kristina nodded her head and rose from her chair.

Grabbing her keys, she looked at Danny. “Now give me your credit card.”

He looked at her like she had grown a second head.

She laughed deep in her throat, the laughter reaching her eyes. It made her even more beautiful, if such a thing were even possible.

“I’m just going to buy you some groceries. You have nothing to eat here,” Kristina said.

He reached into his wallet and pulled out his debt card.

“I’ll be checking the statement,” he said jokingly.

She gave him a dirty look before she walked out of the door.

***

The next week was a busy one for Kristina. She somehow found the time to fly to Chicago and do an interview with a mother who had been in the Air Force for six years.

Once the interview was over, she rushed back to the airport. She couldn’t wait to get back to Humble. She never thought she would ever say that, but she want to hurry back to Danny. She tried to tell herself that it was because she wanted to make sure he wasn’t drinking. She knew it was a lie.

She enjoyed the time she spent with him, getting to know him all over again. She was starting to remember why she fell in love with him all those years ago.

Even in tough moments, when he was at his worst, she admired him because he fought so hard to not break. He had been doing well in his plan to not drink, only having had one slip since he’d begun.

It was a short flight, but it seemed to drag on for an eternity. She sped to Danny’s house once she reached her car.

She felt antsy. She wanted to see his handsome face, the way he smiled even when he wanted to do nothing but cry. She wanted to see him run his hand through his hair when he got frustrated, or hear that nervous laugh when he got through one of his attacks.

She was utterly in love with the man, and she knew it. There was nothing she could do to stop it, and she wouldn’t have even if she could.

The house was dark inside when she pulled up. She checked the clock on her dash. It was only eight forty-seven PM. He was home, because she seen his car.

She got out of the car and walked quickly to his front steps. She knocked on the door a little harder than she’d intended.

“Please, Lord, don’t let him have been drinking.”

She immediately regretted her trip to Chicago. If she had stayed, she could have helped him through it.

She knocked again.

“Come in,” she heard faintly from the back of the apartment.

Kristina turned the knob slowly, praying she didn’t find what he had already made up in her mind she would see.

The first things she did see were small candles.

Coming fully into the apartment, she saw the candles led to the back, where Danny’s room was located. The faint smell of bleach told her Danny had cleaned up the space.

She wanted to flip the lights on and look around, but decided against it.

“Danny?” He didn’t answer.

Setting her bag down, Kristina decided to play along. She followed the trail. It led her to the one person she wanted to see most.

He was sitting on the bed, holding a rose. He looked up at her and smiled. “It’s about time you came. I’ve blown out and relit those candles more times than I can remember.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You could have called; I would have told you when I was coming.”

“I knew that, but hey, I needed the exercise anyway.” He stood and handed her the rose.

“What’s this all about, Danny?”

“This is all about you,” he said simply.

He grabbed her hand and led her to the desk chair. She noticed the desk was clean too. He had been busy today. He went down on one knee in front of her.

“What does that mean, all about me?” she asked.

“This is my way of saying thank you, Tina. I know I have a long way to go, but you have made my first steps on the journey bearable. You make me forget, Tina, even if it’s just for a little while, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me.”

Kristina knew it took a lot for him to say all that he had said. He looked so cute, down on one knee, his hair still damp from a shower. He was looking up at her, his big eyes so full of emotion she could swim in their depths.

Before she knew it, she was leaning down to kiss him. It was gentle and soft, her lips barely touching his.

“Thank you, this was sweet.”

His hand snaked up behind her and buried itself in her long locks, pulling her into him. He kissed her with unbridled passion. When he pulled back, his gaze was so full of heated desire that Kristina could have melted where she sat.

When his lips met hers again, she moaned low in her throat. She couldn’t help the small shivers that ran through her body. She leaned her head back as he broke contact with her mouth and trailed kisses down her neck. He stopped at her collarbone, flicking his tongue across her flesh .

She gripped his shoulders, holding on as tightly as she could. His head dipped into the valley of her breasts, nuzzling through her blouse.

She felt his hands sliding up the sides of her body, then his fingertips on her breast as he gripped the labels of her shirt.

The fabric put up little resistance as he ripped the shirt open. Her rosy peaks were immediately hard, and poked through her lace bra. She sucked in a sharp breath as she felt his tongue scrape across her nipple.

He sucked the peak into his mouth through the fabric. She couldn’t help but cry out.

Her fingers found the back of his head and gripped his hair . She didn’t know whether to push him away or pull him closer.

The pleasure was so intense she barely noticed his hands at the button of her tight jeans. His hand was inside her panties, rubbing across her most sensitive spot, before he buried one finger inside her moist heat.

She cried out loudly and he silenced her with another kiss.

Kristina didn’t stop to think about anything beyond the exquisite sensation pulling at her. She threw her head back and cried out as she found release. Her muscles gripped his fingers in strong pulses.

Pulling her up as she came back to earth, Danny never took his eyes off hers as he freed her of her pants.

She could feel his manhood pressing into her belly, straining for freedom from his sweats .

Kristina let her hands travel his well-muscled body, until she was at the waist band of his pants. With a slight pull, his cock sprang free. She heard him suck in a hiss as her hand wrapped around his member.

He was big, his skin smooth and hard in her hand. She stroked him, starting at his base and going upwards to the tip. His breath was coming in sharp pants, which turned into a low moan as she took him into her mouth. She sucked hard, loving the taste of him. She set a quick pace, alternating between sucking and licking.

His hands were tangled in her hair, guiding her. He roared out his pleasure as he reached his completion.

Danny pulled her up to his eye level. “Little devil,” he said as he led her to the bed. Holding her tightly around her waist, he entered her in one smooth thrust.

Kristina’s head fell back against his shoulders, her back arching as he slid in and out of her.

He kissed her neck, one of his hands coming up to cup her breast. He set a slow pace, his thrusts deep as he built the passion of their lovemaking.

She moaned his name, the feeling almost too much for her. If not for his hand holding her, she would have fallen to the floor.

Danny sped up, his thrusts becoming longer and deeper. Kristina turned slightly, getting a glimpse of Danny’s face. The satisfaction written there was so sexy.

She bit her bottom lip as she reached her peak once more.

Danny moved faster within her, sending sparks of pleasure rushing through her body.

She met him thrust for thrust, moving against him.

He followed her into oblivion, and she felt his cock pulse inside her and his body become rigid. He moaned her name as the last of his seed spilled within her.

They both collapsed on the bed, utterly spent.

“That was amazing,” Kristina said.

“You were amazing,” Danny countered.

They lay in silence for a while, almost falling asleep, before he jumped up and ran into the hallway.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“The fucking candles.”

She laughed as she heard him blowing over and over again.

Chapter 6

“Love is not something we find, it’s something we do.”

As the days passed, Kristina almost forgot she was there for an assignment. She spent almost every day with Danny, getting to know the man in a way she never had before.

She watched his inner struggle every day, watched him battle his demons and win. He was learning, even if by baby steps, to deal with the trauma he endured . She admired him for his courage, and for not giving up.

Kristina left Danny’s house that morning and headed to her hotel. She had been at Danny’s for the past few nights, and needed to come up for air.

Since that night they’d had sex, Danny had made love to her every night . Despite everything he was going through, he was a passionate lover. He took his time with her and made her the focus of their lovemaking. Just thinking about him sent shivers through her.

She didn’t know how she was going to leave him when the time came. Her feelings for him had awakened in her with a vengeance. In truth, she was hopelessly in love with him. Leaving was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever done .

She felt the need to guard her heart as much as she could, maybe even pull back a little. She was scared to death that history would repeat itself with the two of them.

She feared that, once she returned home, they both would let time and distance tear them apart once more.

Kristina didn’t know if she could handle that heartbreak twice. She’d barely moved on from it the last time.

Making her way to her room, Kristina sat down at her laptop. She logged on and sipped on a soda until it finished booting up.

She went to her email and skimmed through the dozens of messages that had been sent to her. She was about to hit the delete all button when she noticed one from Mr. Cooley.

“He never sends emails,” Kristina said to herself as she opened the mail.

“Kristina,

Just checking on you how things were going. You should check in more often. I’m interested in reading your story. Let me know your progress.

Cooley.”

“Great,” Kristina thought. She hadn’t yet told her boss that she wasn’t going to use Danny on the story.

Having Danny open up to her the way he had, laying himself open, she couldn’t betray him like that.

She wouldn’t. Mr. Cooley was gonna be pissed, but she couldn’t do it.

Kristina typed up her first interview from the notes shed taken and closed her laptop.

After texting Danny to see how he was doing, she showered and lay down for a nap. She was flying to North Carolina in the morning to interview an injured Army vet who had just returned from Iraq.

She still had to find a third person for her assignment.

Maybe if she told Mr. Cooley that shed she’d found a replacement for Danny, he wouldn’t blow his top.

Kristina laughed in spite of herself as she lay down.

That was a big maybe.

****

Danny put the finishing touches on the dinner he had prepared for Kristina. She had said she’d been tired yesterday, and had stayed at her hotel.