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“I needed to see Samangan without the soldiers around. You guys frighten people.”

“We save their asses—that’s what we do.”

As he scowled at me, I lifted a hand to my head and gingerly inspected the bandage.

“Go see the damn medic,” he spat. “But just know that if you sneak out again, you’ll be shipped back to the States. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” I said, standing up and turning toward the door.

“One more thing.”

I halted.

“How did you sneak out? We’re secure here, so someone must have helped you.”

I swallowed, not daring to turn around. “Nobody helped me.”

“Bullshit,” he said. “Believe me, I’ll sort this out.”

When he said nothing else, I headed out the door. My headache had gotten worse and I hoped the medic would give me something to numb the pain.

CHAPTER 3

Warren

When I finished my reports about the interactions with the Taliban in Samangan earlier that morning, I left the CO’s office and headed to check on Rose in the metal building that served as our medical center. We hadn’t been getting along well, but I had to admire her fighting spirit.

I also couldn’t ignore the fact that I hadn’t seen a sexy American woman in over a year, at least not in person. With no females stationed at our Afghanistan base, I spent long stretches of time forgetting what it was like to be around a woman, let alone one I’d be interested in.

As I approached her Containerized Housing Unit, or the CHU for short, I cleared my mind of all negative thoughts. Normally I would have nothing to do with a woman like her—a liberal media elitist. But in this case, I figured spending time with her wouldn’t be all bad.

The door to her CHU opened and she walked out. The setting sun lit up her face, making her skin glow. She nodded when she noticed me.

I smiled and walked faster. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Melvin making a beeline for her too.

Fuck.

“Hey,” I said. “Your bandage is off. How are you feeling?” I stopped in front of her, hoping it would deter Melvin.

“Better, thanks. The CO yelled at me. How pissed is he?”

“I’ve been avoiding him all day,” I said with a sheepish grin.

“I don’t blame you. That guy has issues.”

“He’s kept us safe though.”

“Hello, beautiful.” Melvin Stevenson had strolled over.

Rose turned her head to the huge, burly man that everyone hated. “Hey yourself,” she said.

“I heard you got in some trouble today,” Melvin continued, ignoring me.

“Yeah, and I took care of it,” I said. “We were on our way to eat.”

“We were?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, we were.” I held my hand out to her. “You ready?”