Besiege Read Free

they were scheduled to arrive. They checked my license at the visitor center, handed me a pink slip and let me drive through the gate with a knowing smile.
    I stood at the designated waiting area with the others. Our excitement was a living, breathing thing, so palpable you could almost reach out and touch it. We looked at each other—wives, girlfriends, family, and friends—with unconcealed excitement bursting all over our faces. Some people had created welcome signs; others held balloons and flowers in their hands. I only had the hopeful heart pinned prominently on my sleeve.
    Everybody cheered when the bus appeared from around the corner. We cheered when it drove into the parking lot, and we cheered when it pulled up in front of us—but we were deathly silent when the bus hissed to a stop, as if shushing us.
    We held our collective breaths when the door opened, and I swear it must have taken five minutes for the first person to step down off that bus—but when he did, a woman squealed from somewhere in the crowd. My eyes remained glued to the bus door as airman after airman stepped down. My heart lurched in my chest every time those tan boots came into view; I thought I’d pass out after about the tenth guy who wasn’t Henry.
    Then he appeared and, for a few moments, I forgot how to breathe.
    Henry stepped from the bus and cast his gaze around. From across the sea of people, our eyes met and his sullen face broke out into a smile that lit up his entire face. I honestly don’t know how I managed to walk towards him when all of my brain cells were currently fried, but all at once I found myself standing in front of him. He was within touching distance but I suddenly couldn’t figure out what to do with myself.
    “Oh, Els.” He bent down and buried his face in my neck, holding me tight for a long, wordless while.
    I couldn’t stop the tears if I tried. Feeling him in my arms again felt like surfacing from a deep ocean and finally taking a breath. I pulled away and held his face in my hands, enjoying the sight of him. He was thinner, the skin under his eyes a little darker, but his blue eyes carried the same intensity as before.
    “Will you just come here?” he said with a grin and pulled me to him, our lips mashing together in six months worth of pent-up frustration. When we finally pulled away to breathe, he pressed his forehead to mine and said in that husky, gravelly voice, “God, I’ve missed you.” His thumbs wiped away the tears on my cheeks and he kissed me again.
    “I missed you too,” I said and hugged him to me.
    We walked back to my car hand in hand. He walked around to throw his stuff in the trunk but when I went to open the driver door, he was suddenly behind me, boxing me in with his arms. He pressed his erection into my back and whispered against my ear, “I can’t wait to be inside you again.”
    I was instantly wet, ready to jump on him then and there, but he was in uniform and we were surrounded by people.
    “Get a room,” one airman called as he walked by.
    “Shut up, Jackson.” Henry said with a tight smile
    My face flushed as I dodged out from under his arms. “To be continued,” I told him and got into the driver seat before I did something I would later regret.
    Henry, however, was incorrigible. As soon as we drove off base, his hand landed on my thigh then slid upwards, warming the skin in its wake.
    “We’re going to crash, Henry,” I warned.
    “That’s okay,” he said, his fingers inching under my skirt, sliding upwards ever so slowly. He gasped. “Oh my God, you’re not wearing underwear.”
    I chuckled and flushed and throbbed all at the same time. “Surprise.”
    “Pull over,” he ordered.
    “Where?”
    “I don’t care, just take the next exit,” he said, nudging my legs apart. His fingers slipped along my folds before sliding inside me.
    I let out a hiss between my teeth when he found that most sensitive spot and began to rub it. The car might have swerved