Scattered Seeds

Chapter Ten

She wasn't sure how she got there, but Jess never wanted to leave Tom's solid, warm embrace. He clutched her body to his, stroking the back of her head as she nuzzled against his chest.

When the bombs went off in Wajir, the entire city shook under their devastating wrath.

Tom, Louise, and Luke had just finished Tom's interview and were heading back to their hotel rooms when the radio station exploded behind them. They were barely out of range of the blast, and debris rained down behind them; lethal chunks of concrete and building scrap crashing to the ground.

The disc jockey, his assistant, and the receptionist were all taken in the detonation.

Crouched in a corner of their hotel's lobby along with dozens of other people, Tom realized just how close he and his teammates came to meeting that very same fate.

Had they lingered a mere moment or two longer, or had a conversation run over just slightly delaying their departure, Luke, Louise, and Tom would have been killed in the burst as well.

Instead of his life flashing before his eyes as they ran for cover, all Tom could think of was Jess.

What if he never saw her again?

What if he never got to tell her that, from the moment he saw Jess in the video cameras at the agency, he was inexplicably drawn to her?

What if he never tasted those sweet lips again, or enjoyed the possibility of discovering even more of her body?

What if Jess never heard Tom tell her how much she'd come to mean to him over the course of their short time together; how much he admired her, and that he was a better man when Jess was beside him; how much... he loved her?

The realization sent shockwaves of nervous vulnerability through him, and Tom shoved the thought away at once.

He'd spent two weeks with the woman, that's all. They shared one brief, all-be-it extremely sensual, kiss. It was ludicrous to think he was in love with Jess. He barely knew her.

Louise cringed even further into Tom as multiple deafening explosions sounded around their building. She hung onto him; her nails digging sharply into his shoulder as she cowered against his chest.

"We're going to be okay, Louise. It's alright," Tom reassured her, patting Louise's blonde hair.

Tom's mind came back to the present; to their one room dwelling in Dadaab, and the woman currently tucked in his arms.

His epiphany in the hotel lobby came back to Tom as well, and now that he held Jess he was sure about it; more sure than he'd ever been about anything in his life.

He loved her.

Fear gripped him; the dreaded fear that she did not feel the same way, and Tom's pulse quickened.

There was no chance he could risk confessing to her. He would bury his affection and admire Jess from afar. Perhaps he could even manage to get over her.

However, when Jess pulled back and looked up at Tom with tears pooling in her soft brown eyes, the possibility of forgetting his love for her was like forgetting to breathe - it just wasn't going to happen.

"I," Tom choked.

The words were right there on the tip of his tongue. Tom's brow creased and his mouth hung open as he stared down at Jess. His heart was bursting to tell her. "I...."

"I was so worried about you," Jess rasped.

They were oblivious to their teammates as they stood there staring at each other.