"Believe" (Chasing Shadows Series, Book 1)

"Believe" (book 1, Chasing Shadows series) - Chapters One - Four

Chapter 1 - Ella

Dear Nate,

I’ve been counting down the days until your return for so long that I can hardly believe the end is near. One more week! Those are nearly the three sweetest words that exist...right after I love you!

I’ve got a list of things we’re going to do when you return. Get ready for all of your favorites: hiking (our special place), picnic (with pastries from La Conversation, of course!), and I’ve been shopping...I’ll include a photo of me in my new lingerie.

So soldier, you better be in top-notch shape. I can’t wait to see you.

Love,

Ella

Chapter 2 - Nate

I held the letter close. It smelled like her perfume, which coupled with the photo of her in a barely there nightie, had my heart racing for reasons beyond the continual explosions that occurred at a proximity that was certainly closer than comfort level. 

You never really get used to always being on alert, away from loved ones, missing the comfort of home. And yet, some of these men are adrenaline junkies, signing up for tour after tour. I was falling into that trap, but this is my last one. I’ve had enough and if I were a cat, I’d say I’m getting close to using up my nine lives.

Another blast occurred, this one closer than we were expecting and our Sergeant Major ordered us to run for another barricade. In the shuffle, the letter and its corresponding photo slipped from my fingers. It was just pieces of paper, but it was all I had at night to keep me from going crazy and I read those letters from Ella over and over again. I ran back in the midst of dirt raining down, clouds of dust and the continual sounds of explosions.

Through it all, I could hear the Sergeant’s voice, both angry as hell and worried. But I made it back.

“You are one lucky idiot,” he noted when I returned to the barricade still clutching the photo. His neck craned toward me so he could sneak a glance at what I was willing to die for. “She must be some girl.” 

Chapter 3 - Ella

I folded up the nightie that I had just posed coquettishly in. Nate had inadvertently helped pick it out before he left, mentioning that it was his favorite from the Victoria’s Secret catalog. The mailing seemed to arrive on a weekly basis, proving that I order way too much. But he’s worth it.

I remember the game we played the night before he left when he admired it. We were lying on my bed, thumbing through the pages of the catalog...

He was kissing my neck, layering his words as well as his mouth over me, playfully kissing my toes and working his way upward. “Ella, if anything ever happened to me...” his mouth idled when he reached my waist.

“Mmmm? Nothing’s going to happen to you because I need this too much.”

He kept kissing me, now moving his mouth upwards, teasing each breast and then along my neck, finally meeting my own lips and pressing against me ever so gently to push me back against the bed. “But if it did...I’d want you to...” he stopped talking as I pressed myself against him.

“You’d want me to do this?” I teased.

“Seriously Ella, I’d want you to go on with your life. Live it to the fullest and find someone.”

I propped myself up on my elbows suddenly. “Wow Nate, talk about a mood killer.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just...something that I think about.”