By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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      KATE WAS AWAKENED BY someone shaking her shoulder. She tried to bury herself deeper in her covers, but there was no escaping.

      “Time to wake up, Kate.”

      The masculine voice shocked her into action and she sat up, heart pounding. Disoriented, Kate blinked at the hard-eyed soldier who stood over her, holding a flashlight directed at the ground. The indirect light was sufficient for her to make out Chase Rawlins’s features. For a moment, she had no idea where she was, or why she was sleeping in a tent. Then everything came rushing back, and her gaze snapped to the entrance.

      “What time is it?”

      “Oh-dot-dark.” His low voice was laced with amusement.

      Kate could see it was still pitch black outside. “Why are you here?”

      “Didn’t you promise to call your sister?”

      Kate stared up at Chase, bewildered. Looking around her, she could just make out the shapeless lumps of the other women asleep on their cots. “Yes,” she whispered fiercely. “At six o’clock, not the middle of the night.”

      “I’m sorry to tell you that on the East Coast of the United States, it’s almost six o’clock in the evening. They’re eight and a half hours behind us. If you still want to make that call, you’d better hustle.”

      With a groan, Kate realized she hadn’t considered the extreme time difference. She was half tempted to change her mind about calling Tenley, but in her mind’s eye she saw her sister waiting to hear from her. If she didn’t place the call, Tenley would be frantic. She’d think the worst and put herself through hell. Kate couldn’t do that to her.

      She scrubbed her hands over her face. “Okay, fine. Give me ten minutes.”

      “You’ve got five. I’ll wait for you outside.”

      She watched the bobbing light of his flashlight as he crossed the tent and disappeared through the flap, and decided she would need to speak to someone about tightening up the security on the sleeping quarters.

      Pushing back the sleeping bag, she swung her legs to the floor, shivering in the predawn chill. Her eyes felt gritty and every muscle in her body ached with exhaustion. Fumbling on the floor beneath her cot, she found her shoes and pulled them on, not bothering to change into street clothes. Her flannel lounge pants and long-sleeve top were adequate, and would enable her to jump right back into bed after she’d talked with Tenley.

      Despite her exhaustion, she’d been right about not being able to fall asleep after Chase had left her. Her biggest surprise had come when she’d unzipped her duffel bag and discovered a jar of licorice inside. It was the same jar from Chase’s housing unit, and she realized he must have stashed it in her bag after she’d made that first failed telephone call to Tenley. She found the gesture oddly touching.

      She’d lain awake thinking about him. Now she understood what he’d meant when he’d said he would see her sooner than the morning, but at the time her imagination had conjured up all kinds of erotic fantasies about him. On top of that, the cot was uncomfortable, and she was unaccustomed to sleeping in such close quarters with other people. The unfamiliar sounds of the base had kept her awake until finally she’d fallen into a fitful sleep, only to be wakened by Chase.

      Yawning hugely, she pulled back the flap of the tent and found Chase standing just outside. His eyes swept over her, taking in every detail of her lounge pants and thin top, lingering just a little too long on her breasts. Glancing down, Kate saw her nipples were stiff from the cold and poked against the fabric of her shirt. She crossed her arms over her chest.

      “You realize that I only fell asleep like fifteen minutes ago,” she said crossly. “Why didn’t you tell me I’d need to wake up at two-thirty in the morning if I wanted to talk to Tenley? I could have chosen a different time.”

      “Do you want to make the call or not?”

      Kate frowned at his impatient tone, and guessed that he was no happier about being awake at this hour than she was. Her bones ached and she actually felt a little sick. More than anything, she wanted to crawl back into her cot and sleep, but she’d told Tenley she would call her, and she intended to make good on her word.

      “Yes.”

      “Then let’s go.”

      Without waiting for her response, he turned and walked away while Kate watched in dismay. He gave a low whistle and a dark shape materialized from the shadows. A dog trotted toward him, its tail wagging enthusiastically as Chase reached down and gave it a friendly rub behind the ears. The animal wore a harness and stayed close to Chase’s side.

      The night air was chilly, and for a brief second Kate debated on going back for a sweater, but Chase wasn’t waiting for her. With a sound of frustration, she followed him. The roads were covered with small rocks, which made walking treacherous when you couldn’t see where you were going. After she’d stumbled twice, Chase finally stopped and waited for her to catch up, using his flashlight to illuminate her path.

      “So, did you wake up just so I could make my phone call, or do you not sleep?” Kate asked, hugging herself around the middle and trying to keep her teeth from chattering. She wouldn’t have been at all surprised if Chase responded that he didn’t require sleep; he was a machine.

      “I caught some sleep, but I don’t need much to get by.”

      “Will you go back to bed after this?” she asked, partly because she was interested, and partly because she was just trying to make conversation.

      “Well, I guess that depends,” he mused.

      Kate shot him a startled look. Had she only imagined the sexual suggestion in his voice? She tried to read his expression, but the darkness made it nearly impossible.

      “Actually,” he continued smoothly, “I’m up for the day.”

      Kate should have felt relieved, but found his words left her oddly deflated. She remembered what he had said earlier that day: I have no intention of sleeping with you. Either the change in time zones had seriously messed with her biorhythms, or she had definitely gone too long without sex, because she spent way too much time imagining him naked. “Who’s your friend?” she asked, in an effort to change the subject. Kate tried to pat the dog, but the animal shied away from her hand.

      “This is Charity.”

      “Ah,” she said meaningfully.

      Chase looked at her. “What does that mean?”

      Kate shrugged. “When you and the other guys were talking about Charity, I thought you had a girlfriend on the base. I never would have guessed you were talking about a dog.”

      “Well, I think Charity would disagree. I’m pretty sure she thinks she’s human.”

      “So, do you?”

      “What?”

      “Have a girlfriend?”

      He gave a surprised laugh. “No, I do not. Right now, Charity is the only female in my life.” He glanced at her. “Aside from you, of course.”

      Kate СКАЧАТЬ