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been nonexistent.”
    She exhaled.
    “Mom and Dad are parked on the shoulder with
the flashers on.”
    She withdrew from Matt, as if he had stung
her, and stepped to the edge of the footbridge. Immediately, she
felt ashamed. In her defense, she’d prepared to go to college for a
long time. She needed it, needed the independence. If one of her
parents had walked up on them, it would have ruined everything she
worked so hard for.
    Now, anger at her parents’ lack of respect
overrode her fear. “You’re kidding me!”
    “I wish I were.” Bradley backed off the
bridge. “I’ll walk slowly.”
    “See ya,” Matt said, and faced her with a
downward mouth.
    She hated that look! Hated that her actions
put it there.
    “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jerked away from
you.”
    “I get it,” he said. “At least your dad
didn’t storm the woods.”
    “I’m eighteen, and they still treat me as if
I don’t know what I’m doing,” she fumed, moving toward him.
    He pulled her into his arms. Every inch of
him hardened, every inch. She rested her forehead against his
chest, relished in his solid planes against her cheek. “I want to
remember this always.” With a finger, he lifted her chin and kissed
her long, hard, and deep. The kiss was like no other she’d ever
had. Feelings, desire, and want went into it. She returned the
passion and they split apart. “I’ll see you soon.”
    “Yeah, okay,” she stumbled over her words and
tried to find the strength to step away. Call it instinct,
intuition, or whatever made a person second-guess a decision, she
now thought leaving would be a really bad mistake. Despite the
sensation, it didn’t stop her from heading toward the woods.
    “Trina, sweetheart!”
    At the edge of the footbridge, she stopped.
He leaned against the railings, the moon casting him as a
drool-worthy specimen. “Yes?”
    “Next time I see you, I hope you ditch the
panties then, too.”
    She squeezed her thighs together but couldn’t
stop the coil from unknotting low in her belly.
    “Next time, there will be no stopping.”
    Her girlie parts jumped for joy while her
brain kicked in gear, remembering her goals and knocking the fun
out of what could be. It was time for her to behave like an adult,
not fall to his feet like a sex-starved, lovesick teen scared to
death of never seeing him again. Time to do the responsible thing.
Let him do his duty without her reservations in his head.
    “Keep the keychain close.” Comforted that as
long as he carried it she would be with him, she forced a
smile.
    Like a whirlwind, he rushed forward and
wrapped his arms around her, pressing his body into hers. He held
her so tight she didn’t think he would ever let go, nor did she
want him to. She’d love to stay cocooned in him forever. A deep
ache pierced her heart and threatened to bubble out of her in a
sob. She wouldn’t let him see her break down, couldn’t. She kissed
his cheek. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered.
    “You’ll always be with me.” His voice wasn’t
stable either.
    She kissed his cheek again, darted off the
bridge, and ran her broken heart through the woods.

Chapter
Three
     
     
Present day...
     
    Adrenaline pumped so fast Matt didn’t feel
anything. His senses locked on high alert. For hundreds of yards,
every chirping bird and rustling leaf echoed.
    Stretched out atop a hill in Afghanistan, he
shifted his sunglasses to the top of his head, and peered in his
riflescope’s eyepiece. Today Gunnery Sergeant Frank York would
decide if Matt had the guts to become a sniper. He knew he did,
always dreamed he would become one. Saving his comrades’ lives from
being an unexpected target topped his goal list.
    With his bipod leveled on the uneven terrain,
he shifted the barrel of his rifle on top of it. From his vantage
point, he held the ideal view of his platoon rushing toward a small
hut a few hundred meters away.
    The stakes were high. A wanted terrorist that
no one came close to