Hold Me: Delos Series, 5B1 Read Online Free Page A

of the table, with Callie’s parents, Connor and Stacy, sitting across from her and Beau. Rubbing his chest, he walked out of the shower area, making sure the door didn’t slam shut. Thanks to the plywood rooms, he could hear everything, since there were no real walls or insulation to stop noise. Padding silently down the corridor, he pushed open the door to his tiny, cramped room. It was about as wide as a boxcar and one-third the length. Beau didn’t mind. He and his brothers had slept in a small bedroom in their cabin, all squished together in one little room. For him, small, tight spaces were associated with comfort, warmth, and good memories of growing up.
    He desperately needed to sleep. His bunk was high and narrow, with six green wool blankets placed across it. The place was barely above freezing, since the walls weren’t insulated and most of the warm air leaked out here and there. The quarters been thrown together by early Delta operators, not wanting to wait for the Navy Seabees to get to them. They already had a long, busy schedule for building accommodations for the various military groups in the area.
    Lying down and drawing the thick, heavy blankets over himself, Beau settled back on the goose-down pillow he’d brought from home, and decided that tomorrow he’d Skype Callie to see how she was doing. There was usually at least a twenty-minute wait between Skype calls to family by the operators. But with so many of them gone back to the States for the holidays, Beau knew he wouldn’t have to sign up on a list and wait hours for his turn.
    He had grown so used to sleeping with Callie and he acutely missed her soft, curved warmth against his body. He also missed her slender, graceful arms and those beautiful, artistic fingers of hers curving around his naked waist. He always looked forward to sleeping with her close to him, her curly red hair tickling his jaw, her cheek against his warm, hard shoulder. After thirty days together, he realized how much he’d lost by not being in love until he was twenty-seven. When he told his mother that he’d fallen in love with Callie, she’d laughed knowingly. And Beau was enough of a gentleman to admit to her that she’d been dead right: Callie McKinley owned him body, heart, and soul.

CHAPTER 2
    January 5
    C allie about jumped out of her skin when her computer beeped and a Skype message popped up on the screen. Her heart pounded as she hurried to sit down in the small office off the main hallway. It was a little past ten on Monday morning. Was it Beau?
    Her hand trembled as she took the mouse and moved it to open up Skype on her screen. Beau’s stubbled face appeared and she could see that he was exhausted. She calculated it was around eleven p.m. Tuesday, local Bagram time. He was wearing an old, frayed Army baseball cap and a green t-shirt showing off his impressive chest and broad shoulders. His eyes were bloodshot and he was fatigued. Jetlag, for sure.
    “I was so hoping you’d Skype me,” she said breathlessly, smiling at him. Now, Callie wished she hadn’t put her long, red hair into two braids. She should have left it down because Beau loved running his fingers through its long, thick strands.
    “I got lucky,” he grinned. “The guy who had this time slot got food poisoning from one of the chow halls, so he offered me his turn. Boy, you’re a sight for sore eyes, sweetheart.”
    Her heart thudded fiercely with love for him. As jetlagged as Beau was, he knew how to lift her sagging spirits. Twining her fingers around one of her braids, she whispered, “I wish I looked prettier for you, maybe with my hair down . . .”
    “Shucks, Callie, you’re beautiful no matter what you do or don’t do with your hair. I didn’t fall in love with your hair. I fell in love with you .”
    She knew that all their Skype calls were taped and monitored by the CIA, so she tried to keep their conversation light. “Well, braids make me look like a kid,” she said,