My Kenna: A Military Romance (6 page)

“No stop!” Kenna’s faint voice could be heard. She was in trouble.

 
Butch turned off the phone and he and his friends jumped in to the SUV. They ran red lights, illegally passed, and nearly crashed on black ice, but made it back to the base in record time.

Butch sprinted out of the car so fast he left the door open. He took the apartment steps two at a time and kicked the door open, not bothering with the key. Kenna’s muffled cries for help immediately entered his ears.
 

He drew his gun, following her muted voice. The sight he came upon made him see red.

Caleb’s half naked body on top of a struggling Kenna.

Butch fired his gun without a second’s thought.
 

The police came and collected Caleb’s body. Butch had to give a statement but coupled with Kenna’s earlier distress call, defensive wounds, and restraining order, they didn’t press charges. It was a pretty open and shut case, they said.
 

Kenna sat on his couch now, huddled in blankets and drinking coffee.
 

“I’m so sorry,” Kenna said for what felt like the millionth time, her stare blank, the coffee untouched. “I’m so, so sorry.”
 

Butch had tried to tell her she had nothing to be sorry about, but it didn’t matter. Kenna was in shock. She’d been stalked and hunted, and then had her stalker killed on top of her. A little bit of blood still speckled her forehead.
 

Butch reached and took the coffee from her hand.
 

“Come on darlin’ let’s get you cleaned up.”
 

Butch led a shocked and numb Kenna in to his bathroom. He leaned her up against the sink and began removing her clothes. It wasn’t sexual, it was healing. Slowly he took her shirt off and then her pants, both stained with blood. He tossed them both in to the trash can.
 

Pausing the clothes removal, Butch went over to the shower and turned the water on. As the hot water steamed the room, Butch started on Kenna’s bra and underwear. She was perfect beneath it, so utterly touchable, but this wasn’t about his needs. It was about Kenna’s.

With the care and dissociation of a doctor, Butch removed Kenna’s underwear and tossed those in the trash as well.
 

“Come on darlin’,” Butch said as he eased Kenna in to the shower. Butch tested the water with his hand, making sure it wasn’t too hot.
 

Kenna had a look of doe in headlights, the same look she had when Butch first met her. As the blood on her skin washed off and in to the drain, Butch whispered sweet things in to her ear. He took the washcloth and gently wiped her porcelain skin, taking care not to be too rough on the bruises.

He soon got in to a rhythm, washing and wiping, mesmerized by her beauty. Butch was startled when Kenna’s small hand grabbed his wrist.

“Darlin?” Butch asked, looking in to her eyes. The doe in headlights look was gone, and was replaced with something darker and lustier. Kenna leaned in and kissed Butch, her small hands trailing up his wet biceps. She bit his bottom lip and moaned against his closed mouth.
 

“Take me Butch,” Kenna whispered against his lips. “Make me forget.”
 

Butch grasped Kenna’s small waist and spun her around, pushing her against the cool tile. Hot water blasted his face but he didn’t care. Butch slid his fingers down her wet pussy, relishing as she shivered against his touch.
 

“You ready?” Butch asked. Kenna nodded at his words. “I’m not gonna be sweet, darlin’. I’m gonna be rough and hard and I’m gonna make you forget everything. You’re gonna be screaming my name in no time.” A soundless moan escaped Kenna’s lips as Butch plunged inside her, knocking her in to the shower wall.
 

He fucked her fast and hard, his dick slamming against her wet ass. Soon her small sounds of pleasure had grown in to ragged screams that echoed around the shower. Kenna’s cunt spasmed around his dick, the sure sign of her orgasm, and Butch gripped her hips tightly, preparing for his own.
 

As he came inside her, his orgasm rocking his thighs, his cellphone blared and nearly ruined the moment. That is, until Kenna said this:

“I love you, Butch Ward.”
 

Butch leaned in and planted kisses all along her neck. “I love you too, Kenna Murphy.”
 

Butch stepped out of the shower after giving Kenna one more heated kiss. Kenna had wanted to clean up and his cellphone was still ringing. As he wrapped a towel around his waist he checked the number: Blocked.
 
He hesitated to answer it but picked up on the last ring.

“Butch Ward,” Butch spoke in to the phone.

“Sergeant Ward?” The voice asked.

“Yes sir,” Butch responded automatically, even though he had no idea who was on the other line.

“Your country needs you.”
 

Butch replayed the conversation over in his head. Of course he hadn’t expected to spend his life rebuilding an old base. The reason he’d taken the job in the first place was to advance his career. He’d just never expected to fall in love.

Now he was called out on a classified mission. A mission that would catapult his career forward. He’d be given better pay, more experience, and more respect. Both Alec and Jose would be accompanying him. It was everything he dreamed of.
 

He’d said yes. He’d had to say yes. But how was he to tell Kenna?
 

“Butch?” Kenna came out of the bathroom, toweling her hair. “Butch what’s wrong?” She looked at him expectantly.
 

“You’re leaving?” Kenna said.
 

Butch nodded in assent.
 

“For how long?”
 

“Six months.”

“Six months…” Kenna said incredulously, the words coming out in one long sigh. Her eyes widened, as if she couldn’t comprehend what she was hearing. “How soon?” Kenna asked, looking back up at Butch. Her eyes were wide in anticipation, bright blue and searching. Her face, still fresh from the shower, was rosy from their lovemaking. Butch didn’t want to say anything that might make that beautiful face sad.

“Two days,” Butch said, his voice somber.

“Two days?” Kenna exclaimed. “But… I’m just getting to know you! You can’t leave now!” Kenna’s eyes darted around the room. “Two days, oh my god. Two days from tomorrow or two days from tonight?”
 

“From tonight.”

“So really you’re leaving in one day.” Kenna ran a hand over her face. “I can’t believe this. Where are you going?”
 

“I can’t tell you.”

Kenna’s eyes grew wide and glassy, tears forming on the brim.

“Hey…” Butch pulled her in to an embrace, flattening her hair against her back as he rubbed the strands. “Don’t get sad. I’m here now.” The fact was if she started to cry Butch didn’t think he could hold it together. Before Kenna, all Butch cared about was a career in the military. He was going to pay his dues in the one horse mountain town the move up the ladder.
 

Then Kenna happened.

 
Beautiful, feisty, and enigmatic Kenna. Leaving her for six months didn’t seem real. It would be easier to chop off a limb. What kind of future could Butch offer Kenna if he didn’t leave, though? His future depended on his military career. Without it, he was just a man with a high school diploma.
 

“Don’t get sad?” Kenna said against his chest. “You’re practically disappearing in to thin air.”
 

“We’ll be fine,” Butch said. And they would be fine. It was only six months. In the grande scheme of things, it was a blip. It was nothing. The kind of love he had with Kenna poets wrote sonnets about and painters chopped ears off for. Six months was absolutely nothing.
 

“How can you be so sure?” Kenna sniffled. God, she felt so weak. First she let her life be taken hostage by Caleb, and now she was crying over a man she just met. She wished she had the strength to leave Butch, to say goodbye and thanks for your help.
 

Was that strength, though? Or was that cowardice?
 

Butch ignited feelings in her that she long thought imaginary, fictions only people pretended to feel. When he touched her she tingled, when he spoke she smiled, and when he was gone there was an ache inside of her the size of the Grand Canyon.
 

Kenna didn’t just want sex with Butch (though he was without a doubt the
best
she’d ever had) Kenna wanted a life. She wanted to argue over stupid things, like whose turn it was to do the laundry. She wanted to see his rugged face each morning, and kiss it when she woke up from nightmares. Kenna wanted to feel his hands around her waist when she was making dinner.

She loved him completely, whole heart and whole body. She felt safe with him. She was happy with him.
 

It had happened so fast and just as quickly it was disappearing. The laundry, the mornings together, the dinners, all of it was vanishing before her eyes. Kenna wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
 

“How am I sure?” Butch said, pulling Kenna to him and wiping another one of her tears. “We’re fire and ice. We’re wind and earth. We can survive anything.”

“That’s nice but…” Kenna retreated, pushing off him. Six months was a long time to be apart from someone who she’d just met. Butch was a gorgeous, virile man. He was bound to meet someone else and forget about little ol’ Kenna.
 

“Kenna.” Butch snatched Kenna’s chin and forced her to look at him. His hazel eyes once again pierced her, stealing her breath. “We’ve survived blood and battle. We can survive six small months apart. Because you and me, Kenna? We’re epic. Now say it back to me, Kenna.”

“We’re epic,” Kenna repeated.
 

“That’s my girl.” Butch kissed Kenna hard against the mouth.
 

Butch was going to make sure Kenna remembered him. He was going to make sure every bone, ever finger nail, and every surface of her body remembered Butch Ward.
 

He’d already fucked and made love to her three times today. It was their last day together. Butch couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather do with the day than spend it inside of Kenna. They were at her apartment now, and Kenna lie naked on her bed, sleeping from the last time he’d made love to her.

Butch touched her back. He would never get enough of touching her. The skin on her back, the skin on her neck, her face, and her pussy. All of it was smooth and beautiful. Kenna began to stir as he trailed his fingers down her spine and to her ass.
 

“Mmm…” She hummed. “I can’t take anymore, Butch.” Kenna turned to look at him, a smile on her face. Butch leaned down and kissed that smile. She responded, tracing her tongue along the seam of his lips. Butch growled, pulling her near him. He put his hand down to her cunt, cupping it. Wet, always wet. Butch groaned in to her neck.

No way were they done yet.