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  FOREVER WITH YOU

  A SWEET MILITARY ROMANCE

  Jess Mastorakos

  Copyright © 2019 by Jess Mastorakos

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Photography By: In Love & Adventure Photography

  Cover Models: Ashtan Kall and Timothy Henry

  Edited By: Amanda Horan, Let’s Get Booked

  www.jessmastorakos.com

  Publisher’s note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and situations are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to real people, places, or things is purely coincidental.

  1

  Sara

  “I can’t believe this day is finally here,” my mom said from behind me, fastening the delicate clasp of my grandmother’s pearl necklace at the back of my neck. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” I felt a lump in my throat as I stared at my reflection in the floor-length mirror, and I silently willed my eyes not to fill with tears. It had taken the makeup artist a solid hour to do the airbrushed makeup on my face. I looked absolutely flawless. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin it with tear streaks.

  My best friend, Angie, appeared at my side. “Here, you look like you could use this,” she said, handing me a glass of Champagne.

  I took the glass and clinked it to Angie’s with a smile. “Cheers. I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Of course I’m here.” Angie rolled her pretty brown eyes in mock annoyance. “I wouldn’t miss my bestie’s wedding for anything. Besides, I sat next to a super cute guy on the plane. I almost wish the flight from San Diego was at least an hour longer.”

  My mom chuckled. “Not me. I couldn’t get off that plane any sooner. Your father was snoring so loud I was sure the pilot could hear him.”

  I touched my mom’s shoulder and turned away to the window, having to work not to cry again. The very fact that my mom, dad, and Angie had flown from San Diego to Seattle to see me get married meant more to me than they’d ever know. Especially after the way I’d left town five years earlier without a care in the world about how it would affect them.

  The view from our hotel suite boasted a clear shot of the famed Space Needle. I could see the colorful building at its base, the museum where Derek and I had our first date. I loved that we were getting married so close to it. Maybe we’d have time before our cruise tomorrow to go there and walk around. Thoughts of kissing my new husband in the place where it all began had me feeling misty-eyed once again. I downed the rest of my champagne and turned to face my mother and Angie.

  “I’m a wreck,” I admitted with a forced laugh.

  They smiled at me, but before they could respond, a knock sounded at the door.

  “I’ll get it.” Angie said, flitting to the door. “It must be the second bottle of champagne I ordered.”

  Angie flung the door open, revealing Derek. He wasn’t in his tux. He looked... haunted. My stomach dropped. I bit my tongue to keep from reminding him not to see the bride before the wedding. Judging by his appearance, that ship had sailed. I was aware of my mom and Angie excusing themselves from the room. I watched Derek step in and close the door. Everything felt like it was playing in slow motion, and the only sound I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat.

  “Sara.” Derek said my name with a sigh, running his fingers through his tussled hair. He hadn’t shaved, so between that and the dark circles under his eyes, I barely recognized him. He paced the room in front of me, not looking my way as I stood frozen in place.

  I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to say. I clamped my jaw shut again.

  Derek finally stopped pacing and turned to look at me. “You look... beautiful. You really do.”

  “Thanks.” I managed. “You look... like crap.”

  He had the nerve to chuckle, then cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Can we sit? Let’s sit.”

  “How about you just say what you came here to say?” I snapped. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to move without shaking, and I didn’t want him to see me upset. The only coherent thoughts in my jumbled brain were repeating, how dare he? over and over again.

  Derek nodded. “Sara, I don’t really know how to say this. So... I’m just going to say it, okay? Do you remember Kate?”

  My mind went blank. “Should I?”

  “Well, I don’t know. You met her a few years ago. She’s my... ex. She was my ex,” he stammered.

  “She... was your ex?”

  He nodded, wringing his hands. “We reconnected. It wasn’t supposed to be anything. I made a mistake. And then...”

  I stared at him, unmoving. He looked so guilty. So uncomfortable. Part of me wanted to tell him to shut up and get out. The pain coursing through my veins was reaching an unbearable level and I didn’t think I’d be able to hear more of the story. But a bigger, darker, side of me wanted him to squirm. I wanted him to be uncomfortable as he broke my heart into a million pieces. I wanted him to feel terrible having to explain it. Kicking him out now would be letting him off too easy.

  When he didn’t speak, I tilted my head and raised a brow, as if to say, “go on.”

  “And then we... I don’t know. We fell in love. I tried to break it off with her. Several times. But we just couldn’t stay away from each other. I needed to make a choice.”

  I flinched and then instantly regretted it when a flash of pity crossed his face. He didn’t get to pity me. I straightened. “You couldn’t think of a better time to make your choice than our wedding day, Derek? Really?”

  He hung his head. “I was up all night stressing over this, believe me. It was not an easy decision.”

  I gaped at him. “Seriously?”

  “Yes, Sara.” Derek stepped toward me, and then froze when I glared at him in warning. “Okay, I’m sorry. But, yes. It was the hardest decision of my life. I want you to know that.”

  Instantly, the heat left my veins and was replaced with ice. This idiot thought it would help to hear that it was a tough decision? Was he insane? Who wanted to be the winner of a tough choice between two women? Not me, that was for damn sure. I lifted the hem of my beautiful white gown and stepped out of my heels, kicking them to the side. Without even looking at him, I turned to fasten the bustle, so the dress was the right length for flats, and slipped on my bedazzled sandals. I picked up the ornate clutch Angie had given me as my ‘something borrowed’ and tucked my wallet and keys into it.

  “Sara?” Derek asked from behind me. “Are you leaving? Don’t you want to talk about this?”

  I spun around. “Derek, you came to my bridal suite on our wedding day to tell me that you’ve been having an affair for who knows how long–”

  “About a year...”

  A choked sound escaped my mouth at his revelation. I smoothed my hands down my dress and straightened my shoulders again. “A year. Fine. You decided to tell me this on my wedding day, and now you want to talk about it? You should have talked to me about it a year ago.”

  “I know.” He ran his hands through his hair again. “I thought it was just a one-time mistake. I didn’t think it meant anything. Then I just kept making the same mistake over and over again. I felt terrible. I was just so stressed at work...”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I’m serious, Sara. You know how hard I’ve been working. The pressure was suffocating me. She just showed up one day and we got to talking. I didn’t want to hurt you if It turned out to be nothing. I didn’t think it meant anything
. Until... it did. It does. I want to be with Kate.”

  My lip curled as I looked at the man I should have been marrying right about then. How had I not seen it? How had he been able to hide another woman from me for a freaking year? And what did that say about me? I had once found him to be so charming. Swoon-worthy, even. But now, he just looked like a poor, sad, cheating, piece of scum. And the tramp he was leaving me for wasn’t even an easy choice for him. He stayed up all night trying to decide. They deserved each other.

  Another knock sounded at the door and I laughed hollowly. “Ah, the Champagne.”

  Derek pursed his lips as if he were deciding whether or not to open it. I brushed passed him and opened the door, smiling brightly at the sweet older gentleman, fully aware that Derek had ducked into the bathroom and out of sight. The man nodded at me and smiled widely as he pushed a cart into the room. It held a bucket of ice with a bottle sticking out of it, three fresh glasses, and a single red rose in a crystal vase. He parked the cart in the room and turned to me.

  “You look beautiful, madam.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, handing him a bill from my clutch. “Have a great day.”

  I kept up the facade until I closed the door on the man, then turned to face the doorway of the bathroom where Derek was leaning. He looked like a criminal. Guilty as sin.

  “Thank you,” I said to him.

  Derek frowned. “For what?”

  “For not letting me marry you. Even though you have terrible timing, I’m glad we didn’t follow through with this day only to get divorced later.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief, as if he were off the hook.

  “That being said, if you don’t get out of here in the next two seconds, I’m going to grab that fresh bottle of champagne and smash you in the face with it.”

  “Sara–”

  “Now,” I said, meaning it.

  Without another word, he sulked out of the room. When the door closed behind him, I collapsed onto the floor in a heap of tulle, lace, and crystal beads. So much for the flawless makeup.

  2

  Vince

  “Your ‘mission maker’ screwed you over, man.”

  I brought the phone away from my ear and cursed under my breath. Sighing, I raised it back up and tried to sound casual. “What do you mean?”

  “We dropped him. He had an undisclosed allergy to penicillin. You didn’t ask him about allergies?

  “Of course I asked him.” I realized I was yelling and looked around the bookstore’s cafe before lowering my voice and trying again. “Of course I asked him about allergies. He said he had none.”

  “Well, he told us his mom had an allergy to penicillin, so he thinks he probably does, too. He said he thinks he got sick once as a kid after taking it.”

  I groaned. “He didn’t tell me that.”

  “Don’t care, man. I know you’re new, but you really need to be thorough about stuff like this. It doesn’t look good when your whole station is riding on one kid to make your mission for the month and he suddenly has an allergy you didn’t know about. Now, come pick this kid up.”

  “Got it, won’t happen again.” I disconnected the call and had to physically work to loosen the muscles in my hand before I threw the phone across the room.

  I looked down at my shiny black dress shoes and breathed in through my nose while I waited for my turn to order. I was seeing red. I’d worked so hard the last few months to get into the swing of things as a new recruiter for the Marine Corps. So far, it had been the most stressful job I’d ever had as a Marine, including time spent in combat zones. That kid had been the one thing I needed to go from zero to hero, and thanks to his supposed penicillin allergy, I was going to stay a zero and probably get yelled at as soon as I showed my face at the office again.

  The girl in front of me walked away, so I approached the register and faced the cashier. She was new. Her long brown hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head with a braid that framed her face and wound up into the bun. Her blue eyes sat behind a pair of black rimmed glasses, and her full lips were dark pink, but not from lipstick, you could tell that’s just their natural color. She didn’t have eye makeup on either, and it was refreshing since most of the girls around San Diego were usually more done up. Even though I was in a hurry and I got the same thing every time I came here, I couldn’t find my words as I looked at her.

  “What can I get for you?” she asked, her mouth quirking up into a small smile.

  “Uh,” I stammered, looking at the menu over her head, but not really registering any of the words. My drink still escaped me, so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. “White chocolate mocha.”

  “You got it, what size?” She was already reaching for a cup, her hand hovering over the three sizes, waiting for me to pick one.

  “Wait, I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “Black coffee.”

  “Okay, what size?”

  “Large,” I said quickly. “No, medium.”

  She chuckled dryly. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Sorry, I’m having a rough day.” I ran a hand over the back of my neck and glanced around in embarrassment as she turned to fill the medium cup.

  “I could tell.” She nodded at my phone as she placed the steaming cup of coffee in front of me. “Do you work next door? That’ll be two-fifty for the coffee.”

  I swiped my card on the machine in front of me and nodded. “Yeah, for a few months now. I come here a lot, but I’ve never seen you here.”

  “That’s because it’s my first day,” she replied, handing me my receipt. “I hope yours gets better.”

  “Me, too,” I answered. “What’s your name?”

  “Sara.”

  “Hi, Sara, I’m Vince.” I stuck my hand out to shake hers, knocking the cup of coffee over. Before I could be grateful it had a lid, the lid popped off on impact and the hot beverage poured over the counter and all over her legs. She jumped back and squealed, grabbing a white rag and brushing her legs with it. Without another word, she took off for the back room to clean up, leaving me standing there at the counter like an absolute moron, blinking after her. Worst day ever.

  I pulled into the strip mall’s parking lot the next day and sighed when I caught sight of the independent bookstore and cafe that sat next to the Marine Corps Recruiting Center where I worked. After I’d spilled coffee on the new girl, I’d had to thank the regular guy who worked there for cleaning up my mess while I rushed downtown to pick up the kid who’d caused our station to miss our mission, or quota, for the month. Thus, my day did not improve as I had to sit there and listen to his excuses about why he didn’t tell me about the penicillin thing before he went to headquarters for the next step in the enlistment process. The cherry on top of an already terrible day was getting screamed at by my bosses all afternoon for not properly screening the kid before he went downtown and wasted everyone’s time.

  Glancing at the clock, I realized I needed to bolt if I didn’t want to get chewed out again. I grabbed my briefcase and duffle bag and got out of the car. As I crossed the street to head into the office, Sara was leaving the bookstore. She wore jeans and a black V-neck tee, with one side tied in a knot at her hip. Her steps faltered a bit when she saw me, and she held her arms out as if to protect herself from me. I laughed and hung my head, embarrassed again.

  “Stay back,” she teased. “I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Very funny. Are you okay? Did it burn you?”

  She waved a hand and headed for the parking long, jingling her keys. “I’m fine, no harm done. Hope you have a better day today.”

  I watched her go with mild fascination. What was it about that girl that had me all turned around? She didn’t even seem the least bit affected by me, and I knew the Marine dress uniform did me a favor in that area. But she was just so... breezy? I shook my head. Maybe she just didn’t like guys who were clumsy enough to toss a cup of coffee all over her. Couldn't blame her there. With a sigh, I opened the do
or to my office and prepared for another day in Hell.

  “Moore, get in here,” my boss called from his office before I had a chance to get all the way in the door.

  I dropped my bags on the floor next to my desk and crossed to his office. “Good morning, Staff Sergeant.”

  He huffed in response. “Not so much. This is a bad morning. I’ve already gotten three calls from the head shed this morning reminding me to keep you on a tight leash. Do I need to sit in on all of your appointments and interviews now to make sure you ask all of the right questions before you send a kid downtown?”

  I shook my head. “No, Staff Sergeant. I learned my lesson. I’ll be more careful.”

  “Fine. The station needs to get a grad female this month. So, while you’re out canvassing, try to find a female who’s older than high school age and get her to come in for an interview. Even if she doesn’t contract, it’ll look good on you to get some interviews lined up with grad females so it looks like you’re trying to hit the demographic they need.”

  “Will do.” I left the office and plopped into the chair at my desk.

  Cooper, a fellow sergeant and recruiter, rolled over to me in his desk chair. All five of our desks were in the middle of the room, surrounded by motivational posters and photos of Marines doing combat-related exercises. Spending time in this room made any Marine feel good about being one. Except for recruiters, on the other hand, who just felt like slaves working on a never-ending wheel of doom for three years. I was only a few months into recruiting duty and I already knew that.

  “Cooper.” I greeted him with a nod.

  “Bro, you messed up yesterday.”

  I groaned. “If I have to hear one more thing about this kid and his stupid allergy that might not even exist, I’m gonna lose it.”

  Cooper laughed, crossing his arms over the back of his desk chair and leaning his chin on it. “Nah, I mean the hot coffee you spilled all over Sara.”