The Long Ride Home

By Delilah Devlin

Ride along with two soldiers, just returned from war, who find sweet release in the long ride home...

Note: This book was previously published in Penthouse Magazine and the Duty and Desire anthology, but has been revised and expanded.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delilah Devlin
• Release date: May 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533754097

Delilah Devlin

Always a risk taker, Delilah Devlin lived in the Saudi Peninsula during the Gulf War, thwarted an attempted abduction by white slave traders, and survived her children’s juvenile delinquency. In addition to Saudi Arabia, she has lived in Germany and Ireland, but calls Arkansas home for now.

Book preview

The Long Ride Home

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White-hot sun beat down on the tops of our helmets. Sweat pooled between our shoulder blades and dampened the necks of our t-shirts. However, it was a hot, humid South Texas heat—so unlike what we’d endured for the past eleven months, that none of us standing in formation really minded. We were home.

I watched it trickle down the side of one particular soldier’s neck as he stood in the row in front of me and thought, not for the first time, that I’d like the chance to lick it away.

Not that Staff Sergeant Jake Maddox had a clue how I felt. We’d been part of the same platoon—played volleyball and shot hoops, drove trucks over long, barely paved expanses of desert and mountains, and cleaned our weapons, side by side, but he hadn’t seen me as anything but another private who needed looking after.

And yet, his tall, muscled frame, black close-cropped hair and wintry blue eyes had made quite an impression on me. I’d lusted after him since the first time he’d shown up drill weekend, a month before we’d deployed. His steadfast calm during the most nightmarish day of my life had only cemented his attraction.

My nose started to itch, and I wrinkled it, hoping formation would break soon so I could scratch it. My feet were roasting in the boots sticking to the black pavement.

True to his word, our commander kept his speech short. A good thing, since SSG Maddox fidgeted, hands tightening and easing, swaying slightly on his feet as though waiting to spring into action. I knew he scanned the crowd seated in the bleachers from the corners of his eyes, hoping she’d show, that she’d changed her mind. I’d looked too and knew she wasn’t there—and wouldn’t be coming. I felt bad for him, but was also secretly hopeful that he’d be ready to let go, that he wouldn’t do something stupid now we were back.

Just a month before we began preparations for our unit’s return from Afghanistan, he’d gotten a Dear John letter from his girlfriend, informing him that she’d moved his belongings from their apartment into a storage unit. She’d included two keys taped to the page—one for the storage unit and the one to his Mustang. She’d said she was sorry, but had he really expected her to wait all those months?

Had I been in her shoes, I would have. But then, I knew what it felt like to be so far from home that Skype and email couldn’t fill the loneliness. I’d survived it once. However, my