#5

Jack allowed the crisp Minnesota air to fill his lungs as he watched the woman he'd been trying to lure to his cabin for years pull her bag from the back of his truck. He couldn't believe she was here, that they were here together. Just the two of them. No saving the word. No rules and regulations. No interruptions.

She smiled as she met his gaze, a small crinkle forming at the edges of her eyes. Sam had changed a lot over the last eight years, grown from an inexperienced captain to a seasoned colonel, and he'd had the pleasure of watching her. Her face showed a few more laugh lines and he knew she had a few more battle scares, but this woman was the same person who he'd fallen in love with when she'd asked him to arm wrestle.

"It's beautiful, Jack," she said in awe at the sunset behind the woods. Jack—he loved his name on her lips.

"Yes it is," he replied not looking away from her. She blushed prettily and shook her head. "Come on, let me give you the tour."

They walked into the main living area, which led directly to a small kitchen. Off the back of the living room we're two bedrooms. "You can put your stuff in either room," he said, not wanting to pressure her.

"Which one is yours?" She said looking at both rooms. He gestured to the one on her left and smiled as she walked into it and dropped her bag on the bed.

"I didn't want to assume," he told her. While he wanted nothing more than to make love to her, he'd waited eight years, he could wait as long as she needed.

"I think we've waited long enough, don't you," she stepped closer to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she lifted onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

Several hours later, after he'd kissed every scar and caressed every inch of her skin, Sam was snuggled into his chest with a leg thrown over his. As her hand toyed with his chest hair she giggled.

"I distinctly remember a conversation several years ago about giggling," Jack said with a chuckle.

""I was just thinking," Sam said, "it wasn't your sidearm this time."

"Carter," he laughed as he kissed the top of her head, "you know as well as I do that with you, it was never my sidearm."