When Love Commands Read online

  Published by Phaze Books

  Also by Dahlia Rose

  Caribbean Blue

  The Collettes: Sola

  This is an explicit and erotic novel intended for the enjoyment of adult readers. Please keep out of the hands of children.

  www.Phaze.com

  When Love Commands

  a novella of erotic romance by

  DAHLIA ROSE

  When Love Commandscopyright 2007, 2008 by Dahlia Rose

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A Phaze Production Phaze Books 6470A Glenway Avenue, #109 Cincinnati, OH 45211-5222 Phaze is an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC.

  To order additional copies of this book, contact: [email protected] www.Phaze.com

  Cover art © 2007 Kendra Egert, Scrapfairy Designs

  Edited by Pat Sager

  eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-59426-869-4

  eBook ISBN-10: 1-59426-869-X

  First Edition –April, 2008

  Printed in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Prologue

  Music blasted all around him through a small radio connected to big speakers. The bass was even too much still, and the sound was scratchy as one song sang smack that all on the floor. Sergeant Daniel Butler walked around the FOB and watched the soldiers play. It had been a long few months embedded in the middle of the war. His men had run so many missions without a break that he’d begged his commander for a little R & R. Finally they got it and what did the boys think up, a beach party in the middle of the desert. There was food on the table under the tent and it looked surprisingly good as Daniel passed by. There were thick sandwiches, fried chicken, coleslaw, and even potato salad and hot dogs. He made a mental note to come back and gorge himself soon before the pack ate everything.

  Bottles of Snapple chilled in big plastic buckets and he snagged one. He turned, watching the party around him as his men cut loose and released built up stress. Their version of a beach party was to have him requisition wading pools and children's floaters. His face broke out into a grin as one of his men jumped out of the small wading pool with a yellow rubber duck tube around his waist. He was not the only one dressed in green camo boxer shorts and wearing children's floatation devices. They threw big beach balls at each other and danced to the music blaring from the intercom.

  Big dumb kids , he thought and laughed out loud when one of the men got hit in the head with a red ball and chased his friend down and tackled him to the dry desert sand. While others sat in that same sand building castles of a big penis and vagina. They were having fun and that was all that mattered. In the middle of this one hundred and twentyfive-degree heat and the danger they faced everyday, they had to find their fun whenever they could. "Looks like they raided a sand box at a porn store." Daniel looked in the direction of the soft female voice. "Yeah, their

  minds are in the gutter." "Well, at least they are getting it out creatively." Daniel chortled. "Creatively, uh-huh, sure." She laughed and took his Snapple from him, taking a long drink and handing it back. "Raspberry, nice flavor, and I was trying to be nice, the big cock and balls is a little disconcerting."

  "Hell, it's giving me a serious case of penis envy." Her laughter was infectious and Daniel smiled before he took a sip from the Snapple bottle. He found himself wishing she had left her taste on the rim of the glass. "Honestly, the guys needed it, too many missions, one too many explosions, they needed the break."

  "We all did, it seems, I've been seeing too many injuries in the med tent lately," she replied. "So you're a medic?" She took his drink once more. "Um-hmmm." The noise was an

  affirmative to his question. Daniel studied her soft features under the boonie hat. He wondered what her hair looked like. Her mouth looked full around the glass bottle and he thought about the taste of the raspberry tea against her lips. You've been in country way too long buddy.

  "Well, I gotta get back to work, you guys enjoy your beach party," she said and began to walk away.

  "Hey, wait, take some food for later. Trust me, by the time you come back it will be a paper plate and crumbs here." He rushed over to the table and piled a little bit of everything onto a plate and walked it over to her. "I'm sure there are places in the med unit to keep this cool." "Yup, they sure do. Thanks for the food." "So, you're not going to tell me your name?" Daniel asked. "Not now, maybe next time, soldier." Her smile was soft and he

  could see the hint of flirtation in her eyes. Daniel watched her walk away with a smile of his own on his face. It would definitely be his pleasure to find out the name of the lovely medic.

  * * * * Two weeks later… Medic! Medic! The word was being yelled over and over again by the nurse who had his hand pressed against the bleeding soldier's chest. The barrage of mortars had begun unexpectedly in the middle of the night when the camp was asleep. Then all hell broke loose. Soldiers were running all over the camp trying to get to their positions of cover. There they would return fire to the unknown enemy hidden in the darkness. Commands were being shouted out by superior officers. And there in the infirmary they were dealing with the wounded that were caught in the mayhem. Major Claire Kirkland moved quickly in the direction of the voice yelling for a medic. All the rest of her nurses were busy and the mortar fire would not stop raining down on their camp.

  Claire's tour of duty had started fifteen months ago, and she was stationed at Camp Eisenhower in Baghdad, Iraq. Before that, she was deployed she was the head of Emergency Care in Washington, D.C. at the Walter Reed Medical Center. She would be again when her tour was up and she could retire. The days were hot and the temperature could rise to over a hundred and twenty degrees in the shade. The nights didn't bring much relief. If the mercury fell to a hundred degrees at night, every one in the camp counted it as a blessing. Now, in the middle of the night with sweat soaking through her t-shirt and uniform, she ran toward the nurse who was yelling for help.

  "What do you need, Private?" she addressed the male nurse in a crisp voice. "Ma'am, his chest won't stop bleeding!" he replied. "Listen, Pierce, you know how to deal with this in your sleep by now," Claire said exasperatedly. She looked at the wound—it wasn't deep. "Look, it's slowing down. Drop a few stitches in this guy and bandage the wound, then get him ready for transport out when this shit stops. Understood?" Claire knew she sounded bitchy and mean. But, she had no time to stop and hold his hand. War was hell. It was like the world was coming down around their ears when each mortar hit the ground.

  Private Pierce's shoulders straightened with her words. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

  Claire nodded and went off in another direction. Before she could move two steps another wounded was brought inside. This one was bad, she could see it almost instantly. The soldier that carried the injured man over his shoulder was already soaked with blood. "Put him down here," she ordered, pointing to an open cot. The soldier put him down carefully into the waiting bed and Claire began working furiously cutting off his uniform. His nametag said Sergeant First Class
Daniel Butler, the man she’d met at the beach party a few weeks earlier. The wounds were bad, the one on his chest had shrapnel stuck inside the torn flesh, and the gash on his head was bleeding profusely. Claire had seen him around camp, and even after the beach party she still didn't know his name, until now. A brief nod if they passed each other in the mess hall since then and a sexy smile every now and again, and that was it. Time was an issue in the middle of a war and every time she thought, maybe I'll go talk to him the next time I see him, it never happened. She always thought of him as handsome with nice green eyes—now, as he lay there bleeding, she could only think of his wounds.

  "How did he get hit, soldier?" Claire asked as she turned to call one of her nurses over. "I'm going to need a chest tube, and hang two pints of O neg and one of platelets. He's losing blood fast. We don't have time to match him." Back to the soldier, she said, "Well, answer, how did he get hit?"

  "Ma'am, he's our commander. He was trying to get one of the injured guys to cover when a mortar dropped a few feet away. They both went flyin', ma'am. The other guy didn't get up, he was gone, but I could hear the sergeant here moaning. So I went out and got him and brought him here."

  She looked at him—his leg was bleeding. He probably didn't feel it with all the endorphins running though his body.

  "Very brave of you, soldier," Claire commended him. "You're hurt, too. Your leg needs to be looked at. Go sit down before you fall down." "Ma'am, not until I know that the sergeant is going to be okay." "He is going to be fine, I'll make sure of it," Claire said firmly.

  "Now go get patched up, that's an order." The soldier limped off slowly, casting backward glances to where

  his fallen leader lay. The mortar fire had finally stopped, and the silence was now just as deafening as the explosions before it. Soldiers then began to move, quickly accessing damage and gathering the wounded or the dead. Claire worked quickly to put the chest tube in his side. She had to stabilize him. She watched the blood bubble from the wound in his chest. He would need surgery to fix his lung and whatever internal injuries the explosion had caused. And she knew he had to have a concussion. God, she hated this, she hated watching these guys get hurt and then have to come back and do it all over again. The ones that weren't badly injured, she would patch up. They would get a few days leave before going back to regular duties. What was leave in this hell? A few days of sleep on a hard cot, where the air-conditioning units barely made the heat bearable? She knew it was their duty, all of them, to be here, but they all were missing home. Her time was up, and Claire was ready to leave this place.

  Sergeant Butler began to moan and thrash around on the cot. "Hold him down! And push five of morphine now!"

  As the pain medication entered his system, his movements quieted but he was still conscious. Claire needed him that way so he did not slip into a coma, she couldn't give him any more pain meds. She didn't know how bad the concussion was and with any more he could fall asleep and never wake up.

  "Sergeant Butler, can you hear me?" Claire asked as she worked on him. "I need you to respond to me if you can hear me."

  "I…I hear you. Where am I?" His voice rasped out softly, he moaned again.

  "You are in Medical," Claire replied. "I need for you to open your eyes for me, Sergeant."

  When she got no response, she tried again with more force. "Sergeant, I need your eyes open now! Daniel, open your eyes, that's an order!"

  "Yeah, yeah, don't shout," Daniel mumbled. He groggily opened his eyes. "Am I dead? There are a lot of angels over me."

  "Definite concussion, double vision," Claire confirmed to the nurse next to her after checking his eyes. "No, Sergeant, you are not dead, just hurt really badly. We're going to get you on the next transport to Germany and they'll take care of you and have you better than ever."

  "I want to stay here with you. You're pretty," he mumbled, blinking against the bright lights. "I remember you from the party…Al'sss…ways thought you were pretty."

  Claire smiled. His speech was beginning to slur, the concussion and the morphine made this big guy say some strange things. "Don't worry, Daniel, I'll find you when you are better." "S'okay," he said and closed his eyes. Claire left orders with the nurse to wake him every half hour and call her if his situation changed. She went off to work on other patients who were hurt in the attack on their camp. When the skies were clear and they were given the go ahead, transport helicopters were called in to fly the wounded out. In all there were fifteen wounded and seven dead. Claire thought of the families that would see a car drive up to their homes to tell them their loved ones died honorably in battle. The feeling of loss and grieving would be great.

  This was her last tour in the Army. It paid for her going to med school. She had joined the Army right after high school, convincing her mother that she wanted to join up at eighteen. Right after boot camp there were pre-med classes and course requirements. She did her residency right on base at Fort Ord in California, becoming number one in her class and sought after by a few high ranking hospitals in the country. None of their offers could pull her away from being a doctor taking care of soldiers that became like her family. Until the perfect offer came along, the one she could not refuse in Washington at one of the top military hospitals in the country.

  She was there for two years before her deployment to the war zone in Iraq. Every year she worked as a doctor on base or deployed counted on her service record, and she was proud of what she had become.

  Claire shook her head as tiredness took hold of her body. Even though she loved the military life, she was glad that she was going to get to retire. She could not bear to think of her mother hearing how she died honorably in some unknown country. Yes, it was time for her to give up this life.

  She watched as Sergeant Daniel Butler was loaded on one of the first choppers out. His condition had improved, but he was still in serious condition. She yelled his status out to the medic on board over the whirling sound of the blades and handed the medic Daniel's chart. Even though twelve hours before he was lying on a cot with serious injuries, Daniel managed to give her a thumbs up sign before the helicopter door slid shut. Claire was sure it was the last time she would set eyes on him.

  Three weeks later, she herself would be on a transport out of Baghdad. She was going back stateside, back to reality and hot showers and cable TV. Back to civilization and her work at the hospital. Claire smiled because she knew she was going home.

  Chapter One

  Three months later, Washington, D.C.

  Claire sat up in bed quickly, ready to move. The sounds of gunfire and bombs echoed in her head, people shouting and the screams of the injured, the last remnants of a dream. Her breathing was labored as she tried to reorient herself to her surroundings. You are home, you are safe! Claire reassured herself. She kept repeating the words over and over in her mind while taking slow deep breaths.

  The nightmares started a month after she got home. The first one was so bad she crouched on the floor in her bedroom for a half an hour, expecting the ground to shake from the weapons fire around her. It had taken time for her to realize she was not in Iraq anymore and she had been one of the ones who made it home okay. Every time she woke up from one of the nightmares, she had the smell of oil burning and the taste of dirt and blood in her throat.

  She looked over at the clock on the bedside table, it said three in the early morning. Claire knew it was no use trying to go back to sleep. She would not be able to after the nightmare, so she got out of bed and padded into the kitchen. The hardwood floor was cool under her bare feet as she opened the door to the fridge.

  She wished the damn nightmares would stop. They were less frequent, but hell, they were still cutting into her sleep. Claire didn't know why the nightmares started, she’d handled the fifteen months fine in country. She knew if she told anyone they would say post traumatic stress disorder, but she blew it off. She had been in the Army from the time she was eighteen. Thirteen years later, this was not her
first time around the block. She moved up the ranks quickly to major, and when she had been deployed before, she came home right as rain each time. All she needed was to jump headfirst back into her routine and life.

  She shrugged her shoulders and decided they would stop when they stopped.

  She plopped down on the sofa and flicked on the TV. With a glass of milk in hand and a few Oreos, Claire watched reruns and then the morning news program until it was time for her to go into the hospital for her shift.

  By six she was in her car driving to Walter Reed Hospital, where she worked. The automatic doors opened with a swoosh and Claire walked into the bright fluorescent lights of the ER.

  "Morning, Dr. Kirkland, you're early." It was the voice of the head nurse, Sheila.

  "Morning, Sheila, what have we got this morning?" Claire asked. "Was it busy last night?"

  "Come on Claire." Sheila laughed. "It's a full moon, you know all the crazies come out." Sheila had been working at the hospital five years as a nurse when Claire was transferred to the Medical Center, taking the position as the new ER head. Two years later they were still fast friends. Their friendship had formed almost instantly even when doctors in the hospital resented her getting the job. When she got her deployment papers Sheila was right next to her when she read them in her office. The other doctors figured she was more woman than a soldier, or even a doctor. She had proven them all wrong by showing them she could be both. No matter what had been said in the beginning, they could not say she did not do her job well. Claire was offered the job, bringing her to her hometown and closer to her mother. So she jumped at the chance.

  Claire shrugged into her white coat and smiled. "Okay, I get it, but when I left last night I thought it was pretty slow. Are you leaving now?"

  "Nope. I'm working a double, I'll leave at three. There's nothing on the board right now, Claire, but there is someone in your office to see you," Sheila informed her.