That moment before you fall, when you know nothing but hard asphalt awaits you, that's what Gabe felt like since he had decided to go to Mali. Like the bottom had fallen out of his life and he was hurtling forward in an endless descent. Everything was spiralling out of his control.

For the first time in his life he wasn't excited about going on a mission. He was afraid and reluctant. He didn't relish the excitement and the awaiting action.

"You should eat something." He'd brought her some toast to nibble on and some tea to settle her stomach; despite the fact that he hated crumbs in bed. Gabe was somewhat of a neat freak, trained by years of barrack inspections and Marine Corps regulation.

She gave him a watery smile and accepted the outstretched tray.

"I know I promised you — "

She shook her head with a strange little smile on her full lips. Was it resignation or acceptance? He couldn't tell.

"Your sense of duty is one of the things I love the most about you. You can't change that more than I can change the hair growing out of my scalp. I can only ask that you keep yourself safe and come back to me as soon as you can."

"I'll do everything in my power to make it back to you."

"I know you will, Gabriel. I trust you."

"How do you always know the right thing to say to me?" he said already feeling calmer, like his feet were on solid ground again.

She smiled convivially and shrugged. It was her first real smile of the day, her energy had been off on what should have been a good day. He knew it was the toll of being around his family. She had handled it well, better than he expected her to.

He leaned in to kiss her, like he had wanted all week without interruptions, he wanted to take his time, lose himself in her and have her breathless and flushed from his kisses.

"I think this should come off," he said referring to the T-shirt that she wore. Another one of his college T-shirts that she liked to sleep in. It had holes near the bottom and was almost transparent from washing but he couldn't part with it.

Smiling against his lips, she arched off his lap and manoeuvred the offending article off, throwing it behind her. It was a far cry from the first time they had made love. Her new found confidence was unbelievably sexy. The possibility of being even a little bit responsible for that made him feel like a king amongst men.

He ran his fingers over her soft skin. She dug hers into his back. Her moans sounded like the sweetest music to his ears. He was going to miss these moments the most. When she was unreserved and unrestricted just for him.

Flipping her onto her back, he kissed her neck, feeling no shame in leaving huge hickeys. He wanted to mark her up, so she knew exactly who she belonged to while he was gone.

"Mm, I love how strong you are," she sighed happily, running her hands over his biceps and shoulders.

Balancing himself on his hands over her, Gabe flexed his muscles cockily, making her laugh in surprise. He bent his head down to lavish attention on her pillowy breasts. He already knew that she loved his muscles, her gaze and her touch gravitated to his arms often.

"Okay, enough. I've waited for this all week," she wrapped her smooth legs around his hips, drawing him nearer.

"Oh you did? Could have fooled me."

"I just have better self-control than you," she snarked back, making a point to circle her hips against his. He could feel the heat from her behind her tiny scrap of underwear.

He dropped his head onto her shoulder with a groan. "Stop that, or this could get embarrassing real quick."

She bit her lip, giving him the most sinful look he'd ever seen. "I want you to."

"Yeah?" He slid his boxers down quickly, she helped to get them the rest of the way down, giving his ass a sharp pinch as she did so. Gabe froze, "Oh, you're gonna wish you never did that, baby."

"Really? What are you gonna do about it?" She taunted.

Gabe pushed her underwear to the side and surged forward, burying himself to the hilt in her warm, wet centre in one fluid motion. The sensation made his eyes roll back into the back of his head. She gripped him perfectly. He stilled, letting her get used to the big, intrusive feel of him, before he made tiny rocking movements, all his muscles were tensing so much it was almost painful. She moaned in his ear, her hot breath curling behind the sensitive skin there.

"You feel so good," he said into the crook of her neck. She felt so hot, tight and right wrapped around him without any barriers. They were never going back to using condoms if he had any say in it. The entire week of verbal foreplay and interrupted touches has culminated into this. He was so worked up, he could do nothing but move his hips in quick-fire thrusts against her.

"Yes," she hissed in his ear. "Come on, I want you to let go."

Once he had her blessings of sorts, to be a selfish lover, he rammed into her with renewed vigour. She clutched at him, hanging off him like he was a tree branch in a tornado, as he moved in an almost whirlwind, lewd wet sounds coming from the point at which they were joined.

Concentrating on just his own pleasure was as liberating as it was a huge fucking turn on, the fact that she was letting him use her body put him at the edge of a massive orgasm that started at the base of his spine and extended to all his extremities.

She gripped his hair, using her hold to tilt his head upwards, so she could look into his eyes. Her irises bled into her pupils. "I love you," she whispered and that's all it took for him to explode, emptying himself into her.

He collapsed on top of her, and she caressed his back gently, cradling his head into her neck. He panted against her skin. "Baby, I'm crushing you."

"No," she protested. "Stay. Just stay like this awhile." She tightened her hold on him, he was careful not to put all his weight on her for all her bravado and insistence otherwise.

Neither of them slept a wink that night, choosing each other over sleep.

Natalia attempted to drive Lima to the airport in the morning but her lack of sleep and physical exhaustion made Gabe worry enough that he called an Uber, he took her car keys hostage. He hoped she made better choices whilst he was away.

He packed lightly, most of the things he was packing were hardware as opposed to clothes. He was flying on a private flight later that day straight into Bamako, the capital of Mali. Being able to avoid any airport security, he could take the contents of the safe he kept in his garage, his preferred guns and tactical equipment.

Tear stained and dejected, Gabe could see Natalia's slow footsteps up the cobbled pathway into his house.

"You're breaking my heart, Baby," he said, holding her heart-shaped face in both of his large hands when she made it inside.

"Good, cos you're breaking mine."

He crushed her into his chest, she resisted at first but then melted into his arms, clinging on for dear life.

"Don't do this to me. Please." He couldn't go with her this upset. He really felt like he was being torn in two with the incision point starting at his beating chest.

"How am I supposed to let you go?"

He didn't have an answer for her. He cradled her like a precious commodity, smoothing her hair back and touching every reachable inch of her. "I love you so fucking much, I don't want to go, believe me when I say it's the last thing on Earth I want to do."

"I hate this," she complained tearfully.

"I know," he soothed.

"This is the last time you can do this, Gabs. I'm not going through this again. Your friends can save themselves next time."

"Trust me, I intend to kick Ty's ass all the way to Timbuktu." She giggled at his lame joke and he felt a little rush of bittersweet happiness course through him. "That's my girl." He kissed her, tears and all, until her breathing was laboured and her body was boneless soup leaning on him for support.

"Natty, I'd rather you stayed here while I'm away. There's a security system..."

"Okay," he was surprised she agreed with such ease, normally it would have taken him a lot more convincing. "Any other instructions, Captain?" she asked, her eyes taking on that familiar glint of defiance.

"Yeah, don't go looking through my stuff," he warned and he was counting on her defying him.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, darling," she said sarcastically. "Why won't you let me go to the airport with you?" It was a drastic change of subject, one that caught him off guard.

"Because I won't be able to go, besides and I don't want you driving upset like this."

"You hungry?"

"Nat — "

"Shut up and let me feed you."

"Yes ma'am." She went into the kitchen, leaving him to finish packing.

They ate in silence, she was sliding the food around her plate, looking sadder and cuter than she had any business being. He wasn't lying when he said that she was breaking his heart. But he had to go. He had no choice in the matter, the wheels were already turning in motion. His fate was sealed.

His friend was missing in dubious circumstances, nobody was able to locate him and his colleagues and the company he worked for weren't being particularly helpful. Gabe had called in every favour he'd ever been owed by people in all the three letter agencies, DIA, CIA, NSA, DHS, DEA. Being an operational lead in one of the US' ugliest unconventional warfare confrontations gave him a lot of currency.

They had given him a hodge-podge team pulled from different agencies and military services that he could lead so that they could find Ty before it was too late but it also came at a price; finishing the mission that Ty had started.

Ty had been working on taking out an Al-Qaeda Cell in the Sahara desert that trafficked people into sexual and manual labour, taking advantage of poor and displaced people trying to find a better life for themselves abroad. The proceeds of that blood money funded terrorism across the globe.

Natalia didn't need to know those details, it would only scare her and her fear would make him lose his edge. The possibility of their time being cut short wasn't one that he was willing to even entertain.

"It's time, Baby. I gotta get a move on."

"Okay," she said her expression resolute. She walked him down to the street where the Uber taxi was waiting.

"Nat — "

She stopped him with a finger to his lips. "Let's not say goodbye, okay?"

"Okay." Gabe looked at her puzzled.

"It's just another day at work. I'll see you later?"

She pressed her lips to his in a whisper of a kiss, her smile was wide on her lips but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah, see you later." He wished with every fibre of his being that he would.

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Yo, guys! How did we make it to 30k views? This is absolutely mad. I didn't expect so many people to read this story when I started it. I was going through a hard time at work and needed to cheer myself up by doing something I enjoyed. I've been writing since...I learnt how but took a massive break (loool, try a decade) But anyways I digress, my point is thank you all for giving my lil ole story a chance. I appreciate all your comments and votes and even if you're a silent reader, I still appreciate you, you literally could be doing anything else with your time!