Always and Forever

Rediscover this moving fan-favorite tale of finding a second chance at happiness from
New York Times
bestselling author Lindsay McKenna

Captain Kyle Anderson can't believe his buddy Mike is tying the knot. And when Mike, a fellow captain in the US Air Force, asks Kyle to be his best man, of course Kyle says yes. When he flies home from Thailand, where his squadron is based, Kyle finally gets to meet the woman his friend has been talking about for a year. But what he never expected is for Gale Remington to be so…alluring. And he certainly isn't prepared for the sparks that fly between them.

Gale is beyond happy to be marrying Mike. So why, when she meets his best man, Kyle, does her heart beat a little quicker, her breath come a little faster? He's her fiancé's best friend—nothing can happen between them. But nothing is certain in the theater of war, and fate may have other plans for her and Kyle.

Always and Forever

Lindsay Mckenna

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

December 24, 1973
Castle Air Force Base, California

C
aptain Kyle Anderson jogged up the sidewalk toward Captain Mike Taylor's base home. Was he too late? Kyle was supposed to go with his best friend, who was getting married tomorrow, to pick up their Air Force dress uniforms from the base cleaners, but he'd overslept. Damn!

Rubbing his smarting, bloodshot eyes, Kyle rapped his knuckles sharply against the door. Tomorrow, Mike was marrying Gale Remington, an Air Force officer he'd met a year ago. On Christmas Day, of all things. It was like Mike to do something romantic like that.

Kyle's breath was coming out in white wisps as he stood restlessly, hunched down into his dark blue wool coat, waiting to see if Mike was home.

“Mike?” His voice carried impatiently as he waited at the door, knocking even more loudly. Looking around, Kyle realized he was probably attracting the attention of
every Air Force wife in base housing. They'd probably be looking out their windows to see who was shouting at 0800.

He'd overslept because of jet lag. Four days ago, Kyle had flown to Castle A.F.B. from Udorn, Thailand, where his fighter squadron was based, to be best man at Mike's wedding. But because of time-zone changes and the need to unplug physically and emotionally from the duties of a fighter pilot in Vietnam, Kyle was exhausted.

The door opened. Kyle grinned, expecting to see his friend from boyhood. Instead, he saw Gale, Mike's beautiful fiancée. His smile slipped considerably in surprise, his eyes widening as she opened the screen door.

“Hi, Kyle. If you're looking for Mike, he took off about fifteen minutes ago for the cleaners.”

Pulse skyrocketing, Kyle drew in a shaky breath. He stood there, tongue-tied. Ever since he'd been introduced to Gale three days ago, his world had been out of control like a jet in a flat spin. The moment he'd looked into her incredible forest-green eyes, something wonderful, something terrible had happened to him. Once, twenty-five-year-old Kyle would have scoffed at the idea of falling head over heels for any woman on first sight. But he wasn't laughing now.

Placing his hands on his hips in a typical arrogant jet-jockey gesture, he covered his reaction to her. “Hi, Gale.” God, did she realize what she did to him? It was agony to be around her because he wanted to simply absorb her, lose himself in her sunny smile, and stare into those dancing eyes that held such sparkling life in their depths.

Gale smiled shyly. “Mike said you might be late. He'll pick up your uniform.” She forced herself to look away from Kyle's hawklike blue eyes that were large with intelligence. If there was such a thing as brazen self-confidence, Kyle possessed it. His stance was cocky and unapologetic. He was a proud eagle standing before her, knowing he was
the cream of the Air Force pilot crop because he was an Academy graduate. Her pulse was doing funny things and she tried to ignore it. Since meeting Kyle, an exhilarating force swept through her whenever she thought of him or saw him. When Kyle looked at her with that burning intensity, she felt shaky, her carefully mapped out world falling apart.

“I overslept,” he said with a laugh. He wasn't going to admit to her he couldn't shake the jet lag. Gale looked vulnerable and pretty in a pink long-sleeved blouse. The red apron tied around her waist and the dark brown slacks showed off her slim figure. She didn't look like a captain or a meteorologist, but she was both. Her hair, a pageboy of shifting brown color interlaced with gold and a few delicate strands of burnished copper, barely touched the collar of her blouse. He had to get away. It wasn't good to be here alone with her. God knew he'd taken great pains
not
to be alone with Gale—because he hadn't known what he'd do if he was. She affected him deeply.

It wasn't Gale's fault. She was hopelessly in love with Mike. Kyle rationalized his attraction to Gale by telling himself that because she was Mike's fiancée, he naturally liked her. “Look, I'll come back later,” he said, his mouth growing dry.

“Nonsense, come on in. Mike's due back in less than half an hour and he wants you to stay for breakfast. Why go all the way back to the B.O.Q. just to come back later?”

Hesitating, Kyle glanced at the watch on his wrist. A half hour. It would look stupid to leave if Mike was going to be back that soon. “Well...”

Gale stepped aside, looking up at him. A large part of her wanted him to leave because in his presence, her emotions vibrated with a strange yearning she'd never experienced. But etiquette dictated differently. “You look tired. Come in. I've got a pot of fresh coffee.” She knew Kyle
had flown from Thailand to attend the wedding. The strain of what the war had done to him showed on his lean face, around his eyes and in the set of his mobile mouth. Heat fled through her, sweet and unexpected, as she stared at him.

She knew that, like every other arrogant, self-assured military pilot, he wasn't going to let on he was tired, much less exhausted by the war or the flight home. No, Kyle was like his fellow pilots: his callous, cocky exterior hid a vulnerable interior that was rarely shared with anyone. From the moment she'd met Kyle, she'd sensed a warmth and gentleness beneath that facade, and for some reason, Kyle's ebullient, joking presence had been able to lift the fear from her heart. Thirty days after the wedding, Mike, too, would leave for Thailand and become a part of the war. Gale feared losing her young husband.

Taking off his garrison cap, Kyle gave a nod. “Tired?” he teased. “You know us handsome, unabashed jocks aren't fazed by such things.” He stepped into the warmth of the small living room. He could smell fresh coffee in the air and inhaled the scent deeply. And bacon was frying. His stomach growled, but he was also hungry in a different way. After he shed his coat, Gale hung it in the hall closet and beckoned him to follow her to the kitchen. He spotted a small Christmas tree, all decorated, in the corner of the living room. The lights blinked merrily, reminding him of the joyous holiday season.

“I promised Mike I'd have breakfast waiting for him when he got back.” She smiled and pointed to the table. “Sit down. I'll get the coffee.”

A bright red cloth covered the round table, and a Christmas decoration sat in the middle of it. Gale's thoughtful touch, Kyle was sure. “Thanks,” he said. Tensely, he sat down and watched Gale move to the stove to pour his coffee. Mike had lived alone here for a year, and from the
letters Kyle had gotten from him, he'd thought the house would be cold and barren. It wasn't with Gale present. The place had a light feeling with the winter sunshine filtering in through the kitchen window, embracing Gale's slight form and making her look radiant. Like a starving man, Kyle watched each small movement she performed. There was a sureness and grace to Gale he'd never seen in another woman.

Rubbing his eyes, Kyle tried to figure it out for the thousandth time. What was it about Gale that had thrown him for a loop? He couldn't want her, couldn't be fantasizing about kissing her or having her for himself when Mike was going to marry her. What the hell was wrong with him? It wasn't as if he didn't have his choice of women. Maybe it was the war. He hadn't been the same emotionally since he'd started flying the dangerous missions, although he never discussed that with anyone. Not even his fellow pilots.

“Here you go. You like it black, don't you?”

Kyle took his hands away from his eyes, and nodded, gazing at her long, slender fingers around the white mug. “Black—yes.”

She smiled understandingly. “You look like you could use about seventy-two hours more sleep.”

“Nah. You know us fighter jocks are as tough as they come.” He kept his eyes on her as she walked back to the stove to turn the bacon in the skillet. “It comes with the territory,” he said, sipping the scalding hot coffee. The heat burning through him was raging out of control. Didn't he have any command over his feelings toward Gale? How could this have happened? Why?

Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “What? The war?”

“Yeah. Flying missions every other day over Hanoi and back is—” He hesitated, not wanting to use the word
killer
because he saw the worry in Gale's eyes. In a month, Mike
would be joining his squadron. They'd be flying together—a boyhood dream come true. He and Mike had grown up in Sedona, Arizona, spending hours dreaming of careers as military pilots. Trying to disarm the anxiety he saw in Gale's eyes, he forced a smile. “It's a piece of cake.” That was a bald-faced lie, but there was no sense in further upsetting her.

She raised an eyebrow. “It's dangerous.”

With a shrug, Kyle muttered, “Not to us. Jet jocks are trained to take the heat.”

“Oh, please.” She laughed. “You guys are all alike. It would kill you to admit you're scared, have doubts or any other human frailty.”

He grinned broadly and sipped the coffee. It was good and strong, just the way he liked it. “The only human frailties we possess are eyes to scope out good-lookin' women like yourself. Mike sure got lucky.”

Gale blushed hotly. There was nothing displeasing about Kyle Anderson, either, but she kept that thought to herself. More than anything, she was drawn to the raw confidence that emanated from him like a beacon.

“How did you get so cocky?”

“You mean confident?”

She grinned. “I don't think the two words have anything in common, Kyle.”

“Sure they do. You can't sit with an F-14 strapped to your rear carrying a ton of weapons if you aren't a little cocky
and
confident.”

The imagery frightened Gale, although she knew it shouldn't.

Kyle tilted his head as he saw her expressive eyes darken. He'd never seen a woman who was so transparent with her emotions and feelings. It was a delightful and touching discovery. No wonder Mike had fallen in love with her. “Sorry,” he muttered with a forced smile. “I'll
try and keep the war talk to a minimum. I can see it's scaring you.”

“It does, Kyle.” She studied him in the silence. “Doesn't it you?”

“What?”

“Scare you, flying with a load of weapons?”

He shrugged. “I don't know...I never really analyzed it that way before.”

It was her turn to smile. “If you did, you probably wouldn't be a fighter pilot.”

His grin broadened. “You're probably right. Some things, I learned a long time ago, don't merit being looked at too closely.”

“Is that anything like looking a gift horse in the mouth?”

“Exactly.” Kyle laughed, his spirits lifting like a fierce wind. He couldn't recall having felt this happy before. He tried to analyze why Gale affected him like a heady wine. Five minutes ago, he'd felt like hell warmed over. Now, all that tiredness and depression had miraculously gone away. Was it because of the kindness he saw in her face? Those dancing green eyes that looked beyond his bravado and saw the real him? Or was it Gale's full, soft lips, which reminded him that there was something left in the world that wasn't hard, harsh or ugly?