Blurb
They
may be back on British soil, but the battle isn’t over.
When
Captain Hugh Wilkes fell for his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi,
he always knew things would never be easy. After months of complete
secrecy, their return to England should have spelt an end to the
sneaking around and the insane risks. But it seems there are many
obstacles for them to overcome before they can truly be happy
together. Can they get past those obstacles, or is this one battle
too many for their fledgling relationship?
Author’s
note:
Although
this
story
does
work
as
a
standalone
tale,
it’s
recommended
that
you
read
the
first
instalment
of
the
characters’
journey
first—Desert
Heat,
which
is
available
from
all
good
retailers.
Excerpt
Captain
Hugh Wilkes drummed enthusiastically on the steering wheel of his car
as he drove it up the M3 towards London. He sung loudly and
tunelessly along to the song on the radio, too, but it didn’t
matter. No one could hear him.
He’d
surprised himself by being so chilled out about the volume of Friday
evening traffic. He wasn’t the most patient of people, so the slow
progress should probably have been increasing his blood pressure, if
not leading to full on road rage. But, although he’d have loved to
be actually achieving the speed limit, not bumbling along at a mere
fifty miles per hour, Wilkes was just glad the traffic was moving at
all. Britain’s roads, the motorways in particular, soon came to a
standstill if there was so much as a tiny bump between two vehicles.
So any progress was better than none.
Besides,
what could he do about it? His only other options to get to London
from his base in Wiltshire were a train, or stealing a plane,
helicopter or tank. The latter might just cause a little bit of
bother, and mean the end of his army career, not to mention criminal
charges. The former meant cramming in amongst sweaty, disgruntled
commuters. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d be charged an
extortionate amount to do so, probably wouldn’t even get a seat,
and would likely be subjected to delays.
At
least driving took him from door to door, with plenty of personal
space. And if there were delays, well, he could sit them out from the
comfort of his own vehicle, with the climate control set to the
perfect temperature, and the radio blasting some of his favourite
tunes.
The
next song was even better, and Wilkes’ tuneless wailing became more
enthusiastic, as did the drumming on the steering wheel. He was in
one hell of a good mood, and if he was truthful with himself, he knew
it wasn’t just the fact the M3 was moving at a nice pace. It wasn’t
the Friday feeling, either. Sure, both of those things were
contributing to his happiness, but the main reason he was grinning
like a buffoon was the thought of what awaited him in the capital. Or
rather, who.
Rustam
Balkhi. His gorgeous Afghan boyfriend, whom he’d met out in
Afghanistan while they were working together for the British Army.
Now, with their tour of duty over and the forces’ presence pulled
out of the country, the two men had returned to England. Wilkes had
gone back to his regular army life in Bulford Camp, near Salisbury.
Balkhi was in London, where he’d recommenced the medical training
he’d postponed to become an interpreter for the Brits.
The
past few weeks had been somewhat of a whirlwind. Wilkes’ return to
the UK had been straightforward, but Balkhi had had to jump through
some hoops in order to get back onto his medical course. He’d been
willing to start from scratch, but it’d seemed like an awful waste
of time, so Wilkes had spoken to his superiors, who’d explained to
the university what important work Balkhi had been doing.
Fortunately, they’d been persuaded of Balkhi’s commitment and
character, and allowed him to pick up where he’d left off. That
settled, Balkhi had to pack up, travel back to the UK, find somewhere
to live, move in… and all before the start of the next academic
term.
Wilkes
had felt terrible. His return had taken place a few weeks before
Balkhi’s, so although he’d been granted some leave for R&R,
he hadn’t been able to either spend it with Balkhi, or to use it
help him with his relocation. By the time Balkhi had set foot on
British soil, Wilkes was back to work. And, given nobody knew about
the two of them, or even that Wilkes was gay, he couldn’t exactly
ask for more leave in order to help his boyfriend move into his new
flat.
Life
had conspired against them ever since, so this was the first
opportunity they’d had to see each other since saying goodbye in
Afghanistan all those weeks ago. They’d communicated via email,
text message and phone calls, but it just wasn’t the same.
Especially since they’d gone from seeing each other every single
day for the best part of six months to not setting eyes on each other
for weeks on end.
Wilkes had
struggled terribly in the interim. Life had been tough enough while
they were still out in the desert. After weeks and weeks of trying
desperately to ignore their growing attraction, they’d finally
given in to it. It had been stupid and risky, but, having quickly
realised there was more to their attraction than the physical, they’d
decided to carry on their relationship in secret while they were in
Afghanistan, see how it went, and figure things out once Wilkes’
tour of duty was over. Balkhi had always intended to return to the UK
for his studies, so they would, at least, be living in the same
country.
For
those of you that haven’t yet read
Desert Heat either, there’s a great
value double pack containing both books available exclusively on
Amazon (from 14th May), which is available for lending,
and for Kindle Unlimited members:
Author
Bio
Lucy
Felthouse
is
a
very
busy
woman!
She
writes
erotica
and
erotic
romance
in
a
variety
of
subgenres
and
pairings,
and
has
over
100
publications
to
her
name,
with
many
more
in
the
pipeline.
These
include
several
editions
of
Best
Bondage
Erotica,
Best
Women's
Erotica
2013
and
Best
Erotic
Romance
2014.
Another
string
to
her
bow
is
editing,
and
she
has
edited
and
co-edited
a
number
of
anthologies,
and
also
edits
for
a
small
publishing
house.
She
owns
Erotica
For
All,
is
book
editor
for
Cliterati,
and
is
one
eighth
of
The
Brit
Babes.
Find
out
more
at
http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join
her
on
Facebook
and
Twitter,
and
subscribe
to
her
newsletter
at:
http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
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