**KATIE-LYNN POV**

Well, Hitler certainly knew how to pick his spots. His Eagle's Nest was built on a Bavarian mountaintop, with a balcony overlooking the world. I stood at a window in what must have been, if the dresses and jewelry were any indication, a room kept for Eva Braun, the woman who had been Hitler's mistress. It was amazing to me that a man could look out on such unbelievable beauty and see fit to order the destruction of an entire culture.

I could hear some commotion outside the room but before I could investigate, Joe was behind me and spinning me into his arms. I could taste the champagne on his tongue as my fingers wound through his hair. His arms tightened around my waist; his hands slipped down to cup my rear and effortlessly lifted me off my feet, wrapping my legs around him. The kiss was hungry but not desperate. He was exploring me slowly, just as he had done that first night under the plane at Upottery, and his lips felt like silk along my skin.

The bed sank beneath our shared weight as he knelt on it. I felt its softness against my back as his weight settled across me, his hands running along my sides and stomach as his mouth moved along my neck. My pulse raced, sending my blood to every spot that he touched, and I felt the cool rush of air as, inch by torturous inch, my shirt slid up over my head. My own hands tugged at his shirt, needing to feel his skin on mine again and when I did, the satisfaction was audible.

His hips ground into mine, and all I could do was surrender to the sensation. One hand gripped my thigh possessively, pulling against the friction where we were pressed together so intimately. The other slid into mine, intertwining our fingers and pressing them into the bed above my head. His teeth scraped across my breast and I gasped his name.

**JOE POV**

I was on fire. Every fiber of my being wanted her and, without even thinking about it, I was kneeling above her, sliding her trousers over her hips. She looked up at me through her eyelashes, nibbling her lower lip as she ran her fingernails down my bare abdomen to the button of my own trousers. My head fell back, eyes closed, and I let out a slow breath as she sat up, kissing down my stomach while she pushed the last remaining barrier between us out of the way. Her mission completed, she lay back across the bed underneath me, pulling my dog tags down as she went.

I hadn't really been able to touch her like this since the night Jackson died and, although I had been blocking the need from my mind so that I could function, my body responded to the familiar sensations immediately, stiff and straining, coming alive at the feel of her. The only other people nearby were drunk and seated on an outside balcony across the stone building. The walls were thick, built to withstand an attack, and I had closed the door firmly behind me when I came in. With troopers drifting all over Berchestgaden, exploring Hitler's hideaway, no one would be looking for us. We were, for the first time in forever, truly and completely alone. She didn't speak and I didn't ask, and neither of us bothered to muffle our moans as I moved to join our bodies.

Her hand was on my chest and then on my hip, pulling me into her as she moved against me, demanding more. I thought back to that night in Hagueneau, and how the hot-blooded man in me had struggled to take over, fighting the urge to ravage her over and over again until she could say nothing but my name. The moment hadn't been right that night. That night had been about healing and reassurance. I sensed that this time might be different, and I longed to drop my guard with her, not because I was so much longing for that raw, animalistic passion as much as that I just wanted to surrender completely to this feeling. I was so used to being in control, and I wanted to lose it all with her. But was this that moment? Looking down into her eyes, I got my answer.

**KATIE-LYNN POV**

I could sense that Joe was restraining himself, trying, as always, to make sure that I was okay. I was. I trusted Joe completely, and his body fit with mine as though we were two parts of the same mold. He had been gentle and tender, trying to bandage my broken heart the night we lost Jackson by showing me how he felt without words. Now, though, I sensed a clawing passion inside him that was desperate to come out.

He looked down into my eyes and I pulled him back to my lips, whispering, "Don't hold it back, Joe," as his tongue brushed mine.

The effect was immediate. He moaned into the kiss, tangling his fingers in my hair and tugging to allow him better access to my mouth and neck. His hips snapped forward as his other hand moved to grip my thigh. When I responded with a gasp, he repeated the motion just as his teeth caught the tender spot where my neck met my collarbone.

"Joe…"

It was the only thing that I could get out, but it was enough. At the sound of his name, he cursed and crashed his lips to mine in a searing kiss. A switch had been flipped inside him. One hand remained on my thigh, pulling me impossibly closer as he increased the pace of his thrusts, swallowing every whimper and moan that tried to escape from my mouth. The other hand caught my arm as it was moving to wrap around his shoulder, pressing my wrist to the bed.

Joe was being anything but gentle with me this time, finally allowing all of the repressed anger and feeling he'd been bottling up to escape, not as violence, as I had once feared, but as passion. Passion for me. The friction building inside me was delicious, pushing me closer and closer to the edge of reason. He must have sensed it because he changed his rhythm, slowing the pace and, instead, lighting my nerves on fire with long, deep movements. My body was trembling underneath him, and the deep rumble in his chest let me know that I wasn't the only one getting close.

"Fuck, baby, you feel so good."

I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. He abandoned the slow, steady rhythm as his own control unraveled, his movements becoming erratic but still determined, desiring only to be deeper, somehow more together than we already were. He was no longer kissing my skin, but allowing his lips to just ghost along the surface where the light touch and his breath had my nerves tingling. He released my thigh and looped his arm underneath my knee, pushing it back toward my stomach and growling in satisfaction at the sensation produce by this new angle.

"Oh my god," I managed to exhale, digging my fingernails into his shoulder blade. In response, he pressed my other hand deeper into the bed, driving his hips forward until I was crying out in pleasure.

"That's right, princess. No one can hear you but me."

My muscles were quivering and tensing, no longer under my control, and every movement produced such amazing friction that my mind eventually quit trying to keep up and allowed the pleasure to take over completely. Joe's gravelly, lust-laden voice was in my ear, mumbling encouragement and almost begging me to let go and fall over the cliff into ecstasy. At last, my world went bright. I could no longer tell if my eyes were open or closed as I spiraled into a shuddering release with nothing but his name on my lips. With a final thrust, he buried his face in my neck and I felt him throb inside me, one last growl punctuating his own pleasure.

When we caught our breath, he rolled and pulled me into him for a moment, kissing my forehead before handing me my underwear so that we could get dressed and rejoin our Company before anyone noticed we were missing. Once we were dressed, we stopped to smile contentedly at each other again, and he pulled me into another soft kiss before pressing his lips once more to my forehead.

"That was quite a way to celebrate making it up the mountain," I teased, and he smiled.

"Oh, princess, that's not all we were celebrating. The Germans surrendered. You know what that means? It means that soon, we can go home and start our life. We're celebrating V-E Day. We're celebrating our future."