Semper Fi

  Suddenly, Caro cried out, scaring the shit out of me as she thrashed around, tangling the sheets around her.

  I bolted out of bed, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently.

  “Caro, wake up!”

  She sat up quickly, wide-eyed and trembling.

  “Fuck, Caro! Another nightmare?”

  She nodded silently, tremors running through her whole body.

  “Come here, baby.”

  My heart hurt seeing her so scared when she was usually so strong. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in tightly so she was resting against my chest.

  “What was it about, baby?” I asked quietly.

  She shook her head. “Just a nightmare.”

  “You can tell me anything, Caro.”

  There was no reply, and much as it killed me not to know what was upsetting her, I couldn’t force her either. I held her in my arms, protecting her with my body, hoping that she knew I’d always keep her safe.

  After a few minutes, her heart rate returned to normal.

  “Scoot over,” I whispered. “I’ll just stay till you go back to sleep.”

  She didn’t fight me this time, instead rolling over so there was room for me.

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  I slid down next to her, my chest to her back, and pulled her in close. And then we slept.

  I woke up to Caro lightly stroking my arms where they were still wrapped around her.

  I stretched out slowly, enjoying the feel of her body next to mine. I rubbed my eyes and smiled at her, happy to have her next to me, although I’d rather have had her under me.

  “Wow, I’ve got this beautiful woman in my bed. I really like this dream.”

  “Actually, Sebastian,” she sniffed, trying to hide her amusement, “you’re in my bed.”

  “Oh, yeah. You must be one of those fast women I heard about at boot camp.”

  “Hmm, well, I think that lecture was supposed to warn you off them.”

  “Oh, I guess I didn’t hear it right. Explains why I didn’t get into Officer Candidate School.”

  She looked at me closely.

  “Did you try?”

  “Nah, not really. Not my thing. I took some college classes for a while, but then…” I knew you weren’t coming back, so I gave up caring. “I was already fucking around. Guess I pissed off the wrong people.”

  “You’d make a good officer, Sebastian,” she said seriously. “Maybe you should think about it.”

  Did that mean she wanted me to stay in the Marines? I shrugged. “I’m a Warrant Officer—highest ranking for noncoms.” Then I grinned at her sheepishly. “Yeah, you know that stuff. Sorry. I did get asked to join the Navy SEALs, though.”

  “Really?” she said, her face lighting up. “That’s great! I mean, that’s a real honor, isn’t it? You’d like that—all that super-macho stuff.”

  I smiled at her description and ran a finger along her arm. “I turned them down.”

  Her jaw dropped open and she looked amazed. “Why?”

  “Caro, there’s no way I’d join the same service that my father is in. Fuck that! Can you imagine if we ended up at the same Base?” My voice started getting louder as the old anger surged through me. “I’d end up killing the bastard.”

  “Shh,” she said, resting a finger on my lips. “We’re in Italy; it’s a beautiful day, and we’re going to go and find some waves for you to surf.”

  I took a deep breath and calmed the fuck down.

  “Okay,” I said, letting my hand drift down her thigh, until I was tugging at the material of her panties. “You know what would make this day even better?” I asked.

  “Oh no, Sebastian,” she said, shoving my hand away. “I’m not falling for that. I’m going to take a shower, and you’d better have some damn clothes on by the time I get back.”

  She jumped out of bed, then stomped around the room picking out a clean shirt to wear. She was so cute when she was mad.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, letting my hand disappear under the sheets as my cock started to throb.

  She muttered something under her breath, threw me a look that should have scorched my eyeballs, and slammed the door as she left the room. I lay there, lazily stroking myself, imagining it was her hands on my dick, her fingers working the sensitive head. Desire and need spiked along my shaft almost immediately, and I groaned as a long stream of cum landed on my stomach. It was her fault I was so damn horny.

  On deployment, most of us lived like monks. Unless you got lucky with one of the women working in the Motor T—the vehicle shop. I preferred not to hit on female Marines. Apart from anything else, I didn’t shit on my own doorstep. You fucked your CO’s wife, c’mon Seb.

  I cleaned off as best I could, then pulled on a pair of jeans, waiting for my turn in the shower.

  Caro’s temper didn’t seem to have improved as she stormed back into the room.

  “You shouldn’t wander around like that,” she chided, trying not to look at my bare chest. “You’ll give Signora Battelli a coronary.”

  She wasn’t fooling me. Looked like my tactics were working. I gave her a grin then headed out for my shower. I planned on having Caro back in my bed tonight.

  When I strolled back, she was looking at a blog on surfing in Italy. Even though she was still punishing me by not fucking, she hadn’t stopped caring about me or what I might like to do on vacation. God, I loved this woman.

  “Whatcha find?” I asked, standing behind her as she studied the screen on her laptop.

  “We seem to be in between surf spots here, but about 30 miles away, there’s a place that looks like it might be okay. There’s a big campsite there and it says they rent out boards, so it seems like a good bet. Want to try it?”

  “I’ll try anything with you, baby.”

  “Sebastian, focus,” she huffed out, pointing at the map then folding her arms.

  “Sure, baby,” I said, winking at her. “I just need to fill up the gas tank, but otherwise we’re good to go.”

  I wrapped my hands over her shoulders and planted a quick kiss in her hair.

  “Come on then, Hunter,” she snorted, reaching into our bag and throwing me a t-shirt. “Let’s go see what Signora Battelli has got us for breakfast.”

  When we walked into the dining area and saw the table covered with mouth-watering food, my eyes widened, and I had a hard time not drooling: fresh fruit, warm bread, sweet rolls, cereal, yogurts, Italian cheese, salamis and cold meat. Fuckin’ A!

  Signora Battelli probably hadn’t counted on having a Devil Dog at her table, and I made three trips to the buffet before I finally called quits.

  It hadn’t escaped my attention that a couple of American girls were sitting at the table next to us. They’d been eye-fucking me every time I’d gone to get more food. Once I might have been interested, but why go out for burgers when you’ve got steak at home?

  One of the girls was asking Signora Battelli questions about cooking pasta.

  “But how much should I give guests at a meal?” she asked. “How will I know how much to buy back home?”

  “Young woman,” said Signora Battelli, resting her pudgy hands on her enormous stomach. “You buy a half pound of fresh pasta per person … except for my son: he eats one pound of pasta!”

  I wondered if the son was another fat fucker who ate all the pies. I could eat anything I wanted and I was in the best shape of my life. Going into a warzone was very fucking incentivizing.

  But then the girls started flirting with me in front of Caro. I would have told them off, but I knew Caro wouldn’t like it. So I answered politely, tolerating but not encouraging them.

  “I’ve never ridden a motor-sickle,” said the one called Lydia.

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it when you get the chance,” I replied then stood up, having reached my limit of tolerance for their amateurish flirting. I held out my hand to Caro impatiently.

  “Come on, baby.”

  Sh
e took my hand, a huge smile on her face, and I couldn’t resist bringing her fingers to my lips and kissing the inside of her narrow wrist.

  Her smile got even wider, and there was something in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before.

  “What?” I asked, curious about what she was thinking.

  “Sometimes you can be very sweet.”

  Her words were like a punch in the gut and I couldn’t look away from her. Ask any of the guys that I’d trained with or fought with and ‘sweet’ is not a word they’d use to describe me. But to hear it from her for the first time in ten years, all the walls I’d built around me crumbled.

  “Tesoro, what did I say?” she whispered, her forehead creasing with concern as I continued to stare at her.

  I looked into her eyes, so she could see the truth of my words.

  “I love you, Caro, so much. I haven’t changed how I feel. I still love you—I’ve always loved you. It’s only ever been you.”

  I stopped breathing as she gazed back at me, her lips moving wordlessly. And then she spoke.

  “I love you, too, Sebastian. More than you’ll ever know.”

  That was all I needed to hear.

  I leaned down and trapped her lips with mine, kissing her softly and sweetly because I wanted so badly to mash my mouth against hers, bruising her lips, showing the world that she was mine. Maybe that would come later, but now I needed to be the man she thought I was—the man I could be, for her.

  I felt everything. I felt the moment when she let herself believe in me, in our fierce love that a decade apart hadn’t been able to kill; the moment she believed in herself, and everything that I knew she felt, too; and the moment that my heart knew I’d spend the rest of my life with this woman … this amazing, brave, fearless, loving woman.

  “You mean everything to me, Caro,” I whispered, my voice raw with emotion.

  I knew she could feel the weight of my words.

  “You’re so brave, tesoro,” she said simply. “You’ve never been afraid to love.”

  I smiled because she was so wrong. I was fucking terrified of loving her again—but I was past caring.

  “That’s because I learned from you, Caro.”

  She shook her head in denial.

  “It’s true,” I said gently.

  She sighed and pulled me a little tighter against her, and that was just fine with me.

  We stood there until I became aware that we were the center of attention, the other diners staring at us, as well as Signora Battelli.

  I rubbed Caro’s arm and stood up straight.

  “I guess we’d better get going before the signora starts vacuuming around us,” I murmured, my lips still against the smooth skin of her neck.

  She smiled up at me, her eyes so full of love that she cracked me wide open.

  “Okay,” she said.

  We walked back to our room in a silence that was full of meaning as I squeezed her soft hand, needing that small physical connection.

  “I can’t stop smiling,” she confessed. “I think I’ve pulled a muscle in my mouth.”

  “I know what you mean,” I laughed. “Although I’ve got some ideas about how you could do that for real later.”

  She slapped my arm.

  “You don’t change, do you, Hunter!”

  I threw myself back on the bed and grinned up at her.

  “Do you want me to change?” I asked, wondering for real what her answer would be.

  Women always tried to change you, even when they said they wouldn’t. But Caro just laughed.

  “Oh, you could do with a bit of polish here and there, but otherwise, no, you’ll do.”

  “I’d like you to polish me right now,” I said, arching my hips off of the bed suggestively.

  “Well, I’d love to oblige,” she smirked, “but Signora Battelli is going to be knocking on our door in about two minutes.”

  “We could make it quick.”

  “Oh no, I want to take my time.”

  “How much time?” I asked as my dick hardened in my pants for the third time this morning.

  Her dark eyes sparkled with humor and something else … desire?

  “Hours, possibly days … whole months even,” she murmured, her eyes locked on mine.

  I groaned and closed my eyes, images of her naked in my bed, eating meals off of her perfect, olive skin. “Months?”

  “Years,” she said softly. “A lifetime.”

  My eyes snapped open and I sat up quickly, my heart beating too fast. “Do you mean it, Caro, a lifetime?”

  Her eyes were serious as she replied.

  “Yes.”

  I closed my eyes again, breathing in deeply. When I looked up, a huge smile stretched across my face.

  “Okay,” I said, because the words I wanted to say were too big.

  We packed up quickly, moving around the room with an easy familiarity that was new, touching each other as we passed, an outward expression of how we were feeling inside. I was glad that it wasn’t just me feeling so much anymore—or maybe that Caro felt confident enough to show how she felt now. Whatever—it was fucking wonderful.

  I was definitely on a roll, so when I paid Signora Battelli, I may have gone a little overboard, saying it was the best place I’d ever stayed, and ended up kissing her hand.

  Caro poked me in the ribs as we left.

  “You are so smooth, Hunter!” she teased.

  “I was just telling her the truth,” I grinned at her. “I think we should come back here, and book the same room every year—then spend the night fucking.”

  “You’re such a romantic,” she scoffed, trying to hide her smile.

  “Yeah, I know, baby.”

  We headed out of town and southeast along the coastal road, burning out of Pisa and racing south. I felt good—more than good; I’d been given a fresh chance and I was going to make the most of it.

  With Caro’s arms wrapped me, I felt like I could conquer the world. And if things went the way they could in Afghanistan, I might have to. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. I still had 10 days of leave left—I was going to make the most of it.

  The campsite Caro had found was just an hour from Pisa, outside the village of Polveroni, and right by the ocean. And there were waves. Holy hell, the Mediterranean had surf—three to four feet of clean lines rolling up onto a beach break. I’d have gone body surfing and been stoked, but that bitch lady luck was with me today—and I saw a shop with boards to rent.

  “Game on!”

  Caro laughed as I almost sprinted inside, for once leaving her to stow the helmets by herself.

  The owner looked up as I came in.

  “Buon giorno! Can I rent a longboard for the day?”

  “Si, signore! I got seven footers and eight footers—what do you need?”

  Usually, I’d have taken the seven footer, but I suddenly had the urge to get Caro on a board with me. Ten years ago we’d caught some waves together—I wanted to do it again, this time knowing that she was mine and nothing could take her away from me.

  I bought a huge beach towel and a pair of boardshorts, wincing at the bright Hawaiian pattern. I knew Caro would bust my balls about that.

  “We don’t have a tent; do you rent rooms, too?” I asked.

  I really liked the idea of spending the day surfing, the evening fucking, and the night listening to the waves break on the beach.

  The owner grinned at me. “Sure, I have one cabin I rent out. It’s my brother’s, but he’s away. It’s small, but it has a bathroom. The bed is large,” he said, and winked at me. “You can use it. Thirty Euros?”

  As soon as Caro saw me, she honed in on the boardshorts, a vomit-inducing red, orange, yellow and lime green.

  “Hey, Marine! You’re in danger of doing color!” she laughed

  I grinned back at her.

  “Yeah, well, it was all they had. Either that or I’d have to do it in the nude. What do you think, Caro, naked surfing?”

  “It could
catch on, or you could get arrested. But I’m telling you, Sebastian, if you do get arrested and I don’t get laid tonight, I’m going to be mighty pissed at you.”

  I grinned at her stern expression.

  “Now you’re talking. By the way, the guy in the shop said that he rents out rooms. He said it’s pretty basic—just a big, old bed and a small bathroom. But I thought it would be kind of cool to be able to hear the waves tonight. Is that okay?”

  “Very okay,” she smiled.

  The day was going great, but then I saw the ugly as fuck swimsuit that Caro was holding. Seriously? My girl was gonna wear a granny suit in dark blue?

  “Wait, that’s what you’re going to wear?” No fucking way!

  “Yes,” she said, a puzzled expression on her face. “Why?”

  “Stay here,” I commanded.

  I headed back to the beach shop and the owner looked surprised to see me back so soon.

  “Hey, I need a bikini for my girlfriend.”

  “Sure, we have several,” and he pointed at a rack in the corner.

  I picked out something that I knew she would look hot in—and something I was looking forward to taking off of her later.

  I jogged back outside, pleased with the fifty Euros I’d just spent.

  “Here. Wear this.”

  Caro’s mouth dropped open, a look of horror on her face as I passed her the bikini. Admittedly there wasn’t a lot of it…

  “I can’t wear that, Sebastian,” she gasped. “There’s nothing to it! I’m forty, not twenty!”

  I wanted to roll my eyes at that comment—I didn’t.

  “You’ll look amazing, Caro. I want every guy on the beach to know how hot my woman is.”

  “I may as well go topless!”

  “Yeah, baby.”

  She shook her head, but her eyes were saying yes. “You’re crazy.”

  “Crazy in love,” I agreed, scooping her into a kiss that rapidly became heated.