Sighing, I picked up the bottle of wine and followed her.
I could see her silhouette on the beach, her arms pulled around her knees, shivering slightly, but too stubborn to go inside. I saw her tense when she heard my footsteps, but she didn’t pull away as I wrapped my jacket around her shoulders. She didn’t look at me either.
“Want some wine?” I asked. “It tastes great straight from the bottle.”
I was trying for a smile, but instead she sighed and leaned against my shoulder.
“Sebastian, promise me you won’t be reckless. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you now.”
“Caro, I’m never reckless when I’m working,” I said seriously. “Well, maybe some of the off duty stuff, but not when I’m working, I promise. I’d never have gotten promoted if I was a complete fuck-up. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I’ve got a reason to come home now, okay?”
“I will worry,” she whispered.
“And I’ll worry about you, too. You’ve still got a chance to go home where I know you’ll be safe, Caro. Please?”
She sat up stiffly.
“Don’t even think about screwing up my papers again, Hunter!”
“Whoa! Slow down!” I wrapped my arms around her, trying to calm her with my body. “I promised I wouldn’t, Caro, even though I really fucking want to.” I felt her relax slightly. “So, have you finished stomping all over me with your boots?”
“For now, unless you ask me to, nicely,” she grumbled, making me laugh.
“I’ll bear that in mind. Can I kiss you, or am I risking serious injury?”
She didn’t reply, instead pushing me flat onto the sand and situating herself across my chest. I shivered when she ran the tip of her finger along my cheeks and nose and chin, then leaned down to kiss me softly.
“This brings back memories,” she said, her voice calm.
I smiled up at her. “Yeah! Sex on the beach was one of those things that everyone at school used to brag about, and then I got to do it with you. That first time, that was one of the best nights of my life.”
“The first time we ever spent a whole night together.”
“You want to relive good times, Caro?” I suggested, shifting my hips into her.
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I left our one and only condom in the room.”
Crap.
“Besides,” she continued, “I’ve kind of got a thing for beds these days. Call me old-fashioned.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Couldn’t argue with comfort when you were fucking your woman, although... “I really liked having sex in your car. That was hot.”
“Oh my God, yes!” she laughed, her eyes widening. “But I’d have to say that sex in that closet at the country club was pretty amazing, too. No, wait, the hotel in Little Italy. That room looked like a wild animal had rampaged through it by the time you’d finished!”
“Wild animal, huh?” I commented, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, well, I think I can improve on that now, baby.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” she replied, her voice sarcastic. “Because I’ve got to tell you, Sebastian, you never ran out of condoms when you were 17.”
“Ouch! Low blow, Ms. Venzi.”
She laughed. “True, though.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll fix that tomorrow and then you won’t be getting any sleep, woman.”
“Heard it all before, Marine, but it ain’t happened yet.”
She lay back down, her fingers roaming across my chest, an innocent action that was turning me on.
“So, who was your first woman, after me, I mean?”
Fuck, what?
“Why do you want to know that?” I asked cagily.
“Just curious.”
“I don’t really want to go there, Caro. It was … a bad time for me.”
She paused, her fingers continuing their soft stroking.
“Okay, I’m sorry. You don’t have to.”
We lay there in silence for several minutes before either of us spoke.
“Will you tell Ches that we’re … back together?” she asked softly.
“Of course I will, Caro. Ches is my brother.”
“He’ll be surprised.”
“Fuck, yes!”
“Do you think he’ll be okay about it? I mean, I’m sure my name would have been dirt with him.”
I could hear the anxiety in her voice. I hadn’t realized how much she cared what Ches would think—and I wasn’t sure why.
“Ches isn’t like that. He was pretty shocked by everything that went down that day at your place, but he knew that what we had was real. He’s my buddy: he’ll be pleased.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. When are you going to tell your friends about me?”
“Are you kidding?” she laughed. “After your little stunt with Nicole it’ll be hot news in NYC by now. Your photograph will be on screensavers everywhere.”
I couldn’t deny it—hearing that her friends would be talking about me was reassuring.
“Yeah?”
“Oh, don’t be all coy with me, Hunter. You know you’re cute.”
I grinned up at her. “Just as long as you think so.”
“I think you’re devilishly handsome, with the emphasis on ‘devil’.”
“Yeah, well as it happens, Ms. Venzi, I think you’ve got some devil inside you, too.”
“Oh, I’d really like to have some devil inside me right now, Sebastian.”
She was killing me! I sat quickly, pulling her up with me.
“Let’s go.”
She stood and brushed some of the sand from my clothes while I picked up my jacket and the bottle of wine, discreetly rearranging my junk at the same time.
We strolled back to our room, and every now and then I couldn’t resist kissing her hand gently.
But once I’d closed the door to the cabin, I didn’t hold back. Pushing her against the wall, I kissed her hard, one hand roaming across her full, heavy tits, the other working down into her jeans.
“Where’s that fucking condom?” I muttered, my lips against her throat.
“Bedside table,” she gasped.
I strode over and snatched it up, ripping off the foil and unzipping my pants. I’d been hard for the last half an hour and it was getting fucking painful.
“Sebastian, the bed?” she hinted.
“No, here.”
My dick was begging to join the party, weeping with relief when I shoved my jeans over the curve of my ass and rolled the rubber on, wincing when I snapped the latex at the end.
Caro’s zipper went the same way and I lifted her up, my cock rubbing against her.
“Wrap your legs around me, baby,” I said tightly.
“How?” she gasped, pointing at her jeans trapped around her knees.
“Ah, fuck it!”
I tugged hard but they were caught on her boots. I wasn’t going to wait for her to stop and unlace them, so I stepped over the denim, ignoring the trailing material and rammed into her so hard she cried out. I needed her now, and I knew the way her body was responding she felt the same. My breath was becoming labored as I thrust faster and faster, her fingers gripping into my shoulders, and I was about four seconds from coming so hard that...
And then my goddamn phone rang.
“Oh, fuck!”
“What?” she gasped. “Don’t stop, Sebastian!”
I had no intention of stopping, but I had to take the call whether I wanted to or not.
I carried her to the bed, taking care not to trip over her trailing jeans while we were still joined together, then I pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket.
“Sebastian,” she whimpered.
“Just a minute, baby, I’ve got to take this call. It’s my CO’s ringtone.” I pressed ‘accept’ while she glared at me. “Hunter, sir.”
She huffed quietly against my chest and wriggled on my cock, sending tremors th
rough my body. I gave her a warning stare. I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate if she did that again, but to keep her quiet, I started to move slowly, sliding my dick in and out of her in a way that I knew she loved.
“At last!” my CO snapped. “Are you still in Europe, Hunter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Geneva?”
“No, Italy, sir.”
I must have thrust too hard, because Caro moaned loudly.
“What’s that noise, Hunter?”
“Um … I’ve just been out for a run.”
“Hmm, keeping in shape then?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good man. So it’s like this: the word’s come down that they want to move up the mission. Operation Moshtorak has just gone to status critical. There’s friction between Quetta and Peshawar and that appears to have reduced the Taliban’s ability to maintain a strong presence in Helmand. We need to capitalize on that. Our contact is Gal Agha. Your job is to find him and bring him in. We have to move fast because now intel says that the local Taliban are making noises and stopping anyone who’s thinking about collaborating with us. It’s imperative we get to Gal Agha first. It’ll be a political coup, but more importantly, it’ll keep the boots on the ground safer if we can make Southern Helmand a no-go area for Taliban recruitment for at least six months. We can’t trust the ANA interpreters, so we need one of our own. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m sorry, Hunter, but all leave is being cancelled and key personnel are being flown out via Ramstein at oh-nine-hundred hours on Thursday. Once you’re in Kabul, you’ll meet up with Captain Ryan Grant of MEU who’s the mission leader, and he’ll give you your orders. This is important, Hunter, so don’t fuck up. I had a helluva job persuading the powers-that-be that you were the man for this job and to overlook what happened in Paris. Don’t make me out to be a liar. I know it doesn’t give you much time to pack up your place in Geneva, but that’s the way it is. I’ll send a staff car to pick you up at oh-six-hundred.”
“I’ll be there.”
He disconnected the call and I threw the phone in the corner. I’d worry about the implications of that conversation later. Right now, I had a mission of my own to think about.
I dropped Caro onto the bed, raising her hips and grinding into her in a way that made her gasp. She threw back her head and I sank my teeth into her nipple, feeling it harden even through her bra and t-shirt.
She screamed my name so loudly, I thought I’d lose hearing in my left ear. Not that I gave a fuck. It was worth it just to hear her coming apart like that. As she clenched around me, I lost it too, my cock swelling as I pumped into her, then collapsed on top of her, my weight pressing her into the mattress.
We lay there, trying to catch our breath.
“Sebastian?” she gasped, her voice shaky and astonished.
I pulled out carefully and looked down at her, my smile wide and relaxed. “Did you get what you wanted, baby?”
“Excuse me?” she huffed.
“You said you wanted some devil inside you. I aim to please.”
She scowled and slapped my arm, trying to squirm away from me, but my body was still pinning her down.
“Sebastian, you just fucked me while you were talking to your CO!” she hiccupped, sounding breathless and a little pissed.
“What, you think men can’t multitask?”
She stared at me in disbelief.
“I can’t believe you did that!”
I couldn’t help laughing at the outraged expression on her face. She didn’t fool me—she’d needed to come as badly as I had.
“Felt good! Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that because either it was you moaning, baby, or my CO had a stomach ache.”
“I … you … that … unbelievable!”
I rolled off of her and lay down, pulling her firmly into my chest.
“I haven’t even taken my boots off,” she muttered.
“Me neither,” I reminded her.
Reluctantly, I sat up and peeled off the condom, tossing it in the garbage. Then I stood and yanked up my pants, before heading to the bathroom for a much needed piss.
She was still lying on the bed when I came back, not even caring that she was naked from the waist down, her panties and jeans caught around her ankles. I picked up her foot and started to undo the laces, tossing the boot over my shoulder where it landed with a thud. When I tugged off her sock, I couldn’t help wanting to kiss and suck her perfect little toes.
“Sebastian,” she whimpered, “you’re supposed to do foreplay before sex.”
I smiled down at her but didn’t reply, just copying my movements with her right foot. Finally I was able to free her legs from her clothing.
“Very nice,” I said, planting a soft kiss on her belly button.
Then I lifted her limp body so I could take off her t-shirt and reached around to unhook her bra.
Just a quick taste.
“Mmm,” I said, taking a bite of each nipple.
She pushed me away.
“Don’t start what you can’t finish, Sebastian,” she snapped, obviously still a little annoyed with me although I wasn’t sure why.
“Who says I can’t finish? You were the one who said we should be creative. I’m just doing as I’m told, ma’am.”
I turned to unbuckle my motorcycle boots, kicked them into the corner, and dropped the rest of my clothes onto the floor in one quick movement.
Then I scooped her up and carried her into the shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water as I soaped her carefully and kissed every inch of soft, warm skin.
“You want some more, Caro,” I offered, as I massaged between her thighs.
“I’d love to say yes,” she said, yawning, “but really I just want to go and sleep. Rough sex during phone calls always does that to me.”
“Always?” I questioned.
“Always,” she stated with a subtle smile.
“Hmm.” I wasn’t sure I liked that answer. Who else had taken the idea of phone sex to a whole new level with her?
“By the way,” she asked, “why was your CO calling? What did he want at this time of night?”
Damn. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask about that until morning.
“He wanted to know where I was.”
“I gathered that. Because?”
“I’m sorry, Caro; I’m going to have to be back in Geneva in four days … and then back to Afghanistan.”
“Four days?” Her voice shook as she spoke.
“I’m so sorry, baby.”
“Well,” she said, trying to smile even as her lips quivered, “we’ll just have to make the most of the four days then.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” I said quietly. “I promise, Caro.”
“Sebastian, don’t worry,” she said, putting some grit in her voice—for my benefit, I guessed. “Every day with you is a bonus. And we’ve got the rest of our lives to see Italy.”
Hearing her words was the best fucking thing ever.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
And there was no doubt in her voice as she said the words. Then she pulled me into her arms and we stood together, letting the hot water flow over us, trying to reassure each other that it would be okay.
When the water began to cool, she turned off the faucet.
“Come here, let me dry you, tesoro.”
God, this woman. It had been years since anyone had tried to take care of me. Even as a kid, I’d had to look after myself.
I held out my arms while she stroked the towel across my body: my back and shoulders, chest, stomach, arms and legs; slowly, carefully, methodically, soaking up each droplet of moisture.
“There you are—all done.”
A weird, achy feeling settled in my gut. I didn’t know what to call it, but it felt like caring; it felt like love.
Watching her closely, drinking in every feature of her face soft and pink from the shower, I handed her
a fresh towel, then carefully rubbed her hair with a small hand towel.
“You shouldn’t sleep with damp hair,” I said.
I don’t know why I said that, because I did it all the time, but it felt like something a guy should say to the woman he loved. And for some reason my words made her smile.
“Sebastian, I’ve done a lot of foolish things—reckless, you might say—since I met you: sleeping with damp hair doesn’t figure particularly high on that list.”
I frowned. I didn’t like her describing being with me as ‘reckless’.
But then she dropped a soft kiss onto the tip of my nose.
“Race you to the bedroom!”
She ran from the bathroom and launched herself onto the bed.
“You’re so slow, Hunter,” she laughed at me. “You’re really out of shape. Maybe you should go for a run, like you told your CO.”
I gave her a wry grin as I walked naked from the bathroom.
“Tomorrow, Caro, I’m getting a fucking shit-load of condoms, and I’m going to make you regret every word you’ve just said.”
She lay there smiling up at me, looking like sin and sex all rolled into one fucking amazing package.
“Like I said, Sebastian, promises, promises. I keep hearing about these fuckathons, but nothing ever happens.”
Damn woman! I was going to make her regret challenging me like that. I just needed to find a fucking farmacia and then I’d buy me enough preservativi to wipe that smug look off of her face. Period.
But then she yawned loudly, and I couldn’t help smiling down at her as she snuggled under the sheet. I slid in beside her and pulled her against my body, breathing in the amazing scent of her damp skin.
With her in my arms, all the bullshit fell away. The years of wanting her and missing her and trying to hate her; surviving boot camp; the hell that was Iraq. Ten, long, lonely years of wanting what I couldn’t have, of seeing Ches fall in love, marry, have children—all the things I thought I’d have with her. And in four days I’d be gone again, knowing what I’d be missing, daring to hope that she’d wait for me this time.
“God, Caro. You make it all worthwhile. Thank God for you.”
“I love you, tesoro,” she whispered.
Waking up in the morning, the first thing I saw was Caro’s beautiful face. She was still sleeping, her breathing slow and steady.