Semper Fi

  She didn’t respond right away, and I faced the unappealing idea of pulling out when her teeth were still exposed. But then she gave another not-so-gentle tug and released me.

  I shook my head, letting her know with my eyes that she wasn’t going to go unpunished for that.

  Caro just smiled up at me and ran her hands over my ass.

  I nodded at the condom. “Just put that fucking thing on, Caro. You’re killing me here.”

  “Oh, don’t be such a baby, Sebastian,” she scoffed. “We’ve waited ten years; you’re not going to expire in the next 30 seconds.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” I muttered.

  She rolled the condom on so fucking slowly, I knew she was still teasing me. So not happening. I brushed her hands away as soon as she was finished.

  “My turn,” I said, and it wasn’t a suggestion.

  She lay back on the bed and raised her arms to pull me down.

  No, baby. I’m in charge.

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” I said. “My turn, remember? Pull your knees up.”

  “Yes, sir!” she barked, and threw a salute.

  God, I loved the way her tits bounced when she did that.

  “Are you mocking the US Marine Corps, lady?” I pretended to snarl.

  “Why? What are you going to do about it?” she asked, a challenge in her voice.

  You’ll see. Fuck, yeah!

  She slid her feet up the bed, her knees wide apart. Her vulnerability made her apprehensive—and I was going to give her the tongue-lashing of her life; I’d make her pay for all that teasing. I gave her one more heated look and then my head was between her legs, my hands resting on the soft skin of her inner thighs.

  I gave one long lick upwards and she moaned as her body convulsed. It was such a strong reaction even though I’d hardly started. I looked up, met her astonished gaze, and grinned back at her.

  I circled my tongue around the nub, then penetrated her as deep as I could go, tasting her, touching her, arousing her until everything she felt ended in primal cries and groans, growing louder.

  Needing to get still closer, I hooked my shoulders under her knees and lifted her lower body off the bed so her weight rested on her upper back.

  Her orgasm was fast and powerful, but I didn’t stop until her whole body was heated and limp, her face, chest and clit glowing.

  I’d done a lot of shit with a lot of women, but seeing my Caro laid out before me like that, I was so fucking turned on that I knew I was a heartbeat away from shooting my bolt. And I couldn’t wait.

  I let her hips drop to the bed, then positioned myself over her.

  “I’ve waited a very long time for this,” I said. Ten fucking years.

  I pushed inside her, increasing the pleasure, entering into her soft, wet pussy, inch by slow inch.

  “Fuck, you feel so good, Caro. I can feel you all around me. So fucking tight!”

  God, this was really familiar. How could it have been 10 years and still feel like it all happened yesterday? My body knew this, here, with her. It was fucking confusing.

  She ran her nails lightly down my back again, pressing the tips of her fingers into my muscles.

  I was trying to take it slowly, to make it last after all this time, but I couldn’t. My body disengaged from my brain and I started thrusting faster. Caro’s breath was burning across my chest, and I could feel her body trembling again. I looked down, even more aroused to see my dog tags dragging between her breasts, and below, my cock sliding in and out of her. That’s when I lost it. I fucked her hard. I fucked her until there was nothing but sensation joining us.

  I stared down into her beautiful brown eyes, eyes that scorched me with their trust, then I kissed her hard. But when she moaned out my name and tilted her hips up to meet me, my body and head exploded at the same time.

  She wrapped her legs around me, locking her ankles behind my waist and her pussy clenched, milking every last bit.

  My arms give way and I buried my face in her shoulder until my breathing began to return to normal.

  After a moment’s silence, I pressed my lips lightly against her neck, then pulled out slowly, holding onto the condom.

  Fucking things. They did the job, but it was never as good as going bareback—something I’d only ever done with Caro, and then only a few times.

  I rolled onto my back, peeling off the rubber and tossing it into the garbage can.

  She still hadn’t spoken and her silence was beginning to unnerve me. So I leaned up on one elbow to look at her, resting my free hand on my stomach and stroking her gently.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, planting a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.

  She avoided my eyes when she replied.

  “Yes, I think so,” she said carefully.

  Then she pushed my hand away and sat up.

  What the fuck?

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just to get some water,” she said, still refusing to look at me.

  She walked into the bathroom, pushing the door closed.

  What the hell had just happened?

  A few seconds later, I heard her running water into the sink and I waited for her to come out again, but she didn’t. I rolled out of bed, hesitated for a second then pushed the bathroom door fully open.

  She was standing in front of the mirror, a hairbrush held loosely in her hands.

  “Caro, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said, a weird fake smile on her face. “I’m fine.”

  She didn’t look fine. She looked totally freaked out—and her frozen expression was giving me chills.

  I took the brush from her hands and carefully brushed out the tangles from her glossy brown hair. It was soft and silky and so familiar—it had haunted my dreams for long enough.

  “You have beautiful hair, Caro. I’m glad you kept it long.”

  She shrugged, as if my words meant nothing.

  “Every now and then I decide to get it cut off, especially after I’ve been somewhere I haven’t been able to shower for a couple of weeks.”

  I couldn’t believe she’d even consider it.

  “That would be a crime,” I said quietly.

  “You can talk!” she snorted, pointing her chin at my buzz cut.

  “Believe me, babe, I’d grow it if I could. Maybe I should go to my CO and tell him my girlfriend wants me to…”

  Ah shit. So shouldn’t have said that. She wasn’t my girlfriend—I wasn’t anything to her.

  She sighed, our attempt at levity gone again, killed by a severe case of foot-in-mouth. I suspected it was terminal.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I keep forgetting which decade I’m in, too. It’s so strange.”

  I nodded, relieved that she understood.

  “Yeah, this is so weird, I feel the same. It’s as if nothing’s changed but everything’s changed. It’s like being in some crazy time machine. I keep expecting your husband to be banging down the door.”

  She winced, and I wanted to kick my own ass.

  “Fuck, sorry. I’m doing it again.”

  She smiled painfully.

  “Oh well, I imagine you’ve had some experience with husbands banging on the door.”

  No, I wasn’t taking that hit.

  “Don’t, Caro.”

  Our eyes met in the mirror, then she pushed past me, back into the bedroom.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Why did I keep on saying the wrong thing? I took a deep breath, then remembered that she’d come in here to get some water. I took the glass from beside the sink and filled it from the faucet.

  When I walked back into the bedroom, she was sitting on the bed, her back toward me. I walked around and handed it to her. She took a small sip before placing it on the cabinet.

  “Thank you.”

  I sat back on the bed, covering my lower half with the sheet. I tried to think of how to explain the confusion I felt—the confusion that she must feel, too. Our relationship, if you could c
all it that, had fallen apart 10 years ago, and now we were trying to fix it based on an hour of sex? Even I knew it would take more than that.

  “Caro, I know this is fucking weird but it’s good, too, isn’t it? I mean, not everyone gets a second chance.”

  “Is that what this is, a second chance?” she snapped. “But a second chance at what? A second chance to rip ourselves apart again?”

  She sounded pissed and made an obvious effort to calm herself.

  “Today was fun,” she said carefully, “and tonight was … good…”

  Just good? I came so hard I saw stars.

  “But the reality is this: I’m based in New York and spend between three and six months of the year away from home. You’re a Marine and go wherever they send you. Presumably this next tour of Afghanistan will be six months or maybe longer? And then where, because let’s face it, Sebastian, the chances of you getting posted to the Corps’ Division of Public Affairs in New York is slim to none—especially with your record. So I’m not sure what sort of ‘second chance’ you have in mind.”

  No way! No fucking way was she going to fuck us up again with this dumb crap!

  I leapt off the bed, glaring down at her, fists clenched and trying not to yell.

  “Christ, it’s like listening to an old record, Caro! You always try to think of reasons why we can’t be together!”

  Her expression was confused.

  “What do you mean ‘always’? I haven’t seen you for ten years.”

  “That’s the whole fucking point!” I yelled, my determination to keep calm crumbling. “You used to say this shit to me when I was 17, and you’re still doing it now. We wasted 10 years and you’re worried about a few thousand miles? Hell, we’ve got airplanes, we’ve got email, they’ve invented fucking cell phones. I could even take the shitty option of a billet on recruiting duty anywhere in the US. Jesus, if it comes down to it, I’ll even write you a fucking letter!”

  Her mouth dropped open then twisted as if she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry.

  “You write letters?” she asked.

  My shoulders relaxed slightly, but I was still angry and determined to force the point.

  “I’ll write you on both sides of the fucking paper, Caro.”

  A smile quivered at the corners of her mouth.

  “How can I refuse such an astonishing offer?”

  “Are you laughing at me?” I snapped.

  “Are you shouting at me?” she shot back.

  “Yes!”

  “Then, ‘yes’ to you, too.” She sighed again. “Look, today, tonight—it’s been fun. But like I said to you before, I’m really not looking to get tied down again. I work a lot and I love what I do. I’m still mad at you for screwing up my travel papers. I won’t get paid until I’ve filed a story, and I won’t be able to do that until I get to Leatherneck. All this time, I’m not earning—and I have a very expensive mortgage to finance.”

  I let my hands rest on my hips, not caring that I was utterly naked, and I looked her in the eye.

  “I’m sorry about the money, Caro, and I’m sorry that I made you mad at me again, but I’m not sorry about what I did. I hoped I’d get a chance to spend some time with you, but I would have done it just to keep you safe.”

  She shook her head. “This is getting us nowhere.”

  Defeated, I sat down on the edge of the bed with my back to her, letting my head hang down.

  Nothing I said seemed to change her mind. I took my final shot.

  “Caro, I’ve got 17 days before I ship out. I’d like to spend them with you. That’s all. If you don’t want to see me after that … well, I guess that’s it.”

  I turned to look at her over my shoulder.

  “What do you say?”

  She didn’t reply. I stood up, preparing to dress and leave before she broke me completely.

  But then she spoke.

  “I’m going to need a cushion to sit on if you expect me to ride on that motorcycle of yours all the way to Salerno.”

  She was saying yes?

  “Really? You’re sure?”

  “Well, to paraphrase you, what the hell.” She paused. “But I reserve the right to fly back if you’re being too much of an ass.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

  “Huh, well, you’d better give me a sliding scale of assaholic behavior, just so I know.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “That could be quite a long list.”

  “Try me.”

  “Okay,” she said, sitting up straight and diving right in. “First, no getting drunk and passing out in my bed; second, no more interference in my career of any kind—that’s a deal breaker; third, no territorial displays of adolescent jealousy; fourth…”

  Wow, that list was getting long already.

  I jumped on her, pinning her to the mattress, my kisses hard and determined. They weren’t the only things that were hard—just being near her was enough to get the juices flowing, and my dick was fighting its way through her bathrobe. But then she pushed me off.

  “What was that all about?” she asked breathlessly.

  I shrugged.

  “It sounded like a very long list, I thought I’d try to distract you.”

  “Diversionary tactics?”

  “Yeah, we’re schooled on that in the Marines,” I agreed, my lips twitching with a smile.

  “I bet you are! And by the way,” she said, pointing at my dick, “you can put that away—I’m exhausted. Somebody dragged me all over Switzerland and half of France today.”

  “Sure I can’t persuade you?” I asked, leaning down to bite her thigh.

  She jumped and pulled her robe together tightly.

  “Quite sure, thank you. This forty-year-old woman needs her beauty sleep.”

  God, that made me furious. She was beautiful—anyone could see it. Anyone but her, apparently. It irritated the fuck out of me that she was still playing the same riff from ten years ago.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that, Caro.”

  “Do what?” she asked, blinking in surprise.

  “Keep going on about your age. You’re older than me—I get it. And guess what? I don’t give a shit. I never did. I just wish you weren’t so hung up about it. It’s kind of annoying.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Feel free to say what you really mean, Hunter!”

  I grinned at her. “Okay.”

  She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest, but I could tell that she wasn’t really angry.

  “So, we can go tomorrow?” I asked. “Start our road trip?”

  “Well, I suppose so. But I don’t know how we’ll get my suitcase on the back of your motorcycle.”

  “Don’t worry about that. We’ll just take what you need and leave it at my place till we get back.” So far, so good. Time to take another step. “So, can I stay the night, or are you going to kick me out into the cold, dark world, all alone in a strange city, where foreign women might try and have their evil way with me?”

  Her eyebrow lifted as she stared back at me.

  “That’s a sob story, if ever I heard one, although I strongly suspect it’s a highly edited one.”

  “Is that a yes?” I asked hopefully.

  “It’s a yes, providing sleep is what you had in mind.”

  Nope. “Mostly. Good enough?”

  She shook her head, capitulating immediately. She really hadn’t put up much of a fight.

  “Fine. You want to use the bathroom first?”

  “No, go ahead.”

  I lay back on the bed, grinning up at the ceiling. Twenty-four hours ago it had seemed impossible that I’d ever be here again. Then I frowned, wondering what the reality was of making this work. I was a Marine: I went where they sent me. But then I figured other guys had wives and families—why couldn’t I? Sure, there’d be compromises, problems, but we’d deal.

  I took my turn in the bathroom and let her enjoy the f
loor show as I strolled around naked. If using my body was going to get her to give me a chance, that worked just fine for me. So, wearing my dog tags and a big smile, I sat down next to her then crawled across her body, dipping down to take a nipple in my mouth.

  “Sebastian, what are you doing?” she gasped.

  “Taking a shortcut,” I said, then stole another kiss.

  She reached up and pulled me deeper into the kiss before pushing lightly on my chest.

  “Sleep! Now!”

  “Sure I can’t change your mind?” I asked, eyeing the boner that was beginning to make its presence felt.

  “Oh, put it away!” she gulped, unable to take her eyes off my dick. “I’m tired.”

  There was always tomorrow. And I was a big fan of morning sex.

  So I let her win that one, sliding under the duvet on the other side of the bed.

  She turned off the light, and in the darkness of the room I sighed in contentment as my hand drifted over her waist. I kissed the back of her neck softly.

  “Night, baby.”

  As I fell into a deep sleep, I wondered if this time life would bring us back together or push us further apart.

  It was barely light when I woke abruptly. Caro was thrashing around in the bed, fighting the duvet, her eyes screwed shut and a terrified wail surging from her throat. Whatever she was dreaming about, it was some scary shit.

  I shook her awake and her panicked eyes blinked up at me.

  “Caro, are you okay?”

  She didn’t reply immediately, rubbing her hands over her face as awareness leaked back into her eyes.

  “Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?” her voice trembled. “I was dreaming.”

  “It sounded more like a nightmare.”

  “Sorry. Yes, I’m okay.”

  It hurt that she wouldn’t tell me what had upset her. It made me realize there was a lot we didn’t know about each other. And a hell of a lot I had to hide.

  She shivered and sat up, the duvet slipping down to her waist. I lost my train of thought as I stared hungrily at her breasts.

  “Your eyes are going to fall out, Hunter,” she muttered.

  “Just looking, boss,” I grinned.

  She stood up, stretching stiffly, then picked up her bathrobe and shuffled into the bathroom.