“What for?” I was genuinely confused.
“Well, mostly because I wanted that to last longer for you … but for nearly making you crash, too. Although you got me back.”
I smiled up at him. “Consider it a life lesson, Sebastian.”
He kissed me again. “I like your lessons, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me ‘ma’am’,” I grumbled at him. “That makes me feel even older.”
He silenced me with another kiss then pulled out carefully.
His face was suddenly chalky under his tan.
“What?” I said, struggling to sit up.
“I can’t find the condom!” he said, gazing at me in panic.
“What do you mean you can’t find it?”
“I mean … it’s not here!”
He pointed to his erection which was still very worth looking at. But he was right: no condom.
“It must have come off when you pulled out,” I said, not feeling too worried yet.
“I think … I think it must be still inside you!” he said, shock and horror mingling on his face.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, what?
“Just … just close your eyes, Sebastian,” I ordered.
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
I wasn’t going to go ferreting around up there with him watching. But search as I might, I couldn’t find anything that felt rubbery.
My cheeks must have been a brilliant, flaming red.
“I think I’m going to need the ladies room,” I muttered quietly.
“Do you want me to…?” he offered.
“No!” I said quickly.
But I couldn’t help a small laugh escaping.
“What?” he said, half-relieved, half-puzzled.
“We never seem to get a break, do we?” I sighed.
He pulled a face, twisting his mouth into the semblance of a smile. “Other than meeting you in the first place: not really, no.”
He finished buttoning up his jeans and gallantly passed me my panties.
“Thanks,” I said, a wry expression on my face.
“At your service,” he said, trying to stifle a smile.
At this point I decided I was going to have to start taking the contraceptive pill—I couldn’t afford anymore fuck-ups, so to speak.
Sebastian drove a couple of miles down the road and we found a mall that had a restroom.
“Are you sure you don’t want any help with the … um … situation?” he said, a salacious gleam in his eye.
“No, thank you,” I said primly.
He laughed and I stalked off to the restrooms.
It was some minutes before I was able to locate the missing condom. Who would have thought it could disappear so far … um … up. At this rate I was going to have dreams about my ovaries being tied in knots by miscreant latex.
When I finally emerged, Sebastian was wearing an expression of dismay. His face cleared instantly when he saw me.
“Everything okay?”
“It’s all in hand,” I smirked at him.
He squeezed my fingers and whispered, “Next time, I want to play hunt the rubber.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Can we please go and get that coffee now?”
He draped his arm around my shoulders, possessively. “Sure, baby.”
God, he made me feel like a teenager. Except that I wasn’t. I banished the thought and we headed off to Little Italy.
Papa Benzino kissed me warmly on both cheeks and swept Sebastian into a huge bear-hug, which he returned a little shyly. Mama B came running from behind the counter, dabbing at her eyes with an apron as if we were her long, lost family. They chattered away in Italian and I could tell that Sebastian was picking up more of the conversation than before. Perhaps I was doing him some good after all.
The nonna issued forth from her room over the shop and held my cheeks while she kissed me and told me I was glowing with love. Then she slapped Sebastian on the chest, felt his biceps and winked at me, repeating something that translated as, ‘a fine lover is like a good salami’ and threw me a knowing look.
Sebastian blushed, whether from her words or her touching, I couldn’t say, but it made me laugh out loud and he gave a grin that was embarrassed and amused at the same time.
A crowd of people on their lunch break came in to order food, sending the family scampering back to work, so we sat outside under a sun umbrella and sipped our coffees: espresso for me, regular for Sebastian.
“You didn’t tell me how your first day at work went?”
“Oh, that,” he said frowning.
“Was it bad?” I said, surprised.
“It … well, it wasn’t really what I was expecting,” he muttered, and for some reason he looked embarrassed again.
I rubbed the tip of my finger over his hand. “Tell me.”
“No, it’s just dumb.”
“Sebastian, you just watched me go fishing for a stray condom; it can’t be any dumber than that!”
He smiled wryly. “Yeah, that was pretty funny!”
“It won’t be funny if I get pregnant.” I reminded him.
He gaped. “Could you?”
“Well, of course I could; but don’t worry, I’m going to take care of it. I’ve decided it’s going to be safer to start taking the Pill. I can’t afford any more … accidents.”
Sebastian looked totally out of his depth at this sudden conversational segue. I steered us back to less controversial topics.
“You were saying about your first day at the country club?”
He frowned again, and I could tell he was wondering whether or not he should pursue the more serious subject. He shook his head and chose to follow my lead.
“Well, I thought I’d just be bussing tables but … they wanted me to do other stuff, too.”
“Like what?”
He hesitated, drawing patterns on the palm of my hand with his index finger.
“Sebastian?”
“It’s just kinda lame.”
“Tell me anyway; I won’t tell anyone,” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“They had me waiting tables,” he said finally. “Carrying food and drinks.”
“Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad. And…?”
“I had to wear a uniform.”
“That wasn’t a surprise, was it?”
Surely he didn’t have a problem with uniforms; he was the son of a Navy officer.
“Shorts and a polo t-shirt; they were a bit … tight.”
I was beginning to get the picture.
“Okay: shorts and a tight t-shirt. And…?”
He closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face.
“The women there … they … they grabbed me … a lot!”
And I laughed out loud; I couldn’t help it.
“So, basically, you’re telling me you’re a cabana boy—and that all the women were feeling you up.”
“I was supposed to be bussing tables!”
He sounded so indignant; it just made me laugh harder.
“I can’t blame them.” I teased. “Did you get any offers? Any phone numbers dangled in front of you?”
His cheeks reddened, and he stared at the table.
“You did! Sebastian!”
“I said no!”
He grimaced at me and I took pity on him.
“Tesoro, I’m not the least bit surprised—those places are notorious for hiring good-looking young men as a bit of eye-candy for the diamond-wife brigade. I bet your boss is a woman, right?”
He nodded unhappily.
“And she took one look at you and saw dollar signs. That’s all. You’ll just have to put up with a bunch of horny, older women shoving dollar bills in your back pocket for the summer. You think you can do that?”
“I guess. It’s not as much fun as I thought it would be.”
I fell a little bit more in love with him.
I stroked his cheek and rested my free hand on his knee.
“You can always get another job, Sebastian. Besides, they shouldn’t really have you serving drinks at your age. Do they know how young … how old you are?”
He raised his eyebrows. “They do, but I guess I look older than my age.”
It was my turn to blush, especially when I remembered my comment about ‘horny older women’. On the other hand…
“I think I’ll join.”
“What?”
“The country club.”
“Why?”
“I heard there are a lot of horny, older women there—I thought you might need some protection. Besides, it could be fun.”
A slow smile spread across his face.
“Yeah! That would be fun.”
“I’d tip well.”
“Would you throw me your phone number?”
“I think that could be arranged.”
My cell phone rang, interrupting us. It was a number I didn’t recognize, which made me nervous.
“Hello?”
“Caroline Wilson?”
“Yes, speaking.”
“This is Carl Winters, the editor at City Beat. I was just calling to say that I loved your ‘Base Line Up’ article. I’d like to run it in Thursday’s issue. You got some great photos there, too. The fee would be $325. And I’d love any other articles you’ve got on life out at the Base. Folk around here are real interested in stories on life from a military point of view. Between 1,500 and 2,000 words.”
“Wow! That’s great! Thank you! Yes, I’m sure I could write any number of articles on military life.”
“You’ve got a very nice writing style, Mrs. Wilson—really draws the reader in. I’m surprised I haven’t run across you before.”
“Oh!” That was a surprise—a good one. “We just moved here from the east coast.”
“I guess that explains it. Well, drop by the news desk sometime and we’ll sign you up to one of our standard freelance contracts.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you, Mr. Winters.”
“Call me Carl. It’ll be great to meet you, Caroline. And maybe next time we could send out one of our photographers with you.”
We hung up and I threw my arms around Sebastian’s neck. “City Beat is going to print the surfing article.” I said into his chest.
To the surprise of both of us, I started to cry.
“Hey! What’s the matter? This is good, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m just being stupid.”
He hugged me tightly. “I don’t understand.”
How could I explain? I wasn’t even sure I understood myself.
He stroked my back and kissed my hair, his touch soothing me. When my sobs finally ebbed, he leaned back and brushed the salty tears away with his thumbs, his face lined with concern.
“Caro? Why were you crying?”
I took a deep breath and tried to order my thoughts.
“It’s just … getting one of my stories printed. You know, someone saying that I’m actually good at something. I’m … not used to it. David never…”
I stopped mid-sentence as his face hardened.
“It was just a nice surprise,” I finished lamely.
He picked up my hand from the table and kissed it softly. “Yeah, I get that.”
We sat in silence for some moments.
“Come on,” he said at last. He stood up, still holding my hand.
“Where are we going?”
His expression softened. “To our place.”
“Our place?”
“The ocean.”
I smiled up at him. “Okay.”
CHAPTER 7
There’s something so restful about the ocean. Why is that? Perpetual motion, never still and yet it’s a soothing, peaceful, rolling, restless movement. Even the rage of a winter storm has a quality that strips away troubles, if only for a short time.
And it was our place—it was where Sebastian and I went to be ourselves for a few, brief, uninterrupted hours.
Even so, we had to be careful.
We walked in silence, away from the vacationing crowds that were beginning to populate the beach, until the nearest were mere pinpricks on the horizon.
Then, hand-in-hand at last, we stopped to find a secluded dune. I sank down into the warm sand and Sebastian pulled me to his side.
“Are you okay now?” he asked, anxiously.
“Yes. Sorry about that.”
I was embarrassed by my most recent loss of control. It seemed to happen around him a lot, as if some emotional levee had been breached after a decade, a lifetime of holding back.
Sebastian stroked my hair and said in a low voice, “Don’t be sorry. I just hate seeing you unhappy.”
I didn’t know how to reply so I just let him hold me.
For 19 years I’d been someone’s daughter and, for the next 11, someone’s wife. But what was I now? Could I have the chance of a career after all? Could I be something different, something else?
“What are you thinking about?”
I shook my head and smiled. “Not much. But I’ll have to come up with some more ideas for the City Beat—if he really meant what he said.”
“Of course he did. You’re a brilliant writer.”
“Well, thanks, Mr. Bernstein.”
His face fell and I immediately regretted my words.
“Sorry, I’m just a little freaked. Maybe you could help me come up with some ideas about life in a military family.”
He pulled a face. “Depends on the family.”
That was true.
“How are Mitch and Ches?”
It seemed an innocent enough question but Sebastian looked away.
“Okay, I guess. I’ve only seen Ches at work.”
“And?”
I waited for him to continue but he just carried on watching sand run through his fingers. “Sebastian, what’s the matter?”
He took a deep breath. “Ches said that he knew I was seeing someone.”
I felt the blood draining from my face.
“How?”
Sebastian looked at me anxiously.
“He got … when I wouldn’t tell him anything he started saying that there must be a reason and what was the problem. He kept on and on at me. He was just horsing around but… ”
Sebastian didn’t need to finish the sentence.
“What made him … suspect?”
“Well, at first it was because I haven’t been hanging out that much. He’s been asking me to go surfing with him and the guys, and when I kept on saying no … I guess he worked it out.”
“Then what … you said ‘at first’?”
His expression was evasive.
“Tell me!”
He sighed. “Ches saw me getting changed into my uniform at work.”
“So?”
“He noticed … scratches down my back.”
Oh! I remembered doing that.
“What did he say?”
Sebastian shrugged, unable to meet my worried gaze. On second thought, I didn’t need to know what Ches had said; I could probably imagine how that conversation had gone.
“I told him to drop it but he wouldn’t. I got so mad at him…”
“We’re not very good at this, are we?” I said softly.
“It’s harder than I thought,” he agreed quietly.
My heart lurched painfully and I felt a little nauseous.
“Do you want to end it?”
He looked at me, horrified.
“No! Caro, no! Of course not! That’s not what I meant! How can you say that?”
“Just … if it’s getting too hard…”
He pulled my face to his and kissed me roughly.
“Don’t say that! Please don’t say that! We’ll work it out somehow. Promise me you won’t give up on us, Caro. Promise!”
I felt the edge of desperation in his voice so I kissed him back, trying to pour reassurance into my touch; words that I couldn’t say out loud because I was afraid they might not be true.
He pulled me down onto the sand so I was half-lying across his chest. One hand was tangled in my hair and the other pressing into the small of my back. My lips crushed his and he forced his tongue into my mouth, locking us together.
I had to break off the kiss before we went too far; it was still mid-afternoon and I was hyper-aware that someone could stumble across us at any time.
Sebastian was reluctant to let me go and I had to push hard against his chest to make him release me.
I was breathless when we rolled apart. He threw an arm over his face and groaned softly.
“Fuck, Caro,” he said softly, and he turned to stare at me, his sea-green eyes accusing.
“We have to get back,” I said, cowardly as ever. “You’ll be late for your shift.”
I started trudging back up the beach and, reluctantly, he followed me.
“Don’t forget to bring me an application form for the country club,” I said, trying to lighten his somber mood.
He smiled slightly. “I guess I could take some day shifts, if you’re going to be there.”
“And maybe you’d better arrange to go out with Ches a few times.”
“What for?”
I sighed in exasperation. “To throw him off the scent and…”
“And what?”
“Well, if our plans work out, you won’t be seeing him again.”
His eyes widened in surprise. He clearly hadn’t thought about what he’d be giving up if we did make it to New York.
I looked at him steadily, watching him regain his equilibrium.
“Ches is a good buddy—but I love you: you’re where I want to be.”
And that was it: his alpha and omega.
I drove us back, torn between joy and fear, and wishing the night would race past so we could be together again.
A few blocks from his house, I pulled the car to the curb. He brushed his lips over my hand and got out quickly. “Tomorrow,” he said, and his words were not a question but an answer—and a promise.
The house, my so-called home, seemed empty and unwelcoming. It didn’t bother me, not really, not anymore, but I couldn’t help noticing the emptiness a little more each day.
I set up my laptop at the kitchen table and sketched out some topics for articles. I was pleasantly surprised by how easily the ideas flowed. Then again, after 11 years of being a military spouse, there wasn’t much I didn’t know about Base life. And David talked so much about the hospital that I pretty much wrote out an entire article in one go.