OBTP (14 page)

block out the early morning light that flooded the room. The sun in

Japan tended to rise bright and early. Moaning, she pulled the pillow

over her face and buried herself in the bed and fell back to sleep to the

smells of Casey filling her senses.

She did dream of him. His hands touching her the way he had the

night before, kissing her neck. But each time she looked at his face,

his eyes would blaze red and then go solid black.

* * * *

Jumping out of bed, wide awake in an instant, she threw on her robe.

Pushing the dream aside, her heart pounded in her chest and her

stomach did a little flip flop of excitement that Casey returned, a silly

smile plastered across her face and she yanked the door open without

looking.

But it wasn't Casey standing there. The smile faltered and she

stared in disbelief for a moment before stepping forward and kissing

him on the cheek. Stepping back, she motioned for him to come into

the room. Oh shit! Her mind raced to what had happened the night

before and nearly turned to sprint back into the bedroom to make sure

nothing of his had been left behind. She felt the heat rise up her neck

and spread across her face.

"How, how did you get on base?" She stammered, not believing

that Dalton actually stood in front of her. "When?"

Pulling his overnight bag behind him, he plopped down on the

couch, smiled and pulled her across his lap. His mouth found hers. It

was automatic to give him a quick kiss and pull back, but this time his

hand came up behind her head and held her in place, his tongue

slipped between her surprised lips and slid across her teeth.

This was so not supposed to be happening; she was stunned that her

husband had shown up. Out of the blue and in Japan of all places and

after what had happened the past couple of days. A couple hours

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sooner and he would have met Casey going out the door. She wanted

to crawl into the corner and die.

"Come on babe, aren't you happy to see me?" Dalton held her in his

arms, leaning back against the sofa and stared at her.

"Of course I am." She responded immediately. She knew her face

was still red. "I just didn't expect you to be standing there."

"I'm gonna jump in the shower, be out in a bit then we can go grab

lunch or something." Dalton pushed her from his lap onto the sofa

then stood.

"But aren't you tired after a sixteen hour flight?" Paige called to his

back while he walked away, running her hand through her hair, still

not believing that he was there.

"No, I got here yesterday. You were out. I didn't want to bother

you and I would just be sleeping anyway, so I got another room."

The shower came one while she paced, biting at the corner of her

fingernail. Then remember her fresh manicure and jerked her hand

out of her mouth. Rosa had planned on them going out again that

night and couldn't go now that Dalton was there. Dammit, she was

looking forward to going. Oh hell, what was she going to do now?

The guilt of what she had done slammed into her. Her stomach was

twisted in knots and she thought she was going to be sick. Her mouth

hung open. She looked around the room trying to think of a way out

of this mess.

"I'm going over to talk to Rosa." "Okay babe!"

Her breath caught slightly.

Pounding on the door, she pushed it open before Rosa could stick

her head around, and hurried into her room. She whirled around and

stared at Rosa wide eyed. "What the hell am I gonna do?"

"First of all, calm down, and second, what are you talking about?"

Rosa leaned against the countertop, her slender armed draped across

her stomach, her other hand lifting a glass of dark red wine to her lips.

Paige thought, it's a bit early for drinking wine, but oh well, that's

her life. Her moves looked effortless and so graceful. Paige had to

shake her head to get her thoughts back on track. "Dalton is in my

room." She started pacing and brought her hand to her mouth again,

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but dropped it just as quickly. That's why she never got her nails

done, because she always chewed the corners when she became

agitated.

"You should be happy to see him." Rosa told her, tipping the glass

back until it was empty. Licking her lips, she turned and washed the

glass out immediately.

"If I hadn't just gotten out of bed with another man I would be!"

She exclaimed a little too loudly.

"Darling, don't worry about that. Things will be fine." Rosa made

her way to the living room and lowered herself onto the sofa, patting

the cushion next to her for Paige to sit down.

She wanted to shake her head, to pull her hair out, to scream, to do

something other than just sit down. She couldn't believe she had

gotten herself into this and wondered how people cheated on their

spouses then faced them. Then wondered how the hell Dalton had

faced her after having slept with that woman for more than a year

during his affair.

She sank to the cushion and dropped her head back against the back

of the sofa with a groan. "Yes, he cheated on you and you got past it.

It lasted longer than it should have and it left scars on you, but you got

over it. He will get over this."

Rosa sounded so rational, wait a minute. Paige stared at her.
How

did she know what I was thinking
? With a frown, she opened her

mouth to ask, but clamped it shut when the dreams swam through her

mind.

Rosa stared back. "Just have to be patient. Things will work out.

We are going out again tonight; you will get the answers you need

tonight."

"What the hell has gotten in to you? Can you read my mind or

something? Did you become a psychic or a fortune teller without

telling me? Rosa this is freaking me out! I have never cheated on

Dalton until..." She couldn't even say his name out loud. Her hand

waved towards her room and she covered her eyes with the other. "I

can't do this and I can't go tonight."

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"Yes you can, and you will. It's not up for debate and Dalton is

already on board with going, so you can't stay in your room and pout."

"How is Dalton on board with this? Did you already talk to him?"

Then the realization hit her. "You knew he was here last night and

you are the one who got him on base." Paige jumped up from the seat

and stared down at Rosa with an accusing glare. "You knew he was

coming and you did set me up with Casey."

"Sit down Paige." Rosa's voice didn't raise, but Paige could feel the

command there and she automatically sat, which was strange to her.

This was all turning out to be one big cluster fuck and she didn't know

how to deal with it. She hated not knowing how to handle a situation.

Her life was ordinary, like clockwork and nothing unexpected ever

happened to her. Not until going to that damned club and meeting

Casey.

Just then she heard the bedroom door open and jumped when

Lamar came around the corner. Oh great, Rosa's husband was here

too. "When did you get here?" Paige gasped when she realized that

she had spoken loud enough for him to hear their conversation

through the bedroom door. Her face flamed once again.

"I flew in with Dalton yesterday." Lamar's white teeth flashed

against his dark chocolate colored skin. Paige had always admired the

rich darkness of his skin compared to smooth light milk chocolate of

Rosa's. Against her Latino coloring, their skin blended perfectly when

Rosa stood up and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and

gave him a long, lingering kiss.

Dalton hadn't mentioned Lamar being with him, but he really hadn't

had time she supposed. If Rosa could be so nonchalant about banging

her brains out on the very loveseat she and Lamar now leaned against,

couldn't she relax and enjoy having her husband with her?

Just then a knock sounded at the door. "The guys are going to run

grab some lunch." Rosa told her and crooked her finger at Paige,

motioning for her to follow her into the bedroom while Lamar headed

to the door and down the hallway with Dalton.

A stack of boxes lay on the bed and Rosa that damned secretive

smile was on her face. The logo from the store they had visited the

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day before was scrawled across the side and had the same little bows.

There was an assortment of sizes. Paige narrowed her eyes in

suspicion while Rosa passed the boxes to her.

There was no way Rosa would talk her into going out again tonight.

What if Casey showed up? How was she supposed to act then?

Would there be a scene? Would this cause an incident and would she

lose her job? Plopping down on the bed, her elbows on her knees she

cradled her head, rocking back and forth slightly. She couldn't believe

she was in this mess. She had actually been excited at the thought of

Casey being back at her door and had been disappointed.

She had never been disappointed to see her husband, especially

after being separated for six months. Sniffling, she realized she

needed to go take a shower. She was still in her robe and had not

showered since making love with Casey the night before. Then the

thought hit here that Dalton had showered in the same shower as her

lover and oh damn! Standing with a panicked look on her face, she

hurried towards the door. "I have to go."

Running to the bathroom, she glanced at the trash can, realizing she

hadn't done anything with the condom from the day before. It was

gone. Sagging against the door, she remembered the maids had

cleaned her room the evening before. She hurried into her room and

threw the covers up. She could still smell the lingering scent of Casey

on the pillows and sheets and groaned. There would be no reason for

Dalton to check the bed, she hoped.

She hoped like hell that Dalton hadn't noticed Casey's smell when

he had kissed her. Jumping in the shower, she looked almost

frantically around, snatched the bar of soap and scrubbed the smell of

her guilt from skin. If only it were that easy to scrub her mind.

Her skin was raw by the time she rinsed and grabbed the towel to

dry off. Lifting her leg up to the side of tub she leaned over and

noticed the bruises on her thighs. Her eyes darted to her hips and she

cringed at what she saw. How the hell was she going to explain finger

shape bruising like that? Then thought, it wasn't likely Dalton would

see her naked anyway. They would go to bed, him in his boxer shorts;

her in the same old knee length night gown she usually wore. A few

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minutes of watching television, he would turn over and go to sleep

while she laid there wide eyed staring up at the ceiling until she fell

asleep. Then since they had been apart for so long, about thirty

minutes later when she was just dozing off, he would turn over and

snuggle for a moment, poking her backside with his hard on.

With the towel wrapped around her she shook her head and slipped

into her room and pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over her

underwear and bra. She was pulling on her tennis shoes when the

door opened and Dalton sauntered into the room.

"Perfect timing." He held the door open for her to proceed him out

and over to Rosa's quarters where lunch waited.

Sitting around the small table, Rosa and Lamar were snuggled up to

one another, giving each other bites of food. Paige was envious of

their closeness and wondered why Dalton couldn't be more

affectionate, while trying to keep the thoughts of Casey far from her

mind as possible. Just then Dalton's hand landed on her lower back

when she leaned forward and took a bite. The unexpected caress

caused her to choke on the fried rice she had inhaled.

Teary eyed, she coughed up the offending rice and set her chop

sticks down with a shake of her head. "Okay, I'm done." She

whispered hoarsely, her voice cracking from the strain of coughing so

hard, her throat throbbed.

A glass of wine was placed in her hand and she thankfully took a

big swig, and then coughed once more when the warm liquid slid

down the back of her throat. It tasted strange, a slight coppery taste

filled her mouth and she pushed the half empty glass away and

glanced around. Everyone else was drinking just fine, so it had to be

her. Maybe she was getting sick or something.