Patriotic Duty (6 page)

His hands were exploring
my soapy breasts now and I turned around and grabbed his head, pulling him
towards me and kissing him with everything I had. Pushing me closer to him with
both hands on my hips, I groaned as his manhood pushed against my belly.

“God, Cara, I want you so
bad,” he whispered in my ear.

I shuddered and said, “So
take me,
soldier
.”

He kissed me again, almost
violently, and with his strong, muscular arms picked me up under each thigh
with ease. I grabbed the built-in bar that was bolted to the wall (I think an
old person may have lived here before me) and with my help, he impaled me right
on top of him and I let out a squeal and a huge moan.

We stayed like that, just
kissing as the water cascaded over both of us until it started to turn cool. I
cranked the handle to the off position, and Riley carried me out of the
bathroom and onto the bed where our wet bodies continued their dance until we
were both gasping for air.

Afterward, I went to the
bathroom to grab a towel to dry off my hair and then wrapped it around me.

“So what are you doing
here so early?” I asked him as I brushed out my hair.

His blue eyes twinkled at
me. “Get your ass back in bed.”

I stopped brushing
mid-stroke and forced a straight face. “Excuse me?”

“Please?” he said, smiling
and opening the sheets with a flourish.

I stripped my towel off
and slid between them and up against his warm body. He wrapped his arms around
me and buried his face in my neck while lightly running his fingers up and down
my arm. As I drifted off to sleep, it occurred to me that he never answered my
question as to why he was here earlier than expected, and decided I’d ask him
tomorrow.

Saturday came and went,
and when Sunday rolled around, I was giddy with excitement. Riley wouldn’t tell
me what our July 4
^th
plans
were,
only that
he had a surprise for me and was doing an annoyingly good job at keeping it a
surprise.

With the GPS set on his
phone, we left around one p.m., and after an hour of driving, we pulled up to a
huge amphitheater. The sign outside read:
Tim
McGraw Live in Concert!

I looked at him with wide
eyes. “Seriously, you are taking me to a country music concert?”

He looked over at me after
he parked the car and turned off the engine. “Yes. You will love it, I
promise.” He leaned over and kissed me on the nose.

Over the last month or so,
I hadn’t fought him on the radio, and I had to admit that the music was
beginning to grow on me… a little. But I wasn’t sure I was ready to sit through
a few hours of it without any alcohol. But then I decided that this was a nice
gesture on his part, and he did it because he wanted to make me happy, so I
shut up and rolled with it.

The concert was fabulous.
This guy was very entertaining in concert and he really kept my interest. You
could hear the soulful heartbreak emanate from his voice during the ballads,
and the raw excitement during his fast-paced songs. Riley seemed to be
thoroughly enjoying himself, and a couple of times he leaned down to kiss me.
He held my hand and had his arm around me the whole time. I had a great
time,
even though I did see his eyes wander a few times. I
tried not to let it bother me, and told myself, as I always did, that he’d be
gone soon anyway.

At the very end of the
concert, a huge fireworks display was put on by the band and Tim sang the Star
Spangled Banner in such a way that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Cowboy
hats and baseball caps were placed reverently on the chests of every man there
and the sight of the fireworks lighting up the faces of the concertgoers made
my eyes misty. It was truly one of the best times I’d ever had.

On the way home from the
concert, he pulled my car out of the parking lot and found the interstate, and
I was staring at him. He had a nice profile and I especially loved it when he
had a fresh haircut.

“What?” he asked, looking
at me sideways as he watched the road in the
dark.

“Thank you for the
concert. That was my first.”

His eyebrows
raised
. “That was your first concert – like, ever?”

I
unwrapped
a piece of gum and popped it in my mouth, shaking my head. “No. I went to a few
of those summer concerts during high school where they have all the popular
artists together, you know? But I’ve never been to a country concert.”

He chuckled. “Of course
you hadn’t. You were still listening to that Top-40 crap until I showed you the
light.”

I shook my head again.
“You’re insane, Riley Forrester.”

He put his hand on my bare
thigh and slid it up my jean skirt until I gasped a little. “And you’re hot as
hell.”

I bit my lip and put my
hand on his. “You’re a bad boy, aren’t you? I bet you’ve got a girlfriend in
every port.”

He laughed and then almost
choked. “I’m not in the Navy, so don’t ever, ever compare me to a squid ever
again.”

I was confused by this and
just stared at him with my brows furrowed together.
“Squid?”

“It’s what we call the
Seamen. I don’t have a girlfriend in every port because I don’t use ports to
travel. We go by air, baby.” He made a motion like an airplane with his hand
and I laughed.

“Uh, ok. Ok well,
then
you must have a girlfriend at every airport.”

He snorted. “We don’t use
airports either. Okay, well sometimes, but we fly out of the bases. So what I
think you mean to say is, I must have a girlfriend in every city or base.”

I raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, smartass, do you?”

We hit a red light and he
looked over at me, the glare from the signal lighting up his face red, and I
stared at him. “I know you think I do, but I don’t. Not to mention, I see how
men look at you. You could have any guy you want and you know it.”

I saw his face illuminate
green and I smiled at him.

“What?” he asked.

I pointed towards the
windshield. “Go.”

He grinned and stepped on
the gas.

CHAPTER 8

Riley
showed up every weekend, and occasionally on weeknights and spent them with me,
and I had grown quite attached to him. I did my best to keep him away from
Aiden, but occasionally their paths would cross. Aiden was a friendly kid and
he and Riley got along pretty well. We used the weekends he was with his dad to
go to rodeos, concerts, movies, dancing, and whatever else we could do. Riley’s
touch was never far away and one time, we spent the whole weekend inside,
making love and just talking and watching movies.

One weekend, I had been
invited to a wedding by a lady I worked with. The wedding was actually for her
daughter, and when I asked if I could bring a date, she replied, “Absolutely.”

“Hi,” Riley said as I
picked him up after work on Friday. He leaned over and kissed me softly on the
mouth and it sent a tingle throughout my body.

I drove off the base and
could feel him staring at me. I cleared my throat. “So, uh, how was your week?”

“It was way too long. It’s
hard to only see you on the weekends.”

I gave him a sideways
glance and smiled. “I agree. What are you going to do when you have to leave
and never get to see me?”

He frowned. “I don’t know.
It’s going to suck and I don’t like thinking about it.”

“Me, either,” I whispered.

There was a palpable
silence filled with sadness in the air of the car, which I didn’t like. I
didn’t like it for two reasons, the first being that I shouldn’t be sad about
him leaving, and the second being that he shouldn’t, either. But here we were,
sad and dreading the day he was going to leave. What had we got ourselves into?
I turned up a crooning Jake Owen song on the radio to drown out the dreadful
silence.

“So, um,” I said, “my
coworker’s daughter is getting married tomorrow. Do you want to go with me to
the wedding?”

He nodded immediately.
“Sure, I’d love to. But I have nothing to wear, I only brought shorts.”

“Well then, looks like we
need to go shopping,” I said, as I steered towards the mall.

I parked in the Macy’s lot
and we walked inside, the air conditioning a nice break, as it was another
unseasonably hot day for California. We wandered into the men’s department and
began looking through racks of clothes. I had no idea how to buy men’s clothes
so I let him lead, just following him.

He held up a denim shirt
and I shook my head. “No.”

“What’s wrong with this?”
he frowned.

I raised an eyebrow.
“We’re going to a wedding, not a rodeo.”

“I wouldn’t wear this to a
rodeo,” he said seriously.

I laughed. “Okay.”

He eventually found some
khaki pants and a black button-up shirt and after he paid and we left, he suggested
we go eat dinner.

As we sat down in the
small Italian restaurant, the server took our drink orders, and as she walked
off, Riley grabbed my hand, softly stroking his thumb across it. “I’m so glad I
get to spend another weekend with you, Cara. I feel like our time is getting
short,” he said with a flash of tenderness in his eyes.

I nodded and looked down,
but didn’t say anything.

“Cara. Look at me,” he
said, and I obeyed. “I know you think you’re going to just get rid of me when I
leave, but you’re not. We’ll find a way.”

I smiled at him, taking in
every inch of his face, the deep, dark blue of his eyes and his full lips that
I just wanted to kiss. I realized I was memorizing him in case he left and I
forgot him. I mentally chastised myself for it, and simply replied, “I guess
we’ll have to see. There are no guarantees here, Riley, and it’s not healthy
for either of us to believe this can go further than this summer.”

He frowned,
then
nodded, grabbing his menu and looking it over. I
watched him for a second then looked at my own menu, trying to fight back
tears. What I said had been a little blunt and cruel, but sadly, not untrue. I
couldn’t fall for this beautiful soldier boy. I just couldn’t… but deep down, I
knew I already had.

***

The wedding the next day
was sunny and beautiful. It was held outdoors near Stanford University, a lush
green garden with lots of flowers and rows of white chairs lined the garden. As
we sat, I looked at the gorgeous white iron arch that the young couple stood
under, and inhaled the smell of honeysuckle and jasmine as they said their
self-written vows. I listened intently to them, hoping that the couple was
luckier than I’d been when I got married as young as they were. I don’t profess
to be so much wiser only six years older than they are, but sometimes
experiences will age you beyond your years, and being betrayed as I had been by
my ex had taught me a lot. Coupled with my current profession, I sometimes
found myself not trusting of others. I was so angry with myself for falling for
Riley the way I was, yet just the thought of him exhilarated me in ways nobody
else had. It was like I was waking up from a long sexual sleep and wanted
nothing more than to spend all my free time lying in bed with him. As much as I
tried to tell myself it was simply physical between us, I knew that was a lie I
wasn’t going to be able to feed myself very much longer. The chemistry between
us went bone-deep, but it also reached into the furthest part of my brain, and
was beginning to dig its way into my heart.

The reception was in a
separate part of the garden, and after the ceremony, Riley and I made our way
to a small table under a large tree and he put his arm around my chair,
stroking my bare arm with his fingers. He pulled me in close and whispered in
my ear. “You look beautiful in that short dress. I can’t wait to take it off
you later.”

His breath in my ear sent
a shiver down my neck and I smiled despite myself. I turned my face to look at
him and he was grinning pervasively at me and I grinned back. I leaned in and
kissed his mouth and he happily accepted. My stomach flopped with his kiss, and
as his hand moved up my thigh under the table, we heard someone clear their
throat. I turned and looked into the face of my coworker.

“Hi, Jan,” I said, chagrinned.

Jan, a woman in her late
forties, worked with me as a caseworker and was the mother of the bride. She
smiled at us and said, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Jan, this
is Riley Forrester.”

He stood and shook her
hand.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

She blushed a little at
his forward manner and said, “Nice to meet you, too. But don’t call me ‘ma’am’
– it makes me feel old!”

He nodded and the corner
of his mouth kicked up. “
My apologizes
.”

“Well, I need to go
mingle. I hope you guys like the food. It cost me a fortune!” She looked at
Riley then looked at me and winked.

I shook my head and looked
at Riley. “Nice lady,” he said.

“Yes, she is. Let’s eat,”
I replied.

It was a nice wedding, and
I kept my eye on the bride and groom, watching their body language. They seemed
to be truly in love and I really hoped they made it. I knew couples who had
married young and were still married twenty years later, and I hoped they’d be
one of those couples.

Once we had congratulated
the couple and said our goodbyes to Jan and her husband, we climbed into the
hot car and cranked up the air conditioning. I let Riley drive because I’d had
about three glasses of champagne. I was feeling very tipsy and giggly and was
glad I had gotten out of there before I made a fool out of myself in front of
Jan and some other coworkers.

As we entered the freeway
and began crossing the bridge, I looked over to the incoming bay water and
watched as sunbeams danced over its peaking surface, the glints of sunlight
playing on it. White-capped waves moved slowly and I saw a large tugboat
heading toward our bridge’s drawbridge. I saw the lights on the bridge begin to
flash red, and I looked at Riley. “The bridge is
gonna
go up, be sure you stop.”

He shot me a look and
said, “Thanks, captain obvious.”

When he looked back at the
road, I shook my head and bit my lip and looked at Riley from head to toe. I
reached over and ran my hand up his leg and he looked down at my hand as it slowly
inched up and came to rest on his crotch. “Ever had a blow job while driving?”
I asked in my most seductive voice, which probably came out slurred.

He grinned.
“Road-head?
No.”

Just the fact that he had
a nickname for it let me know he was lying, but I didn’t care. I unsnapped and
unzipped his stiff khakis to find an equally as stiff member underneath them. I
stroked it a little bit, then leaned forward and placed my mouth over it. He
sucked in a breath and gently rested his hand on my hair, encouraging me on.

I felt the car slow as we
neared the open bridge but I kept on. I could hear him moaning softly as I
continued caressing him with my mouth. I rubbed my hand gently up and down his
length, as I did so, and I felt his whole body stiffen.

“Cara, oh…” I heard as I
looked up to see his head thrown back and briefly wondered if the drawbridge
had closed yet and if were holding up traffic. I swallowed because I really had
no other choice and lifted my head up and wiped my mouth with my finger,
grinning at him.

“Damn, woman, I’m
gonna
start calling you ‘Magic Mouth’,” he said softly.

I bit the side of my mouth
and replied, “I doubt you’ll be forgetting about that
road-head
any time soon.”

He nodded with a lazy grin
and hit the gas as I pointed at the now-flowing traffic.