A Marine Affair (2 page)

“Still here?” Mild surprise echoed in Eli’s voice. He leaned against the door frame of the kitchen. He’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was still damp, his too-blue eyes narrowed and suspicious.

“Left my car at the airport.” Rick handed him a plate with a sandwich. “And I made lunch. Eat. Want another beer?” He thought Eli might refuse the food, his cool stare freezing him out.

Eli took the plate. “Thank you.”

Rick grabbed a cold beer out of the fridge and passed it over. They carried their food into the living room, where Eli picked up the remote and turned on the television. Channel-surfing to a sports station, he stared at the scores. Rick may as well been invisible for all the attention Eli paid him, but the man hadn’t thrown him out yet—so he took that as a positive sign.

Eli focused on the television, but Rick studied him. As a field sniper, Eli would outlast him every damn time. But Rick understood the value of riding out the turbulence. Sooner or later, he would have to talk to him. Rick simply needed to be present for it to occur.

When they finished their sandwiches, he took the dishes into the kitchen, made coffee then checked his messages. The silent treatment continued. If Eli didn’t want him making himself at home, that would require talking, wouldn’t it? A commercial played on the screen when he re-entered the living room. He carried an extra mug with coffee for Eli, to find him stretched on the sofa, sound asleep. Unwilling to wake him, he retreated back to the kitchen and left the extra coffee on the counter.

He’d replayed their argument before Eli’s deployment in his mind a million times in the last twelve months and hoped the anger separating them had dimmed, but it had only cooled to indifference. An indifference that cut him far deeper than anger ever could.

“No.” Eli growled, irritation flaming to life in his sleep-roughened voice.

They’d spent the weekend at one of their favorite hunting cabins in the Shenandoah. The trips there served two purposes—absolute privacy, and open land where they could hike, roam and just be themselves. Eli hated city living and while Rick preferred the creature comforts, he wanted to be with his lover, more. When they’d discovered the retreat nearly eight years before, it quickly became a favorite destination every time they were both home from deployment.

They sprawled in bed. He should be spent from Eli’s frenzied wake-up call—the man knew every place to touch him, from the stroke along his nuts to the deep, wet kisses that left both of them with cheeks reddened from stubble burn. Not that Rick complained: Eli made for a demanding lover who wrenched every drop of pleasure from him before taking his own. His body tingled at the memory. He traced a finger over Eli’s thick biceps. “Just hear me out….”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Rick. I heard your argument last night. All three-and-a-half fucking hours of it.” Eli launched off the bed and paced toward the bathroom. “Can we just enjoy the damn weekend?” The bathroom door slammed behind him.

“You realize that you walk away from every discussion you don’t want to have?” Rick called after him. “This isn’t some flight of fancy. It’s been a year, Eli. A year during which we could have stopped sneaking around. I could introduce you to the doctors on my staff—we could go to my parents for dinner and not worry if we leaned on each other. I’m not the corpsman in your unit any longer, and you’re not my commanding officer—there’s nothing to stop us.”

Eli answered by turning the shower on.

Swearing, Rick shoved the covers back and climbed out of the bed. He wouldn’t let him keep putting off the discussion. They’d agreed to table it when word came down that the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy could be repealed in the first place because they wanted to wait and see what happened.

He’d waited long enough.

Joining him in the shower, he found Eli standing under the spray, an arm braced on the wall. Hot steam filled the tiny bathroom. Rick slid his arms around the man and his cock gave a little twitch as it brushed against Eli’s taut ass. Biting down lightly on his shoulder, he hugged him.

Bit by bit, the tension cording Eli’s body relaxed and he placed his hand over Rick’s on his belly. “Thought we might hike to Bridger’s Point today.” Another personal favorite—they hiked for hours, set up camp and made out under the stars in warm weather.

“We can do that,” Rick murmured, nuzzling his shoulder. “But I want to finish this discussion.”

Eli’s body tensed again and he pulled away. “I don’t.”

“Tell me why?” He wanted—no, the hell with that—he needed a reason. They’d waited. Ten years of solid relationship, they were good together. But he was tired of being secretive about it—not when their careers didn’t depend on it anymore. Every bit the lifer that Eli was, Rick respected their code.

“We have a lot better things to discuss than this….” Eli turned and pinned him to the wall. Their cocks rubbed together and Rick’s fledgling erection grew. Eli didn’t give him any time to respond before closing the gap between them, his mouth heavy and demanding. Their tongues thrust together, dueling for supremacy. Desire streaked out from Rick’s core, igniting the languid pleasure, turning it into a burning need.

He’d always wanted Eli. Even while standing on opposite sides of the parade ground, under the watchful gaze of their commanding officers, one brief glimpse could send lust surging through his blood. He tasted of mint, and wholly masculine. Not content with simply kissing him, Eli’s hands stroked over his body and massaged Rick’s ass.

Their cocks throbbed to life between them. “Heads or tails?” Eli murmured between kisses and Rick laughed.

“Condoms?” he challenged. Although he wanted to go down on him, sliding into him would be preferable. He’d given Eli the honors the night before, but balancing who took top worked so much better for them.

“On the back of the toilet.” Eli kissed a path down his neck and wrapped a hand around Rick’s cock, stroking it until a drop of pre-cum beaded the tip. The hot water pummeled their skin. Rick reached out to find the bowl of condoms they kept in the bathroom, fumbling until he had an unopened one.

Eli’s mouth wrapped around his cock. All the blood in his brain rushed south and he thudded back against the cool tile, exhaling through his teeth. Eli sucked him hot and hard, pulling him deep until the tip bounced the back of the man’s throat, then releasing him. His hand snaked underneath until he cupped Rick’s balls and massaged them with gentle squeezes at every swallowing motion.

“Keep that up and I’m going to come….” Rick panted. They were supposed to be talking, but he couldn’t keep two thoughts together when Eli touched him, and damn the man, if he didn’t know his body so well.

A deep chuckle vibrated around the head of Rick’s cock and his hips jerked—molten pleasure seized his nerves. Catching the man’s head, he pushed Eli away and sheathed his cock. Electricity skated up and down his spine. Eli watched him with lazy eyes, toying with his own cock, and heat pooled in Rick’s balls. Nothing got him off more than watching his lover touch himself.

“Position,” he growled and Eli’s languid smile took on a predatory air. It didn’t matter that he let Rick top him, he maintained all the control.

Obediently, Eli turned into the spray and put a hand on the wall, but his other hand stayed on his cock. He would jerk himself off. Sucking in a breath, Rick spread Eli’s ass cheeks, and tested the rim of his anus. The tight ring of muscles loosened with a little pressure. He wanted to ram his cock in, let the tight ring pump him dry—but he wouldn’t hurt him.

He grabbed the lube they kept in the shower—like the condoms, the men kept it everywhere, liked to be prepared—and eased a finger into him. His cock throbbed, aching for release, but he forced patience. The slap and tickle of Eli’s hand working his own cock drove Rick wild.

“Don’t come until I’m in,” Rick warned, sliding a second finger inside.

Eli let out a harsh breath. The muscles on his neck flexed and his shoulders shook from the force of his own strokes. When Rick could slide in a third finger, he pulled his hand away and lined his cock up.

The first push earned a gasp from both of them. Eli’s hand slowed and they worked together to seat Rick’s cock deep. Leaning his head back, Rick grasped Eli’s hips. “Are you close?”

“Yeah.” The word rode on a harsh exhale and Rick grimaced at the need bunching up his balls. He rocked back and then slid in again and they both hissed at the pleasure of it. Finding his tempo, he began a slow, rhythmic thrust that Eli met. Biting his shoulder, he found Eli’s cock and teased it with a few strokes and then reached down further, teasing the soft skin of his balls.

“You can come now….” He’d barely finished the last word and Eli went at his own cock hard, pumping it with long strokes as Rick encouraged him. He came with a hard shout, his ass clenching hard, and Rick let out a shout as his own orgasm crashed down on him.

They shuddered together, rocking through their release until they could only lean against the shower wall. Thankfully, the hot water made clean up a simple process. Rick waited until they were dressed before bringing up the subject again.

“Now that our pants are on, I really do want to talk about this….”

He didn’t get much further because Eli stared at him and shook his head. “Let it go, man, or I’m out of here.”

“You cannot shut me out like that and expect that I’m just going to be your bitch and say okay.” Anger bubbled up to the surface. “We’ve waited. You’ve blown me off—hell you just wanted to fuck in the shower to shut me up. I get that and I let you do it. But Eli—we need to talk about this.”

“No. We don’t. Let it go, Rick, let it go and let’s go hike and fuck and have fun, or I’m out.” Mutiny tightened Eli’s expression, but Rick couldn’t let it go. He wouldn’t. They were both stubborn, they were both hardheaded, he had to stay in the game and at least have a real discussion about it.

“No. I think we owe it to ourselves—”

Five minutes later, Eli had thrown his stuff into his rucksack and stalked out of the cabin. Rick thought he might have just needed to cool off, but Eli climbed in his truck and drove away.

He never answered his cell.

He didn’t call back.

Instead, he returned to base and deployed three weeks later. Rick could forgive his absence. He could even forgive the way he walked off. His lover had a temper.

What he couldn’t forgive was the fact that after everything they’d been through, he wouldn’t let Rick in.

No more.
You’re home this time, buddy, and we’re going to resolve this—you don’t get a clean extraction from my life.

I won’t allow it
.

Chapter Two

Eli barely closed the truck door before being assaulted by three squealing girls. Falling to his knees, he wrapped his arms around the little blonde bombshells vying for his attention. Emily, Kate, and Lucy—ages seven, six and four—were the lights of his life.

“I lost a tooth.”

“Daddy took the training wheels off my bike.”

“I can spell my name—L-U-C-Y.”

“Can you fix the doll house?”

“I want to go get ice cream.”

“Are we building the tree house today? Daddy said if you got here early enough, you could help with the
flatform
.”

“Piggyback!”

“Want to play Uno?’

Their chatter surrounded him with love. The scents of lemon, lavender, and way too much talc and Chanel No. 5 said they’d been playing in their mother’s bathroom.

Hooking Emily onto his back, he scooped Kate and Lucy up, one under each arm and strode toward the house. His brother-in-law grinned at him and rescued Lucy so they could shake hands. “Welcome home, Eli.”

“Hey, Phil. How’s it going?”

“Good, man. How was Africa?” Phillip Crosswell made a good husband for his sister. Rock steady, the man worked hard nine-to-five every single day and came home to his family.

“Hot. How’s my sister?” He juggled his nieces and followed Phil into the split-level, model suburban. Toys lay scattered across the floor, a basket with freshly laundered towels and blankets partially blocking the front door. His sister’s cat sat on the back of the sofa surveying the chaos and gave him a bored look.

“Exhausted. Happy. You know how she is with a baby.” Phil chuckled. Eli knew exactly how Christina felt about babies—she loved being a mother. When they were kids, she told them stories about how many children she planned to have. At number four, she was halfway to her goal. “Come on, girls, let Uncle Eli go see Mommy and I’m sure he’ll play with you before he has to go.”

Setting his nieces down, Eli held up his keys. “Before I do that—who here has been a good girl?”

“Me!”

“Me!”

“No, pick me! Me!”

Chuckling, he handed the keys to Emily. “If you look in the back seat of the truck, you might find something Santa delivered to me overseas by mistake.”

They charged out shrieking, their father in close attendance. Eli waited until he heard the next set of squeals when they discovered all the wrapped presents in the backseat before climbing the stairs. He knocked gently on the master bedroom door.

“Come in.”

Opening the door slowly, he peeked inside. “Are you decent?”

“Never.” Christina sat up in the bed, a swaddled bundle of blue in her arms. She’d trimmed her hair since the last time he’d seen her. She liked to get a haircut before a baby came, declaring it made those first exhausting weeks with the infant easier. Pixie-short, her auburn hair curled against her forehead.

“Good to know.” He walked over and dropped a kiss on her forehead before sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Give me my nephew.”

Her lips curved into a beaming smile. “Uncle Eli, please let me introduce you to Mitchell.”

Mitch
.

The name punched him in the gut. His smile wavered and he accepted the baby carefully. The ruddy, scrunched up face was still wrinkly, but a thatch of auburn hair crowned his head. “You named him after….”

“Yeah.” Christina put a hand on his leg and squeezed. “I talked to Phil about it and he agreed with me.”