Once a Marine (5 page)

She opened her eyes. He handed her the bottle. “Your turn.” He turned his back, the back she’d been drooling over all morning, and waited. BD squirted body wash across his big shoulders. She rubbed the slippery, coconut-scented concoction into his back and upper arms. Memorizing every muscle as she went, she worked her way to his bottom. And what a bottom. As she soaped his legs she pressed her lips and teeth to his butt.

Rafi yelped at her bite and whipped around, smacking her on the cheekbone with his rough-and-ready business. “Oops, sorry.” He grabbed her as she was about to fall over. “Did I hurt you?” He pulled her to her feet.

She retrieved the bottle and squirted his chest. “Not yet.” No, not yet he hadn’t, but there was a very good possibility he might. A girl could dream, couldn’t she? She made quick work of the front of his body, saving the best for last. “I think this area needs some special attention, don’t you?” Her hands were everywhere. Where was this coming from? She wasn’t like this. She didn’t have a clue what to do next.

They stood under the showerheads, one from each side, watching the suds swirl down the drain on the natural rock floor. The dappled sunlight warmed her shoulders. Rafi reached out and pushed the button to turn off the spray. He stared into her eyes, placed his hands on her shoulders, and tipped her the briefest of nods.

Yes. Yes, she wanted to do this. Boy, did she ever want to do this. She stepped close to him. Stood on tiptoe and placed her lips below his collarbone, the highest place she could reach. She took her time working her way down his chest, to his navel, and finally the place she aimed for. She gazed up. He stared at her. She smiled, took him in her mouth, reached around, and grabbed his bottom to keep from melting to the floor.

Overwhelmed with ecstasy, her body vibrated with a passion she’d never experienced. Never. Her moan was real; his unrestrained. Rafi’s steel fingers held a painful grip on her shoulders. Afraid he was leaving bruises, she hoped that he was. She experienced an out-of-body moment. She didn’t want it to end.

Rafi jerked back. “Jesus! We gotta stop, Bravo Delta. Where in hell did you learn how to do that?” He tugged her, she resisted.

“I just now learned how to do this, and I don’t want to stop, flyboy.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Pay for another hour, cheapskate.” She resumed her lesson.

Rafi’s legs trembled. Her thoughts went into high gear. She was doing it right. She bet she could bring him to his knees. She was sure she could bring him to his knees. He wasn’t so tough.

She found it difficult to smile and continue her present activity at the same time, but somehow she managed.

Rafi let out a shout that likely threw fear into the hearts of bad guys all the way to Kaneohe Bay. Those green jarheads on the beach couldn’t even imagine this feeling. They didn’t have a clue. In all honesty he hadn’t had one until this very moment. He slid to the floor. His head dropped back.

BD stood over him. She turned on the shower and tilted her face into the nearest spray. Water sluiced over her face and ran down her body, splashing him in a refreshing rush.

She looked down at Rafi and laughed. “You’re not such a tough guy after all.” She turned a circle under the shower. “You need help to get up?”

He nodded his dazed head. “Yeah, I do, but gimme a minute. I need a minute.” He raised his knees, flopped his elbows on them, and dropped his head. She ruined his equipment, totally. “Turn off the water and sit down for a minute, sunshine.”

BD pushed the button, slicked back her hair, and sat next to him on the not-so-comfortable, sun-warmed black stone floor. “Hope I didn’t hurt ya, Marine.” Her giggle had all the signs of self-satisfaction.

“You sandbagged me, Bravo Delta. I planned to teach you something. Holy crap, you really sandbagged me.” He shook his hair and plopped a big hand on top of her head. “I’m done. I’m finished.”

“Like hell you are, big boy.”

“Look at me. Look what you did.” He made his expression sorrowful. “Have some pity.”

BD laughed and patted his knee. “Yeah, looks pitiful all right, but I’m pretty sure we can fix it.”

Damned if he wasn’t getting some feeling back. This female was dangerous. An expert in scoping out the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy, how had he gone so far into left field with this nymph of a woman? Maybe he’d lost his touch. Maybe he’d finally met his match.

He peered deeply into her beryl gaze, as if to find something. “Where have you been all my life, green eyes?”

“Here and there. Almost exclusively there.” She rested her head against the stone wall. “I’m not sure I’m here even now.”

He chuckled deep and low. “Oh, God, yes, you’re here, all right. I’d swear to it. Either that or I died and went to heaven.”

She snorted, stood. “Let’s not get carried away. You’ve been around the block. I have a feeling you know the territory of that block like the back of your hand.” She extended her hand. “Get up. You owe me one.” She pulled him to his feet, grabbed two towels, tossed one in his direction, wrapped the other around her torso sarong style, and stepped back into the room.

Was he in over his head? When he walked through the bedroom door BD held the phone out to him. He placed it to his ear as the front desk clerk answered. “Uh, yeah, Cruz here, room eleven. Put another hour on my credit card. Yeah, yeah, smart guy. Just do it.” He handed the phone back to BD. He was in way over his head.

She flashed a feisty smile, as if she’d read his mind.

She grabbed hold of the towel hanging around his neck with both hands. Pulled his head forward. Kissed him. Grinned. Tickled a finger from his breastbone down to ground zero. “I see we’re getting our second wind, flyboy.
So
flattering.” Her towel dropped to the floor. She stepped to the bed, threw back the spread, flopped on her back, and beckoned him with a crooked finger. Twisting her hips she moved her legs slightly apart.

Rafi’d been drop-kicked by a mule. He crawled on top of her and sat straddled across her hips. Yeah, he was getting a second wind all right, a wind that threatened to be a bitch of a tornado. He groaned when she reached for him, took a grip, and gently rubbed him back and forth on the soft skin of her belly.

God have mercy.

Dramatically he crossed himself and grinned like a hungry wolf. He had some tricks left in the hat. Rafi reared up, grabbed her bottom and pulled her about six inches off the bed, buried his face in the small triangle of brown curls. Growled, nipped.

Shocked by his swift move, BD squeaked, gasped, and fell back. “Yes! God, yes!” She grabbed a handful of his black hair in each fist, held on for all she was worth.

An hour wasn’t nearly long enough.

* * *

The Rover rumbled down the road, warm wind whipping their hair with fury. They laughed, they talked, they sang. BD felt like a bird, free to fly, fly wherever she wanted. She was happy, satisfied, more than satisfied, her other life a vague memory. Nick who?

A loud rattling emanated from the glove box. She jumped. “What’s wrong with your car?”

“Nothin’, sweet cheeks, it’s my phone. Grab it for me, will ya?”

BD opened the box, picked up the phone, and handed it to Rafi. The merest brush of his skin gave her a deep, down there, electric thrill. She squirmed in the seat. Wow. A silent swoon engulfed her. Wow again.

Rafi glanced at the phone, raised his eyebrows, and cocked his head to the side. “Cruz. Yeah, been over Kaneohe Bay all day.” He glanced at her and winked. “About an hour out of Honolulu, why? Tonight? What happened?” BD noticed what seemed like a flash of true regret in his eyes. He exhaled a whoosh of air. “Yeah, I can make it. Cutting it close aren’t you? Yeah, whatever.” He tossed the phone in the glove box and hit the steering with the heel of his hand. “Shit!”

She waited. That’s all he said.

“What? What was that all about?”

Grim silence, intense concentration on the road ahead.

“Rafi, talk to me.” It was as if he wasn’t even in the car with her. He’d gone somewhere else.

“Hey! Cruz!”

His head whipped around. For a split second he looked at her, registered surprise to see her sitting there, nearly lost inside his big T-shirt. “What?”

“Who called? What was that call?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Work. It’s work. Got a job, supposed to start tomorrow night, but they moved it up.”

She could have gotten better answers from a cinder block. “And?”

“I gotta get to the airport.”

“Why?”

“We’re pulling out tonight.”

“What time tonight?”

He looked at his watch and tapped it, and the dial lit up. “One hour and twenty-three minutes.”

BD screeched with frustration. “One hour and twenty-three minutes to what?” She clenched her teeth.

“Liftoff.”

“Liftoff. You’re flying somewhere?”

“Yeah, that’s what usually happens when you lift off.”

She crossed her arms. “Go to hell.”

After a moment his big warm hand gripped her knee. “Sorry, I had my mind on the job. I zoned out.” He took a big breath. “I thought we were lifting off tomorrow night. They moved it up to tonight.” He slid his hand up her leg, under the hem of his T-shirt, trailed fingers across her stomach, down. “I wanted to spend another day with you.”

She felt hot tears rising, but choked them back down. Yeah, too bad, huh? Another day? How about a week? She swallowed. “Important charter?”

“It’s not exactly a charter. I’m not piloting. I’m part of a small crew. Long trip, we’ll take turns in the cockpit.”

“Important passenger?”

“Don’t know.”

“You don’t know who your passenger is?” She grabbed his roving hand. “Better cut it out. I don’t like quickies.”

He chuckled. “Me neither, Bravo Delta. I’m more into taking my time. Like today.” He pulled his hand back, raised it to his lips, and kissed his fingertips. He winked. “Sweet as honey you are, sunshine.”

She answered with a skeptical grunt. “Not sweet enough to keep you here.” Damn him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to keep him around. She didn’t want him to leave though. That she did know. She must have her head screwed on sideways. She was sex sotted. She giggled. She looked across at Rafi. Gone again.

They drove in silence for several minutes. The lights of Honolulu twinkled ahead in the distance. The view from the Nuuanu mountain range took her breath away during the day, even more so at night. He’d said they would stop up here on their way back and enjoy the view. Not tonight though. Rafi was already halfway to wherever he was going after liftoff.

BD sucked in a breath. “Oh.”

Rafi gazed ahead. “Yeah. Something, huh?”

They stayed on the Nuuanu Pali Highway until they reached H-1. Then he backtracked east to Shari’s place. When he got to the entrance he reached over and punched the code on the keypad. The gate swung open. He drove through and pulled to a stop at the top of the circle.

“Gotta go, sunshine.” He looked straight ahead, reached across, and unlocked her door. “Running late.”

OK, that was it then. BD opened her door, grabbed the small zipper bag holding her driver’s license, comb, and lipstick. “Nice knowing you, flyboy.” She stepped out and headed for the house.

“Hey, Bravo Delta!” She turned and was rewarded with a dazzling smile. “Sorry you couldn’t find Grayson’s bikini. Hope you don’t get fired.” He winked.

In spite of the fact that she was sorely miffed, she couldn’t resist returning his smile. “Nah, she’ll never miss it. She has hundreds.” She shrugged. “I’d give you back your shirt, but I’m modest.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you are. See ya, sweet cheeks.” He put the car in first gear and peeled out. BD watched the receding taillights bounce down the plumeria alley.

She raised her hand in a limp wave. “See ya.”

Shari burst through the front door. “My, God,” she yelled. “Where have you been? I called the cops. Angara thought you’d been kidnapped. She said a big man grabbed you on the beach early this morning and drove off with you in a black car. I’ve been frantic. Are you all right? You look like shit.”

BD pulled away from Shari’s tight grip on her shoulders. “I’m all right, for crying out loud. What’s wrong with you?” Surely the woman couldn’t actually care about her. She probably noticed she was missing one of her dozens of bikinis and thought BD stole it.

Shari sat down hard on the front step, buried her face in her hands, and sobbed. BD dropped down next to her, reached out gingerly, and touched the top of her blonde head. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Between racking sobs BD heard her voice. “Everything.”

In spite of her lingering anger and frustration with her job, BD’s sympathetic nature came to fore. She had no way of knowing for sure, but she suspected that despite Shari’s veneer of cool sophistication, she teetered on the brink of fragility.

She put her arm around Shari’s shoulders. “It can’t be that bad. Everything?” She pulled Shari close. “Tell me what’s wrong.” She hugged Shari’s shoulders. “Come on, tell me.”

Regaining some of her composure, Shari raised her head, her beautiful face a mask of devastation. BD brushed tears away from Shari’s blue eyes and wiped her fingers on Rafi’s T-shirt.

Shari sucked in a ragged breath. “My parents pulled the rug out from under me. They appointed Judd Logan as the new CEO of Grayson.”

BD reared back. “Old grab ass? That Judd?” She couldn’t believe it. “When did you find out?”

Shari sighed. “They told me yesterday, just before the show. Said they were going to announce it at the reception. That’s why I left town.” She rubbed her knuckles into her tear-stained eyes.

BD pulled her hands away. “Don’t do that. Bad for the delicate tissue around the eyes, remember?” She made a cross-eyed face at Shari.

Shari giggled. “Yes, I remember. How many times have I said it?”

“Millions.” BD shook her head. “What a thoroughly rotten thing for them to do. I don’t blame you for leaving.” So that was why she’d been in such rare form after the spring showing.

Shari pulled up the bottom of her three-hundred-dollar T-shirt and blotted her eyes. “That’s not all.”