Sidelined: A Sports Romance (35 page)

The smile was involuntary every time. “Hey. I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch today. I know it’s last minute but…”

“Lunch today? Hmm...”

“I shouldn’t have asked. I know you’re busy getting ready to leave.” She almost choked on the words.

“Hold that thought a second. Can you help me with something?” he asked.

“Sure. What’s up?” She started fidgeting with the pens on her desk.

His voice deepened. “Is your office in suite 402?”

Skye stood from her desk and crossed the room. The back of her neck started to tingle. “Yes. Why?”

“Open the door, baby.”

Skye pulled on the handle. Ben stood holding two white paper bags. “Oh my God, what are you doing here?” She shuttled him into her office and closed the door despite the curious stare from the main-floor receptionist.

“Thought I’d bring you lunch. I know how you like surprises.” He held up the bags. “You like that little sandwich shop around the corner, right?”

Skye giggled. “Yes. But I can’t believe you came to my office. How did you get away from base?”

She was having a hard time concentrating with him standing in front of her. He was wearing his flight suit. There were patches on his sleeves and along his chest. She liked the one that read
Bolt
.

“I can’t tell you all my secrets.” He winked at her. “So this is where the magic happens?” He eyed her workspace.

“Yep. This is it. Not very big, but at least I have my own office. I do have windows that overlook the street.” She pointed to the two slim windows next to her desk. At least there was natural light in an otherwise sterile office building. Once a week she watered the indoor palm that grew in the corner.

“It’s nice.” Ben walked toward the door. “Does this lock work?” His eyebrows waggled.

Skye recognized that look. It was the one that always appeared right before he stripped every shred of clothing from her. “Yes, but you can’t be serious right now.”

“Oh I’m very serious.” He flipped the lever on the doorknob then crossed the room and sat her on the top of her desk, pushing the hem of her skirt to her hips. His hands were rough and urgent

“Ben, someone could hear us. This is my office. There are people right out there in the hall.” She shook her head, trying to deny the throbbing that had started deep in her core. She leaned into her palms, trying to balance on the edge of the desk. “What if my boss walks by?”

He put a finger to his lips. “Then you’re going to have to do your very best to be quiet, baby.” His palm slid along her thigh until his thumb hooked the side of her panties. “Because, this is something I’m going to think about every day I’m gone.” Her knees almost shook as he peeled them over her legs and carefully navigated them over her five-inch heels.

His smile became devilish as he tossed them on the floor. The blood soared in her veins, as she watched him unzip his flight suit, exposing his athletically toned frame. She never got tired of seeing his body.

She gasped as he shoved the skirt higher. She arched toward him in amazement. This was the epitome of forbidden activity. The biggest taboo on her list of all things naughty. They could get caught. She could be fired. Her head reeled back. Or she could give herself to him. She let him control her every breath and movement on the desk, with a look, with a kiss. He wrapped one high-heeled foot around his waist and then the other.

“You know I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he growled.

She nodded.

“You have never looked sexier, Skye.” He brushed her hair from her face, his thumb tracing her lips. The look from his eyes blazed with the kind of desire that made her breathless. Made her want to do everything she could to satisfy him, to show him what he did to her, to let him feel how her body loved his. God, how she needed his body.

His mouth landed on hers, his hand pressing into the back of her neck. She tried everything she could not to moan. She kissed him like she did the first night they met, with wild reckless abandon. As if he was the stranger that could erase all her problems and make her forget all her rules and inhibitions. Only this time it unleashed more passion in her than she knew she had. This time she was in love.

B
olt threw
the second of the two sea bags in the back of his truck. “I think that’s everything.”

Skye stood next to him. She looked sleepy despite their effort to get to bed early the night before.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving.” She stared at the green duffle bags.

“Six months will be over before you know it.” He didn’t want a long drawn out good-bye, but he wasn’t ready to leave either. This felt fucking terrible. “You ready?”

Skye walked to the passenger side and climbed in. The plan was that she would drive the truck back to his parking garage then take the trolley to the Gaslamp district.

She shook her head. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to be ready for this.”

He grabbed her hand. “I’ve never done this either. We’ll figure it out. Ok? We’ll get through it together.” He hoped that sounded confident.

He didn’t know what in the hell he had gotten himself into. WESTPAC was supposed to be one of the best deployments the squadron ever took. They started off in Hawaii, followed by a few days in Guam, then off to Japan. From there they would fly to Korea, Alaska, maybe even Australia. Bolt had counted down to this trip since he joined the Rebels. Now, it was ripping a hole in his heart to leave Skye.

He pulled onto the highway and started toward Miramar. At least this wasn’t a 7 a.m. show time. The flight details were worked out based on time zone changes and flight times. They were set to take off before noon.

“I guess you’re pretty excited.” Skye fidgeted with the strap on her purse.

“I am. I’ve never seen that part of the world. What should I bring you?”

“You mean like a souvenir?”

“Yes, exactly like that. I bet you would look hot in a kimono.” He winked and thought he saw a smile creep across her lips.

“Whatever you think I’d like.” Her gaze floated out of the window, following the dips and curves of the valleys tracking the interstate.

“You know I’ll call as much as I can. And we can email every day.”

“Mmm…hmm. I know.”

He stopped at the main gate, turning the radio off. He flashed his military ID as the guard saluted him and opened the bar on the gate.

“This place is huge.” Skye sat forward in her seat.

“You’ve never been on base?”

“No. You’re kind of my first Marine.”

He laughed. He wanted to say he hoped he was the last one too, but the moment was already fragile. She was on the edge of emotion like he had never witnessed before. He didn’t want to tip things in the wrong direction.

They drove in silence until Bolt pulled into the parking lot behind the squadron’s main hanger.

“This is it.”

“I don’t think I can do this.” Skye’s eyes welled with tears.

Bolt unclipped his seat belt and reached across the console. “Hey, it’s going to be ok.”

“I should have told you this last night.”

“What? What did you want to tell me?” He wiped a tear from her face. He struggled with the aching in his chest. This was damn near impossible.

“I’ll wait for you. I want to wait. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Bolt searched her eyes. “I told you, you don’t have to do that. I’m not asking you to put your life on hold.”

“I know you’re not. But I have to. I can’t let you fly out here today thinking I’m just going on with everything as if you’re not the most important person in my world. I’m waiting for you. Don’t try talking me out of it.” He smiled at the fierceness in her eyes.

“I won’t.” His mouth crashed against hers, drinking her in for the last time in six months. He wanted to memorize everything about her. The way her hair smelled, the way she tasted, the softness in that space where her shoulder met her neck—all of it—all of her.

He broke free from her lips. “Baby, I’ve got to go. Do you want to walk me inside?”

Skye opened the door and walked to his side. “I think if I have to drag out this good-bye I will break down. I better drive back.”

He handed her the truck keys. “I don’t want to picture you crying. You’re too beautiful for that.” He reached into the back of the truck and heaved one duffle bag on his shoulder and then the second one onto the other shoulder.

“I packed tons of snacks for you, and those powder drinks for you are all on top.” She pointed to the first sea bag.

“Thanks. I’m sure I’ll eat all of them before I get to Japan.” He was stalling. He didn’t want to turn his back and walk to the hanger. Everything he wanted was right here. “I’ll call you tonight from Hawaii. Ok?”

“Ok.” She plastered a smile on her face and stepped on her toes to kiss him again. “Bye.”

“Bye.” He turned toward the tailgate and listened as she started up the truck, the low rumble of the muffler filled his ears.

He saw Hollywood, Ranger, and Eagle gathered by the office door. He pressed his palm against his eye. He had to pull it together and fly straight before he reached that door. This wasn’t the way everyone was going to find out he had fallen in love.

S
kye held
her phone in her hand. It was more like a death grip. She counted over and over again how many hours it had been since Ben took off from Miramar and was supposed to land in Honolulu. He should have called by now. She paced around her apartment.

The afternoon crept by like spending the day watching paint dry. It was day one, and she was already terrible at keeping herself busy. She tried to remind herself that just over a month ago there was no Ben Hardcastle in her life. She had plenty of things to do to keep her busy, like work. She searched for her briefcase before remembering she had left it at the office on Friday. She didn’t want her last night with Ben to be about anything but the two of them. And it was.

He was so sweet, cooking dinner for her. She sighed thinking about the candles he lit and the flowers he handed her. Ben had come a long way since their first botched one-night stand. He went from almost anti-relationship to committing to seeing her in six months. That wasn’t the stuff that flimsy relationships were built on. There was strength and steadiness in what they had. She knew that. She just wished the damn phone would ring.

She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but her eyes could only stay open for so long. She didn’t know what time it was when the phone started ringing. She sat straight up in bed, her TV blaring a rerun sitcom.

“Hello.”

“Hey, baby. Do you miss me yet?”

“Ben! Thank God, I’ve been worried.” She reached for her glasses. They must have fallen off when she was sleeping.

“Don’t worry. Everything is fine. We had a little engine trouble when we landed, so I got stuck at the hangar working with the maintenance crew. Looks like we’ll be in Hawaii an extra day.”

“Maintenance issue? Is it safe to fly?”

“It will be fine as soon as they get it fixed. Don’t worry about that. Tell me what you did today.”

Skye realized then that she was going to have to get her act together and start doing her regular routine. She didn’t want her answer to be ‘nothing’ every time he called. She needed stories to share with him.

“I did a little work.”

“Work? I’m gone one day and you’re already back to the spreadsheets?” he teased.

“I did some laundry.” She hit her palm on her forehead. That was lame.

“Ok, well, I know it’s late, so I’ll let you go back to sleep. I just wanted to let you know we made it to Honolulu.”

“Wait, Ben don’t go.” She held the phone to her ear as if that somehow made him closer to her.

“What is it? You ok?”

“I miss you. I already miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I’ll call you again tomorrow. Night, baby. Dream only hot dreams about me. Got it?”

She giggled. “I can do that. Goodnight, Ben.”

She plugged her phone into the charger and slid into the covers. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep now for hours. She changed the channel, hoping a sappy romantic comedy could distract her.

* * *

T
hree days
later she poured over shots of sunscreen models in her office, while Kari dished on the new guy she was seeing.

“Ok, so he has this tattoo on his lower back, and I can’t quite figure out what it is.”

“Wait, did you already sleep with him?” Skye looked up from a bikini pose.

“Of course. I’m no saint like you. And it was ahh-mazing. He does this thing with his hips, kind of like a swivel move.”

“Stop. Stop. I don’t need that kind of detail.”

“Who am I going to tell, if I can’t tell you?” Kari whined.

“Why don’t you get a journal? Just a suggestion.” Skye smiled at her friend. She was happy Kari had met someone, only she wasn’t so sure about him. He was a dental assistant in La Jolla. Apparently, her friend Dave had set them up.

“You are no fun.” Kari pouted. “So speaking of hot guys, when did you hear from Ben last?”

“He called from Hawaii last night. Today they are making the flight to Guam. He’ll be there a few more days before they make the last flight to Japan.”

“I still can’t believe you two. One minute you’re all ‘he won’t make it to thirty days’ and then the next minute you’re all ‘oh my God we’ve committed to each other for six months’. It’s cute.”

Skye twisted her lips into a frown. “When you say it like that it doesn’t sound cute.”

“Oh, but it’s totally cute.”

“If you say so.” She looked at the time on her phone. Ben was probably flying over the Pacific right about now. She didn’t think his flights were supposed to make her so nervous, but they did. After she heard about Riggs it was hard not to think the same thing could happen to Ben. What if something happened while he was crossing the ocean?

The night before he left he told her about all of the contingency plans in place in case there was an in-flight emergency. Eagle was responsible for mapping out places they could divert. They had a plan for every mile of the journey. She knew he was a capable pilot, that wasn’t the problem. It was all the things that were out of his control that she worried about.

“What do you say we do a wine night at my place tonight? You can bring your PJs. It will be crazy.” Kari giggled.

“You know, that sounds like a good idea. I need to keep my mind off of Ben. What about tattoo guy?”

“Oh, we have plans this weekend.”

Skye squirmed in her seat. She hadn’t thought about the weekends. At least during the week she had work to keep her preoccupied. The weekend was a different story. There was an empty apartment with a very empty bed. Maybe this was the perfect time to take up one of those art classes she had seen at the studio near her house.

Kari stood to leave. “I’m going to head back to the restaurant launch I’m working on for the tikki bar. It’s a complete disaster, but the owner doesn’t want to change anything. He insists on pineapples everywhere. How am I supposed to work with that?”

Skye shrugged her shoulders. “Good luck. What time tonight?”

“Just come over after work. Pick up your stuff and I’ll see you with pizza and wine.”

“Ok, cool.” Skye sorted through the next set of models. She rocked back in her chair. Time was dragging its ugly feet.

* * *

S
he had worked
out until her limbs burned, buried herself in new client files, cleaned her apartment until it was spotless, and talked Kari’s ear off about the deployment. Skye didn’t know how many other ways she could fill her time. It wasn’t that Ben had been there all the time. The problem was now that he was gone, she couldn’t think about anything else. When Faith called and asked her to dinner it was like a small prayer had been answered.

Skye wasn’t certain if she had ever been so nervous about meeting another girl before. Sure, it was someone who was important to Ben, and that should somehow put her nerves at ease, but it was having the opposite effect. She was almost shaking.

Faith was the closest thing he had to family. If she didn’t get along with her, Skye didn’t know what she’d do. Would Ben end their relationship before he was even home from WESTPAC? Would his entire opinion of her change if she didn’t hit it off with the one person in his life who meant something to him?

She ran her palms along the sides of her jeans for the tenth time before taking the steps to the San Diego bungalow. Faith had called and invited her over for dinner. Skye clutched a bottle of wine in her fist and jogged up the stairs. She could do this; she tried to convince herself as she knocked on the screen door.

“Skye?” A petite girl, with short locks pushed open the door. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Skye didn’t know such a small person could hug so fiercely. She wrapped a free hand around her shoulder.

“Faith, it’s so nice to finally meet you. Ben has told me so much about you. Here.” She shoved the bottle forward. “I brought wine.”

“Oh, thank you. Let’s go get this open.”

Faith turned, and Skye followed her into the house. She stopped to study the pictures in the hallway. She didn’t need Faith to tell her she was staring at pictures of Riggs. He flashed a bright white smile with one arm draped over Faith’s tiny shoulder. They looked cute together. It hurt thinking he was no longer a part of her life, a part of this house, or a part of Ben’s life.

“Alright, two glasses ready to go.” Faith handed one to Skye as she entered the kitchen.

“Something smells amazing. What are we having?”

Faith smiled. “Chicken casserole. I know it’s cliché, invite someone over and serve chicken casserole, but I swear it’s different.”

Skye giggled. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was nervous for dinner. “I love chicken casserole, no matter what kind. I can’t wait.”

“Want to sit out on the porch? We have at least forty-five minutes before dinner is ready.”

“Lead the way.” Skye followed her through the kitchen door onto a porch that reminded her of the wraparound porches from home, rather than the California patios she had grown accustomed to.

There were potted plants tucked in every corner. She settled into a love seat near a sprawling hibiscus. It was beautiful.

Faith held up her glass. “I think we need to make a toast.”

“Ok. What should we toast?”

“How about to new friends.” She paused. “And to Ben?” She winked as her glass tapped on Skye’s.

“Yes, that’s perfect.”

“Ok, so let’s jump right to it. Tell me all the mushy gushy stuff Ben has done.”

Skye laughed so hard her wine jostled in the glass. “Mushy gushy?”

“Yes. I’ve known for years there was a die-hard romantic buried in that playboy body of his. You are the lucky girl that has drawn it out of him, so I need to know all about it.” Faith sipped her wine.

They had only known each other ten minutes, but Skye felt that they were somehow friends for years.

“I don’t know if he’s completely mushy gushy, but he has been really sweet. Before he left for WESTPAC he wrote a letter to me.” Skye wasn’t about to tell her she had read it a hundred times and kept it with her wherever she went. The words melted her heart every time she read it. “He just does cute stuff like opens doors, he puts his arms around me when I’m cold, and he knows how I like my coffee.” She thought about all of the things he did without her prompting him. He just did them. Like lighting candles and stopping by with armfuls of flowers. Some mornings if he left work before her, he would leave notes on the mirror for her to find.

“I knew he would pull it together.” Faith looked happy.

“Did he talk to you about us? I guess he mentioned me.” The air was starting to cool and Skye pulled a blanket from the back of the love seat to throw over her legs as she tucked them behind her.

Faith laughed. “He did. I knew weeks ago that he was crazy about you.”

“You did? How?”

“Because, Ben’s not really the one-woman type.” Faith stopped. “Oh God, that sounded awful. I mean he never got serious with one person. It’s a compliment to you that he wanted to change that about himself. I meant it as a compliment.”

Skye sighed. It wasn’t as if she thought he was a saint. She knew he was skilled beyond her level of experience; she just wasn’t thrilled to hear it.

Faith rested her wine glass on the coffee table. “I’m sorry. I love Ben to death. I would never say anything bad about him, or say anything about him to upset you.”

“No, it’s ok. I knew he was a flirt, and I knew he wasn’t used to dating.”

“But he is now.” Faith smiled. “He is completely head over heels for you. It’s so awesome to see him like this.”

“You think?” Skye settled back into her seat.

“I know he is. How about another glass? I think I’ll bring the bottle out here.” The screen door latched as Faith walked into the kitchen.

Before Ben left for WESTPAC, she couldn’t imagine a life without him in it. It hadn’t occurred to her he might be trying to imagine a life with her in it. If she was the first girl he had taken the time to date, was he ready for this relationship? Skye swallowed the last sip of wine and tried to dismiss the nagging idea that she was Ben’s relationship experiment. They were more than that.

Faith appeared with the bottle and a plate of cheese and crackers. “I had to turn the oven up. It might be a few more minutes on dinner.”