A Major Connection

by Marie Harte

  At the word married, her biological clock started ticking again. Having turned thirty at the start of the year, she found herself constantly thinking about a husband and children, hence the drive to make a decision about what to do with her future.

  She looked up at Thorn, wondering why he seemed to fit her ideal of the perfect man. He annoyed her. He bossed her around, and not always in bed. He had a problem with neatness—could he leave dirty dishes by the sink for longer than ten minutes?—and an addiction to cheese puffs, which she found disgusting. His competitive edge matched hers, and she knew she was a demon when it came to needing to win all the time.

  Oh hell. Even trying to come up with things about him that bothered her, she fell more in love with him. And wasn’t that a kick? Falling in love with a man in a matter of a few days?

  Her mother would have a field day with that. Mona Soames already considered Jane the black sheep of the family for wanting domesticity more than she wanted a career. April had no plans to take away her sister’s time in the spotlight.

  “Well?” Thorn asked.

  “Well what?”

  “It’s a good thing you’re pretty. You can’t seem to keep a thought in your head.”

  “Oh. Right.” She blushed, daydreaming about him when she should have been giving serious consideration to his offer. “So you don’t mind me staying with you, invading your manly space?”

  “Not at all. We’ve practically been living together since you jumped me last week anyway.”

  “Please. Who jumped who?” She grinned, loving how he took charge in bed. She didn’t have to ask him to give her what she needed. Being dominant came naturally to him, and his preference enabled her to feel comfortable submitting.

  “You tempted me with that rack. You know you did.”

  “You’re so easy.”

  “Sad, isn’t it?” He smiled, but she could see he wanted an answer.

  Feeling as if she was agreeing to more than staying with him—temporarily—she answered, “I’ll stay with you if that’s okay. Just for a another week or two while I figure out where I’m headed.”

  “Sounds good.” He nodded and seemed to relax. “Want me to help you bring some stuff over?”

  “I have a seabag. Easy packing.”

  He smiled. “Yeah. You can fit a ton of shit in one of those.”

  They finished their walk with Lobo and discussed her possible future careers. Cooking, housekeeping, and sleeping with Thorn as a benefit went out the window, much to his disappointment. But her aptitude for making things work, knowing who to call to get the job done, would be a vital asset to any company. Especially her own.

  She did have a few options she’d considered. “I’m waiting to hear back from a placement firm. They work with corporations scattered throughout the country.”

  “Good.” He didn’t sound enthused. “Anything around here?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What you mean is you don’t know if you’ll like Corporate America. You don’t sound too excited about it.”

  “I’m not. I loved the Marine Corps, but I know in my gut it was time for me to leave. I want more.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. A husband, kids. A family. So many of my friends are married. It makes you think, you know?”

  He sighed. “I do. Both my sisters are hitched, so my parents are on me to couple up. And like you said, a lot of my friends are married. I’m not against marriage at all. But I want to find the right person. That’s not easy.”

  She squeezed his hand. “No, it’s not.” Especially when you just met him and he’s too perfect to be real. Who falls in love in days? It’s just a crush.

  They finished their walk and returned to his place, where she’d planned to stay the night. Unlike most of the other evenings they’d spent pleasuring each other in bed, tonight the mood seemed more introspective than sexual. Tired and confused, she changed out of her clothes into one of his shirts and joined him in bed. He wore his boxers instead of stripping naked, and she swallowed a sigh at how beautiful he was.

  Turning to each other, they cuddled close, as if realizing time was ticking away for them.

  April closed her eyes and dreamed about a fork in the road that led nowhere she wanted to go, with her happiness far behind her in the form of a sad Marine with bright blue eyes.

  ***

  “I can’t believe you hooked up while I was gone. Go, April.” Jane smiled at her and patted her on the back. They sat at Jane’s kitchen table the next afternoon drinking decaf coffee while Lobo chewed happily on a treat. Jane and April were obviously sisters. They looked alike, talked alike, and seemed to enjoy the same things. Why Jane had decided on teaching instead of the military April had no idea. Then again, Jane often said wrangling children was harder than it looked.

  “Yeah. Rah rah, me.” April snorted. “Only you would cheer me on for shacking up with a sexy Marine I just met.”

  “First of all, I’ve met Thorn, and he’s scorching hot. I totally approve. Second, you’ve known the guy for over a year, but you’ve only just started talking to him. So that means you’re not easy, though I still think easy is a good thing to be.”

  April laughed at her sister’s rationalizations. She loved Jane.

  “Anyway, you know I’m biased. I’m getting married to a jarhead and having his baby. I’m pro-military. The fact you’re involved with a man Mom would consider wrong for you is worth its weight in gold. Finally, the good child goes darkside.” Jane wiggled her brows, and April sighed.

  “Tell me about your mini-vacation. Was it as bad as I thought it might be?”

  “Well, Mom is finally warming to Dan, now that he’s gone. She bitched about how great my life could have been if only I hadn’t gotten pregnant and ended my music career before it started.”

  “You gave up the clarinet in tenth grade.”

  “I know. But Mom has it in her head I had plans to be a music teacher.”

  April raised a brow. “Does the fact you’re still a teacher not count?”

  “Sadly, no, because I don’t have my Masters or a PhD. She sees teaching elementary school children as dithering over a career. Gee, April, that’s kind of like what you’re doing now!”

  Groaning, April buried her head in her hands. “Don’t remind me.”

  “They’re so glad you left the Marine Corps for a ‘real job’. Mom thinks you’re going to move back to Raleigh. Dad told her you’re still thinking things through. God bless that man. But you know how Mona gets.”

  Their mother loved nothing better than to wait until their father left the room, then swing the conversation around to her children and their choices in life. Which would then regress into the many missed opportunities she’d never had because she’d gotten pregnant with April and married so young.

  “I can’t imagine being married at twenty.” April grimaced. “I mean, I think I’m ready now, but I’ve lived some, you know?”

  Jane snorted. “Of course I know. Mom mentions it every time she tells me how excited she is about her first grandchild, and how sad it must be that I’m having him or her before I actually did anything with my life.”

  “Oh boy. She didn’t really say that, did she?”

  “Yep. She did.”

  “Sorry.”

  Jane shrugged. “Not your fault.” A wicked grin lit her face. “So when can I tell her you’ve fallen for a Marine, just like me?”

  “Never.”

  “Oh, come on. Thorn is so freakin’ sexy. Go, Sis.”

  April laughed and felt her cheeks heat. “He is good looking.”

  “Understatement of the year. He’s built. Seriously built.” Jane fanned herself. “So how did you two happen?”

  “Wait a minute. How do you know Thorn, exactly? You never mentioned him before.”

  “Hello? Lobo?” Jane pointed at the dog.

  “Oh, right.”

  “Your Marine was actually very nice to me the first time Lo
bo got away. That’s when I was watching the dog after Dan left. But then I headed to Mom and Dad’s, and I had some friends watch him before my wonderful sister stepped in to save me.”

  “You’re welcome.” April toyed with the cup on the table. “Jane, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure. Shoot.”

  “Are you happy about the baby? Really happy?”

  Jane smiled, her joy apparent from her smile and the warmth in her eyes. “I am. For sure. I’m totally in love with Dan, and I can’t wait to be Mrs. Morrow. Despite what Mom would have the world think, I’m content to put my career on hold while I have my baby. I want to be a mom. Finishing up my Masters in education—not in music, mind you—can wait.”

  “I’m glad.” April clutched her sister’s hand on the table then let go. “How did you know Dan was it for you?”

  Jane’s slow grin made her want to curl up under the table. “I knew it! Thorn got to you, didn’t he? Now that you’re no longer Major April, you can be slutty April and bag a man.”

  “Do you listen to yourself when you speak?”

  “Come on. It was depressing watching you turn old and gray, surrounded by a bunch of studs you never took advantage of.”

  “Jane, you know fraternization is against the UCMJ.” The Uniform Code of Military Justice—the Marine Corps’s system of rules and regulations. Breaking them carried stiff penalties.

  “Whatever. What I know is that you were lonely. You had no luck with men for too long. Now you like Gunny Thorn. And having seen and met the man, I wholeheartedly approve.”

  “But I just met him. It’s too soon to feel so…”

  “So?”

  “I can’t be falling for a man I just met. That would make me just like Mom.” The horror of that thought had her feeling a little queasy.

  “Perish the thought.” Jane looked a bit green herself. “Sometimes love happens like that. When I saw Dan, I just knew. He was it for me. Luckily, he wasn’t as big a dick as his ex-roommate. You remember John?”

  “The macho jerk you ditched for Dan?”

  “Yeah, him.” Jane laughed. “I don’t mind a guy being not so nice all the time, but he can’t be a dickhead.” Jane smirked. “But you know all about being attracted to bad boys who like to spank bad girls, don’t you, Kinkerella?”

  April wished she’d never confessed to Jane the truth about her sexuality. Then again, the girls might have been twins—they shared everything and always had. Bonding with each other since their mother had never quite connected with them. Jane, April knew, had her own proclivities, and fortunately Dan was more than man enough to fulfill her sister in all ways.

  “Yeah, well,” April confessed, “I really like Thorn. A lot. I know he likes me, at least in bed. We seem to get along. I figured that since you’re back, I should give you some space. Maybe spend some time with him. You know, staying at his place before I take off.”

  “About that.” Jane frowned. “Where are you going to go? What will you do?”

  “I’m waiting on an interview for a corporate job in Research Triangle Park.” The Raleigh area.

  “Well, that’ll make Mom happy. But what do you want?”

  “That’s the problem. I don’t know.”

  “Yeah?” Jane’s eyes narrowed. “I think you do.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’ve fallen for your Marine. You’re scared of the future, scared of falling in love, and terrified that if you do follow your heart, you’ll end up just like Mom.”

  “It’s uncanny how you can read my mind.” April sighed. “God, I’m so confused.”

  Jane patted her on the shoulder. “You think too much. You have savings. Take your time figuring out what you want in life. But April, make sure it’s what you want, not what Mom wants for you.”

  “Easier said than done. I—” Her cell phone buzzed, interrupting her. “Hold on.” She answered the call. “Hello?”

  After talking to the caller, she disconnected.

  “Who was that?”

  “Remember that placement agency I told you about? Seems like field grade officers needing civilian work are a hot commodity right now. He got me some interviews.”

  “Um, congratulations?”

  “Yeah.” April keenly felt reality pulling her away from the dream she and Thorn could have been. “The first one is scheduled in Raleigh on Monday.” Just four short days away.

  “Then what are you waiting for?”

  “What?”

  “Go see your hunky Marine and get some inspiration for Monday. If anyone can make you ready for an intense interview, I’m betting Gunny Thorn is your man.”

  “Maybe.” She wondered what he’d think of her opportunity, and why she hoped he’d be a little less supportive than he’d been lately.

  Chapter Seven

  Thorn didn’t know what to expect when April returned from visiting her sister, but a somber, almost depressed April hadn’t been a consideration.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  She blinked and forced a smile. “Nothing much. Just getting all caught up with Jane. As expected, my mom was on her case for daring to have a life that didn’t include jaunting to Europe or getting a doctorate in something that sounds fancy.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.”

  He pulled her into a hug, thinking she looked like she needed one. Her return embrace concerned him. She seemed a little too clingy, which wasn’t like her at all. He liked the thought of her relying on him, but he didn’t want her to be upset.

  “Come on, talk to me.”

  She pulled away and flounced onto his couch. “I don’t want to be my mother, but I’m afraid I’m turning into her.”

  “How’s that?” He sat on the coffee table so he could sit facing her.

  “My mother is of the opinion that marriage and kids are for when a woman turns forty. Youth is for living large and doing all the things she never got to do as a young woman.”

  “Ah.”

  “Yeah, ah.” She huffed, now seeming more irritated than sad, which relieved him. The thought of her hurting didn’t sit right. “It’s not my fault she got knocked up with me and married at twenty. That she never finished college and followed my dad around until they settled in Raleigh—away from her family, mind you.”

  “Gotta love family dynamics. My parents are on my ass to procreate, but since my sisters already gave them grandkids, I kind of have a pass. At least for another year or two,” he joked, though from his mother’s recent comments, he thought she was getting a little irritated that he refused to put a ring on some woman’s finger.

  At the thought, he wondered what kind of jewelry April would like.

  “Lucky you. My mom is the opposite. She’s a little militant about wanting what she thinks is best for me and Jane. But Jane’s pregnant and about to get married, so I think Mom’s secretly writing her off. Don’t get me wrong, she loves Jane. But Jane can’t live out Mom’s dreams. Not like I can.”

  “Do you want to go to go back to school or travel the world, whatever it is that your mom wants for you?”

  “Not particularly, no.”

  “So don’t.”

  “Easy for you to say. Maybe she’s right. Who the hell knows? It feels like my life is in limbo. I have no idea where I’m going from here. I just know leaving the Marine Corps now was the right decision for me.” She leaned her head back on the couch but kept her gaze on him. “What about you? What are your future plans?”

  “I’ll retire from the Corps in another eight years. Before that, I hope to get married, maybe have a kid or two. I’m easy.”

  “No kidding,” she quipped and smirked. Then her mouth turned down. “I wish I could be so certain of what I want.”

  Want me like I want you, he wanted to say. Acknowledging how he really felt about her had been a while in coming. Since he’d first seen her he’d been intrigued, if he wanted to be honest with himself. But Thorn didn’t want to further
confuse her by pledging undying love. He didn’t think she’d believe him after so little time of actually knowing each other. Hell, he wasn’t sure he believed it himself. He just knew he felt empty without her. Maybe it was infatuation. A deep crush.

  Besides, he had nothing to offer her but himself. And since that hadn’t been good enough for Maria, whom he’d loved, he didn’t feel like opening himself to that kind of hurt again.

  Losing Maria had been painful, and he hadn’t felt for her with the same intensity he felt for April. His few relationships in the years since amounted to no more than sexual liaisons with women he liked as friends and little else. Dating wasn’t easy while being gone on deployments either. Yet he could totally see himself committing to his sexy major, wanting to wait for whatever time they could spend together.

  Making love with her was only the start of the wonders they shared. He loved her laugh, her smile, the way she left piles of stuff all over the place. She didn’t have the same level of tidiness he did, but she tried by stacking things.

  They both liked sports, the same kinds of movies, and ice cream—a must in his book. The sex was mind-blowing. He’d never been so compatible with anyone else.

  He had a feeling he wouldn’t find anyone as compatible after her, either.

  If he’d thought she felt more than just like for him, he might have ponied up to how he felt. But he wasn’t sure, and he hated not knowing. A simple conversation could clear everything up, but it could also ruin what they had left. Was it worth it? Was he such a pussy he couldn’t fight for what he wanted?

  He continued to dither over that question, but he had time, so once again he put off confronting his answer.

  Thorn took her hand in his and rubbed it, wanting to offer comfort. “April, I’m going to give you some advice.”

  “Oh God, shoot me now.”

  He smiled. She was such a smartass. “Life is full of possibilities. You can’t close yourself off to any of them to make someone else happy. You have to do what’s right for you. In the end, your mom is living her own life. You have to live yours, not hers.”

  “Great speech. Would you mind coming home with me to tell her that?”