The amphitheater was packed. Super-hot sizzling men in cowboy hats and tight jeans roamed around with equally hot women with perfect bodies in Rockies jeans and expensive boots that looked well worn.
The day again was hot but Riley never let go of my hand, even when we were starting to sweat. The one thing I noticed about Riley was that he had a bit of a wandering eye. I sent him to get us beers and as he walked back with them, I noticed him looking around a lot. He could have been curious about the people in this area since he wasn’t from here, but something told me he was checking out girls. But again, I had no stake on him so if he wanted to check them out… whatever. Just as long as he didn’t do it while holding my hand, I really couldn’t say anything.
The rodeo was nothing like I’d expected, but it was interesting nonetheless. I could tell the steer-ropers and horse trainers worked hard at this and made an honest living from it. It was good, inexpensive entertainment and I could kind of see the appeal if someone was into something like this.
After a few hours there, we left and went back home. We walked into my quiet house and all I wanted to do was peel off my clothes and lie on my bed with the fan on me. I kicked off the slip-on tennis shoes I’d been wearing sockless and flopped on the bed, my white denim shorts and plaid tank top sticking to me. I lounged on my stomach with my chin propped up on my hands. Riley followed behind me still wearing his beige Stetson cowboy hat and Wranglers, with some sort of black country music concert T-shirt. I thought Riley looked like a young Garth Brooks with the hat on. I only knew what Garth Brooks even looked like because there were posters up of him in the karaoke room at Cowboys.
He plucked the hat off and tossed it on my dresser, smoothing down his short black hair. He had a look in his ocean eyes that caused my skin to prickle, and keeping eye contact, I grinned and whispered, “Get over here and do me.”
That apparently caused him to come unglued because he ripped his shirt off and climbed the bed, crawling toward me like some deranged panther. He grabbed my ankle and flipped me over onto my back, unsnapping my shorts and yanking them off with force. He looped a finger through the side of my white thong next to my hip bone, twisting it. With his wicked lopsided smile, he said, “This needs to come off.”
I grinned just as wickedly back at him and licked my lips. “I thought you liked my thongs.”
“I do,” he said, still fingering it, “but this one’s in my way.” But he didn’t take it off and I laughed.
He found my mouth again and I let out a slight groan as his tongue snaked itself with mine, mingling like two long, lost lovers. I ran hands over his buff chest and sculpted stomach, its muscles and ridges caressing the palms of my hands.
He laid me down on the bed and adjusted us so my head was on a pillow. He was propped up on one elbow, still kissing me, when he reached down and ran eager fingers softly through the ridge of my panties at the bottom of my stomach, brushing the top of my bikini line. I was panting now I’m sure, and I gasped when he glided a hand down and slid my panties off.
I fumbled with the button of his jeans and helped him get them off as well. He bent down and nipped at the skin on my neck, then made his way down to my cleavage. Lifting me up in a hug, he locked eyes with me and unsnapped my white lace bra in the back one-handed, and I laughed inside at how he surely had done that before.
Laying me back down, he ran gentle hands over my breasts and I let out a moan. Sliding his hands down my belly and over my hipbones, he was driving me crazy. I reached down and could feel he was free of his boxer briefs and I grabbed hold of his hard arousal and stroked it lightly with my thumb, tempting it to satisfy me.
I sucked in a breath when I felt his fingers slide down into my very core and almost came off the bed as he used very skilled movements to bring me to the edge of shattering. “Oh, God, please…” I breathed.
I was at the point where I just wanted him inside me and could think of nothing else. I was about to start begging when he removed his hands and slid wet fingers over my hard nipples. I groaned again when I felt his body on top of mine and his entire length enter me. We moaned simultaneously, and he wrapped one arm under my head and used the other to prop himself up just enough to keep from smothering me. Riley was a big guy, probably close to 200 pounds with his bulky muscle, and it was such a turn-on.
His chest against my nipples excited me further and after only a few thrusts I let go and crashed over the edge of all thought and reason in a series of grunting gasps and a few breathy shouts to God. He leaned down to kiss me and I kissed him back hard, digging my nails into his back as my wave seemed to last forever.
I could feel him grin against my neck and he breathed in my ear, “I want you to come again.”
Challenge accepted.
I arched my hips up and moved with him, and sure enough, I felt the pleasurable pressure begin to build again. I closed my eyes and dug my fingernails into the soft flesh of his back, and releasing a moan, warned him of my impending pleasure explosion.
This time, he stopped his thrusts, and I began to cry out his name. I wrapped one leg around his ass and he stopped his thrusting and groaned into my mouth. After we’d both crashed, we fell asleep out of breath, spent, sweaty, and very happy.
***
Riley left once the weekend was over and Wednesday at work, Miranda called me.
“Let’s go to lunch, girl,” she said.
I was filing my short nails when I should have been working and decided I really needed to get out of this smelly environment for a few.
“Cool, meet you in the parking lot.”
I drove this time to McDonald’s and after we had placed our orders, Miranda pulled her cell out and began texting someone with a smile on her face.
“Who’s made you all happy?” I asked, folding the receipt in my hands as we waited for our orders.
She shook her blonde head. “Some guy I met at this swanky bar in the valley last weekend when I went out with Shayla.”
I stared at her. “Okay…?”
Her thumbs stopped moving over the keyboard and she chucked the phone back into her monstrous red purse. “So, nothing. He’s cute and I have a date with him on Friday.”
The teen behind the counter called our orders out and we grabbed our trays, sitting at a booth near the door.
“So who is this guy and where is he taking you?” I asked her after I took a sip of Diet Coke.
She shrugged as she peeled the pickles off her cheeseburger while making a face. “He’s a minor league baseball player.”
My eyes got big. “Get out!”
She bit back a smile. “Seriously hot, girl. Like seriously!”
“So, did he get to first base?” I asked with amusement in my eyes.
Her amber eyes shifted away from me as she looked down at her untouched food. Then looking at me from under her lashes, she nodded demurely.
“Seriously? A home run?” I laughed.
“Oh don’t give me that, you and your soldier boy.”
I laughed. “Hey, you said it yourself. Sleeping with military men is just us doing our patriotic duty to the country, right? Someone has to take care of our men in uniform.”
We both burst out laughing and I almost spit Coke out of my nose. People turned around and looked.
After a quickly mouthed apology to the other patrons, I began eating my chicken sandwich, realizing we had to be back to work soon.
Miranda took a sip of her soda. “But you have seriously fallen for this Riley guy, haven’t you? Ditching me on the weekends means it’s serious.”
I pointed a fry at her. “Hey. This is a summer thing, that’s it. I’m gonna have some well-deserved fun, then he can go back to where he came from. There’s nothing long-term about this. There can’t be. He can’t move here, and I certainly can’t pack up and move.”
She studied me curiously. “Yes but doesn’t your sister live in Colorado?”
“We’re not going there,” I said to her seriously. “We
need to get back to work before the inmates, or the staff, or both snitch us out.” I shoveled two more fries in my mouth, and as we dumped our trays and got into the car, I could see Miranda still looking at me as if there was something I wasn’t telling her. And there was. But I couldn’t admit to her something I wasn’t even ready to admit to myself.
***
“Do you have duty this weekend?” I asked into the phone I held with one hand while I drove with the other.
“No, I don’t,” said Riley on the other end. “I’ll be over late tonight, though.”
I frowned. “Why late? The ex has Aiden this weekend, so I’ll be in my house all by myself.” I said with a baby voice and then cringed at how utterly stupid I sounded.
Riley laughed. “Just keep the bed warm for me.”
I giggled and hung up, then mentally went over all the reasons he was going to be late. He had to work late? He had to call his wife? (This thought hadn’t escaped me, because really, how would I know?), he had another girlfriend to take out before he got to my house…
“Stop it, Cara,” I hissed to myself.
God, I was so pathetic.
I pulled up at home, and as I got out of my car, I startled when I heard a loud pop. I turned around to see a bunch of young teens playing with firecrackers in the drive of our complex of duplexes. I think one was the boy who lived in the house connected to mine. It dawned on me that July 4th was on Sunday and made a mental note to ask Riley what we were doing.
I went into the house, and after changing, I heated up some leftover baked tilapia and red potatoes and stood, as I always did, at the kitchen counter eating. I hadn’t sat down to a meal in this house, except with Riley and a few times with Miranda, since I moved in. Something about sitting down alone at a table to eat seemed sad to me, and I wondered maybe if I brought my Kindle out with me and read while I ate, if it would seem less sad. I decided it wouldn’t, and after I was finished, I hand-washed the plate and fork and set them in the dish drainer. The owner of this duplex didn’t have dishwashers installed in any of the units – trust me, I’d asked a few of my neighbors.
Cheap bastard.
After being bored with TV, I couldn’t sit there any longer. I checked my email on the laptop and surfed Facebook for a little bit while fanning myself with a real estate brochure that had been left on my doorknob. I hated being bored and decided I should take a shower. I quickly stripped off my clothes and started a warm-ish shower and stepped in.
As I began lathering myself up, I swore. I was pretty sure I had forgotten to lock the front door because I had been distracted by the kids with the firecrackers, which led to me thinking about the upcoming holiday on Sunday…
I was about to turn off the water when I heard the door to the bathroom open. I gasped and tried not to panic. The only weapon I could find was a long plastic loofa scrubber my mom had gotten me for Christmas last year that I never used. I scrubbed the water from my face and gingerly peeled back the yellow shower curtain and saw Riley standing there in just his BDU pants that he was beginning to unbutton. His brown T-shirt was already on the floor.
“Oh, my God, you scared me, Riley!”
He grinned wickedly at me and stripped off the rest of his clothes, and I stood there watching him from the corner of the shower curtain like the pervert that I was. I sucked in a breath when he was all the way down to his birthday suit. He opened the curtain on the other side and stepped in, sidling himself up behind me. I was all soapy so his hands slid effortlessly down my stomach, brushing my hip bones as he kissed my neck and ear. I turned to mush under his touch and dropped the loofa and reached my arms up behind his head and grabbed his neck. I moaned as he continued his exploration of my slippery body and I could feel his desire as it pushed almost painfully into my tailbone.
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 4th 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, yo
u 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
Patriotic Duty Page 5
