by Kaylea Cross
He picked up the slacks and the white shirt, now wrinkled. He only owned one good outfit so he carefully pressed them against the bed with his hands, and then hung them up on the same hangar. His closet was nearly bare. Except for the gun cases and duty bags stuffed into the end of the small space. Who needed clothes when you had enough equipment and weapons to start a small war?
Maybe he could crawl out of the cave he’d fallen into. Maybe there could be life at the end of the dark tunnel. Maybe he could make up some excuse to see her again.
God, I hope so.
* * *
The Scupper was slow tonight, since it wasn’t a weekend. Above the bar were pictures of fallen SEALs, the dates and locations of their demise. When he was first on the Teams, he didn’t like to look at them. He was surprised when, like most the other Team guys who hung out there, he got so that he liked looking at them, paying his respects. God willing, if he should have to pay that ultimate sacrifice, there would be some young newbie Team guy staring up at his picture, toasting him with a beer, or, as in his case, a mineral water.
Coop’s eyes stung. Maybe there was too much cigarette smoke tonight. He winced and looked over the sparse crowd. No sign of Kyle and the others yet, so he ordered his regular mineral water with lots of ice and lime and leaned against the bar. A big screen TV was tuned to a basketball game he had no interest in watching.
He fished a couple sugar packets from the counter, along with a small handful of toothpicks, and stuck them in his shirt pocket. He fiddled with the drips of condensation easing their way down his tall glass.
He used to get plastered here on a regular basis when he was on SEAL Team 5. He’d just come back with his BUD/S swim buddy from a refresher course at Bragg on amputations in the field. He remembered it was bothering him a little more than it should have. His buddy had gotten a Dear John letter from his girlfriend in Florida, so they were celebrating their “freedom.” Truth was, his friend was pretty torn up about it. But they were laughing at all the stupid things they’d told girls they’d dated. The Frog Hogs, girls that liked SEALs any way they could get them. Coop knew Gary was on the lookout for a lovely to take his mind off his pain. Tonight the pickings were slim.
“You have the softest skin,” Coop had said in falsetto.
“I love rubbing your ass,” Gary had one-upped him.
“I’m a one-girl guy,” Coop continued. They both laughed, even though Coop knew it was true.
Several others from Team 5 came in. After getting almost too drunk to walk, someone got the harebrained idea to go for a swim.
Zeke had gone for some Chinese take-out and some brews, but the rest of them headed to the beach. They horsed around until the food and drink showed up, and then they ate their fill. Everyone decided to shed their clothes and go in the water stark naked. Cooper had forgotten to take off the wristwatch his dad had given him, so came out of the water to put it in his shorts. He laughed watching his Team buds splashing in the surf and acting like ten-year-olds.
After that, everything went to hell. Gary was in the water too long. He’d had a reaction to shellfish in the food and wound up in a full-blown cardiac arrest. And there wasn’t a damned thing any of them could do about it, although God knows they tried.
Dumb shit must have known he’d get a reaction to the seafood. He couldn’t believe it was anything but a horrible, pathetic accident, exacerbated by the alcohol.
Coop found himself in a cave of depression he almost went to a shrink about. Didn’t want it on his record, so he held off. He just couldn’t look at the guys he’d spent Gary’s last night on the beach with again without getting torn up inside. He asked for a reassignment and it was granted ten days later. And he never took a drink again.
Rest in Peace, Gary. He finished off his mineral water and started chewing ice, which meant he was nervous as hell.
I need to go home. He needed a good rest. His muscles were going to be sore with two PTs today, and all the roughhousing they’d done at the beach.
Kyle and the new guy entered the bar.
“Sorry we’re late. Good to see you here, Coop.” Kyle slapped him on the back and took a stool next to him. The new guy sat on the other side.
“Fredo get a date?”
“He’s over at Mia’s with Armani.”
“Good for him.” Fredo had a major crush on Armando’s wild child little sister. Coop looked at the new guy. “We haven’t been introduced properly. I’m Calvin Cooper,” he said when he extended his hand over the bar, in front of Kyle.
“Malcolm Jones.” The guy was handsome as hell. Big, strong hands.
“You’re that guy,” Kyle said.
“What guy?” asked Malcolm.
“‘I’m your father, Luke.’ That guy.”
Jones grinned.
“Malcolm here is giving us a tryout. Graduated top of his class at the Academy.” Kyle’s eyes sparkled in the light of the television over the bar.
Cooper whistled. “Gimme your arm then, Darth Vader.” Coop said to Jones.
“Come on?” the handsome Lieutenant asked.
“Your arm. I gotta see if you got the mark.” Cooper was going to rub it in.
Jones rolled his eyes and presented his bare left forearm. Cooper guffawed. “That’s what I thought. A virgin.”
This upset Jones, who gave an angry scowl. “What the fuck you sayin’? I’m no virgin.”
Kyle helped, “You don’t have the tats. Everyone on our team gets the frog prints from here to here.” He pointed from his wrist to the inside of his elbow.
Cooper added, “Except in your case, they’re gonna have to do it twice so it will show up.”
“I got tats,” Jones spat out with a frown.
“Yeah? Where?” Kyle asked.
Jones pulled down the polo shirt collar to reveal an anchor tat on his bicep.
Cooper and Kyle burst out laughing. Jones quickly covered up. Kyle added, “Nobody in the Navy Special Forces gets anchors. That’s for fleet scum. Didn’t they teach you that at the Academy?”
Jones focused back on his beer and there was a long pause.
“Where you from, Malcolm?” Coop asked. He could tell they’d maybe rubbed the guy too hard about the tats.
“Mississippi. Folks still live there,” Jones said without making eye contact.
Cooper took in air quickly. His hands trembled. His old instinct of reaching for a beer came back and he took on some ice cubes, starting to crunch them down loudly.
“Sorry, Coop. Heard about your people. Real sorry for your loss, man.” Jones was trying to be a good guy, but Coop was too pained to look back at him.
The three of them were quiet, not looking at each other.
“Well, aren’t we a pathetic sack of bones? Kinda reminds us of the old Team guys trying to relive their glory days.” Kyle said, leaning first toward Cooper and then Malcolm.
“Yeah,” Coop whispered. “Look, man, I’m dog tired. Beat as all hell. I had a good swim before you guys showed up. Even went surfing early this morning. And I’m afraid I’m terrible company.”
Jones was staring into his beer. Coop knew he felt bad about bringing his family up, but the guy was just being nice.
“I can trust you to go home?” Kyle asked.
“I’m okay. Sorry I wasted your evening, Landmine.”
“Oh, hell, don’t be. Christy has designs on my body.”
Coop laughed and knew it was probably completely true.
“I shouldn’t be here, but just wanted to make sure you were taken care of, Coop.” He paused and then asked, “Daisy coming over?”
That got Jones’s attention. “Not anymore. Understand she has her sights on some chocolate,” Coop answered and nodded to Jones.
He’d never thought he’d be able to see a black man blush, but Jones sure as hell did.
“First you let her work on your arm, get you those nice little frog prints,” Kyle said as he whispered to Jones just loud enough so Cooper could hear. “S
he has the best hands. Let her pick out another tattoo for you and let her place it, too. She loves that. Then you let her work on your dick.”
Cooper almost spit out his soda.
“I’m not really into that stuff,” Jones replied.
Cooper and Kyle stared at the man.
“I’m not gay or anything. Hey, guys—I just kinda like to get to know a girl a little better, that’s all.”
Both Coop and Kyle commented in unison, “Why?”
They all laughed. Coop knew they could trash talk all they wanted to about women, but most Team guys respected them more than they would ever admit in public.
Coop said his goodbyes, thanked his LPO again for trying to babysit him. With Kyle’s new little one at home, this was a sacrifice, he knew. His Team leader rarely hung out at the SEAL bars anymore.
Coop headed back to the Babemobile. He locked up the scooter and then walked down the beach to sit by the surf.
He was grateful for Kyle, who cared about him as much as anyone could. Going outside the Teams, especially to a family who obviously didn’t want anything to do with the military, was a mistake, and he intended to tell Timmons so at the next opportunity. Everything he needed to get right in the head was in front of him, or behind him in his home on wheels. And his comfy bed would help.
He figured he’d work on the drone tomorrow, maybe shop for an infrared or thermal camera to mount on the UAV. He had a ‘40’s pinup decal of Lana Turner he was going to mark his new toy with.
He turned and headed back home.
A small figure stood outside the metal door, knocking. Bay was having a fit inside. At first Coop thought it was Daisy, back after having an uncharacteristic change of heart. But no, it was someone with auburn hair. Long auburn hair. Long legs. The shape of her ass as she stood on tiptoe while she knocked looked vaguely familiar.
He’d been trained to move without a sound, and he did so, until he got to within a foot of the woman. He smelled lavender, and vanilla. She wore a pinky ring on her right hand that glinted in the moonlight.
“Can I help you?” his voice was husky.
She immediately turned, eyes wide and fearful. She slammed her body up against the shell of his silver beast, trying to distance herself from him.
Libby Brownlee.
“Oh. My. God. You scared me to death.”
“Not quite. You look quite alive to me.” The anger he felt toward Libby and her family evaporated. “Why are you here?”
“I—I just came because—I—felt bad—I wanted to—to—apologize for my father. You don’t understand. He is a very fine man. He just—”
“He just blames the Navy for the loss of his brother.” Bay was barking. “I’ve got to let him out or he’ll shred the insides of my home.”
“No problem.”
She stepped aside and he unlocked the door, letting the dog, who had not been kenneled, practically topple Libby. Coop reprimanded him, but Libby was laughing.
“Who’s this?” she asked between giggles.
“This is Bay. I brought him back from…from my home. He’s just getting used to things out here.”
“Ah. Well, Bay,” she said as she knelt and rubbed Bay’s ears, putting her nose close to the dog’s, “How do you like our ocean and our great weather, huh?”
“C’mon, Bay. If you’re gonna just socialize, you’ve got to go back inside.”
The dog ran off a few yards down the parking lot, sniffed the ground around several cars parked in the darkening early evening. When the he returned, Coop put him in the trailer and locked it.
“So, you were talking about your father being a good guy and all—”
“Well, yes. But what I meant to say is that he is a fine, caring person—”
“Save it. Not interested in excuses. He send you?”
“Of course not. I just thought it was wrong. Wrong how he treated you. That’s all. I guess this was a mistake…”
Libby turned to go and Coop grabbed her arm. “Sorry.” He dropped his grip. “Stay for a bit. Then you can go.”
The two stood close enough that he could feel the heat from her body. She was a lethal, complicated, combination of spirit and emotion. Cooper liked girls who were easier to figure out. Though it wasn’t wise, he found himself making nice.
“I’d invite you in, but that wouldn’t be appropriate. Besides, the housekeeper has the day off. And Bay has had his way with the decorating and all.” His little smile was returned. Her eyes softened. Even in the dim light he could see her full lips, painted a deep pink, pucker as she formed her careful words.
“No problem.” She searched his face. He wanted to step to her, see if she would shrink if he slipped his hand up under her cotton top. But he held firm.
“You cold?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Let me go get a blanket. We’ll sit outside and finish our talk, okay?”
“Fine.”
That word again. Why do women like to use it all the time?
Coop unlocked the door and in two strides grabbed the throw on his dinette couch without turning on the lights. He bid the dog stay curled on the dog bed inside the kennel. He didn’t want Libby to see the interior of his soul. After all, this wasn’t a date.
He walked down the beach toward the surf and she followed slightly behind. He placed the blanket around her shoulders, feeling the smooth texture of her neck and upper arm as he did so. She grabbed the blanket together at her chest and sat down in tandem with him.
She was looking out to sea, the last remnants of the now-purple sky turning grey. A few stars began to come out. She leaned back and scanned the blue twilight ceiling.
“I love how you can see the stars here. Not like where I live,” she said.
“You don’t live in San Diego?”
“No. I’m in San Jose. I was going to the University of Santa Clara.”
“Was?”
“I’m taking a semester off.”
Coop didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t gotten his college degree yet, though he had started. “Time off can be a good thing,” he said but didn’t mean it.
“I’m getting my Master’s in psychology. I’ve been going to school non-stop for seventeen years. I don’t know, I just needed a break. Probably a stupid idea, but the thought of plunging into another year of studies frightened me for some reason.”
“So you’ll live at home, then?”
“No. I can’t think there.”
Coop was going to let her tell him. He didn’t want to ask, but he was dying to know.
Better stop this or you’ll get your dick in a ringer. Last thing he wanted to do was report back to Timmons that he’d not made contact with the brother, but fucked his daughter.
Shit. Cooper, you’re a fuckin’ asshole.
“I think best here. Everything seems right with the world when I’m in the water, or at the beach. Especially just after sunset.” Cooper chastised himself for being such a fucking romantic.
What the hell are you doing?
Libby turned her face to his. He watched as her pretty eyes fluttered over his features, ending with his mouth. Unless he had totally gone off his rocker, the lady was feeling something for him. Although excited, he wasn’t sure he should be.
“I’m sorry about your family,” she whispered over the sounds of the waves in the distance.
This unexpected painful reminder he was a damaged soul bothered him. He understood why she said it. Why do women always want to heal guys? He’d seen his share of relationship train wrecks in the SEAL community. He wasn’t sure he believed it was possible to do it successfully. But if he did, she might—
Damn. Stop this right now.
Cooper tore himself from her eyes and sifted sand between his bent knees. She was barely touching his thigh with her own. He hadn’t noticed that before. The warm glow tingled up his leg, sending his junk into alert status.
“My father had no right to treat you that way. I want to apologize for hi
s behavior. That isn’t who we are. We’ve never met—” Libby stopped, her voice wavering. This was hard for her.
Her eyes searched his. It was so simple and happened so fast. He leaned in and placed his lips over hers to stop her from talking. He was going to back away, but she moved forward and increased the pressure. His tongue slipped along her lower lip until she parted them and he was in.
He touched her cheeks with the back of both hands, and then sent his fingers into her hair at the back of her head, pulling her into him. She did not resist, but melted into his chest. He kissed her neck and heard her moan. Her smell, her breath, the taste of her lips put him in a trance. He wanted her. It was so wrong, but he wanted her more than he’d wanted a woman in years.
Her hands smoothed over his shoulders and down his chest. Her fingers moved further and rubbed over his erection tenting the front of his cargo pants. She stroked him, barely touching his sensitive part through the fabric.
You want this? You want to do me right here?
Coop was surprised. He didn’t want to ask if she knew what she was doing. Hell, he didn’t know what he was doing. Before he could think further, she had moved a thigh over his legs and was straddling him. She reached for his cock, coaxing it outside, and moved her fingers up and down, squeezing him.
“I don’t have anything,” he whispered.
“I’m on the pill,” she whispered back and kissed him.
“But what about—”
“Shhh.”
Well okay, then. Then he remembered he might have something in his shorts. “Wait,” he said as he reached down and thank God he had a shriveled foil packet in the lower pocket that had probably been through a couple of washings. But it was better than nothing.
She grabbed the packet from him.
Coop lay back, slipping a hand under her and felt her press into his palm. He unbuttoned her pants and peeled them off her hips as she raised her body. He pulled the blanket up over her bikini-clad butt as she sheathed him with fingers that sent his erection into outer space. His fingers massaged the cleft between her cheeks. Under the blanket he diverted her panties to the side and placed his throbbing cock there. She inhaled, raised her torso up and then came down on him to the hilt.
