Playing the Field

by C. J. Pinard

  With her back to me, I sidled up behind her and pressed my warm body into hers. “How long are you gonna stay mad at me?” I whispered into her ear.

  She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t push me off, either. I placed my hand against her white tank top and reached under it, running a hand along her waist and hips in smooth, fluid motions. I felt her shudder slightly, but still… she said nothing.

  Brushing aside her thick, blonde hair, I placed gentle kisses on her neck while stroking her hips and waist. I ran my finger along her neck and up to her jawline, where I place feather-light touches there and then replaced my fingers with my lips. I heard a slight moan escape her.

  She rolled over and faced me. I could see her shiny eyes glaring into mine, thanks to the moonlight glaring in through the window to our bedroom. I reached up and brushed some hair from her brow. Her lips were full and glistening, and the strap to her tank top had fallen to the side. I knew she could feel my hardness pushing against her thigh.

  “I love you, you know that?” I asked.

  She nodded slightly. “I’m so mad at you. I just found you, I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, a sob almost coming out of her.

  I smiled a little, pushing more of her hair back, smoothing it gently against her head. “You won’t lose me.”

  She still looked wounded. “You don’t know that.”

  “I do know that. I’m a super ninja, unbreakable, immortal. I’ll come home to you if it’s the last thing I do.”

  She grinned a little, and then shook her head. “Don’t go overseas thinking you’re invincible and immortal. That never ends well for people.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and stopped stroking her hair. “And how do you know this?”

  She lightly slapped my chest. “Oh, calm down, Jace. Let’s just say I watch too much TV.”

  “Please don’t be mad at me. Please?” I pleaded.

  She sighed. “I’m not mad at you, Jace. I can never stay mad at you.” She was whispering now. “I really don’t mean to be such an unsupportive bitch. I just can’t bear the thought of losing you. I’ve always worn my sadness as anger. My whole life. It’s a flaw I need to work on. It just means I love you more than I thought humanly possible, and can’t lose you. I need you, baby. Ash and I both do. I promise to support anything you do. Even if I don’t like it. I trust that you know what’s best for all of us.”

  The only response I had was to lean down and press my lips to hers. She parted them and pressed her body closer to mine. I reached under her tank top and slid it up past her beautiful breasts. She helped me wiggle out of it as I threw it to the floor. I groaned at the feel of skin on skin.

  As I continued to kiss her, she pushed me slightly so I was lying on my back. I felt her warm body slide on top of mine. I looked down to see she had no panties on, and I briefly wondered when and how they’d come off. Her wetness was gliding over my painful hardness, but she was still looming over me, her lips assaulting me with a hunger I didn’t know she possessed.

  I ran my hands over both of her luscious hips, smoothing them over her waist, then up to her breasts. I pulled her close to me so I could run my tongue over her perking nipples. They went even harder as I did this, which elicited a groan from her. I slipped my hands behind her back and gripped both sides of her fleshy ass, guiding her to the right spot. She gave up no resistance. I opened my eyes to see her straddling me, both feet flat on the bed as she lifted herself up and impaled her body onto mine. I moaned loudly as the wet heat of her body gripped me. Her hips began to move, and I watched her head arch back seductively, her lips parted as her hair swished against her ass. Her breasts were full, the nipples hard.

  Miranda’s hands were on my chest. I gently grabbed them, placing them on the bed so she could pin me down as she gently rode me, her hot, wet body causing me to gasp and try to hold things together. Her breasts slowly swung in my face, and I watched them with lust ripping through my body as I barely held onto my desire.

  Closing my eyes to maintain control, I felt her lean down and press her body flush with mine, her mouth on my neck as she licked and kissed me there. Her lips lightly brushed my neck and travelled up to my ear, where she licked my earlobe, her breathy groans whispering in my ear.

  My hands were still on her hips and I gripped them roughly, trying to control the way they were rocking.

  “Oh, Jace.” My name was a breath of sweet lust from her lips, and I opened my eyes to see her staring at me, eyes hooded as she licked her lips and then parted them.

  Then I felt her body tighten and grip around my cock. The squeezing as Miranda let out a scream of ecstasy, her head thrown back, was my undoing. With a guttural groan, my body released all its stress, desperation, frustration, and love into hers as my hips bucked along with hers. Her nipples were rock-hard nubs in my face and I reached up and stroked the right one with the pad of my thumb as she continued to ride out her intense pleasure, mewling as she came.

  My body was twitching underneath hers, my breath finally beginning to calm. I used my hands to pull her down flat onto me, her head lying contently on my chest, my body still inside locked with hers as we both gasped for air.

  “I love you so fucking much, Miranda,” I said.

  I felt her nod. “I know, Jace. I love you so much it hurts.”

  ***

  “You’re not gonna believe this shit,” Miranda said, the cell phone to her ear, being held with her shoulder as she painted her daughter’s toenails a bright pink. She kept having to stop because Ashlynn was squirming around.

  “No, I’m not pregnant. God, you think I’d start the sentence like that?”

  She paused, then snorted. “Obviously you’ll never guess.”

  Another pause. “No, Jace is getting deployed. How bad does my luck suck?” I watched as she pulled the phone away from her ear and made a face, looking at it. “Are you laughing at me, bitch?”

  I assumed she was talking to Cara. I was at the dining room table with my laptop, trying to find a frilly background for a local bakery who had hired me to design their website.

  I had broken my lease at my apartment and moved all my things into Miranda’s after the wedding. I didn’t have much, just some living room and bedroom furniture. I didn’t even have much in the way of kitchen items, but we’d combined everything and it worked out perfectly. Keeping myself busy with house projects she needed done, I was more than happy to help her re-stain her porch, hammer down some rickety boards, repaint the spare bedroom (which she said I could use as my office until more kids came along), and tighten up leaky faucets. I give Miranda props for buying this house by herself and having to maintain it. She was pretty handy for a girl, but I think she felt a sense of relief having me handle the some of the jobs. That’s what I told myself, anyway. We had plans to sell this one once it was fixed up, and buy our first house together. I just hoped nothing major went wrong while I was overseas. Thankfully, my fulltime paycheck from the military should be more than enough to cover anything. It wasn’t like I was gonna need it.

  Handing over my whole paycheck. Was I whooped, or what? I smiled to myself as I continued to scroll through website templates. I just couldn’t find anything perfect. I opened Photoshop and figured I would just make one myself, because I was a perfectionist like that.

  “Oh, my God! Tell me everything! Don’t leave out a detail.”

  I looked up when I heard Miranda’s excited tone. She switched the phone to her other ear. “And then what?”

  She flicked her gaze over to me, and her eyes were wide. “Cara’s getting married!” she mouthed.

  I smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. She rolled her eyes at me and went back to putting more polish on Ashlynn’s toes.

  Concentrating on the task at hand, I smiled a little to myself. I guess we’ll be going to Colorado. I just hoped the wedding wasn’t during this deployment so I could go. I had only been to Denver once, and I barely got to see it since our away game had only taken us there for one
night. All I could remember were breathtaking, snow-capped mountains outside of my hotel room window.

  Chapter 19

  The San Francisco airport was crowded. It seemed like my entire platoon was here with their spouses and children. It was chaos, but I had tunnel vision. I saw nothing but Miranda and Ashlynn. My wife had her daughter on her hip, holding onto her tightly, her eyes red-rimmed and sad. I choked down sadness and plastered on a smile for her, showing her that I wasn’t scared of leaving, of deploying. That I had done this before. I was a professional at saying goodbye and living to tell about it.

  “Final boarding for flight 3262, service to New York LaGuardia…” I heard the announcer say over the loudspeaker. New York was just a layover, then we had a nine-hour flight to Kabul, Afghanistan.

  I pulled Miranda and Ashlynn into my arms. I felt Miranda’s body shake with sobs. I heard Ashlynn say, “You’re squishing me, Jace!”

  I laughed as I pulled back and looked at the little beauty. I lifted her from Miranda’s arms and hugged her as tight as I could without hurting her.

  “I’m gonna miss you, little princess,” I said, staring into her eyes and dropping a kiss onto her nose.

  “You’re gonna ride on a big airplane!” she replied, pointing out the window.

  I was grateful that Ashlynn probably wouldn’t remember this. I set her down and hugged her mother, my wife, the ruler of my world, the love of my life. Resting my head on the top of hers, I whispered, “I love you, my queen. I’ll be back soon. Please don’t be mad at me.”

  I pulled back and looked into her whiskey gaze. “Say something,” I said.

  Her arms were still around my waist. “I married you for better or worse. This maybe the ‘worse’ part, but I know in the end, it’s not. You’re doing what you were born to do. I don’t like it, but I signed up for this regardless. Just do me a favor and keep yourself alive. My parents spent a lot on that wedding, and I don’t intend on making them regret it.”

  I gasped, pulling back to look at her. “That’s the only reason you want me to come back, huh?”

  She grabbed my face between her fingers. “No. I need you, Jace. Ashlynn and I both do. Please don’t die.”

  I gulped down a sob. I knew it was hard for her to admit any sort of weakness, but I knew in that moment she needed me as much as I needed her. I leaned down and kissed her with everything I had, then ran to the door before they closed it on me and I missed my flight. The last thing I saw was Miranda and Ashlynn holding hands, watching me disappear.

  ***

  I tossed my hat onto my bed, sighing as I looked out the window to see mountains. I was faced with a dry, desert mountain range here in Bagram, Afghanistan. Freakin’ Afghanistan. Were they kidding me? At least it wasn’t Iraq. Don’t think my psyche could take that. Not right now, anyway. I took a deep breath and told myself I could do this. Six months away and I would be done.

  I looked at my watch, my body shaking with exhaustion, but I knew I had to let my Miranda know I had arrived. It was 8 a.m. in California. I knew she was at work, but couldn’t use Skype at work. I briefly wondered if the FBI would make an exception for a military spouse, then realized I shouldn’t push my luck. We had agreed that I would keep phone calls to a minimum, as our coverage didn’t include international calling, so a text would have to do.

  I’ve arrived, your majesty. I miss you so badly already.

  Throwing my phone on the bed, I changed out of my uniform and took a hot shower. As the water cascaded over me, I smiled at the irony of the situation in which I now found myself. Six months ago, I’d been terrified to tell the woman of my dreams that I was a reservist. Now, not only did she know, she was living it, married to it. Admittedly I felt a small twinge of guilt. But what did I have to feel guilty for, really? I’d signed up for this life at 18 years old. Here I was at 28, still living it. The only difference was, I had a beautiful woman and daughter waiting at home for me.

  I shut the water off and toweled myself dry. Slipping on a T-shirt and shorts, I picked up my phone from the bed. Smiling, I read the text:

  I’m so relieved. You don’t know how worried I’ve been. Keep in touch, okay? I love you Jace.

  Quickly shooting off a text back telling her I loved her, too, I plugged my phone into its charger and lay down on my bed, letting exhaustion and its blackness overtake me.

  When I woke the next morning, I was full of nervous excitement. I wasn’t sure what I was gonna be doing over here, but I had a good idea. The MOS I’d chosen when I’d re-enlisted was Surveillance Technician Specialist, and during my first meeting with my commanding officer and the rest of the platoon, I was shown a large room full of computer and recording equipment, known as the “shop”, as I was told. Any tip received in regards to intelligence and surveillance was sent our way, and we would look into gathering the information we were given. We were also in charge of setting up hidden microphones and equipment in locations and sometimes on people. Very secretive espionage type stuff and I was excited about it. I was excited to learn it and have something else added to my already long resume. I also received a Top Secret Final Clearance, which I thought was badass. I couldn’t wait to tell Miranda what I was doing. She also worked in research intelligence for the FBI. Not that we could talk about what we were working on – neither one of us – but it would be exciting to tell her nonetheless.

  After 10 hours of getting acquainted with my new workstation, commanding officers, and fellow Marines, we all went to eat in the mess hall and then I went back to my room. My cell phone was still on the small nightstand and I picked it up to see I had four emails and three texts. Miranda had texted me again, and I had one from my dad, and one from Dalton. I returned them all, letting them know I was okay. I was looking forward to Skyping with Miranda this upcoming weekend so we could catch up.

  As I fell asleep my first night, I was happy. I knew six months away from my wife and family would suck, but this also felt right. I felt back in my element, energized, looking forward to the camaraderie and work that would surround me during my time here. I said a small prayer for my fellow Marines before falling asleep that they would all be safe. Me included.

  ***

  “So you’re off tomorrow, or I guess, today?” she asked, her brow furrowing as if she was trying to figure out the time zone difference.

  I nodded. “Yep. I only got one day off this week, still learning the job and all that.”

  “And it’s nine a.m. on Sunday there?”

  “Yes,” I said, pulling a T-shirt on over my head. “Did you and Ash do anything fun today?”

  She smirked. “You could have left the shirt off. The dog tags on bare chest thing is hot.”

  Smoothing my hand through my short hair, I said, “When I get home, I’ll make you wear them over your bare chest.”

  “As long as you warm them up first,” she said with a sly grin.

  “Nah, I’ll make sure they’re nice and cold, get those nipples hard for me.”

  She stepped away from her laptop and pulled her shirt off and sat back down in nothing but a lacy purple bra. “Really now?”

  I groaned at the two freckled mounds of delicious flesh spilling over the top. “Put your shirt back on, you’re killing me here.”

  “Yeah? Well you’re killing me here, too.”

  “Hey, I put my shirt back on,” I protested.

  She raised a pale eyebrow at me and swept her long, blonde hair to the side over her shoulder. She ran her fingertip slowly along the ridge of her right breast. “I can still remove the bra.”

  “Isn’t Ashlynn home?” I said, trying to peer around her, but all I saw was the boring background of my home office.

  She nodded, pointing at the bra. “Yes, but this isn’t anything she doesn’t see every day.”

  “Put your shirt back on and go get her,” I commanded.

  She faked a pout, then winked at me, getting up and throwing on one of my white ‘wife beater’ tank tops. I stared at her lusci
ous ass as she left the room. God, she looked hot in that. It was gonna be a long six months.

  “Hi, little girl!” I said when I saw Ashlynn’s tiny face in the screen.

  Ashlynn waved. “Hi, Jace! What’cha doin’?”

  I laughed. “Oh, just working, baby. Did you have a nice day?”

  She nodded. “Yes! I went to a birthday party. They had a pony there!”

  “Wow that sounds like fun. Did you ride it?”

  “Mommy I’m done!” she said, squirming to get off of Miranda’s lap. “Bye, Jace!”

  I laughed again and watched her run off.

  “To answer your question, no she didn’t ride it. She wouldn’t go near the damn horse.”

  I laughed, because I had figured. That child was afraid of everything – Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Chuck E. Cheese, and even that damn Elf on the Shelf. I didn’t think she’d warm up to a real, live animal three times her size anytime soon.

  “So anything else going on?” I asked.

  She snapped her fingers as she took a sip from a straw of what looked like soda in a glass. After she swallowed, she said, “Hey, I found a handwritten letter the other day.”

  My eyebrow went up. “Is that so? What did it say?”

  “Oh, it was some sappy letter you wrote to me while we were dating, actually, when I was mad at you and not speaking to you. Why didn’t you ever give it to me?”

  I laughed. “Oh yeah. I had planned on dropping that through your mailbox but you drove up and foiled my plans!”

  She brushed some bangs from her forehead and smirked at me. “Well it was a really sweet letter. It was nice to have something so personal to read while you’re gone. Even if it was old. I loved it. I put it away somewhere safe.”

  Well, I thought, should have just given it to her back then.

  “Well, I’m glad you liked it,” I shrugged. “Anything else going on?”

  “Yep! Just found out, Cara’s wedding is May 10th in Colorado.”