Man Of Few Words

by Whistler, Ursula

  “Still. You didn’t dismantle it. Now, what did you need help doing?”

  “Um, building all new steps out front. My dad’s b…”

  Kirsten turned her head as a naked man backed into the room as he yelled down the hallway, “Just a quick snack, and I’ll be back to have more of you.” When he turned, she couldn’t keep her eyes from his aroused penis.

  Duff wasn’t going to have any of this. He snarled and wished he had a voice like the drill sergeant that woke them every day during basic training. This student was a fucking lazy screw up, and he needed to show his woman some respect. He would not let him prance around his woman’s house buck-naked. He ignored that fact that Kirsten hadn’t exactly agreed to be his, but that wasn’t the point at the moment.

  First things first. He grabbed her shoulders and tried to turn Kristen around. She didn’t comply. Knowing he had little to no control over her, he barked out orders. “Put clothes on right now, Marine, and report back here.”

  The startled man saluted with a terse, “Yes, sir.” His penis flopped as he executed a perfect about face toward the guest bedrooms.

  Kirsten giggled. “That was unexpected.”

  His blood boiled, and even though he knew it was a slight bit of misplaced jealousy, he couldn’t control it. The man had disrupted his morning with Kirsten, and the day had seemed to be improving. “He’s going to get some shit for that. Yelling at your friend like he was in a barn.”

  From the bewildered look on Kirsten’s face, she didn’t get his annoyance. In fact, she completely rejected it. “Relax. He could have been getting her one, too.”

  Duff snarled. “Can we discuss this outside?”

  “Now you don’t want to see him?” She planted her hands on her hips with fists. Not a good sign. “You told him to report back here.”

  A snort escaped from his nose. He had to try better to control his anger. This had taken him offline, like he’d lost his hydraulics. Last time that happened, he ended up knocked out from a crash landing in Iraqi territory. That helped him focus, knowing he wasn’t in mortal danger. He didn’t need to worry about enemies. He was with friends. “It’s why I don’t want to talk about this in here.”

  “Fine.” She rolled her eyes and headed out the back door.

  The whoosh of the waves against the white, sandy shore soothed him a little. He’d just been thinking that she was the one waffling between choices, and here he was having misplaced anger. “I don’t like him. He’s the kind that causes fuck ups. Big ones.”

  She shook her head. Her face screwed up into confusion. “What? So, this isn’t about him prancing naked around my house?”

  “Yes and no.” He strode away from her, did an about face, and tried to explain without the jealousy part. “I know this one. He’s getting lazy in flight training. Thinks he can play around. He’ll be on a fast track to flunking out if he keeps it up, or if I find out he’s treating women like crap.”

  “Johnathan Quinn Duffy, you sound like my father. You can’t tell this man what to do outside of his duties.”

  Duff squared his shoulders. He had every right to tell the man to stay away from Kirsten’s house, and if that meant staying away from her roommate, so be it. A superior officer could give a lower rank shit whenever he wanted. He just usually didn’t, but this guy was intruding on his territory. “The hell I can’t. If he’s acting in a manner unbecoming of an officer, I can, and I will. How else will he learn?”

  “You didn’t just say that. Tell me you didn’t say that.” She puffed out her chest and advanced on him. “You’d have no idea what he was doing in my house unless I asked you into it. So, unless you’d like to turn your ass right around, quit with the superiority thing.”

  “I don’t want that punk near you. You’re mine.”

  “Oh, no, you fucking don’t.” If he wanted her to pull out her tough side, she would damn well give it to him. “My house. My rules. I may still toss him out on his bare ass, but that’s my decision.”

  “He’s my student.”

  “Then teach him somewhere else.” Kirsten wanted to poke his chest, but she remembered her father motivating people to move with just his presence and words. She squared her shoulders and snarled. “I am not yours. You need to back off or go away.”

  “Fine.” He took two steps backward, did an about face, and took the first riser down.

  “Get back over here. We are not starting out like this.”

  “You’ve got that correct. We certainly won’t with that little shit running around.” He pointed down the hallway. “Kirsten, you need to understand that I will not share living space with any of my students. Ever.”

  “Well,” her response died in her throat. “Oh. Well, that bites the big one. Suzy’s been with Eric for a while now. I’m not going to suggest that she end it with him because of us.”

  His throat bobbed as he swallowed. It looked like what he was about to say made him sick if she could tell that from his sudden paleness. “I have to be impartial, distant. It’s my job to make them the best goddamn helicopter pilots on Earth. I can’t be the tough instructor on base and buddy off of it. Until he’s gone—and he’ll go, because he has the attention span of a gnat—we are done. Call me when he leaves. We’ll see what happens then.” He took a few steps down the stairs and turned back to her. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “Well, goddamnit, Duff.” That’s all she managed to say as he took the last flight of stairs to the ground.

  Kirsten stared at the empty deck, amazed at his action. She sort of understood why he couldn’t be seen as having probable favorites. The anger? That she didn’t get. Her feet took her through the door and into the living room. Just when she thought she’d give Duff a real chance, he left. “Fuck that.”

  Another male voice sounded from the hallway. “Lieutenant Groveman reporting, sir.”

  Her shoulders slumped. This really had been a roller coaster of a day. “At ease, lieutenant. The major left.”

  “Ma’am. Yes, ma’am.”

  “And get out of the good Marine mode. I’ve had it up to here with you guys.” She dropped her purse on the kitchen counter. A tiny sliver of sadness pierced the skin of annoyance she had wrapped around her. Hadn’t Duff been the one saying he wanted to begin again? Why had he chosen now to have a burr up his ass?

  Suzy, wrapped in a pink robe, patted the frowning lieutenant on the butt. “Might as well leave now, buddy. Mood’s shot to hell.”

  “Yeah, I got to study anyway. I’m sure the major will can my ass if I make less than perfect on this next eval.”

  Kirsten agreed. “You better study. He’s got his eye on you.”

  Suzy waited until her guy was out of the house. “Oh my lord, Kirsten, what have you done? Eric looked more scared than a wildebeest in a lion’s den.”

  “I was a bad girl, just like you’ve always wanted me to be. I had sex all night.”

  “With Major Duffy? You had revenge sex? Way to freakin’ go, girl.”

  Her shoulders slumped. Somehow she’d gone from wanting revenge sex and learning a secret from the past, to wanting to try again with Duff. Her head spun with the one-eighty she’d accomplished in her relationship goals. “Oh, Suzy. I’m not cut out for this.”

  Her roommate rushed over to her. “Why? And, don’t you dare give in because it’s a little hard.”

  “I don’t have time to explain, except I probably should.” She wouldn’t say it if she thought that her roommate had any serious plans for the younger Marine. “I can’t sugar coat it. Because you are bonking Eric, Duff won’t come around here, which means around me.”

  Suzy wrinkled her nose. “Then, I guess it’s good that I gave him the send off.”

  “You did?”

  “In a way. I told him to leave me alone for a bit with the new semester starting. A student texted me that she saw me last night at the bar. That’s the beginning of disaster.” Suzy walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a soda.

  �
�For her or you?”

  “Both, but let’s not get into that. What’s the deal with Duff? Something for real?”

  “Not now.” Besides the fact that she couldn’t answer that question, she had other demands on her. “Boomer will be here soon to help with the steps. I need a shower to get the sex off of me, because I’m sure he’ll smell it.”

  Suzy sniffed. “Had to have been great, then. You have to keep him around for more of that.”

  “I shouldn’t say it was the best sex I’ve had recently, because it’s the only sex I’ve had lately. But, it was. We’re gonna have to share a glass of wine.”

  “Or a whole bottle!”

  “Or a whole bottle, so I can tell you everything.”

  “As long as you include if Boomer hits on you.”

  “What?” Her voice rose higher that she thought possible. She’d met Boomer through her father, and although he was one the younger of the former naval or marine officers, she knew he didn’t think of her that way.

  “You haven’t noticed? C’mon, Kirsten. Seriously?”

  “You’re just misreading him.” She waved over her shoulder, but Suzy’s suspicions about Boomer had raised her own. What had she been missing? And why was she still thinking about Duff? Would she ever get him out of her mind now that she’d had another glorious taste of him?

  ****

  The afternoon was well on its way to evening as Kirsten squinted in the sun. She’d been admiring the new, sturdy staircase for the past ten minutes. The sight of it made her happy, although the cost didn’t. Even that didn’t diminish her spirits too much since she knew she had a paycheck coming at the end of the month. As she moved to the shade, she gave the day high marks despite Duff walking out on her, again.

  She smiled at Boomer as he walked down the new steps from the house. The man might have retired from the military two years ago, but he didn’t look it. His kept his hair short and his body in shape. She’d jogged with him enough times to know that he had more stamina at forty-four than she had at thirty-one. The only thing that showed his age were the lines on his face. He’d done some serious worrying, as he liked to say.

  “Have you walked up them, yet?”

  “Three times while you were loafing inside.” She always teased him, because he did the same to her. They had an easy rapport. He was one of her father’s many friends who she didn’t mind checking on her. The others assumed she needed direction. Boomer showed only friendliness. At least, that’s what she always thought.

  “Just three? We’ll have to get back to training you.”

  “I could handle that. It helps keep the stress away, and I’m sure to have plenty of it. Not about the steps any longer. Thanks, and thanks for bringing such a crew. We slapped this baby up in no time.”

  “You’re welcome, and I wish more homeowners were like you, getting in there along with us.”

  She sat on a step and patted the spot next to her. “You mean getting in the way.”

  Boomer joined her, but he shook his head. “Not at all. I think you kept the boys going, because you didn’t slow down.”

  “I wanted to get this done and out of the way. It seemed like a tangible thing to check off my ever-growing list.” She sighed and closed her eyes. Every time she took a rest, she remembered all she had to do to settle her father’s estate, from bills to pay and the proper forms to file for the clerk of the court.

  Boomer put an arm around her shoulders and gave a squeeze. “I’m here to help with that stuff.”

  She leaned into him. For the second time in a day, she realized how much she missed the feel of a man. “I know. Maybe instead of running tomorrow, you can help me gather all of my dad’s financial papers. I’ve got to send all of the investment firms and bank accounts his death certificate, and he definitely believed in putting his eggs in lots of baskets.”

  “You got it, but let’s toss in some activity, too. It’s good for you.”

  “Thank you for not calling me kid like all the others.” She meant that. Boomer treated her like an equal, and it meant feeling more capable and less dependent on the military machine.

  “Because you’re not.” He put a hand on her chin and turned her face toward his. “You’re not. Kirsten, you’re a beautiful, smart woman.”

  “Caught in a storm of former commanding officers.” Although her voice was calm, the rest of her could barely keep within normal operating boundaries. The scent of Boomer’s sweat teased at her nose and lured her closer to him. Her pulse throbbed in her neck, and the place where his hand touched sent tingles of excitement to her chest. She envisioned her fingers tracing the smile line at the side of his mouth before taking his chin in hand and pressing her lips against his. Being with Duff must have amped up her sex drive. She hadn’t ever thought of Boomer that way. She wiped those crazy images from her mind.

  “That you are. I promise not to tell you what to do, except…” He dropped his hand from her chin and removed his gaze from her. “Ah, never mind.”

  With the connection broken, she realized what a mistake it would have been to kiss Boomer. Her heart hadn’t fully given up on Duff. Putting another man in the mix would make matters worse. She used teasing as a way to bring more distance between them. “You can give orders, but I refuse to obey. That isn’t ever going to change.”

  He slapped his thigh and stood. “I wouldn’t expect anything else, professor. I’m gonna get going. Gotta squeeze in one more job before I lose all the daylight.”

  “Get going, then. Call me before coming tomorrow. I may need to put off going through Dad’s stuff.” Not only did she have lessons to construct before Monday, she planned to patch up the mess she’d made with Duff, if she could figure out how to contact him. He’d told her to call, but she hadn’t gotten his number.

  “Sure. It might work better for Wednesday. We’ve got a big job out here then. Let’s grab a bite and tackle it then.”

  “Great. Thanks, Boomer.”

  “Any time, Kirsten.”

  “Careful, I may take you up on that.”

  Boomer seemed like a pretty good replacement if Duff didn’t work out. That thought brought a smile to her face. She had options, and pretty damn good ones. Well, she would have options once she got Duff to relax about the other Marine that may or may not hang around the house. She’d not been very nice or understanding to him. Perhaps he’d give her another chance. She laughed. Now, that was ironic.

  Chapter Seven

  Duff wished the small gym in his apartment building had a punching bag. He needed to pummel something to get the annoyance he had at himself out of his system. Running three miles hadn’t helped, and pumping iron wasn’t proving to work. All he’d done was cover the scent of sex with the stink of his sweat. He wondered, not for the first time, how a man who routinely succeeded in piloting expensive aircraft could screw up his personal life.

  With exercise a bust, he turned his thoughts to the other way he vanquished his emotions—flying and training pilots. He had no real reason to go to the base, but he headed that way as a reason to get out of his place. The bedroom reminded him of her, and when he straightened the sheets to make the bed her scent filled the small room. Even the bathroom got him thinking of Kirsten. He needed to surround himself with things that he could control, like green flight students and aircraft.

  Duff pushed open the wooden door, worn smooth by generations of airmen entering the ready room. He wasn’t preparing for a mission. Instead, flight students would get a lesson before taking to the skies in the trusty T-34s used for initial flight training. Mike Stone’s dark green flight suit stood out in the off-white room.

  “Didn’t expect you here.” Stone bobbed his head as a greeting.

  “Doing some thinking and found myself heading this way.” He and Stone hadn’t ever been good friends, but, like the old naval saying, any port in a storm. Right now, his personal life had reached a stormy seas stage. “Women.”

  The high beams of Stone’s teeth shined in th
e dim room. “When you have more than one, you’ll get challenges.”

  “That’s not my problem. Just one.”

  “The lady I met last night?”

  “That one.”

  “Is it you or her?”

  “Do you need to ask that question?” Stone knew about Duff’s series of failed relationships and the troubles that still followed him because of one woman in particular.

  “Right. What did you do?”

  “Lost my temper. Well, not exactly.” He thought about the naked lieutenant prancing so easily through Kirsten’s house and how she stared at the younger man. His reaction was jealousy and a need for privacy—not outrage at unbecoming conduct. As he turned a chair backward and straddled it, he told Stone the story.

  After a long laugh, Stone asked, “This was Groveman, the jokester?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one, and he’s dating her roommate. You know I can’t kick him out. The shit’s going to cost me an amazing woman.”

  Stone propped up his feet on the table in front of him. “That kid deserved whatever you gave him, Duff. Don’t feel bad about that. But, the lady and the situation. Want me to see if Groveman is real about the roommate?”

  “Out of bounds, even for you.”

  Stone threw up his hands. “Hey, all I have to do is suggest that I’m interested, and bam! That kid will go running.” He leaned forward. “Is she hot?”

  “Kirsten? You saw her. Yes. Hell, yes.”

  “No, the roommate.”

  “I don’t know. Didn’t stay around to see her.”

  “Let me deal with Groveman. He’s up for a flight with me. I won’t press him too hard. Whatever I learn, I’ll tell you.”

  Duff rubbed his face and contemplated the ethics of it all, which he wished he’d done earlier. “Don’t tell him to dump the roommate. We can’t do that.”

  Stone turned on his high beams, those ridiculously white teeth. He had to spend a fortune on whitening treatments. “I’m going to be a saint. Perfect officer. And you’ll end up with what you want. But you do know that you should get over there and apologize if she’s worth it. Is she?”