Nerd and the Marine (35 page)

“
No.”

“
I’m sitting here all by
myself and you’re thousands of miles away, with my dog, and you
won’t tell?”

“
I’m planning to taste you
when you get here,” she admitted to him after he wore her down, and
let him think whatever he wanted. She didn’t even worry what he’d
think of that statement. Because she was comfortable with
him.
Just make the experience
good
, she pleaded with some higher
power.

Her statement met with
silence.

“
You’re supposed to
anticipate that for when I get there, not tempt me now.” His voice
had gone all husky and Lainy felt her lips curl up into a femme
fatale’s smile.

“
I don’t know if I’ll just
kiss you or lick you. Maybe I’ll do a little of both.” She
purred.

He groaned. “Okay, no more. I can’t
take it.”

“
You’re a
Marine.”

“
We’re not trained in how
to deflect beautiful women tempting us over the phone.” He sounded
stern.

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll stop. For
now.” Wanting to kiss him so much she could practically taste him
now. Kissing him had to be wonderful, because he was
Mitch.

“
Lainy,
stop
.”

And she realized she must have spoken
out loud. “Sorry,” she said, apologetic. “I didn’t say that on
purpose, honest. But you did insist I tell you.” Her voice rushed
out, breathless and he groaned again.

“
You’re going to kill me
before I even get home, baby.”

“
No, you have to come home
first,” she said in a husky whisper, the smile evident in her
voice.

“
I am so holding you to
that.” Male satisfaction emanated from his voice.

She laughed. A happy, carefree laugh.
“When you come home, I’m taking you to the lake.”

“
I want to go
there.”

“
Good. Bentley wants you to
see the place. He also still wants a boat.”

“
We’ll see what we can do.”
Lainy heard his grin and had to smile.

“
I won’t tell him though,
since I won’t be able to sleep if I do.”

“
Why not?”

“
He’s never woken you with
slurpy kisses?”

“
Oh, those,” Mitch said,
and Lainy heard a scratching sound, as though he ran his hand over
beard stubble. “Yeah, I’ve had my share of them. I’d just
forgotten. You know, maybe I should offer to stay another month
or...”

“
Don’t you dare,” Lainy
yelped into the phone.

Mitch laughed again. “Okay, I’ll come
home and brave slurpy Bentley kisses. I’m tough.”

“
You’re a
Marine.”

“
Yes, I am.” He sounded
proud, like a Marine.

“
And you’re coming home to
me in a week.”

“
I am. Most definitely. I’m
not letting you go once I get you in my arms, either.”

“
That’s fine with
me.”
Please make it good.

“
And, when we get to the
lake, we have an appointment to keep.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yes. There’s a certain
closet in Will’s house we need to explore together.”

“
Oh, oh yes, most
definitely.” Lainy heard the husky note in her voice, maybe she’d
finally understand... “
You
brought the subject up again, by the
way.”

“
So I did.” He didn’t sound
sorry about the lapse.

“
Now you’ve got me all
excited again,” she said breathlessly and fanned herself with a
magazine she found on a lamp table.

“
Yeah, same here,” Mitch
answered and Lainy smiled.

“
Well, I’m glad I’m not the
only one affected.”

“
You’re not. Well,
sweetheart, I’ve got to go. Another meeting. I’m not about to
prolong my stay, so I need to go.” She liked the regret in his
voice.

“
I’m not about to prolong
your stay either.”

“
Okay. I miss
you.”

“
I miss you, too. But
you’re coming home in a week!” She bubbled over.

“
I am. Bye,
baby.”

“
Bye, Mitch.” And they hung
up.

Lainy clutched the phone to her. Only
one more week.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mitch called her every night before
she went to bed. He claimed it was so he could tuck her in. She
relied on his voice to keep her sane.

Her days were filled with graduation
party planning and preparations for Mitch’s homecoming. A real
homecoming for a military hero. She was so excited Bentley took to
sleeping in his bed downstairs.

As the day neared for Mitch
to come home, so did her panic-induced franticness. She wanted
everything to be perfect and couldn’t wait for his arrival. He told
her the flight he’d arrive on and which day and she feared passing
out from excitement. He laughed at her glee, but she could tell he
felt the same way. Being a Marine, he couldn’t act foolish like
her. Not that she cared. She was
finally
going to get to hold
him.

The day dawned when his flight would
arrive. She tossed and turned and paced the house, worried with
what Mitch would think of her. Or what he wouldn’t. Would she be
enough? Would he truly hold onto her and not let go? Could she
handle this? Would she enjoy the physical aspects of a
relationship? Or would she disappoint? Or be
disappointed?

Max, whose house wasn’t finished yet,
told her to quit pacing and settle down at least eight times, and
then she stopped counting. She couldn’t heed his advice, because
she would see Mitch this day.

She was out of bed, had the truck
packed, Bentley in and ready to be on her way three hours before
she needed to be at the airport to greet Mitch. Her family would
join her later, but right now she wanted to be ready. Mitch was
en-route. Her heart hadn’t ceased its frantic racing in the last
hour. And now her palms were sweaty.

Before she could back out of her
driveway, Max opened the passenger door and pulled Bentley out.
“I’ll bring Bentley when I come, then he won’t sit in a hot truck
for three or four hours.” His scold was warranted, but she didn’t
take much heed.

“
Oh, right,” Lainy, said,
“but make certain you bring him.”

“
You need to breathe. Like
fifty times. And calm down, because you’re a complete basket case,”
Max informed her. He attempted to show her how, but she ignored
him.

“
I can’t help it. Mitch is
coming home today.”

Max was still shaking his head sadly
at her when she backed onto the street and headed for the airport.
The trip would only take her twenty to thirty minutes, so she’d
still have two and half hours to wait, but she didn’t
care.

Lainy looked over the screens and saw
Mitch’s flight was on time. Butterflies and then pigeons took
flight in her stomach as the second hand crept too slowly around
the clock taunting her on the wall. Her family trickled in, and
soon the area was crowded with Morrisons. They didn't help ease her
anxiety.

She heard his flight announcement and
stood on a chair to watch the deplaning area. Passengers flowed
from the gateways, and she saw several military folk. Turning to
look she saw them salute and a tall man with dark hair, wearing a
Marine’s uniform, salute back.

Tears welled in her
eyes.
Mitch
.

He turned then and scanned the crowd.
His eyes lit on her and he opened his arms. She stood still,
paralyzed with fear and anticipation, then as though she’d been
released from a clip, she ran on light feet to him.

Mitch met her halfway. Her family
cheered and made a lot of noise, but Lainy barely noticed. Mitch’s
huge arms tightened around her, she smelled him and recognized his
scent. He was exactly as she’d dreamed. She already knew the
feeling of them fitting together so well. And they did. One fear
crossed off her list.

Tilting her head up, she
almost kissed him first, but his lips swooped down on hers and she
didn’t care who started it, so long as they finished their lip-lock
together. He tasted exactly as she imagined. Masculine, spicy, and
like Mitch. She felt ...
right
. This kiss was perfect and
beautiful - wholesome and necessary.

They broke to breathe and stared at
each other. Lainy took in all the details of his face and held him
as close as she could. His eyes were a soft brown with so much
warmth emanating from them her knees weakened. She finally had him
in her arms and it was okay, she wasn’t spooked.

“
I'm not letting you go,”
he said in person this time, tugging her closer. She sighed in
contentment, grateful to be exactly where she was. She felt him
sniff her hair before he kissed her neck.

“
I think we'll need a
crowbar. A big one,” she heard one of her brother’s say.

“
I doubt that will separate
them,” another voice chimed in. Her father.

“
Perhaps you should give
them a little longer. They've been apart for a year,” her
Grandmother Melody inserted.
Bless
her
.

“
They've only known each
other a year,” Dory pointed out.

“
Yeah, like you have any
cause to complain. You and John knew each other two weeks before
you got engaged,” Tom pointed out helpfully.

“
Here, I'll just hook this
hickamajig up and that ought to blast them apart.” Ed’s voice
sounded, too near to them, and Lainy groaned.

Dropping her head to Mitch's shoulder
she groaned again. “Why did I invite my family along?” she
muttered.

“
You didn't, we invited
ourselves,” Max said from somewhere over her left shoulder. “Hello,
Mitch, I'm Max Morrison, nice to finally meet you.”

“
Hello Max, nice to meet
you, too,” Mitch replied and the men shook hands. Mitch pulled her
against his left side, so he could shake hands with his right. She
kept both arms around him. This physical stuff was okay.

“
Hello, Mitch,” Ed said and
they shook hands, followed by every one of her siblings and their
spouses, her parents and grandparents. Tears welled in her eyes
when Mitch picked Stevie up and gave him a bear hug. Her nephew’s
skinny arms clung around Mitch’s neck. “Welcome home, Uncle
Mitch.”

“
Thanks, Steve,” Mitch
answered hoarsely.

He ruffled Steve’s hair and tugged her
close again before looking around. “Isn't today Friday?” Mitch
asked, a frown between his eyebrows.

“
Yes, why?” Lainy stared up
at him. Still unable to believe she was in his arms, and he showed
no sign of letting her go. She didn’t feel nauseous or ill at ease,
but excited and happy, with a measure of contentment thrown
in.

“
Why isn't everyone at
work?”

“
Oh, we're going to the
lake,” her mother explained.

“
We came by to pick you up
and then we're heading to the lake. We'll take you home after
you're comfortable with us. Everyone wants to meet you. So we
thought we'd whisk you off to the lake for a little
while.”

“
Oh,” Mitch looked adorably
bemused and Lainy fell a little more in love.

“
Did you have a good
flight?” she asked as he picked up his bags, which her brothers
promptly relieved him of.

“
We'll carry these. Got
more?”

Mitch shook his head. He'd left all
the extra toiletries, bringing only the stuff he'd already used. He
even left some pictures. He brought his Game Boy, because he
couldn't bear to part with it, but had left most of the cartridges,
and some of the crayoned pictures the guys had expressed a liking
for. He’d told her this last night.

“
We sent enough stuff to
fill two large bags,” Ed commented, surveying the two Mitch had
brought with him.

“
I managed to get it all
in. And my friend Al has some stuff I'll pick up later.”

“
Well, then, let's go,” her
dad announced.

Lainy handed her keys to a niece. She
wanted every moment she had with Mitch.

“
We're going with your
parents?” Mitch whispered and she grinned.

“
They have eight kids,
remember? And a minivan. We can sit in the back seat. They'll talk
to each other and leave us be. That's why they arranged
this.”

“
Those are cool parents.”
Mitch tugged her closer and Lainy laughed.

“
Sure, they
understand.”

They made their way to the parking
garage and Lainy braced herself when she saw Max open the door of
his Jeep. Mitch looked at her though, not expecting the big brown
dog who barreled from the vehicle with an ear splitting
bark.

Mitch released her and spun, catching
the brown bullet as he propelled into his daddy's arms. And Mitch
held him tight. He reached out an arm and snagged Lainy, yanking
her close. She pressed her face into his shoulder and felt Bentley
utter a noise of contentment. Which she and Mitch
echoed.