Once a Marine (4 page)

He grinned. “Need help?”

“No!” She yanked and pulled to no avail. “Get away from me, you pervert!” A searing blush rose from her navel to her brow.

He chuckled. “Me? I’m not the one lying buck naked, displaying my wares for every morning stroller on the beach to ogle. What are you, an exhibitionist?”

Much to his disappointment she freed the towel and covered herself, the show now over. Until she got up from the chaise, that is. It might get even better.

Now covered from ankles to chin she rewarded him with another glare of anger. “I fell asleep. It was dark when I came out here.”

“Whatever you say, Bravo Delta.” Little bulges of her butt were visible between the plastic straps of the chaise.

She’d pulled both the top and bottom towel to cover herself.

He grinned. “Nice bottom view too, sunshine.”

She kicked out a leg from under the towel and thrust it viciously, landing squarely on his shoulder. He went down on his butt with a thump. “Get away from me!”

“Good move, Bravo Delta. You a black belt?” He leaned back on his hands, now enjoying the exposed view of her lower half. Nice package. Very nice.

She followed his eyes, realized that she revealed way too much of herself and pushed the towel down to cover up again. “If you don’t get away from me I’m going to scream. I mean it.”

Rafi stood and brushed his hands on the seat of his shorts. She was staring at the dragon tattoo twining around his right knee.

“Now is that any way to be when I came all the way back here to take you surfing?”

She pointed at his leg. “What’s that thing?”

He smiled. “Pretty, ain’t it? Let’s go surfing.”

“I don’t know how to surf, and in any case, I’m not going anywhere with you.” She crossed her arms.

“Have it your way, sunshine.” He yanked off his shirt to reveal his strong, muscular chest, stepped to the edge of the pool, and dove in, drenching her in the process. When he surfaced BD sputtered and wiped water from her face. Holding both towels in front of her, she stood, turned, and headed toward the pool house, rewarding him with a luscious rear view. What a juicy little bottom she had. Good thing he was in the pool.

In moments she stepped back out of the shadows clad in a neon pink bikini.

He grinned. “Coming in?”

“So you can drown me with more juvenile antics? I’m going to the beach. Not that it’s any of your business.” She rounded the end of the pool, walked through a break in the line of low sea cabbage hedges and onto the warm, sugary sand.

Rafi pulled himself out of the water with one powerful thrust, shook himself like a Labrador, and jogged after her. When he caught up with her he swung her up in his arms and ran toward the water. “Let’s go for a swim, Bravo Delta.”

She pounded his rock-solid shoulders and kicked for all she was worth. “Put me down, you caveman!”

A couple walking on the sand at the edge of the water laughed at her protests.

“Put me down, dammit!”

“OK.” He dropped her on her butt in a foot of water and took a couple of long leaping strides. He dove into a curling wave.

BD sat in the receding wavelet and slapped the water with her hands in fury. “I’ll show you, you jerk.” She stood to avoid a waist high swell, bounced up and down and chased it back out. Diving, she swam with long powerful strokes. He didn’t hear her coming. She caught up, put her arms around his neck, and kicked his legs out from under him, using every bit of strength she could muster to push Rafi under water.

He came up laughing and sputtering. “Good move, Bravo Delta. You an ex-Navy SEAL?” He reached out and pushed her under with a big hand that nearly covered the top of her head from ear to ear. Then he reached down, grasped her waist, pulled her out of the water and tossed her into the air like a small kid. She sank into the next wave like a stone.

When she surfaced they were nose to nose.

He laughed and pulled her, sputtering, into a sloppy saltwater kiss.

She resisted for just a moment and then got with the program. Her legs clamped around his waist. She held his lips to hers by grabbing an ear in each hand and hanging on.

When she eased up, he leaned back and took a breath. “You like my version of CPR?”

“No,” she lied and rewarded him with a foxy smile.

“Like hell.” He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her again.

BD had no idea how far she would go with this, but Rafi had a body to die for and he was a great kisser. She clung to his broad shoulders and ran her hands down his muscled back. He probably weighed seventy pounds more than Nick, and it was solid muscle. She shivered with hot desire. A sensation so long missing, she’d almost forgotten the feeling.

His hands slipped under her bikini bottom and grasped a cheek in each big mitt. He pulled her into his erection. “You interested?”

God yes, she was interested and shocked by the reality. But should she let him know? “I’m interested in learning how to surf. I’ve already done the…other thing.”

“I’ll bet you have, Bravo Delta. I’d bet my life on it.” He put his teeth on her neck. “I could eat you whole, sweet stuff.”

She pushed her knee between his legs. Felt the muscles in his thighs tense. “Feed me first, teach me how to surf, and we’ll take it from there, Big Foot.”

“You got it.”

They spent the morning where small but good waves pushed through Kaneohe Bay. Within an hour he had her standing on the board with barely a wobble. Her laughing and shrieking tickled him. A bunch of sun-burnt young jarheads from the Marine base also enjoyed the show. Rafi figured they were more interested in her physique than her skills on the board. They kept a respectful distance when they recognized the USMC emblem tattooed on his upper arm.

Exhausted, she dragged her board out of the water. “That’s enough for one day.” She dropped onto the wet sand and threw her arms out to her sides with a whoosh of breath.

Rafi dropped down beside her. “Yeah, you wore me out, Bravo Delta.” He waggled his eyebrows. “But with five minutes rest and a big hunk of grilled Ono for lunch, I’ll be good as new.” He put his lips next to her ear. “I have plans.”

A smug smile graced her lips. “Yeah, me too. I plan to eat.” She jumped up and dragged the board in the direction of his parked Range Rover. “I’m starved.”

He followed a step back, enjoying the swing of her luscious bottom. What she lacked in size, she more than made up in spunk. Ah, yes, every which way from Sunday—his plan in a nutshell.

* * *

BD looked out the passenger window at the sugar cane fields whizzing past. “Where are we going?”

“I know a nice little hotel just up the road.”

I’m sure he does, she thought. This place was swarmed with Marines. Marines and motels went together, right? She’d never been unfaithful to Nick in the three years they were together. But Nick had dumped her, so what did it matter? She’d had a lot of fun today. Fun had been missing for a long time. Rafi was good for her. He had a genius for relieving stress and he did it in a way that came natural and guilt free. He enjoyed her in a way that said he deserved to.

Did she deserve to forget everything that had happened in the last thirty-six hours and just have some fun? Why not? A big girl, well she wasn’t big compared to Rafi, but she was all grown up and had nobody to answer to but herself.

Nick had a passive-aggressive way of withholding physical intimacy when he wasn’t happy with her. And he had been unhappy with her a lot. She cursed herself because she allowed him to manipulate her into taking the morning after pill last year. Twice.

Nick placed the responsibility for pregnancy clearly in BD’s lap, even though his hit-and-miss use of condoms was what caused him to panic. He claimed condoms spoiled the full enjoyment of sex for him. Sometimes he’d initiate sex then refuse to stop and put on a condom. He accused her of being selfish, not caring whether he enjoyed it or not, so long as she got what she wanted.

After that first scare, BD went back to her doctor and asked him to prescribe an oral contraceptive for her. She’d been on it before, but suffered unpleasant side effects, and she’d stopped taking them. Nick’s predictable behavior—accusing her of being selfish—just wasn’t worth the stress. She’d rather take the damn pill and be done with it. She’d deal with the headaches, mood swings, and spotting.

Several months after the first scare, even though BD was on the pill, Nick panicked again one morning. He drove her to the pharmacy, and sent her in to purchase Plan B while he waited in the car like a getaway driver. BD had nausea, bleeding, and cramps for days and then irregular periods for months.

Despite the fact that Nick made a very handsome salary, he insisted, “The time isn’t right to start a family.”

At the time she would have been willing to give up her job to have a baby…be a stay-at-home mom. Determined to avoid another such incident, she went to the doctor and had an IUD inserted—and she stayed on the pill.

The time would never be “right” to start a family with Nick. Why had it taken well over two years for her to figure that out?

To hell with Nick. Good riddance. He was yesterday; this was today.

She gazed at Rafi’s shirtless profile, his right arm straight out in front, one handing the wheel, his left arm hanging out the window, so laid-back he was almost part of the car. The dragon tattoo around his right knee was dusted with salty, fine sand. The USMC fouled anchor tattoo on his shoulder older, slightly faded. His big bare foot had a light touch on the accelerator and brake. His six-pack like tanned steel.

“Like what you see, sunshine?” He stared straight ahead and grinned at the road.

BD looked out the right window to hide a smile. Her short brown hair whipped in the warm, briny wind. “You like it enough for both of us, I think.” Yeah, she liked it, she liked it a lot. “Where is this place, anyway? I thought you said it wasn’t far.”

He reached over and slid his hand up and down her leg. “Hot to trot, are we?”

His touch started a fire deep down. BD picked up his hand and tossed it aside. “Don’t go all romantic on me, flyboy. You’ll break my heart.” No fear of falling in love with this guy, his ego the size of Diamond Head. A few laughs, some good food, some wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. Just the diversion she needed right about now.

He turned off the main road, took the first left, and followed a sugar cane track. Through the tall canes ahead she could see what appeared to be one of the first hotels on the island.

“Ah, this looks like a romantic little piece of paradise, especially that ‘Hourly Rates’ sign. Do you take all your other girls to such high-class places?”

He flashed a lascivious grin. “There are no other girls.”

“How did you know about this place then?”

“I do have a past, Bravo Delta.” He winked. “You’re the present, sweet cheeks.”

“God, I must be out of my mind.”

“We’ll soon find out.” He pulled to a stop in front of the small office. He hopped out. “Don’t go ’way, sunshine. I’ll just be a minute.” He left the motor running.

BD’s motor was also running. She squirmed in her seat, felt sand grains scraping her skin.

He was back in less than a minute. “Number eleven. End of the row.” He threw the Range Rover into reverse, swung it around to the right, and pulled to a stop at number eleven, the one with the bright green door. “Here we are, Bravo Delta, the moment of truth.”

Rafi walked around the front of the vehicle and was at her door by the time she had it open. He reached in, lifted her off the seat and threw her over his left shoulder, took three long steps and jammed the key in the lock. “Home at last.” He opened the door, stepped inside, and kicked it shut.

She was about to protest the manhandling when he patted her bottom and slowly slid her down the length of his body till she stood on tiptoe. It was the most sensuous move she could imagine. The fire burned hotter. She lost the power of speech. He placed his hands at the sides of her head, and he clamped his lips over hers with a kiss that sent her spiraling. BD’s knees shook. Her hands hung slack at her sides.

Rafi released her from the kiss slowly, slowly. He sucked in her bottom lip as he undid the knots of her bikini top at the back of her neck and the middle of her back. The top dropped soundlessly to the floor. He crushed her to his chest with his left arm and thrust his right hand under the hot pink fabric of the skimpy bottom. No shade of hot pink would adequately describe the burn that went from her neck to her knees.

She moaned deep in her throat. “Mmm. Oh. My. God.”

He chuckled. “You can call me Rafi.” He took one of her hands and pushed it against his erection. “You just hit pay dirt, sugar lips.”

BD ran her fingers down his sides, put her thumbs inside the elastic waist of his swim trunks, and pushed them to his knees. She stepped back, looked him over, and slid them to his ankles, pulse pounding in her throat and fingertips. Her eyes open wide with appreciation.

Rafi stepped out of the trunks and pulled her close again. “Let’s take a shower. Get rid of the sand.” He spoke into her mouth, kissed her, quick and hard.

BD stared into his black eyes. So black she couldn’t find the pupils. “I don’t think there’s room for all three of us in there.”

He barked a laugh, picked her up and shoved open the rattan door next to the queen-size bed with a new-looking pink hibiscus print bedspread. He stepped into the sunshine, into a tall, natural stone shower with no roof. Palm fronds clacked overhead, the surf pounded beyond. He pushed a chrome button and walked into the spray. Cascading cold water splashed over them.

BD stiffened. “Yow! It’s cold.”

Rafi set her on her feet. “Just what we need to cool things down or this will all be over long before my two hour rent is used up.” He grabbed a bottle of body wash and squirted it on her head and shoulders. With his oversize hands he massaged the suds into her skin all the way to her feet. He touched every spot on her body in the sexiest massage she’d ever experienced. She breathed, closed her eyes, and relaxed under his gentle touch. The water didn’t feel cold anymore.