Patriotic Duty (7 page)

CHAPTER 9

Aiden
and I pulled up to the local park to meet Miranda and
Ashlynn
for a play date, and so Miranda and I could catch up. Since Riley and I had
been seeing each other, I felt like I hadn’t seen Miranda in forever, even
though we did work together. She worked inside the main perimeter of the prison
while I worked at an attached satellite camp that housed lower-security
offenders, and I rarely went inside the larger facility, so we mostly talked on
the phone.

“Hey,” I said, spotting
Miranda sitting on a bench. I had Aiden by the hand and as I sat, I pulled his
sweatshirt off and sprayed some sunscreen on his exposed arms. I rubbed it in,
and adjusted his little 49ers baseball cap and kissed him on the tip of his
freckled nose. He was squirming to go play so I let him go and he ran over to
where
Ashlynn
was sitting on one of the
spring-mounted animals, rocking back and forth.

I looked at Miranda who
was studying me intently. “What’s up, girl?”

“Nothing.
You tell me,
miss
Army wife.”

My mouth dropped open.
“What? No way.
Just having fun.
You know.” I winked at
her for effect.

She waved me off and went
back to filing her nails. “Okay, sure, whatever you say.”

I laid a hand on her arm
to stop her filing. “What’s wrong?”

She stared at me, the warm
amber of her eyes boring into me. “Nothing’s wrong. I just think that you’re
falling for this guy but he’s leaving and you’re making a mistake.”

Her words pierced my heart
because I knew they were true and I had been chastising myself for the very
same thing for a couple of weeks. There was no way I would admit that to
Miranda, though.
“No, really.
He’s leaving and we’re
just having fun. He’s great in bed and it’s nice to have someone to go places
with, you know.”

“Well, what am I? Chopped
liver?” she said with a teasing tone.

“Of course I love going
places with you. But I don’t know how you are in bed.”

She laughed and I was
relieved to hear it. She had a great laugh and sometimes we would get into
laughing fits so hard, we couldn’t breathe and tears would be streaming out of
our eyes. I admit I did miss our Saturday nights together, where we would hang
out inside making a bunch of appetizers and desserts and drink wine while our
kids played and then went to sleep. In about a month, we’d be back at it, after
Riley left, but I did feel kind of bad for missing out while he was here.

“Look, please just be
careful,” she said, moving her gaze away from me and back to her nails. “I’ve
done the military guy
thing,
it’s hard when they
leave. Like, really hard.”

I nodded and looked down.
“I know. I’ll be okay, though. I promise.”

“Yes, and I’ll be here to
pick up the pieces when he leaves.”

Damn her for knowing me
better than I knew myself. I had to change the subject. “So how’s Mister
Homerun?”

She stopped filing and
looked at me. “You don’t even know his name, do you?”

I bit my lip and shook my
head. “I’m sorry.”

She grinned. “It’s
Jace
.”

My eyes got big. Jason was
the name of
Ashlynn’s
asshole father, but she
sometimes called him
Jace
. “Oh, my God, how can you
stand that?”

“I try not to cry out his
name while he’s pleasuring me,” she laughed.

I laughed too. “Yeah, that
would be awkward. Does he know?”

“
Noooo
,”
she said. “I don’t plan on telling him, either. I’ve been calling him ‘J’ and
he doesn’t say anything.”

“That sounds good. So is
he gone all the time, too?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s
baseball season so I rarely see him.”

I raised a pale eyebrow at
her. “And you’re lecturing me about unavailable men?
Groupie
much?”

She laughed. “Like yours,
it’s not serious. We have fun when he’s in town, when he’s
gone,
I try not to worry about it. Guess I
am
just a groupie.”

“When do I get to meet
him?” I asked, sliding a glance towards the park to make sure the kids were
still within eyeshot.

She shrugged and blew the
powder off the file. “When he gets back, I guess. He’s in Louisiana this week.”

I bit back a smile that
she knew his schedule.
“Sounds good.”

“So what’s the plan for
your birthday?” she asked.

I was dreading that she
would ask, but I guess there was no time like the present to break it to her. I
took a deep breath. “Riley’s taking me to Reno.”

Her eyes got big. “Reno?
Seriously?
Oh, my God. Where are you
gonna
stay?”

I shrugged. “I don’t
know.”

I looked back up at her
and she had an amused expression on her pretty face. “Maybe you should stay at
Harrah’s.” She was fighting back a laugh.

I shook my head. “Oh, my
God, I think we’re banned from that place. Can you believe we didn’t receive a
bill for that room?”

Miranda and I had gone to
Reno last summer to meet some guy she knew from San Diego. Apparently they were
having some Marine Corps ball there and he wanted her to be his date, and she
had gone out with him a few times when she was in San Diego, but that was like
six years ago. So we drove up there, but the guy was a total ugly loser and
obviously had seriously let himself go since he went into the Reserves. I
lectured her for not Facebook stalking him before she agreed to be his date,
but she wasn’t big on social media and was not on the computer half as much as
I was.

In the end, she had wound
up faking illness and ditching the poor sap halfway through his ball. I had met
a group of military guys in the lobby the first day we got there and I had been
partying with them in their hotel room when Miranda called me and ordered me to
come get her from the Hilton’s ballroom. I did,
then
brought her back to Harrah’s where we practically destroyed the room there. The
amount of
Jaegermeister
we’d consumed still gives me
a headache to think about. I’m surprised our photos weren’t tacked up in the
lobby, barring us from ever entering the grounds.

Miranda looked at me and
smiled, and I could tell she was remembering the same thing I was.

“Definitely not Harrah’s,”
we said in unison.

CHAPTER 10

Riley
looked at me from the driver’s seat of my Acura. He looked so good in the light
of the car, his black hair shining and short from a fresh haircut and his dark
blue eyes looked brighter in the sunlight. He smiled at me as I stared at him,
then
looked back to the road. I didn’t want to stare but I
couldn’t help it. He was so gorgeous and I wanted to drink him all in.

 
The sun was bright and the sky clear as we
left the Bay Area and headed for Reno. The three-hour drive wasn’t very scenic,
mostly highway, but I didn’t care. I was just excited to be going away with
him. My birthday was at the end of July and he had requested the weekend off
and planned this trip for me. I was seriously touched at the gesture,
especially when I found out he had to trade with another guy and would be
working a double shift when he got back to make up for it.

We reached Reno with no
problems and parked in the lot of the El Dorado hotel and my stomach flipped
over, and I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves. I had no idea what I
had to be nervous about.

Riley grabbed our bags
from the trunk and we walked to the front desk to check in. The lobby was
decorated ornately with a ceiling encased with thick crown molding.
A plush
green floral carpeting swished under our feet and
large crystal chandeliers hung from a fancy ceiling. After receiving our room
keys, we headed through the reflective brass elevators and held hands as we
rode up to the eighth floor.

As Riley put the room key
into the door, a beep and green light allowed us access and walking in, I
looked at the room. One large, king-sized bed sat in the center of the room and
the color schemes were similar to the lobby. I tossed my small duffel bag onto
the bed and looked over at Riley, who was looking around the room. He turned
and looked at me.

“Nice room.” He smiled.

I licked my lips and
nodded. “I agree.”

He stepped toward me
slowly and moved a strand of blonde hair from my eyes. “I hope you like it,” he
whispered, looking down at me.

“Of course I like it,
you’re in it.”

He grinned slightly and
slid his hand down to my cheek, lightly rubbing his thumb along it while
staring into my green eyes, a million unsaid words swimming in his eyes. I
looked up at him, pleading wordlessly for him to tell me what he was thinking.
I could tell he wanted to say something, but was holding back. I continued to
stare up into his deep eyes until he slowly leaned down and kissed me on the
mouth, intense yet soft. I closed my eyes and accepted the kiss, licking his
lips with my tongue and letting them caress my own as his fingers continued to
lightly brush my face.

I put my hands up the back
of his blue T-shirt and rubbed his back, his skin warm and soft under my touch,
the muscles of his back smooth planes of bulk. His hand moved slowly around to
the back of my head, and he grabbed a fistful of hair near the scalp and pulled
slightly, causing me to break the kiss and lean my head back. With my neck
exposed, he began running kisses down it and I shivered.

Running my hand around to
the front of his jeans, I unsnapped the button and as I went for the zipper, I
felt his hand on my wrist. He pulled his head up and looked at me.

“Tsk, tsk. We just got
here and you’re already ripping my clothes off.”

I looked at him
incredulously. “What the hell did you expect me to do when you kiss me like
that?”

He grinned wickedly and
snapped his jeans. “I’m hungry. We can finish this later.” He adjusted his hard
bulge and put his T-shirt back down.

“You tease,” I said,
punching him lightly in the stomach.

“
Ow
,
cop, you punch hard,” he joked.

I hated when he called me
that. Yes I work in law enforcement, but I’m no cop, trust me. He always loved
listening to my stories about the prison and my training. Even though I was a
secretary, I was trained at the academy and get law enforcement pay. He thinks
it’s funny but Miranda and I never tell people this, as it gives them the wrong
impression. We rarely use our handcuffing and self-defense skills on the job
and mainly push paper all day, along with dealing with mouthy inmates and the
occasional strip search or urinalysis when there
are
no other female C.O.s available. I arrange their releases for when they get
out, so they’re mostly nice to me, but they have their moments. Trust
me,
it doesn’t make me a badass in any form of the word.

“Did you bring your
handcuffs?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Let it go.”

“Never.”

The El Dorado had a very
nice restaurant, and after eating some serious prime rib, we took to the
boulevard to walk around. It was now dark and the glittering lights of the
biggest little city in the world looked pretty under a clear, starlit night. It
was warm with a slightly cool breeze blowing.

Riley grabbed my hand as
we wandered into Harrah’s to do some gambling. I choked back a giggle at my
memories of this place and hoped Riley couldn’t read it on my face and ask me
about it. That was definitely a story that was going to forever stay between
Miranda and me.
Something for us to talk about in our old age
and laugh about.
I looked up as he led us through the massive lobby to a
plush carpeted casino, loud with jangling slot machines, dinging alarms, and
people yelling and laughing. Also heavy in the air was cigarette smoke, and I
frowned as I remembered it was legal to smoke in casinos, then I remembered why
I don’t like to gamble.

That,
and I never have money to burn on it.

Riley went to the
cashier’s window and slid some bills under the
plexiglass
partition. The cashier handed him back ten rolls of quarters. He smacked two
into my palm and said, “Let’s have fun.”

I looked down at the
quarters, then back into his smug face.
“Big spender.”

He laughed and grabbed my
hand. “Come on, beautiful, let’s go win more quarters.”

I shook my head and
laughed.

We sat at the quarter
slots for a couple of hours drinking. I forgot free drinks came with gambling,
which sort of made up for the cigarette smoke that consistently lingered in the
air, which I’m sure would never come out of my clothes. Riley sat at the
machine next to me, and would occasionally look over at me and smile. His
infectious grin always made me smile back, as I tried not to melt at the look
in his beautiful eyes. When we would grow bored of one machine, we’d move on to
the next.

“Oh,
my God!
I just won a hundred dollars!” I screamed out as I
watched three cherries line up in a straight row of three. Shiny quarters began
to gush down out of the machine and I stuck my hand under them as they came
cascading down, clanking loudly into the metal tray beneath as they bounced off
my palm.

Riley came over and hugged
me. “Good job. We got our money back.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You
mean I won
your
money back.”

He shook his head. “You
can keep it.”

We decided to quit while
we were ahead and left the casino, walking back out to the boulevard. There was
quite the crowd out now. Everyone from college kids, military men, couples, and
even some older people. I did notice Reno had a large homeless population and
wondered at this as I looked into their faces and placed some of my many
quarters into their cups and guitar cases. I was grateful I had a good job and
a supportive family.

We wandered through a few
more casinos and then decided to call it a night. Riley was mostly quiet during
the evening and even in the elevator ride up to our room, he didn’t say too
much. He was normally a quiet person anyway, wasn’t half as chatty as me, and I
was used to being around Miranda, who clearly could not stand silence of any
kind, so having so much quiet was hard on me. I tried not to fill it with
stupid small talk, as I didn’t want to annoy him, but finally on the ride up in
the elevator, I reached for his hand and pulled it up to my mouth and kissed
it, as it was still clasped in mine.

“What’s wrong?” I asked,
staring at him.

He looked down at me and
smiled when I kissed his hand.
“Nothing, nothing at all.
Why?”

“You’re awfully quiet
tonight.”

He measured me with a long
stare, as if he wanted to say something, but then didn’t. He simply smiled and
kissed my forehead.

The elevator dinged and we
got out, padding down the green carpeted hallway and to our room. I noticed for
the first time the fancy cream-colored sconces that lined the hallways and held
the warm lights that gave the hall a dim glow. Riley put the card key in the
door and it beeped our welcome.

He flipped the light on as
I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and put some cold water on my face.
I looked at my reflection and my cheeks looked flushed and my eyes bright. I’d
never seen me look like this and I wondered if that was what love looked like.

Or extreme lust, I
suppose.

I changed into a hot pink
V-necked cotton Victoria’s Secret night shirt with the number 86 on the front
and padded barefoot into the bedroom. Riley was sitting on the edge of the bed
in just his jeans doing something with his phone and he looked so good. He
looked up when he heard me come out and smiled.

“God, you look so hot in
that.”

I looked down at myself
and cocked my head slightly and slid some hair behind my ear.
“Really?”

I sat next to him on the
bed and he set his phone on the nightstand and stared at me as I sat there. I
don’t know why I was feeling a bit awkward, we’d spent what felt like a hundred
nights together already but I guess being in a new place will do that.

I stared back at him for a
minute and said, “What’s on your mind, soldier?”

He sighed and brought his
hand to my face. “I’m going to hate leaving you.”

I frowned and looked down.
Taking a deep breath, I looked back up and said, “Are we back to that again?”

He shook his head and
dropped his hand. “I’m sorry. I wish I could think of something else.”

I grinned. “I can help
with that.” I slid my hand up his thigh and popped the snap of his jeans. “
You going
to let me tear your clothes off now?” I raked my
eyes up and down his body. “Well… what’s left of them?”

He nodded as I ran my hand
up his chest. I pushed him back gently onto the bed and began running soft
kisses up his stomach, chest,
then
his neck. I
caressed my hands over his shoulders and biceps, loving the feel of them. He
was all man, all muscle,
oozing
masculinity and it
constantly turned me on. I finally found his mouth and pressed my lips on his.
I straddled his stomach and he slid both hands up my thighs and up to my sides,
finding my breasts. I moaned as he softly ran his fingertips over my nipples.
He continued to kiss me, his tongue mingling with mine.

I felt his hands slide
back down my waist and he playfully threw me onto my back and wiggled out of
his pants. I could see his hard length pressing to get out of his boxer briefs
and it aroused me to see how much he wanted me. Pressing his warm body on top
of mine, he kissed me again, running a hand through my hair and over my face.
He broke the kiss and looked at me. “God, Cara, I want you so bad.”

I nodded and stared at
him. “I want you, too.”

He sat up again and yanked
my night shirt off, and then stripped me of my panties. His boxer briefs
weren’t far behind, and as he climbed up the bed, I opened myself for him and
as he lay on top of me kissing me, his hard arousal pressed into my thigh,
driving me crazy with need and want. His hand gently grabbed my breast as his
thumb rubbed slowly over my nipple. He ran measured kisses down my neck, my
collarbone, the valley between my breasts, and finally to my right breast. His
warm tongue licked and sucked at it and I almost came off the bed as a deep,
dark heat settled between my legs, begging for him.

“Make love to me, Riley.
Please,” I begged as I snatched a handful of his hair.

His tongue continued its
delicious plunder of my breasts and I ran my hands down his back, raking my
nails along his muscles, wanting to just grab him. I spread myself wider,
hoping he’d get the hint, but his erection slid along my with my thigh, teasing
me mercilessly.

“God, I want you,” he said
again.

I groaned as I felt like I
was going to come just from what he was doing to my nipples. “Please, please.”

I gasped as he plunged
into me, moaning at the full feeling he delivered. He began to stroke into me slowly,
then speeding up slightly, rubbing me in all the right ways. His mouth was
still on my nipple, the other hand gently kneading the other one. I cried out
when a wave of intense pleasure ripped through my body and clenched around him.

He continued to do what he
was doing to my breasts, then kissed back up my neck then found my mouth again,
wrapping his right arm under my neck as he stroked himself faster into me.