Riley showed up every weekend, and occasionally on weeknights and spent them with me, and I had grown quite attached to him. I did my best to keep him away from Aiden, but occasionally their paths would cross. Aiden was a friendly kid and he and Riley got along pretty well. We used the weekends he was with his dad to go to rodeos, concerts, movies, dancing, and whatever else we could do. Riley’s touch was never far away and one time, we spent the whole weekend inside, making love and just talking and watching movies.
One weekend, I had been invited to a wedding by a lady I worked with. The wedding was actually for her daughter, and when I asked if I could bring a date, she replied, “Absolutely.”
“Hi,” Riley said as I picked him up after work on Friday. He leaned over and kissed me softly on the mouth and it sent a tingle throughout my body.
I drove off the base and could feel him staring at me. I cleared my throat. “So, uh, how was your week?”
“It was way too long. It’s hard to only see you on the weekends.”
I gave him a sideways glance and smiled. “I agree. What are you going to do when you have to leave and never get to see me?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. It’s going to suck and I don’t like thinking about it.”
“Me, either,” I whispered.
There was a palpable silence filled with sadness in the air of the car, which I didn’t like. I didn’t like it for two reasons, the first being that I shouldn’t be sad about him leaving, and the second being that he shouldn’t, either. But here we were, sad and dreading the day he was going to leave. What had we got ourselves into? I turned up a crooning Jake Owen song on the radio to drown out the dreadful silence.
“So, um,” I said, “my coworker’s daughter is getting married tomorrow. Do you want to go with me to the wedding?”
He nodded immediately. “Sure, I’d love to. But I have nothing to wear, I only brought shorts.”
“Well then, looks like we need to go shopping,” I said, as I steered towards the mall.
I parked in the Macy’s lot and we walked inside, the air conditioning a nice break, as it was another unseasonably hot day for California. We wandered into the men’s department and began looking through racks of clothes. I had no idea how to buy men’s clothes so I let him lead, just following him.
He held up a denim shirt and I shook my head. “No.”
“What’s wrong with this?” he frowned.
I raised an eyebrow. “We’re going to a wedding, not a rodeo.”
“I wouldn’t wear this to a rodeo,” he said seriously.
I laughed. “Okay.”
He eventually found some khaki pants and a black button-up shirt and after he paid and we left, he suggested we go eat dinner.
As we sat down in the small Italian restaurant, the server took our drink orders, and as she walked off, Riley grabbed my hand, softly stroking his thumb across it. “I’m so glad I get to spend another weekend with you, Cara. I feel like our time is getting short,” he said with a flash of tenderness in his eyes.
I nodded and looked down, but didn’t say anything.
“Cara. Look at me,” he said, and I obeyed. “I know you think you’re going to just get rid of me when I leave, but you’re not. We’ll find a way.”
I smiled at him, taking in every inch of his face, the deep, dark blue of his eyes and his full lips that I just wanted to kiss. I realized I was memorizing him in case he left and I forgot him. I mentally chastised myself for it, and simply replied, “I guess we’ll have to see. There are no guarantees here, Riley, and it’s not healthy for either of us to believe this can go further than this summer.”
He frowned, then nodded, grabbing his menu and looking it over. I watched him for a second then looked at my own menu, trying to fight back tears. What I said had been a little blunt and cruel, but sadly, not untrue. I couldn’t fall for this beautiful soldier boy. I just couldn’t… but deep down, I knew I already had.
***
The wedding the next day was sunny and beautiful. It was held outdoors near Stanford University, a lush green garden with lots of flowers and rows of white chairs lined the garden. As we sat, I looked at the gorgeous white iron arch that the young couple stood under, and inhaled the smell of honeysuckle and jasmine as they said their self-written vows. I listened intently to them, hoping that the couple was luckier than I’d been when I got married as young as they were. I don’t profess to be so much wiser only six years older than they are, but sometimes experiences will age you beyond your years, and being betrayed as I had been by my ex had taught me a lot. Coupled with my current profession, I sometimes found myself not trusting of others. I was so angry with myself for falling for Riley the way I was, yet just the thought of him exhilarated me in ways nobody else had. It was like I was waking up from a long sexual sleep and wanted nothing more than to spend all my free time lying in bed with him. As much as I tried to tell myself it was simply physical between us, I knew that was a lie I wasn’t going to be able to feed myself very much longer. The chemistry between us went bone-deep, but it also reached into the furthest part of my brain, and was beginning to dig its way into my heart.
The reception was in a separate part of the garden, and after the ceremony, Riley and I made our way to a small table under a large tree and he put his arm around my chair, stroking my bare arm with his fingers. He pulled me in close and whispered in my ear. “You look beautiful in that short dress. I can’t wait to take it off you later.”
His breath in my ear sent a shiver down my neck and I smiled despite myself. I turned my face to look at him and he was grinning pervasively at me and I grinned back. I leaned in and kissed his mouth and he happily accepted. My stomach flopped with his kiss, and as his hand moved up my thigh under the table, we heard someone clear their throat. I turned and looked into the face of my coworker.
“Hi, Jan,” I said, chagrinned.
Jan, a woman in her late forties, worked with me as a caseworker and was the mother of the bride. She smiled at us and said, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Jan, this is Riley Forrester.”
He stood and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
She blushed a little at his forward manner and said, “Nice to meet you, too. But don’t call me ‘ma’am’ – it makes me feel old!”
He nodded and the corner of his mouth kicked up. “My apologizes.”
“Well, I need to go mingle. I hope you guys like the food. It cost me a fortune!” She looked at Riley then looked at me and winked.
I shook my head and looked at Riley. “Nice lady,” he said.
“Yes, she is. Let’s eat,” I replied.
It was a nice wedding, and I kept my eye on the bride and groom, watching their body language. They seemed to be truly in love and I really hoped they made it. I knew couples who had married young and were still married twenty years later, and I hoped they’d be one of those couples.
Once we had congratulated the couple and said our goodbyes to Jan and her husband, we climbed into the hot car and cranked up the air conditioning. I let Riley drive because I’d had about three glasses of champagne. I was feeling very tipsy and giggly and was glad I had gotten out of there before I made a fool out of myself in front of Jan and some other coworkers.
As we entered the freeway and began crossing the bridge, I looked over to the incoming bay water and watched as sunbeams danced over its peaking surface, the glints of sunlight playing on it. White-capped waves moved slowly and I saw a large tugboat heading toward our bridge’s drawbridge. I saw the lights on the bridge begin to flash red, and I looked at Riley. “The bridge is gonna go up, be sure you stop.”
He shot me a look and said, “Thanks, captain obvious.”
When he looked back at the road, I shook my head and bit my lip and looked at Riley from head to toe. I reached over and ran my hand up his leg and he looked down at my hand as it slowly inched up and came to rest on his crotch. “Ever had a blow job while drivin
g?” I asked in my most seductive voice, which probably came out slurred.
He grinned. “Road-head? No.”
Just the fact that he had a nickname for it let me know he was lying, but I didn’t care. I unsnapped and unzipped his stiff khakis to find an equally as stiff member underneath them. I stroked it a little bit, then leaned forward and placed my mouth over it. He sucked in a breath and gently rested his hand on my hair, encouraging me on.
I felt the car slow as we neared the open bridge but I kept on. I could hear him moaning softly as I continued caressing him with my mouth. I rubbed my hand gently up and down his length, as I did so, and I felt his whole body stiffen.
“Cara, oh…” I heard as I looked up to see his head thrown back and briefly wondered if the drawbridge had closed yet and if were holding up traffic. I swallowed because I really had no other choice and lifted my head up and wiped my mouth with my finger, grinning at him.
“Damn, woman, I’m gonna start calling you ‘Magic Mouth’,” he said softly.
I bit the side of my mouth and replied, “I doubt you’ll be forgetting about that road-head any time soon.”
He nodded with a lazy grin and hit the gas as I pointed at the now-flowing traffic.
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 serio
usly 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.
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