Military Man

by Mia Soto

“Nothing, I just wanted to say your name.”

  “That’s really my nickname.” She laughed at his surprised look. “My real name is Lycia. When I was in high school, we moved to the City - New York. I went to the Lycée,” she waited for a response but he obviously had no idea what that was. “Anyway, it’s a school in Manhattan. I guess it sounded a lot like my name so people started calling me that. It stuck.”

  He was combing her hair back with those large, rough hands of his. It was heavenly when he took such pains to be gentle and sweet with her. “Where did you live before that?”

  She knew she grew wistful because she’d always feel a little short changed for how her childhood ended up. “On a farm upstate. Trying to get back to that life someday.”

  “Maybe I’ll take you there,” he said with the most serious look in his eyes.

  She laughed, “maybe I’ll let you.”

  He rolled with her, “I’m serious.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t be serious. We’re not serious, right?”

  He said, before his mouth came down on hers, “shh, Lycée. Sometimes, you talk too much.”

  That was so very true and he might add to that thought too much because she definitely thought too much. But he was doing the sort of things that didn’t require thinking, only feeling, so she flipped off her brain and enjoyed too much for awhile.

  She expected him to leave after their fun. And they had a couple more times of fun. One in an acrobatic position that they both fell out of mid-try landing on the floor in a heap of laughter. They went a little more conventional after that. It was probably time to shake hands and say thanks for the memories. Instead, he gathered her in, cupped her body with his. He was so warm, too warm, and soon she was drowsy. She didn’t even have energy to think about the soft way his thumb was brushing the peak of her breast as his hand cupped it underneath. They were a lock fit together. No doubt. He had lived up to his reputation of fun but then, she thought, she hadn’t done half badly keeping up with him at all.

  “Thanks for a fun weekend,” she said contentedly.

  “You’re welcome.” His voice held humor in the dark shadows.

  “This was so successful I should probably do it more often.” She mused. She was trying to joke but he didn’t take it very well.

  His arms squeezed her until she squeaked. “Shhh Lycée, don’t talk anymore.”

  She frowned wondering why he sounded annoyed. Then she mentally shrugged and snuggled deeper into him. His leg came up over her and she was effectively cocooned in his arms and body. It was a safe, good feeling and she slept like the dead that night.

  Chapter 4

  When she woke the next morning, rays of light were shining into her window and Ork was there rolled to the other side of her bed with his closest hand flat on her hip. She almost thought he wasn’t breathing he was so still. It might have seemed peaceful but it wasn’t. It was more eerie how motionless he was, like he was used to making the least imprint on his surroundings for mortal reasons she couldn’t even understand. Still, watching him sleep made her happy, happy that he had wanted to stay the night with her, that even in his sleep he still touched her. She shifted closer and he immediately flickered his eyes. He was a seriously light sleeper.

  Since she’d awoken him she did what she really wanted to do in the first place and snuggled into his side and rested her head on his chest. His arms came up immediately to encircle her. His hand caressed her back and arms and she thought about a dozen things she could say to break the ice, but the moment was so nice, silent, that for once she managed to keep quiet and simply enjoy it.

  They lay like that forever until he shifted them and rolled so that he was on top of her. Oh, ok, again huh? That would be fine she thought and opened her legs to accept him once more.

  It was pretty special that time, gentle and deep, his kisses lingering and soft. As always, the sum total of his skills and assets got her to her happy place much quicker than anyone ever had before. She was laughing and panting as he joined her not long after.

  If nothing else, she needed to keep him on her favorites for some drunk dialing in the future. She could tell she wasn’t the only one experiencing these moments. She’d bet he wouldn’t mind the occasional hookup either. As she thought about them walking away from each other and he returning to his life with the blonde who had been on his knee when Lycée first met him, she felt a violent pang of jealousy.

  She wondered why they wouldn’t, couldn’t, keep doing what they were doing with each other until they got bored. But that wasn’t the deal. That was her disease of serial monogamy resurfacing. The deal was fun and done and she was going to be the one to honor that if it killed her. And it kind of felt like it might not feel great when he walked away in a few minutes. But she crushed down her disappointment and wrapped him up once more in her arms and legs the way she liked to do and the way she could tell he liked too.

  “Good morning,” she said in his ear.

  “Yes it is,” he pulled out but stayed between her legs. “You are seriously gorgeous in the morning, Baby.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked away. “Sleep eyes and morning breath notwithstanding.”

  “You’re perfect,” he said very seriously while he caressed her jawline.

  She grew uncomfortable because she wanted to say the same to him and how nice and safe he made her feel and how that last time felt more like making love than just sex. But she was pretty sure any of those things crossed the line from fun. His signals were mixed and confusing and she remembered this was one of the big pitfalls of men and dating and hooking up.

  “So,” she wasn’t sure what was next.

  “So,” he lightened up with a smile and flipped some of her hair behind her ear. “What are you doing today?”

  She shrugged, “Sunday stuff. Get ready for the week. You?”

  “Hanging out with you.”

  She was running her hand through his hair wishing it was a little longer because it was gloriously thick. He seemed to really enjoy the feeling because he had laid his head on her chest and rested there so she could continue. She frowned, “Ok.”

  Then he said suddenly, “you play tennis?”

  She looked in the direction he was faced and saw her racket peeking out from behind the desk. “Uh huh. I actually played in college.”

  “Oh yeah? Let’s play today.” He lifted his head with an excited smile.

  “I’m pretty good at this one,” she warned.

  His face melted in charm, “yeah? What are we wagering?”

  She shrugged. It was all so bemusing. He was clearly trying to spend more time with her and not necessarily in her bed. “More fun?”

  He lifted up on his arms, all of the muscles tensing as they held up his weight. His mouth sunk on hers in a deep, wet kiss. “Something else. That’s not allowed to come off the table, ever.”

  She shivered at that, especially the ‘ever’ part. “Loser makes dinner?”

  He nodded his approval. “Yes. Ok, lazy, up and at them.”

  She sputtered her outrage since he was the one laying his massive weight on her. But he laughed and rolled with her bringing her mouth to his. They explored each other’s kissing skills for a few minutes before they got up and got going for the day.

  She took him to her favorite breakfast place. His order of food was seriously impressive. Then they headed to the courts at the local park. He wasn’t bad but he made the mistake of thinking brute force could beat her. Once she got used to his velocity all she really had to do was angle her racket and let his momentum do all the work. When his force wasn’t working, he made the false judgement call that he wasn’t using enough force. It only got easier for her and, at that level of speed, his accuracy dropped. Still, his serve was ruthless and she couldn’t return it often so it kept them neck and neck.

  They got to the championship point and it was his advantage. She framed one off her racket and it flew up in a messy, easy
to get when you’re six two, lob. He was so tall she knew it wouldn’t clear him. He was running in for the smash but she had a feeling of where it was going by the angle of his racket. She might be able to salvage the point for her. As she was running, she realized she had miscalculated. He crushed the ball and it was headed right for her head. It was get clocked with a ball moving one hundred miles an hour plus or skid. She chose to skid. The gravel and cement tore at her upper thigh as she slid for easily two feet. It hurt and tears sprung immediately to her eyes.

  “Lycée!” He jumped the net with an anxious and contrite look. “Baby, I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” She nodded. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. She tried to get control of her emotions but a tear fell. He cupped her face and kissed it. “Baby I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s ok. It stings that’s all.” She lifted her hip and it looked awful, torn up with little beads of blood.

  “Ahhh, look at this. Shit, I’m such a jerk.” He looked fully remorseful.

  “You’re not a jerk. But you are seriously competitive.” She laughed with a wince.

  He scooped her up ignoring her protest and got her to the car. He helped her shower and kissed every part of her black and blue thigh. Then helped her bandage up. She was surprised when he pulled out some clean clothes from the bag he had brought the night before. She didn’t say anything but she smiled inwardly.

  After she slipped on some shorts and a silky halter with strappy flat sandals, she went out to meet him in the kitchen. A weird feeling had taken over the moment. They had clearly extended the definition of fun and she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to behave in this strange purgatory. She stood by her bar watching him scrounge in her cabinets.

  “You’re hungry,” she asked nervously.

  He looked over and reached out to pull her into him. “I love this perfume.” He nibbled her neck and she melted against him.

  “I’m going to go to the store. I’ll get you something for lunch.”

  “That’s ok. I’ve got to run out. I’ll grab something. Meet you back here,” he said. She was a little disappointed that he didn’t offer to go with her, but at least he’d be there when she got back. “I’ll miss you.” He kissed her lips softly and any weirdness evaporated, at least for the moment.

  As she was leaving she pointed to a little table at the front door. “There’s a key in there. Umm, you know...”

  He smiled gently at her and she left feeling awkward again. They were definitely crossing the fun line and she wasn’t the one pulling them across. That actually made her feel better about the thousands of butterflies flittering in her stomach.

  She decided to make fish for dinner. She had a really great recipe. She bought three Sockeye steaks, two for him and one for her. She also picked up enough vegetables to make a heaping amount of veggies and quinoa. He didn’t really strike her as a dessert guy so she skipped that and picked up some fruit and veggie chips. She also grabbed the beer that she saw him drinking on Friday and a bottle of white for her. There, that should do it, she thought. He should be full after all that.

  She got back to her place and breathed a sigh of relief when his bike was parked at the front of her space. She struggled with the bags but didn’t want to make two trips down. When she got to her door she turned the knob but it was locked. She rolled her eyes. Honestly. So she dug for her key and put it in but it didn’t work. As she was standing there perplexed, with bags of groceries juggling, out walked her weird neighbor, Leif. He was a want to be surfer, all grungy and gross in her estimation. He definitely had a much higher opinion of himself than he should.

  “Hey, Lycée, lemme help.” He was always crowding her space and over reaching the boundaries of friendliness. If he had only helped with the groceries, it could have been considerate. But he copped a feel as he reached in.

  “Hey, Leif, don’t touch me.” She warned. “I don’t need help. I just need to knock. My boyfriend is in there.” She said the word boyfriend unconvincingly. He ignored her and brushed her breast again with his hand as he reached for the bag cradled in her arms. “Hey, watch your hands.”

  Right then the door swung open forcefully and Ork came out like a bull in rage. Leif’s eyes visibly widened probably in surprise that the boyfriend was real and huge. “She said she didn’t need your help.”

  Leif backed away quickly and Ork took all of the bags from her and waited while she walked in first. His glare at Leif was ferocious. With the door closed and the bags on the counter waiting to be unpacked she looked up at Ork who bent to kiss her softly.

  “Thanks, he’s a pain.” Ork grunted but didn’t comment. She put the fish and a few things in her fridge as she asked, “Why isn’t my key working?” She closed the fridge door and turned to look at her front door and saw an extra deadbolt as well as a few sliding locks. “What did you do to my door?”

  “Made it easier for you to actually use the locks.”

  “By putting more on there?”

  “That little lock was ridiculous. You needed more than that. You don’t even have an alarm.”

  She looked incredulous. “You know I’m renting this place, right? You can’t change the locks like that.”

  “Well, I did,” he answered smugly as he cleaned up her tools and must have been his drills.

  “Change it back.” She demanded with hands on her hips.

  “Nope.” He walked to her laundry area to put her mini tool kit up.

  “Now.” She was getting angry. How dare he? Suddenly she was thinking they should have shaken hands and said that was fun. She wasn’t into being ordered around and forced into things she didn’t want. “I’m serious. I’m not happy with this.” He came back into the room and clearly seeing how angry she was tried a new tactic. He reached out to grab for her but she spun away. “No, that's not going to work this time. Change it back, Ork. Now.”

  He lunged and grabbed her before she could jump away again. A forceful yank tripped her into his arms and she actually laughed because it was so unexpected. “Please, Baby. I want you to be safe. I don’t want guys like that creep across there with only one flimsy lock between you two.”

  She wasn’t mollified, not even by his lips on her neck. “What do I tell my landlord?”

  “Tell him to talk to me.”

  She sighed unable to resist his physical attack of gentleness. “You know this is more than fun, right? Much more.” She decided to try to get to the bottom of where they were headed with all this.

  “Uh huh,” he agreed turning her into his arms completely and pressing her bottom into him so she could feel where the direction of his thoughts had turned. She never got to finish that line of questioning because he totally distracted her away from it. After some epic fun that included a position she'd never even known existed, she was getting up again, getting dressed, shaking her head at his satisfied smile. He asked, “What’s for dinner, Baby?”

  “Fish, vegetables,” she said brightly then frowned as his face fell. He recovered quickly putting on a mask of enthusiasm. “You don’t like fish?” She had been excited to make her recipe for him.

  “I do,” he said with forced happiness. Then he dropped the act. “Usually that food is what my food eats for dinner.”

  She laughed. “You’ll like it. Trust me. It’s a really good recipe.”

  He pulled her down and kissed her fully. “I know I will love it. I can’t wait. I’ll help.”

  He got up and got dressed and was a very helpful kitchen helper. He ate everything even her left overs and was obviously still hungry.

  “Anything else to eat?” He tried to ask nonchalantly.

  “I picked up some fruit.” His head fell backwards onto his shoulders and she was starting to realize she had no idea how this guy ate. “I have some veggie chips too,” she added hoping that helped a little. His head fell forward and right down into his palms.

  After a moment he said, “ok, I’ll take them.”

  He devoured everything and she realized food sh
opping for him would be very different than what she was used to doing . Then she berated herself for assuming she'd ever need to shop for him again. Fun. Pure fun. Highly convoluted, border crossing, blurred lines, fun. Nothing more.

  They cleaned and ended up on her couch. She was lying on his chest, so comfortable, watching him flip channels after she had relinquished control of the remote. Downtown Abbey was over and she wasn’t going to make him suffer through their reruns. So he flipped until he ended up on baseball. With his heat radiating her and a complete lack of interest in the TV entertainment, she was asleep in five minutes. The next thing she knew she was cradled in his arms and they were headed to her bedroom.

  “Sorry,” she said sleepily. “You wore me out today.”

  “I’m not done yet,” he assured her.

  They spent the next hour wringing out any remaining energy they might have had left. Exhaustion took over as she shifted to the pillow and he pulled her in tight.

  “You’re staying?” She was nearly asleep but not so gone that she wasn’t making a mental note of the fact that, once again, he wasn’t leaving.

  “It’s ok?” There was a touch of insecurity in his voice. She smiled at his lack of confidence.

  “Totally ok” she assured him in a breath. His kiss on her forehead was the last thing she felt.

  It was pitch black the next morning when she felt him caressing her hair. He leaned in and kissed her deeply in her sleep and whispered in her ear, “call you later.”

  She didn’t even bother opening her eyes. She smiled, nodded and drifted back to the dreams where he was doing things to her body she’d only read about in books.

  Chapter 5

  He made it until noon without calling her. This was a brave new world he was navigating. He didn’t play dating games because he didn’t date. It never occurred to him before when he should or shouldn’t call a girl because he called them when he wanted them in his bed. Needless to say, he wanted Lycée in his bed, always, but not always for sex alone. He loved to talk to her, watch her, be with her.