by Gray Gardner
“What’s the hold up? Oh, it’s Little Miss Naughty again,” Captain Gwinn said, taking off his hat and wiping his forehead with his arm. “Causing more trouble, are we?”
Burton’s attention was pulled back from her spanking to the asshole Coast Guard captain.
“Look,” Connor calmly said, holding up his hands. “Gwinn and I aren’t going far. Just far enough so that you can all feel what it’s like to be alone in the water. If you don’t face this now, you’ll never know if you can do it.”
The rest of the unit nodded and slowly stepped to the edge. Burton never got the chance. Captain Gwinn knew she wasn’t afraid of the water, so he grabbed her and tossed her in. He’d met her that first evening swimming out to the buoy and diving underneath the water without an ounce of concern.
Burton screamed as she hit the water, then came up for air shouting at Gwinn.
“What the fuck, man?”
Gwinn only laughed and pat his friend Connor on the shoulder as the girls splashed and struggled. He tossed her a flare gun with instructions to fire if anything went wrong, then nodded at Connor as they pulled away.
“Man, she’s a little handful of sass,” Gwinn said with a laugh. “Have you done anything about that yet?”
Connor gave his friend a sideways glance but resumed watching his unit through the binoculars as the boat bounced up and down.
“Oh shit, you have.” Gwinn walked forward. “How far did you go?”
“I… It wasn’t…” Connor was having a hard time describing what had happened, even though he’d heard his friend’s detailed love life often. And it always involved spanking.
“I mean,” Gwinn leaned in, “did you just kiss her? Or did you fuck her?”
“What?” Connor asked, pulling the binoculars down and staring incredulously at his friend. “Of course not! She’s under my command.”
“Yeah she is,” Gwinn laughed in response. “Wait, what were you talking about then?”
“I,” Connor began to say, lowering his head and looking around for anyone else. “I had to spank her yesterday.”
“Well shit,” Gwinn replied, laughing. “I already knew you spanked her little ass. That blush on her cheeks every time you look on her is a pretty big sign. And no one needs it more that she does.”
“I could get court martialed.”
“Did you beat her until she bruised?” Gwinn asked, folding his arms over his chest, still smirking.
“I would never,” Connor honestly replied.
“I’m telling you, you’re just giving her what she needs. But man, she wants… she needs more than that from you.”
“What are you talking about?” Connor snapped, trying to focus but finding it really difficult.
“You two mean more to each other than you’ll admit. Hell, everyone can see it except you dumb shits. So, I ask you again, you’re her commanding officer, she’s well on her way to deployment and will be out of your command in a month. She needs more from you, so what the fuck are you going to do about it?”
Connor frowned as Gwinn rolled his eyes and took the binoculars from him. He did feel like he needed to do more. He wanted to, he knew that. The question of whether or not he should made him hesitant, though.
The water was cold and choppy. The boat was gone, and Jennings began panicking, causing a few other girls to panic, as well. Burton tried her best to hoist up a struggling Jennings but ended up under water and had to swim away from all of the kicking boots.
The air was very welcomed as she took it in in huge gasps. She caught her breath and wiped the salty water out of her eyes. Looking around her she realized that she was quite a distance away from the rest of the group. She also saw that Connor and Gwinn had returned in the boat to try and help Jennings. She sighed in relief at their diligence as she began to swim back towards the group. The more she swam forwards, though, the more she drifted sideways. She was in some kind of current.
“Thirty-nine,” Gwinn grunted, pulling the last girl back onto the deck as Reyes helped a hysterical Jennings.
“Burton?” Connor asked in a panic, leaning over the rail and staring into the blue-green water. He’d known she was missing from minute one.
“She went down,” O’Malley choked as Gwinn pulled her up, exhausted after trying to hold up Jennings. “But I saw her head poke up a few yards that way.”
Connor grabbed the binoculars and peered across the water on the starboard side. It was more than a few yards.
“Ahead full!” Gwinn suddenly hollered, leaping behind the steering wheel and shoving the boat into gear.
Connor fell back onto the deck with the rest of the group and shouted, “What the hell, Gwinn?”
“Look!” Gwinn pointed, just beyond the little bobbing head in the distance.
Burton waved as the boat began to speed over towards her. At least they’d seen her. As they all waved back with both arms, looking panicked, she gave a thumbs up back, trying to say that she was okay. Then she felt something collide with her leg. She hadn’t seen any driftwood around. Looking down, she didn’t see anything, but as she looked back up, she saw it. Exactly what you don’t want to see when you’re by yourself in deep water. That dark fin.
The boat sounded the horn as it approached, but the damned shark was closer. She waved furiously but was running out of time. Picking up her feet to absorb the shock and to avoid getting her head bitten off, she suddenly remembered she had a weapon.
The small shark reared its head and showed its awful teeth and Burton pulled the flare gun out of the back of her pants and fired. The flame shot into the shark’s eye and sent it wildly thrashing around as the Coast Guard boat approached and Connor dove in. He grabbed Burton in one arm, holding her tightly to his body, and quickly pulled them both onto the boat with the other.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, laying her down and looking her over as Gwinn pushed back the other girls and knelt next to his friend. He was absolutely shocked that she wasn’t hurt. Bull sharks were known for taste-testing humans.
Burton caught her breath and waved the flare gun she was still clutching around. Her knuckles were white. So was her face.
“Am I hurt? I nearly drowned and became a nice little afternoon snack for jaws over there! How do you think I am? And wipe that god damn smile off your face, Long John Silver!”
Connor sighed and leaned back, wiping the water off of his face as she continued to yell at Captain Gwinn. That had never happened before. He’d never had a private get hurt under his watch, and that was way too close for him. She could have been killed.
They returned to the harbor and the girls unloaded onto the dock with instructions to report to the medical center. They began clonking away and as Burton tried to exit after her unit she fell face first onto the wooden slats of the dock.
“Whoa, still got your sea legs?” Gwinn chuckled, shaking Connor’s hand as Reyes led the girls towards the medical center.
“Go fuck yourself,” Burton muttered, rolling onto her back and holding her thigh. That shark must have bumped her harder than she thought.
“Uh, Reyes, yeah, do we have a jeep down here?” Connor asked into his radio, jumping onto the dock and kneeling next to Burton. She was glaring at him again, which he was beginning to realize was another turn on for him.
“Negative, sir. It’s at your office,” Reyes buzzed back.
“Okay then,” Connor sighed, waving as Gwinn backed the boat up with a wink. “Can you stand?”
Burton pushed herself up to a sitting position and grunted as she got to her feet.
“I’m fine,” she replied, slowly making her way towards land with a pronounced limp. Every bone in her body ached. And she was discovering that Captain Connor made other parts of her body ache, too. She needed distance.
“We need to get you to the medical center,” Connor said, impatiently shuffling behind the small girl. He didn’t like feeling so worried about her.
“Just go. I’ll be there in a few.”
“I don’t have time for this,” he grumbled, grabbing under her arms and lifting her over his shoulder. He needed to know she was okay.
Burton squealed in surprise but took a deep breath as she rolled her eyes. “I can walk.”
“Hardly.”
“But this is mortifying,” she whispered, as he made his way through the base with her perched high over his shoulder.
“Burton, you were just attacked by a shark. I think people will understand.”
She shook her head as she bounced around, not sure how she could be more humiliated as people stopped and stared. Connor marched her into the medical center and into an office that was not in the psych wing, where they usually met.
“Hey, Simms, could you look at this for me?” Connor asked a balding man in a lab coat. He set Burton down on the table and began unbuckling her wet canvas belt. “Shark.”
“Hey hey hey!” Burton protested, kicking her legs and scooting back on her elbows. She gave Connor a suspicious look. In her head he’d unbuckled her belt after steak and wine by candlelight. Sigh.
“Hold still, Burton,” Connor said, as Dr. Simms adjusted his glasses and walked over.
“Captain,” he greeted, glancing down at the small girl. “A shark attack, huh?”
“I don’t think it got a chance to sink its teeth in,” he sighed, unbuttoning her pants as she wiggled around. His fingers slid into her waistband and her skin felt so soft.
“Jesus, at least buy me dinner first!” Burton frowned, grabbing at Connor’s large hands.
“Just let me look for one second,” Dr. Simms calmly said, helping with her pants so that he could look at her leg. Connor had leaned in behind her and had his arms wrapped around her to hold her still. Neither of them could argue with how good it felt.
The doctor finally got her thigh exposed and he gently squeezed, inspected the slight discoloration, and finally rubbed some cream on it.
“You aren’t experiencing pain anywhere else? Good…She’s going to be fine,” he said, pulling her pants back around her waist as she bashfully leapt off of the table and turned her back on them so that she could button up and buckle her belt. “There’s minimal tissue damage but nothing to worry about. It’s going to hurt for a while, but if you rub this cream over your leg every night it should feel a little better so you can sleep.”
She finally turned around and looked up at him, too angry at Connor to say anything.
“Thanks, Doc,” Connor said, taking the tub of cream. He decided he’d make sure she applied it every night by either supervising or just doing it himself. The thought pleased him enough to be unaware of her rising temper.
“All right, on to the psych ward. Everyone needs to report about the simulation to Dr. Yas.”
“First,” Burton snapped, limping down the white hallway. She wasn’t sure what had made her angrier: the fact that he’d just helped himself to pulling her pants down, or the arrogant way he’d just flipped her over his shoulder and carried her across the base, or the idea that she had to go back to Dr. Yas. “I’m not going anywhere near that quack.”
“Burton.”
“Second!” she shouted, as people passing in the hallway stared. She lowered her voice. “Not a word about this to anyone, okay? The other officers, I mean.”
Connor tried not to grin as he nodded. In fact, every time she spoke he found himself fighting off a smile. She was adorable and funny and he was finding her more and more attractive by the second.
“I won’t tell anyone you were attacked by a shark.”
“No,” she sharply said, closing her eyes for a second. “Not that.”
“Oh,” Connor said, eyeing her as they walked. “You mean about the big bruise you’re going to have tomorrow?”
“No.”
“That I saw your GI Joe underwear?”
She stopped in her tracks and glared up at him, quietly replying, “Yes.”
He suppressed his laughter as he shook his head and tried to look serious as they entered the psych wing.
“I won’t tell anyone you wear GI Joe underwear,” he said, and smirked.
“They were a gift,” she stated, walking into a supply room as he opened the door.
“From Cobra?” he snickered, reaching up onto a shelf.
“What are we doing?” she angrily asked, trying to change the subject. He thought he was so damned funny, didn’t he?
“Scrubs,” he said, handing her some folded blue pants and a top. “Those wet clothes are going to make you sick.”
“What about you?” she asked, looking up at him with a frown.
His reply was shutting the door to the tight space and peeling off his wet shirt.
“Fuck,” Burton murmured, unable to look anywhere else but at the wet, firm torso of the object of her desire.
“Burton,” he chuckled, trying to get her attention. He stepped forward and framed her body by placing his arms on the metal racks of linens behind her. Her eyes traveled up his body to finally meet his. There was nothing left to say, so he leaned his head down and slowly pressed his lips to hers. She sucked in a quick breath of surprise, then softened as he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips.
Burton had no idea how they’d gone from fighting to kissing, but she was beginning to realize that things with Connor never seemed to really develop organically. He was her commanding officer and a commanding person. If he wanted to spank her, he’d spank her. If he wanted her to see the doctor, she’d see him. And if he wanted to kiss her, well he’d just invite himself right on in.
She sighed as she turned her head slightly, inviting him on in a little further. His hands moved from the shelves behind her onto the side of her face, holding her steady as he explored her mouth. Oh God, her legs were starting to turn into jelly but she never wanted it to end. Just as she reached up to run her hands along his broad shoulders he pulled back.
“Time to change,” he gently instructed with a half grin, turning his back on her.
She swallowed as she heard him unbuckling his belt. Catching her breath and quickly demanding her senses return to her brain, she turned and quickly changed into the scrubs.
Connor unzipped his pants and was glad he’d turned around as his cock burst out, aching and ready. Shit. He made quick work of peeling off the rest of his wet clothes and yanking on the scrubs, breathing steadily a couple of times to will his erection away like he was some damned teenager in a coed locker room.
“Let’s go,” Connor said, leading her and her scrubs that were hanging off of her body to the waiting room with everyone else. He needed a little more distance at the moment but still gave her a wink when she turned to watch him walk off. She unsteadily sat down with the rest of her unit.
“So this is what’s going to happen every day now. We have a task, we face someone’s fear, and we move on. Dr. Yas told us to get ready. Tomorrow we’re doing something with heights,” O’Malley said.
Burton shifted around in her seat and said, “That doesn’t sound very promising.”
“No kidding.”
“Private Burton,” Dr. Yas grumbled, a few days later as Captain Connor and a couple of other doctors impatiently paced the room. Everyone was irritated and exhausted. “If you don’t tell the truth, I can’t help you.”
“I never said I wanted your help,” she spitefully replied, holding out her hands and leaning back in her chair.
“Burton,” Connor said, in a threatening tone. All he had to do was raise a brow. The last week he’d asserted a little more dominance over her in the form of yanking her pants down as she fought him and applying the cream to her nasty bruise on her leg…as well as a few well-placed smacks to her vulnerable backside.
She sat up straighter. That look made her stomach tighten and tingle. She wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. She wasn’t sure if she wanted his spankings to escalate into something that would hurt more, either.
“Water, snakes, sharks, heights, everyone in your unit is facing the
ir fears but you,” Dr. Yas said, trying to act less annoyed than he really was.
“I really thought I might have legitimately feared that stuff,” she answered, looking down at the table.
“Think back to a time when you thought you couldn’t ever make it through. When you thought things couldn’t get any worse, or maybe you even thought you might die,” Dr. Yas tranquilly said, picking up his pen.
Burton’s heart monitor beeped as she rubbed her neck and sighed heavily.
“Let’s give her a minute to think,” Dr. Yas said, motioning for everyone to go into the hallway. He shut the door behind them and removed his glasses. “Captain, she is lying.”
“I don’t know what else to do,” he said. “She seems afraid when everyone else is until her instincts kick in and she saves her ass, not to mention the other girls’. She’s going to be a harder one to crack.”
“We’re going to have to get comfortable with the idea that we may not be able to get her to face her fears before this training is over,” Dr. Yas sighed, giving everyone a concerned look.
“I can’t approve her for combat if we don’t know how she’s going to emotionally handle a paralyzing fear,” Connor muttered, rubbing his face. He had to face reality about his unit, too. “And she’s the only one out of the group that is actually ready to go into combat today.”
“You have a decision to make, then,” Dr. Yas sighed, turning and heading back into the room but pausing one last time. “She also lied, Captain, and she continues to do so. I hope you submitted the amendments to her background file. If you haven’t, then I will.”
Perfect Anonymity
Major Taylor’s new program was more or less a success on the base. Fort Jackson had already sent over fifty companies overseas and were preparing more. The officers met regularly to discuss the progress of their units and the preparations for war. On days when Captain Connor had meetings with the upper level officers, Burton had to lead the unit. She gladly did it to get the mind-blowing kiss out of her head. It was all she could think about.