Chloe Babineaux Private Investigator

by Lisa Clancey

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  I woke up hearing that horrible sound again. The movement beside me on the bed gave me a clue I wasn’t alone. I was facing the left side of the bed and Rick was on the other side. I stretched and turned over, and he placed his arm over me, pulled me closer to him, kissed my neck and said “Good morning.” Good thing too. Only on TV and movies do they not have morning breath. I wasn’t used to waking up with someone else. It felt strange but in a good way. This time when I woke up with him I didn’t run for the mole hills or crawfish mounds. That was probably why he put his arm around me so I wouldn’t run for the crawfish mounds.

  I threw his arm off of me and straddled his waist. No, wait, I had another idea. I told him to turn on his stomach and started to kiss his scars. When I finished his back, I told him to turn over. I kissed and licked each and every scar on his torso and arms. My mouth was dry by the time I was finished, but it was worth it. I straddled him and smiled down at him. He placed his arms behind his head and asked with a smirk, “I’m not gonna deny that wasn’t outstanding.”

  I wiggled around and said with a huge grin, “I can tell.”

  His grin became broader, and he asked while softly massaging my hips and back, “What was that about?”

  I drew circles in the sparse dark hair on his chest and said while making complete eye contact, “I want you to think of me kissing…”

  “And licking,” he said with a laugh.

  “And licking,” I laughed with him. “Each and every scar on your body.” His eyes grew large. “Think of me when you see your scars in the mirror and not how you received them. Those scars are you.” I cupped his face with my hands. “Receiving them made you who you are today. You had to be confident, self-reliant, brave and a total whacko to become a SEAL, and you still are. Those scars can’t take that away from you.” I smiled closed my eyes opened them slowly and continued, “So think of me when you see them, and I will kiss them and make any other boo boo you get better by doing so.”

  “Damn, baby.” He laughed and quickly rolled me over, so he was on top of me. “I’m gonna be late for work and probably get chewed out. But I’m gonna be grinning the whole time.” He kissed my ribs, and I squealed because I was very ticklish on my ribs.

  He eventually, crawled out of bed to take a shower. I stopped him at the bathroom door and said, “Rick.” He turned around, and day-am, everything and I mean everything, about him, is toned “I don’t hate you.” I couldn’t get enough of that view.

  “Good to know,” he said, grinned and continued to the shower.

  I walked to the kitchen to make coffee. On the way, I noticed myself in the mirror. Crap. I am not a morning person. My hair was everywhere. This was me, love me or leave me. While I waited for the coffee I watched the news on TV; it looked to be a nice day. Good, I really didn’t want to be digging around outside in the rain.

  I ate my cereal and was waiting for my coffee to cool off enough for me to drink when Rick walked into the kitchen. Of course, he looked better than me; he just took a shower.

  “Morning, sunshine.” He smiled.

  “Morning, sugar bear,” I said and grinned. He laughed and put bread in the toaster.

  “Are you always at home in women’s apartments in the morning?” I had to ask. He always seemed at home here. Whether it was in the morning or…whenever, he was here.

  “I’m usually not around in the morning.” He grinned and winked.

  “But you’re babysitting me. You had to stay the night.” Ha! Now, what were you going to say to that, Mr. I’m Implying I’m Here Because I Want To Be Here.

  “Yeah, and that’s exactly why I didn’t sleep on the sofa. I had to make sure you were safe from panthers jumping through your window.” He walked to the breakfast bar where I had been leaning and took my face between his hands and said, “I know you aren’t going to reciprocate, but I’m going to say it anyway. I love you.” And then he kissed me.

  “Damn. You couldn’t go to work without saying that, could you? The last time I said I love you to a man it didn’t work out so great.”

  He walked to my side of the bar and put his arms around my waist, turned me around and said, “Do you want me to walk on water to prove my love?”

  “Can you?” Wow. That would be so awesome.

  “No. But I would if I could.” He grinned and asked, “Do you want me to tell Cody I’ll be at the next family gathering?”

  “Yeah. No. Tell him nothing yet.”

  He laughed without making a comment. He picked up on the yet part. What was I doing? Yeah, I knew what I was doing. Time to get it over with. I really didn’t know why I loved him. I hadn’t known him very long, I just did. Not many men could put up with my sarcasm, and I loved the way I couldn’t intimidate him. Lord knows I tried and always will. Rick had seen me at my worse and still said he loved me.

  “Rick? I love you too.” Oh God! Did I just say that? Out loud?

  Once something is said out loud you couldn’t take it back. Like when I said ‘love you.’ I tried to take it back but, nope. It just couldn’t be done. It was like a bird fighting a tropical storm, flapping its poor little wings but going absolutely nowhere. It was pathetic. Wait a minute, did I say, ‘I love you’ first? No. Definitely not. The only thing I said was ‘love you.' I did not put the noun I in front of love you. He was the one that said I love you first and in front of his family. Now that was…oh man, he said he loved me in front of his family. Why was I just now remembering that? Because I was so mad at the time. He said he loved me when I was mad. That was why I didn’t pay that much attention. But then he told me those things here in my apartment. Well, he was still here. He didn’t make an excuse to leave. He could have suggested I spend the night at my parents’ house or one of his brother’s house or even Cody's.

  “Hey, Chloe.” He was waving his hand in front of my face. “I said I know you love me and you don’t have to walk on water to prove it.” Thank goodness or I’d drown. We kissed a tonsil licking kiss; then his toast popped up.

  He retrieved it and started buttering it and said, “And for your information, I really don’t do one night stands. I don’t like them. That’s why I haven’t been as promiscuous as you think.”

  I pretended to think about that. I believed him, but it was fun teasing him anyway. “I believe you, Rick, but considering the things you did last night, you definitely had more than one woman,” I said wide eyed.

  “Well, maybe a couple more than one.” He winked and grinned around his food.

  The door bell rang, we looked at each other, and I shrugged.

  “Who is it?” I asked while staring at Rick.

  “Johnny.” Perfect. Why was he here? Did he know Rick was here? No. Believe me, Johnny was not psychic, and he wouldn’t show up if he knew who was here.

  I opened the door making sure my blanket was wrapped around me. I didn’t want anything to distract Johnny from telling me why he was here. I had put my jammies back on, and Johnny likes my jammies.

  “Johnny, what a surprise. It’s early. Sorry, you can’t stay,” I said closing the door.

  “I wanted to tell you I was leaving today,” he said blocking the door with his hand.

  “Oh, well…Okay. Good luck then.” I tried the door closing thing again.

  “Aren’t you gonna invite me in?” he asked sounding kind of hurt.

  “Oh, alright,” I said annoyed while opening the door wider.

  Rick was sitting at the bar eating his toast. He looked at Johnny smiling and lifting his coffee in a toast. “Hi, Johnny.”

  “Is he living here?” Johnny asked incredulously.

  “No, he’s not. You know I don’t believe in cohabitating.”

  “Yes, I know.” He looked at me with narrowed eyes and continued. “Maybe if you did we wouldn’t have broken up.”

  “Is he really blaming me for our broken engagement? I made him sleep with other women?” I asked looking at Rick.

  “Don’t know,” Rick said
and shrugged, “but if you did, I’d like to thank you.” He winked and grinned.

  “You’re welcome.” I grinned back at him. I thought about telling him I was pretty good at making men break up with me but decided now wasn’t the time to tell him that.

  Rick walked across the living room so he could stand while blocking the door and said, “You know Johnny, the last time you were here I told you if you ever came back I would rip your head off. Do you remember that?”

  Johnny tried glaring but it was staged, and it looked more like he was trying not to wet himself. He stuttered and flapped his arms around and said, “I…I came…I came by to tell Chloe bye. That’s all.”

  “Yeah, but you see, the thing is, it’s early. Chloe doesn’t get up this early. You knew she would still be in bed. All sleepy-eyed and half asleep in her cute pajamas.” He stuffed his toast in his mouth and took his time chewing while staring at Johnny. I was trying not to laugh or at least make any noise laughing. Johnny was afraid to take his eyes off Rick in case he had to duck.

  “But I have to leave in an hour. I wanted to…” Johnny stammered.

  “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, we know why you’re here.” Rick walked up to him and gave him a right cross to his jaw. He went down to the floor and didn’t move.

  I walked over to him lying on the floor and asked blandly, “You didn’t kill him did you?” I cared but not enough to bend down to check a pulse.

  Rick gave me a ‘what?’ look. “No, I didn’t kill him. I didn’t hit him that hard.” He nudged him with his boot and said, “Wake up John-John.”

  Johnny moaned and groaned and eventually woke up. He looked up at us and sat up quickly grabbing his head. “What? You hit me!” He said standing up kind of wobbly.

  “Yes, I did. And if you ever come here again, you know, as in well…I don’t know, a… I’m back home gesture. I’ll do more than just hit you. What don’t you understand about not coming here again?” He put his arm around my waist and added, “I’m not going anywhere. Yeah, sure, I have a job, and I have to go to work. But I do come home in the evenings. So, if you decide you want to visit Chloe when you get home from deployment. Remember this.” He paused for dramatic effect. “I will know.”

  I wrinkled my nose and repeated, “He will know.”

  Johnny walked to the door shaking his head and looking down at the floor. I sort of hated having him go off and risk his life feeling depressed but I was sure he would find another woman to take my place shortly. He always did, he only came to my apartment between women.

  “Oh, Johnny,” I called to him before he walked out the door, “the next time you’re between women remember this.” I turned to Rick, wrapped both arms around his shoulders, moved one hand up to wrap my fingers in his hair and kissed him hard. Enjoying every meticulous moment of it. Okay. I didn’t feel that bad for him.

  We eventually pulled away, and I didn’t hear Johnny close the door. Rick grinned and said, “That was mean. I enjoyed it, but it was still mean.”

  “Yeah, well, which do think got to him more? Your hit or my kiss? Or how about the reason you’re here so early?” I laughed.

  “He’ll have to explain the bruise, and he’ll probably blame it on a kiss.” He laughed. “But I’m sure he’ll tell his buddies he did all the kissing and was here last night when I knocked on the door this morning.”

  I shrugged my shoulders in a whatever pose. He walked to the bedroom to retrieve his clothes and stuffed them into his bag. His weapon was holstered, and he placed it on his hip alongside his badge.

  He grabbed my hand and walked me to the door. He put down his bag and took both my hands in his and said, “Don’t leave too early to go to Shloe. We’ll be there around eleven. If we can’t, I’ll call you. Promise me.” He looked me in the eyes unblinking.

  “I promise. I have to go in to write up my report anyway. But I’m not waiting around all morning. I’m going out there.” I could be hard-headed and stubborn as well as he can. No, I was better at it. There were times I loved being a woman.

  “Okay, bye, I’ll see you later. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” It was getting easier to say that.

  He kissed me again and left. I could get used to all those kisses. It would be even better if neither one of us had coffee breath, but it was still nice.