Chapter 7
Marta was exhausted as she sat down waiting for Trevor to join her for the flight home.
She hadn’t slept well the night before. Although the Visiting Officers’ Quarters was gorgeous—beautifully decorated to make an admiral comfortable—her body was on Pacific time, and she was a night owl.
It usually took about forty-eight hours for her to get over jet lag.
At least that was the story she was telling herself.
It was a lie.
The fact that she’d laid in bed, her mind refusing to stop thinking about Trevor for what seemed like hours, had nothing to do with her lack of sleep.
Nor was her late-night computer browsing of in-home executive chefs to blame.
She secretly congratulated herself. One of the most popular chefs in San Diego had a last-minute cancelation and she’d booked him for his specialty, Beef Wellington.
She’d also been nervous about meeting Trevor’s children when he’d popped that on her just before heading to the airport. Thankfully, that had gone much better than she expected.
It was only one o’clock East Coast time and she was ready for a nap.
“Do we have anything we need to go over on the flight to Coronado?” Trevor asked as he slumped into the seat next to her.
“No. Not that I know of.” She looked at him quizzically. “Is there something we should discuss?” She hoped he wasn’t going to back out of their dinner plans.
He yawned. “Good. Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a nap. I need my beauty sleep before I stand in front of my West Coast SEALs.” He got up and started searching cabinets.
“Sir, can I help you find something?” The lieutenant jg seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“Yes. Are there blankets and pillows?”
The young officer strode to a cabinet in the back and emerged with two blankets and two pillows wrapped in plastic. “Should you need more while we’re in flight, they are in the lower cabinet just before the galley.”
“These will be fine.” He handed a set to Marta.
“Sir, you’re the only two on the manifest, so if you’re ready, we can take off.”
“Let’s go.” Trevor sat in his seat and buckled the seatbelt. “Are you all set?”
Marta loved how he was always concerned with her comfort. “Perfect.” She tucked the soft blanket around her, laid her head down on the pillow facing the window. She vaguely remembered the takeoff.
“We’ll be landing in ten minutes. We have priority one.” The announcement came over hidden speakers.
As she blinked open her eyes, her head was no longer on the pillow but nestled on Trevor’s shoulder. His computer was open on the table in front of them.
Devastated, she sat up quickly and threw off the blanket. “Admiral, I apologize.”
“Marta.” His tone was understanding rather than scolding.
She concentrated on neatly folding the blanket and hunting for the pillow.
“Marta.” Trevor’s warm fingertips touched her cheek as he gently positioned her to face him.
“First, it’s just you and me on this airplane, so you have nothing to be embarrassed about.
Second, it’s just you and me on this airplane.
How many times have I told you to call me Trevor when we’re alone?
” His eyes widened as his fingers moved a fraction of an inch. “Your skin is so soft.”
She could feel the blush creep up her throat. “It’s my nightly regiment of creams. I’ve done it all my life.” You can shut up now, Marta, before you tell him that it softens the wrinkles, so you don’t look quite as old as you are. She scolded herself for babbling.
“It obviously works.” He blinked. “Third, I didn’t mind one bit having your head on my shoulder.
” He looked a bit sheepish, then confessed, “I liked it there.” He sucked in a deep breath and lifted his fingers off her face.
“Other than the occasional hugs from my children, no one touches me. I miss that…connection with someone.”
Holding his gaze, she admitted, “It took about a year, maybe two, after John died…one of the things I missed most about being married was simple human contact. I knew when I married him, he wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of guy, but he would always kiss me before he left and when he came home.
He wasn’t a snuggler as we watched television sitting on the couch, but when he touched me, it meant so much more.
” She released a heavy sigh. “Over the years, my need for that human contact faded away.”
She stared at Trevor for several long breaths. Picking up his hand, she put it back on her face. “I really like it when you touch me.” Their faces were only a few inches apart. She started to lean toward him. She could swear he was moving closer to her as well.
“Please be sure your seatbelts are fastened. We’re coming in for touchdown.” The pilot’s orders severed the moment. They jolted apart.
Marta’s phone rang. “Naval Special Warfare Command, Marta Merkel speaking.”
“Marta, this is Diane. I understand you’ll be on the ground in just a few minutes. Is Vice Admiral Maddox with you?”
Marta glanced at her boss. “Yes, he is. Is something wrong?”
“No, ma’am. Since he doesn’t have an aide, would you please let him know that his car is waiting inside the hangar. While you were in the air, DOD moved us to FPCON Delta.”
Holy shit. The Department of Defense had moved the Force Protection Condition to the highest level.
Marta was about to ask why and then realized her mistake. “Say nothing more. This is an unsecure line. We’ll stop by the office for a few minutes before we head to the parade field. Goodbye.” She disconnected the line.
Trevor raised an eyebrow.
“We’re at Delta.” That was all she needed to tell him, information that should have come from his aide.
There was a strict chain of command for that kind of information, and Marta’s second-in-command was nowhere on that list. “Admiral, may I strongly suggest that you find an aide immediately. I’ll have that list on your desk before the end of the day. ”
“Understood.” He gave her single nod.
“We only have a few minutes we can spare at the office; we both need to check our secure lines. According to my text, the men are already gathering.” She smiled. “The NCOs have stopped training at BUD/S so everyone can come hear your speech.”
“Fucking great,” he said under his breath. “What I have to say isn’t going to come anywhere close to Evan’s Phoenix speech. I just wanted to welcome them back and congratulate them on a very successful mission.”
“Do you think you should cancel? That’s over a thousand SEALs standing in an open parade field,” Marta pointed out.
“With the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan— no doubt pissed because hundreds of special operators just snuck into their country and rescued hundreds of Americans and our friends—I guarantee the bounty of a dead SEAL has doubled.”
“We’re not going to cancel.” As the plane came to a stop on the runway, Trevor dialed his relatively new executive officer, Rear Admiral Paul O’Connor. “I was just informed that we’re at Delta.” He put the phone on speaker. “I’m on the ground.”
“That happened about an hour and a half ago, sir.” The rear admiral was all business. “I took the conference call from the Chief of Naval Operations in your absence. I’ll meet you in your office.”
Five minutes later, Marta and Paul followed Trevor into his office and closed the door.
“It seems the new Afghani administration didn’t like that we dropped into their country and left with all of the people they’d hoped to use as hostages to get even more out of the American government.” The rear admiral smirked.
Trevor crossed his powerful arms over his chest. “Well, that’s just too fucking bad. Little do they know if there’s still people there, we’ll go get them, too.”
“DOD has been warned by Homeland Security and the CIA that direct threats have been made against the new Special Operations Command. We know we have terrorist cells within the United States. At this point, there is nothing specific.” Paul held Trevor’s gaze.
“Operating procedure calls for small groups only.”
“I’m well aware, but nothing is going to stop me from thanking these men.” Trevor quickly checked his computer. “The security updates are just clarifications. Let’s go do this thing.” Standing, he paused for a long moment. “Do we have snipers in place?”
“Yes, sir. As soon as I got the word, I contacted Captain Hubbard. He immediately deployed extra security, including snipers.” The rear admiral gave his boss a confident nod.
Then he chuckled. “Since I’ve only been here a couple months, I actually pulled out the standard operating procedure for FPCON Delta.
I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything, especially since we jumped over Charlie designation. ”
Trevor slapped his XO on the shoulder. “I appreciate you taking over for me while I was on the East Coast. Let’s get this done and get our SEALs on a long liberty.”
“Admiral, since I’ve been away from my desk, please excuse me from the formation.
” Marta knew there were a dozen things that had most likely been missed, especially at the base level.
After several commanding officers had been relieved from command following the brothel bust, as she’d secretly named it, many of the new commanding officers hadn’t yet taken the course she taught.
Trevor chuckled. “You’ve already heard my lame speech. Besides, there’s no one better on the West Coast to tell me whether we’re compliant with the new designation.”
“My thoughts exactly.” She gave him a sassy smile as they walked out of his office. Before sitting down, she announced to her staff that they were welcome to join the others at the parade field. Once she opened her computer, she didn’t look up until she heard her oldest friend.
“I figured I’d find you here.” Her friend’s familiar voice pulled her out of scary possibilities.
Marta stood and hugged Genevieve. “I’m sure you’ve heard we’re at Delta, and I feel responsible to be sure all the commands on base understand their requirements.”
Genevieve slid into the guest chair at the desk, then glanced around at the empty room. She leaned in and spoke just above a whisper. “Okay, tell me. How did the trip to the Group 2 go?”
“Fantastic! And…” Marta dragged the word out. “I have a date Saturday night.”
Genevieve shifted even closer. “With who?”
Marta glanced around the still empty office. “Trevor.”
“Oh. My. God! Really? I’m so excited for both of you.” Genevieve leaned over and hugged her.
“And I’ve already booked Chef Jorge to come to my house and cook supper in front of us. I also paid the extra for the wine pairing.”
“I’ve always wanted to do that. Let me know how that goes. I might do that for my birthday.” Ever since her divorce, Genevieve had thrown herself a birthday party. Marta wasn’t sure whether she’d continue the tradition now that she was married to Evan again.
“One of the reasons I stopped in was because I wanted to invite you over for a party.” Genevieve straightened her back.
“I’m celebrating my retirement. In truth, what I’m really celebrating is that I’m never going to stand in front of a class of elementary children again.
Maybe someday, when Ian goes to school, I might consider teaching at the college level. You seem to enjoy it.”
“I do,” Marta admitted. “The people who take my class want to be there. Sure, many of them are required to take it, but overall, I think most of them are very interested in the information. You’d be a great college teacher.”
Genevieve shrugged. “That’s a long way from now.” Her friend smiled as though she had a secret. “Right now, I’m too busy enjoying being a newlywed.”
“Ugh!” Marta dramatically rolled her eyes.
“I don’t want to hear about how often you’re getting laid.
I don’t care if you are my best friend, I have to work with your husband.
” In truth, Marta didn’t want to think about how long it had been since she’d had a man between her legs.
It had been years. Lots of years. Thank goodness for her drawer of toys.
“Back to my I’m not going back to school party; I’m inviting the entire Cougar Club.
Since we really haven’t had everybody over since April when we moved in together, Evan wants all the officers and their wives, fiancés, girlfriends, whatever, to be invited also.
” Genevieve pulled out her phone. “I’m thinking the weekend after Labor Day. What do you think?”
Marta pulled up the calendar on her computer. “That works for me. As far as I can see, Trevor doesn’t have anything on his schedule either.” She rolled her calendar to October. “That reminds me, are you going with us on the annual Napa Valley trip?”
Genevieve looked shocked. “Of course. A love that trip. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“What about baby Ian?” Marta reminded her.
“He can go to base daycare for a week. I’ve already discussed that with Dylan.
” Genevieve smiled coyly. “And Evan will just have to go a whole week without sex.” Giggling, her friend stood up.
“Gotta run. I handed Ian off to Dylan, and now that he has a long weekend, Evan and I have two extra days without the baby. Naked time.”
“You bitch,” Marta called to her best friend as she waved goodbye. It was wonderful to see Genevieve happily married.
Marta wondered if she’d ever marry again. When she’d first lost John, she couldn’t imagine herself sleeping with another man. That changed after a few years when she’d decided to put herself back into the dating pool. Being surrounded all day by Navy SEALs, other men literally didn’t size up.
She’d even tried dating a few SEAL officers, but that hadn’t worked well.
They’d either known her husband or had wanted nothing more than a quick fuck.
Once she’d concentrated on her master’s degree, the men she’d met at night school seemed lacking in every way compared to those she worked with every day.
She’d gone years without a date, like her friends in the Cougar Club who were either widows or divorcees. All of them had seemed to have given up on men. They traveled together, worked out together, often met for supper, but most of all, they laughed together.
As Marta thought about her upcoming date on Saturday night, she worried that perhaps she’d been single too long. Was she too set in her ways? She liked her space and quiet time to read with a glass of wine. And was Trevor ready to move on? His wife had only been gone five years.
At least they’d agreed upon the rules while on the plane. If it didn’t work out, they’d go their separate ways.
But what if they discovered they liked being together?