Chapter Five
Sloane
I stifled a yawn, something Ryan took note of.
“You need a nap, man.”
“Nah, I’m good. I just need to stay hydrated and keep moving until bedtime, otherwise jetlag will kick my ass, and I don’t have enough time here this week to deal with that nonsense.”
“We could take Tank down to the Ocean Front Walk,” Ashley suggested from her spot next to me at the restaurant’s outdoor patio table. “Walk around, people watch, maybe grab a bite for dinner later if you guys want.”
She made a point of looking at my friends as if to make sure they knew she was including them in the suggestion.
I felt a pang in my chest. I liked how well she seemed to fit in with the group, and it meant a lot that she wanted to include my dog and my friends. We all thought it was a good idea.
“That sounds great. I just need to drop my stuff off at Ryan’s and get changed into civvies.”
“I probably should put some comfy walking shoes on, too,” Maddie said.
Ashley glanced down at her boots at the same time I did.
Nudging her shoulder with mine, I suggested, “Why don’t I just change at your place so you can grab a different pair of shoes, and we’ll meet everyone there?” I glanced at my friends. “Does that work?”
Craig looked at his watch. “So, we’ll meet at the Aquatic Center in an hour and a half?”
Ryan agreed. “That should give us plenty of time.”
I turned to Ashley. “I know your address, since I’ve written it on enough envelopes, but I never actually looked at your location on GoogleMaps. Will that give us enough time?”
“Yes, I’m near Mission Bay.”
“Perfect.”
We stood from the table, carried our trays to dispose of our trash, and turned toward the parking lot. I reached for Ashley’s hand without a second thought once we stepped off the curb. Entwining my fingers with Ashley’s felt like the most natural thing in the world.
When we reached the Camry, a thought occurred to me when I opened the door for her.
“Shit! I need to grab my bag—be right back!”
I took off in a jog after Ryan, who was still walking with Craig, Maddie, and Grace, and caught up with them just as Ryan beeped the unlock button to his Audi. Tank saw me approaching and began to wiggle his butt in excitement, probably thinking he’d be sharing the backseat with his absentee owner.
A pang of guilt hit me in the chest, and I reached down to rub my dog’s face with both hands as I said, “Hey! I need my duffel bag.”
“That’d probably help you change, huh?” Ryan said with a laugh as he opened the trunk.
Tank pawed at me when I stopped petting him.
“I know, buddy. I’m sorry. But I’ll make it up to you. We’re going to go for a long walk.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
“Don’t let him fool you like he’s been neglected. He stays with my brother on the nights I have to work, and Josh takes him everywhere with him. I’m pretty sure he even sleeps with him.”
I cocked my head at Ryan. “Are you saying he doesn’t sleep with you?”
“No. I bought him a ridiculous dog bed that cost almost as much as my mattress.”
“Don’t worry—Ryan is spoiling your dog,” Maddie threw out as she climbed into Craig’s SUV.
“I need someone to spoil,” Ryan grumbled as he watched Grace get in the backseat of the Land Rover behind Maddie.
“Wait, so you guys aren’t dating?”
“Nope,” Ryan replied, popping the “P” while rocking forward on his toes.
“Not from his lack of trying,” Craig said with a chuckle.
That surprised me.
“Huh. I thought for sure you were doing it this summer, just keeping it on the downlow.”
“Again, not from his lack of trying.” Craig gripped Ryan’s shoulder with a grin. “But at least your house looks great.”
I felt my brows furrow in confusion.
Ryan filled in the blanks. “I’ve been spending my free time working on the remodel.”
“So, let me get this straight, you’re not dating anyone? It’s like I’ve entered an alternate Universe.”
“Har har. No. Grace told me I had to be single for a year before she’d date me, so, I’ve got eight months to go.”
“Take the win that she even agreed to date you—ever.”
“Speaking of wins… your pen pal seems great.”
I didn’t bother trying to disguise my grin. “She is, isn’t she?”
“How long have you two been writing each other?”
“Pretty much since I arrived in the Middle East. I think her first letter got there about a week after I did. I enrolled our company with Military Angels before we left the States, and they don’t mess around once people get signed up.”
“I remember you telling us about the organization before you left, so I know she’s not the first person who’s written to you.” One of Craig’s eyebrows hiked up in accusation. “Do you kiss all of your pen pals like that?”
With a grin, I slung my duffel bag over my shoulder. “Nope, she’s the first, and I’m hoping the last.”
I turned on my heel to head back to Ashley’s car, but Ryan exclaimed, “Whoa, hold on. What does that mean?”
I spun around but kept walking—only backward now. “What do you think it means?”
Ryan simply shook his head, and muttered, “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“See you guys over there.”
“Don’t be late!”
“Of course not,” I said with mock indignance before turning back around, but inside I was thinking, No promises .
Because if Ashley wanted to engage in any activities that would make us late, I certainly wasn’t going to tell her no.
****
Ashley
I tried viewing my little apartment through his eyes as I stepped through the front door first.
Thank goodness Catherine is a true romantic and told me to take the rest of the week off, so I’d had some time to kill that morning and had been able to clean before heading to the base. I remembered Sloane had once told me he was a little obsessive about cleanliness. I didn’t want to make a bad impression right off the bat or make him uncomfortable in my home.
The place had a shabby chic look to it. Which was a nice way of saying I bought furniture at thrift stores and refinished it, but that I wasn’t exactly a professional at it.
Sloane set his bag down and leaned over to untie his boots.
I was about to tell him he didn’t have to do that, but then realized him knowing I didn’t always take my shoes off would probably bother him, so I bent over next to him to unzip my boots, too.
He looked around the apartment. The kitchen, dining, and living rooms were all one area—divided only by the appropriate furniture for each room. I’d chosen pastel colors for the décor to complement the white furniture, and I’d tried to pick up a few decorator pieces with every paycheck to make the rooms more stylish. Framed pictures of me and my mom sat on a bookshelf, along with pictures of me and Tammy, and the girls I’d gone to college with that were still in my core group of friends.
“I like your place,” he commented as he took a tentative step into the living room and surveyed the area. “It’s very cozy.”
“That’s what I was going for.” I paused a beat, then asked, “Do you want to see my bedroom?”
His eyebrows went up and a smirk crossed his lips.
I felt my face burn with embarrassment. I knew my birthmark was probably indistinguishable from how red I must be.
“I mean… not like that…” I took a deep breath and dropped my shoulders in defeat. “I just meant, I refinished the furniture in here, and I did the same with my bedroom. I’m kind of proud of it, so would you like to see the furniture in my bedroom that I redid?”
His eyes twinkled with amusement at my rambling. His adorable dimple appeared when he replied, “Yes, of course, I’d love to see your bedroom furniture .”
I led him into my room, all the while discreetly trying to gauge if his six-foot-plus frame would even fit in my bed. He seemed to fill up the whole space with his presence, I could only imagine what he’d do to my queen-size bed.
I found myself grateful to the mattress saleswoman who’d suggested someday I might want a bigger bed when I’d tried explaining I was single and didn’t need anything more than full-size.
“You’re not planning on being single forever, right?” the polished woman had asked with a wink.
At the time, I’d been upset with myself for caving in to the upsell, now I wanted to go back and thank her.
Not that I was planning on Sloane being in my bed.
Okay, now that the obligatory good-girl declaration had been made, I could convince myself that “it just happened” if—hopefully when—it did.
Not wanting to get caught checking him out, I quickly looked away when he turned around to face me.
“You did a great job, Ash.”
“Thanks.”
He stood staring at me with a small smile. Not knowing what that smile meant made me wring my hands in front of me.
“Um, you can change in here. Let me just put something else on really quick.”
I ducked into my large walk-in closet—one of the deciding factors when I’d chosen the apartment. That, and the in-unit washer and dryer.
I was going to change into something warmer for when the November sun set in a few hours. Slipping out of my dress, I pulled on a pair of yoga pants, then layered a t-shirt and sweatshirt over my head before grabbing a pair of socks from the little bin of baskets I kept in the closet for my bras, underwear, and socks. I picked up my tennis shoes and hurried out, not wanting to keep Sloane from changing.
My shoes dropped to the floor with a thud when I found him shirtless with his pants open and hanging off his hips to showcase those V-lines that had been known to make girls do stupid things. I couldn’t help but stare—gawk was probably a more accurate descriptor—at the ripples along his stomach. He had a tribal tattoo of a dragon on his right shoulder, and the Marine eagle, globe, and anchor tattooed on his left biceps, with the words, “Semper Fidelis” written underneath. The smattering of chest hair only served to remind me he was all-man.
Finally, I squeaked, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were getting naked.” I closed my eyes before quickly correcting myself. “ Changing . I didn’t realize you were changing .”
“I thought you told me to change in here.”
He didn’t seem bothered at my presence and simply grinned at me as he finished pulling his pants off, leaving him in only his grey boxer briefs that did nothing to disguise the outline of his cock.
And it was a very nice cock.
“I did, I just, um, thought you were going to wait until I grabbed my cock from the closet.” My eyes went wide. “My clothes! Oh my god, my clothes from the closet!”
He pressed his lips together as if to suppress a smirk and put one leg into a pair of Levi’s.
“I was wondering what was taking you so long. That explains it.”
I buried my face in my hands. “Can the floor just open up now and swallow me?”
I felt his presence before he tugged my hands from my face and drew me into a warm embrace. His bare chest vibrated against my cheek with his chuckle.
“I would hate it if that happened.”
“I’m so embarrassed,” I whispered as the scent of him filled my senses.
“It was a Freudian slip, sweetheart. I should have waited to change. I’m sorry. I thought I could be quick.”
It was like my fingers had a mind of their own as they skimmed down his muscular back.
“Please don’t apologize. I mean, have you looked in a mirror lately? It’s not like I’m offended.”
The humor was evident in his tone when he retorted, “Just a little flustered?”
“You could say that.”
He kissed the top of my head and tightened his hold on me. “Is it bad that I like having that effect on you?”
“I suspect I’m not the first girl to swoon at the sight of you in your chonies .”
I felt his laugh vibrate against my face again. “ Chonies , huh? Tell me you live twenty miles from the Mexican border without telling me you live twenty miles from the Mexican border.”
In perfect Spanish, I told him, “I grew up in San Diego. I don’t remember ever calling underwear anything but chonies .”
He obviously understood me because he replied in equally perfect Spanish, “Me, too. Grew up here, that is. But I call my underwear, underwear or boxer-briefs.”
I leaned back to look at him when I switched back to English. “I didn’t realize you grew up here. How did that never come up in our letters?”
“That just means we still have a lot to talk about, dulzura ,” he replied with a wink.
“ Dulzura , huh?”
“Why not? It fits. Everything about you is sweet.”
I laid my head back against his chest, wanting to enjoy the closeness for just a few seconds more.
“Now I’m going to have to figure out what to call you.”
“How about galán ?”
A snort escaped me, and I slapped a hand over my mouth, even as my body shook with laughter.
“What?” his voice went up an octave as if he were offended. “You don’t think I’m studly?”
I peeked up to find him grinning at me. But his face turned somber when I dragged my nails down his six-pack and murmured, “On the contrary. I think you’re the sexiest man I’ve ever met.”
His eyes grew dark as he wove his fingers in my hair, pulled my head back, and captured my mouth with his. Until now, his kisses had been soft and gentle, almost reverent. This kiss was rough and demanding, and he left no room for doubt that he was the one controlling it.
It was sexy as fuck and made me feel desired.
So did his hard cock that was pressed against my stomach.
“God, I want you,” he moaned against my lips as I subtly grinded against him.
“I want you, too,” I panted.
Suddenly, he stopped with a groan and pulled his fingers from my hair. “We have people waiting for us. I’m not rushing the first time we’re together.”
He had a point, although my wet panties made me want to argue a quickie might be just the ticket for our first time.
He obviously sensed my frustration, because he planted a soft kiss on my lips before murmuring, “I’ll make sure it’s worth the wait, sweetness.”
How could I say no to that?
“So does that mean you’re spending the night?”
The corner of his mouth hitched. “Does that mean I’m invited?”
I pressed my tits against him as I gently raked my nails down his back and breathed, “You are most definitely invited.”