To Love a Soldier Read online

  Slowly making his way over to me, he took off his undershirt and tossed it aside. I couldn’t see a spot where there wasn’t a muscle bulging. His stomach and chest were perfectly defined, as if they were airbrushed.

  I ran my fingertips across his chest and trailed down his stomach. He was smooth and hairless. Edging two fingers between his lower stomach and his boxers, I began rubbing lightly left to right. His body tensed up as he leaned down to kiss me. Lips parted slightly, I slid my tongue out and caressed his. He took my hands and lifted them over my head and pulled my dress over my head before lowering his head and nibbling on my bottom lip. Kicking off my heels, I settled in the bed, admiring the hard bodied, red-blooded piece of perfection in front of me. Tenderly placing his hand on the side of my neck, tilting my head into his large hand, he licked my neck and worked down to my shoulder blade.

  Somehow, he just knew all my weaknesses. I shuddered as his hands worked the clasp on my bra and slid it down my arms. John lowered his head and began rolling his tongue across my nipples making them harden under his touch.

  Feeling his stiffness pressing against my inner thigh, I reached my free hand down and stroked him in a slow caress while freeing him from his boxers. His pulsating cock stood at attention, begging for my touch. I licked my palm, using it to glide his thick shaft as I motioned up and down his full length. I was so turned on that I barely noticed him trying to get my panties off. Lifting my ass, he slid them down and tossed them across the room, then used his hand to caress my core and explore me with a gentle finger. Arching my back, I let out a moan as his finger circled my entrance. I began jerking him off at a quicker pace; I needed him. Now!

  “I want you inside me.”

  I wrapped my legs around his waist as he lifted me off the bed and lowered me down onto his thickness. Letting myself go, he dominated my body as he lifted me up and down, penetrating deep each time.

  “You feel fucking amazing,” he breathed in my ear as he was kissing my neck.

  “John,” I called out, as I felt myself explode and my body shiver in his strong arms. Once I came back to reality, I wanted to take control. Placing my hand on the side of his face, “you on your back.”

  He gladly complied, his erection standing straight up. Teasingly, I hovered over him and guided him into my heat; I slowly let my weight down on him. I started moving my pelvis in a grinding motion, I watched his eyes roll back in ecstasy. I lifted myself up, positioning my hands on my knees, until I felt the very tip, before sliding down fully to the base. Picking up the pace, I moved faster and harder until I felt his body go rigid beneath me, followed by a loud moan. Feeling his release sent me into one last orgasm and gave me a sense of satisfaction. I climbed off of him and curled up into his arms, so my head was on his shoulder and stared into his eyes. Adoration, and possibly even love, was written all over his face.

  “You don’t have to feel obligated to stay,” I said. John just shook his head and continued to smile.

  “Mandy,” he said, looking deep into my eyes, before placing a tender kiss on my lips. “I can’t think of any place I’d rather be than here with you.”

  We exchanged a soft kiss and the look on his face told my brain what my heart already knew, I was in love. I was relieved and felt safe and secure tucked next to him. He was so big compared to me. It felt nice not to be going to bed alone, but rather with someone I loved. In my mind, I knew it was going to be short lived and that he was going to be headed back to combat very soon. Shutting my brain down from negative thoughts, my now heavy eyelids closed as I drifted into a peaceful sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Shots Fired

  Mandy

  Opening my eyes, it took me a second flat to realize I was in an empty bed. Typical. “John?” I called out, adjusting my eyes to the light.

  Crawling out of bed, I threw on some old sweatpants and a tank top. I looked over to the chair where his dress uniform had been hung neatly last night; it was gone, too. Checking the upstairs bathroom, I found it empty and undisturbed. Fuck, did he really just do this to me?

  Not only was I pissed off at him, I was also shocked because I really hadn’t seen this coming. I didn’t think there was any chance he was that kind of guy, especially after last night. Grabbing my purse off the floor, I tore through it to find my cell phone. Unlocking the screen, I saw a bunch of texts from Liz.

  The last one was at 11:30 pm, saying, I’m guessing the date went more than well ;).

  Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, I thought. Hitting the phone key, I pressed his picture on my favorites list, and it went straight to voicemail. Are you fucking kidding me? What an asshole. Throwing my phone down on my bed, I marched downstairs in haste to try and hydrate myself. As I walked into the kitchen, I heard the sound of Liz’s voice, catching me completely off guard.

  “I smell sex and Mandy,” Liz sung out. “Good morning, porn star. I’ve been waiting weeks to use my sex and Mandy lyrics.”

  “Nice,” I smirked, slightly embarrassed.

  “Morning, beautiful,” John greeted, shaking his head at Liz.

  “Liz, why are you here?” I asked.

  “Well,” she began to explain. “Prince Charming here didn’t want to wake you up, so he called me at six this morning and begged me to bring him a change of clothes and grab some breakfast for us.”

  “I guess I should apologize then,” I said directly to John.

  A puzzled look appeared on his face. “For what?”

  “Because I was just cursing you out, thinking you pulled a coyote ugly move on me.”

  “Would never happen.” He shook his head.

  “So,” Liz interjected. “It was really fun not only being woken up early and running errands, but also having my brother answer your door in his underwear.”

  “Oh, relax, sis. They’re only boxers.”

  Grabbing a coffee and a bagel, I sat down at the table. I needed a minute to calm down from being angry and feeling like an asshole for assuming the worst with John. I picked at my bagel while they talked about John going back overseas in a few days.

  The happiness was being pulled out of Liz as the realization set in. Not surprisingly, I was beginning to feel the same way. The short time John and I had been together left me feeling scared and alone at the thought of him leaving. Fuck, I’m in really love!

  Everything had all happened so quickly. I gazed over my coffee cup and up to John’s face. He looked back at me, and I gave him a cute smile trying to look like nothing had changed.

  “We should all do something today,” John said, looking back and forth between Liz and me. “Do you guys wanna go to the range with me and then maybe later go to the city and get one last family dinner?”

  “Oh, Mandy is now part of the family, huh?” Liz asked with a smile. “I’d love to, brother.”

  “What the hell is a range?” I asked. “Is that like a farm or something? I don’t want to go to anywhere there’s wild animals and mud.” John and Liz erupted in laughter. “What? Why is that so funny?” I asked. “I’ll go to the city with you afterwards, but no muddy farms.”

  “Range,” John said, trying to not laugh. “It’s a shooting range. You know, where you shoot guns at targets.”

  “Oh, that’s not funny. How was I supposed to know? I don’t know anything about guns or those shooting range thingies.”

  “The range opens in an hour. We should probably hit it early, especially if we want to spend the rest of the day in the city.”

  We all agreed. John and Liz headed back to their house to grab John’s guns, while I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready. What the fuck do I wear to a shooting range? I picked out some comfortable clothes and then tossed another outfit to wear in the city into my duffle bag. I was back down in the kitchen finishing my lukewarm coffee when they came back. John knocked at the door and let himself halfway in.

  “Mandy,” he called. “You ready?”

  “John, you can come in, y’know.”
r />   “Oh, okay.” He started to explain, “I just didn’t want…”

  “To assume,” I interrupted him, knowing what he was going to say “I’m kinda nervous about shooting a gun.”

  “I’ll be with you and walk you through every step. Stop worrying.” He held out his hand. “Can we go now?”

  “Let me guess,” I said, in a smart-ass tone. “You have us on another one of your schedules.”

  He just smirked and nodded. Standing up, I gave him a quick kiss and ushered him out the door and over to Liz’s car. Since it was a two-door compact, I knew there was no way that John was fitting in the back.

  “Shotgun.” I yelled.

  “Oh, come on,” he grumbled. “I can barely fit in the front of this thing, never mind the back.”

  “I’m just fucking with ya,” I laughed, giving him a smack on the ass. I pushed the seat up and climbed in the back.

  When we arrived at the range, I was thankful to see that there were barely any people other than employees walking around. I didn’t want an audience watching as I embarrassed myself. John pulled several cases from the trunk of the car.

  We walked in and gave our IDs to the man who welcomed us at the front counter.

  “Thanks for your service, son. God bless,” the elderly gentleman behind the counter said handing John back his military ID. There were guns and bullets everywhere. All the employees were dressed in plain clothes, but had guns on holsters at their waists and dangling off of straps over their shoulders. It was intimidating, to say the least. “Will you be needing any ear plugs or glasses?”

  John declined, tapping the camo bag on his shoulder. It was safe to assume that he had them neatly organized inside. They exchanged a quick handshake before we headed to the range area, and he began to unpack his bag. At least I won’t feel so stupid since Liz has to do this with me.

  “Give me the .380 and I’ll leave you two to it,” Liz said to John.

  You’ve gotta be kidding me! “Liz, you already know how to shoot a gun?” I asked.

  She chuckled. “Yeah, I grew up in a military family.” She picked up a small handgun with a box of bullets that John had placed down for her. “My dad had me shooting a pink .22 rifle when I was three.” She looked so confident as she headed down a few stalls.

  “See,” John said. “If she can do it, so can you.”

  He handed me earplugs and a pair of yellow safety glasses. I put them both in place and stepped back, waiting for my first lesson to begin. John pulled out a larger handgun. He started trying to explain all the parts and how they go together to make it work; he was talking about a clip, barrel, chamber, and iron sights. I stopped him.

  “As if I’m going to remember any of that. Can you just get the thing ready and show me how to shoot?”

  “All right, all right.” He laughed. He did some things to the gun and told me to step up. He handed it to me and stood behind me, pressing himself up against me as if he were my body armor. He held the gun with me, keeping my finger away from the trigger. He explained how to look down the barrel and between the sights. It started to seem pretty straightforward at this point.

  “Okay, load one in the chamber,” he instructed.

  I just turned my head slightly and gave him a ‘huh’ look. He smiled and pulled back on the top of the gun. The metal made an ominous clicking noise.

  “Now, breathe easy and look down range at your target. When you have it in your sights, gently squeeze the trigger. Don’t try to pull the gun up to compensate for the kick back.”

  I started nervous, but now I felt totally calm. He was like a blanket of safety draped over me. I could feel his body pushing against me, holding me steady. His hands tightly gripped over mine. I listened to his words and did what he told me. I lined up and squeezed the trigger. BANG.

  “Holy fuck!” I tried to jump back, but I wasn’t going anywhere with him towering behind me. I couldn’t believe the power I had just felt. Even with earplugs, the noise was almost deafening. Even with John’s hands on it, the gun kicked back as soon as I pulled the trigger.

  “You did good,” he said. “The first one is the worst, because you don’t know what to expect.”

  He switched positions with me and began to unload the gun. I noticed Liz looking over and laughing between reloading her gun. I stepped up to try again… and again. The more I did it, the more confident I became and the more fun I was having. By the end, I was shooting by myself while John just kept loading bullets into the clips for me.

  45 minutes passed and Liz was back over at our stall. She and John began packing up the guns. The last bullet left my gun, and I turned to get another clip from John.

  “That’s it,” he said with a big smile. “You shot all of them. Goes quick, doesn’t it?”

  “For real?” I asked. He had three giant boxes of bullets when we started. “I don’t want to go. I’m having fun now.”

  Liz grabbed the gun from me and packed it. “We’ll come back together,” she offered.

  “Okay, sounds like a plan.” I nodded and handed her my glasses.

  They finished packing up and we left the range. I felt empowered and was looking forward to going back. I wished it could be with John, but unfortunately, that wouldn’t happen anytime soon. I’d have to plan on going back with him on his next leave. Hopefully, my skills will improve by then.

  We got on the interstate and headed south towards the city. I grabbed my duffle bag off the floor and pulled out my change of clothes. Liz watched me in the mirror and rolled her eyes. I wanted to change into something nicer and the clothes I had on now smelled like gunpowder anyway. I didn’t know how I was going to pull it off because, between the size of the backseat and all of Liz’s junk, there was barely room to move. I was determined, though, so I placed my change of clothes on a bag Liz had on the floor and began undressing in the backseat. I squirmed in the back for at least a minute, just trying to get my jeans off.

  John and Liz were taunting me and just kept laughing at my struggle. I managed to get my shirt on, but I knew the pants were going to be tricky. I lined them up and got my feet through. I had no choice but to stick my ass up and towards the back window just to pull them over my thighs. Right as I pushed up, I heard a clicking sound come from the front seat followed by Liz whispering ‘do it.’ Immediately John’s seat came crashing back and squashed me between it and the back seat. My ass was now pressed on the back window and I couldn’t move, at all.

  John and Liz erupted in laughter as she slowed down, letting car upon car drive past my butt in the window. I heard a horn blow and John rolled down his window. “Is it juicy?” I heard a man’s voice yell. Fuck. I now remember what panties I put on this morning! “Beyond belief,” I heard John yell back. He pulled his seat forward, letting me out of his trap.

  “I’m gonna fuckin’ get you for that,” I vowed to him.

  “Shit,” Liz said, trying to control her laugh. “I might have to change, too. I think I just peed myself a little.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Karma is a Bitch

  Mandy

  Once we hit the city limits, we drove around until we found a place to park. Liz wanted to do some shopping and then get an early dinner, because she wanted to get back home when Brady got out of work. I didn’t care what we did, or where we went, as long as it meant spending as much time with John as possible before he left.

  We spent the next few hours going from store to store, trying on outfits and checking out accessories. John just followed us obediently and made himself a giant rack to hang our bags and jackets on, while we would go into changing rooms. We were shopping sales racks, but even at that, we were out of money quick, so we headed to Galluci’s, a well-known Italian restaurant. John, in his typical gentlemanly fashion, held doors and pulled seats out for Liz and me. The menu looked great, and I couldn’t wait to try the food.

  Moments later, our waitress made her way to the table. I watched her walking towards us as she eyed John up. “He
llo,” she said, only making eye contact with John. “My name is Candy and I’m as sweet as my name says.”

  Wow, that wasn’t subtle or anything. I swear women were in heat when it came to him.

  “Hi Candy,” all three of us said at the same time. I noticed John continuing to smile at her. This was the first time I had seen him give any attention to another woman, besides his mother or sister, since I’d known him.

  “Can I start you off with some drinks?” Candy asked, finally removing her eyes off my man and looking around the table.

  “Long Island Iced Tea for me,” I ordered first. “My boyfriend and I are celebrating him teaching me how to shoot a handgun.” I glared.

  “I’ll just have a Diet Coke,” Liz said. “I’m not celebrating because I already knew how to shoot.”

  “Jack and Coke for me, please,” John followed.

  Right then, the waitress dropped her pen on the floor. I swear it was intentional. She bent over to pick it up, practically sticking her ass in John’s face while making a slow, shaking motion before straightening back up. John’s eyes got big as he looked away. I could only hope it was from being shocked.

  “Let me get those drinks for you all,” the waitress said, walking away.

  “Her hips weren’t shaking like that on her way over,” I sneered.

  “Oh, man, this is too fucking good.” Liz started laughing. “Karma’s a bitch, right, Mandy? Best part is her name is fucking Candy!”

  Yes, I realized this is exactly what I did to Liz and Brady when they came to Carmine’s that night. And I was much worse, but it didn’t seem too funny when it was happening to me.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, again. I definitely would never do anything like that now.”

  “You don’t need to,” John jumped in. “You have a boyfriend now.” He smiled.

  Yeah. I did say he was my boyfriend, didn’t I?