Waiting for Her Soldier (14 page)

Lauren was working late tonight. I knew I’d be able to get back in time to carry out my plan. She’d be at work for the next few hours, and in all honesty, this dinner with Jessica should be quick. I mean, if I’m telling the truth here, I never planned on having dinner with her anyway.

I sat down at the table and ordered a Coors Light. Funny, right? I guess that was my idea of a joke. Here I was in this fancy steakhouse that didn’t even serve beer, and I ordered a Coors Light. The waiter did his best to hide his appalled expression, but I guess he just didn’t get me joke.

“I guess I’ll have a glass of scotch,” I said. “Johnnie Walker Black, two fingers neat.”

I sat back at the table and waited for my drink, and also for Jessica. I’d make this short and sweet. There was very little I had to say to this girl. I just needed five minutes to make it clear that anything that had ever happened between us was long in the past. The waiter brought my glass of scotch. I took a deep sip, enjoying the rich, smoky bite. And then I waited.

I was halfway through my drink when Jessica finally showed up, wearing a skimpy dress, doing everything she could to gain my attention. Now that I was finally back, she wanted to express her interest.

“Darren,” she said sexily. “Long time no see.”

She reached out and touched my arm, but I didn’t let her phase me. I took another deep sip of my drink and didn’t say a word.

“So how long are you back?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m out. I’m done. Going to start civilian life. Maybe FBI,” I said, keeping my tone polite, but my words short and reserved.

“Well, that sounds fitting,” she said, giving me a broad smile, doing all she could to get some sort of affectionate response out of me.

“Yes, I think so.”

I didn’t smile. I was giving her nothing.

The waiter came by and I waited as Jessica ordered a glass of wine. She’d definitely need it for what I had to say next. In the meantime, I’d just make casual conversation.

When she finally had a glass in front of her, she turned to me, reaching out to touch my hand.

“Darren, I think it’s time we talked about
us
,” she said, smiling warmly, but with a touch of seriousness.

“How are we going to do that?” I asked.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“There is no
us
. I said. There’s a me, and a you, but there’s no
us
,” I said.

“Oh, Darren. How about we let bygones be bygones? All that messy business is in the past. That guy didn’t mean anything. You’re really not going to let that get in the way of what we had, right?”

She was smiling brightly again, doing her best to use her charm to her advantage. But tonight I wasn’t in the least bit receptive.

“Jessica, I’m going to be upfront with you. I literally want nothing to do with you. Honestly, I was astonished you’d be bold enough to leave a message at Lauren’s phone number. I was pissed off when she told me. The fact that you’d try to ruin what she and I have going, it makes me angrier than I can tell you.”

“Darren, you can’t be serious. Listen, you were away. I needed someone. It was nothing beyond that. Now that you’re finally home I don’t see why you’d turn your back on this relationship. You can’t deny what we had.”

“I can’t? I’ll be honest. Even before you broke up with me, I wasn’t sure about things. In fact, I’d already made up my mind to end it when I came home. But I’m a man, I wanted to do it in person, not through a letter. I wanted to tell you to your face, because I thought you deserved that much. Instead, I get a letter telling me you were leaving me. A letter telling me you were leaving me while I was at war. That’s reprehensible. And even though that hurt me, I thought that at the very least it was over and that I could move on without any complications. And now you come back? Get out of here. You aren’t worth another second of my time.”

I downed the rest of my scotch and got up, pulling a hundred dollar bill out of my wallet and tossing it on the table.

“Here. Have dinner on me. Call a friend, I don’t care. Just don’t ever contact me again.”

Then I turned my back on her, walking out of her life forever. I finally had closure. That part of my life was over. Now I could truly begin my life with Lauren without any reservations, without any second guessing. As I turned the ignition in my truck I laughed, realizing how lucky I was. I sat there for a moment, listening to the hum of the engine. I was home; finally I was home. And I realized now that home was inseparable from a life with Lauren.

“Darren, I don’t understand,” I said softly, slightly confused.

“It’s over. I told her it’s over.”

“Is it?” I asked, hopeful, but skeptical at the same time.

“Yes. No question.”

Darren wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. Then he lifted my face to his and gave me a long wet kiss. Then I suddenly I heard a loud beeping noise. The fire alarm was going off.

“Fuck!” yelled Darren, letting me go as he hustled back to the stove.

Smoke was rising from the stove top. Darren grabbed the pan and moved it onto an unused burner.

“You’re cooking?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, trying to at least.”

“Huh, I thought you only made grilled cheese,” I said, giving him a playful nudge. “Are those steaks?”

“Yes. I had this whole big thing planned out.”

“So, I guess we’re having them well-done then,” I laughed.

“Ah, yes. Dammit. My apologies.”

“It’s fine, I said. Here, let me make a béarnaise sauce real quick.”

“Great.”

I joined him by the stove, rifling through my cabinets for ingredients as he placed the semi-burnt steaks onto plates. I looked over to the counter and noticed that he’d even made a chopped salad and bought fresh bread. How cute. And he’d bought a bottle of champagne.

“Champagne, huh?” I asked. “What’s the occasion?”

I could see Darren visibly stiffen. He stood up straight, putting down the knife he’d been using to chop tomatoes for the salad.

I froze as he walked over to me, not knowing what was about to come next. Darren grabbed my hand and held it in front of him, staring deeply into my eyes as we stood in silence. I searched those deep blue eyes, trying to find the meaning in his gesture. What was he trying to say?

“Lauren…”

Was this really happening? Was he about to say what I was thinking he was going to say? Was this real life? Then I saw him getting down on one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet case.

Darren looked up into my eyes, pleading with me, letting me know his intentions before he even spoke a single word.

“Oh my…. I… I can’t believe this,” I said, trying to catch my breath, trying not to let the moment get away from me.

“Lauren… will you marry—”

“YES!”

Darren jumped up and I flung myself into his arms, turning my head up to meet his lips in a soft, passionate kiss. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Subconsciously I’d been thinking about this moment for months, but I’d never trusted the possibility enough to allow it so explicitly into my mind. I knew it was such a long shot. But there was no point in thinking of those doubts right now, they’d all been disproved by these last few moments. Instead, I concentrated on the deep kiss and Darren’s touch.

Moments later we controlled ourselves and sat down at the table. After all, Darren had gone to all this trouble, the least I could do was eat the dinner he’d made for me. As I sat down across from him, about to cut into my steak, I realized how lucky I was—how lucky we both were. I pondered this as I started to eat.

“Darren,” I laughed. “This thing is burnt to a crisp.”

“I know,” he said, laughing too. “I’m sorry, babe. You might be the only one who can cook around here.”

“Oh, I’m definitely the only one who can cook around here.”

“Do you want to order in? My treat, you know. Since it was supposed to be a surprise dinner and all.”

“You know, I’m not even really that hungry right now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, maybe there’s something else we can do.”

“Yeah? What?” I said coyly, batting my lashes, but trying to play it off as though I had no idea.

“Let me show you,” said Darren, pushing out his chair and getting up from the table. He stood up and walked over to me, picking me up in his arms and putting me over his shoulder in one fell swoop.

Darren playfully smacked my butt as we walked down the hall. I couldn’t stop laughing, absolutely enamored with this crazy, loveable, sexy soldier I’d somehow found myself lucky enough to call my fiancé.
My fiancé
. It was the first time I’d ever really thought of myself in connection with that word. I was engaged and it was finally hitting me how momentous this night was in my life.

Darren carried me through the doorway into our bedroom, dropping me down onto the bed. I fell back into the soft embrace of my comforter, feeling my heart pounding in anticipation as Darren moved his big muscular body over me. He gently touched my face, using two fingers to nudge my chin upwards, turning my lips up to his own. I was completely his, and he knew it.

Wet and warm, I parted his lips with my own, giving a slight suck as I swirled my tongue around in his mouth, feeling him inside and out. It felt like the first time; I was so charged with electricity, feeling my passion for Darren renewed with each subtle kiss, each nuance of his tongue. I bit his lower lip playfully, letting him know I wanted more, that tonight I wanted it harder than he’d ever given it to me before; letting him know I was his for the taking.

As we made out he grinded his pelvis into me, and through his worn blue jeans I could feel the hard, pressing bulge of his cock rubbing against my inner thigh. He gave deep thrusts, pushing himself against me, making me fantasize about the moment when I’d finally give in and tear his clothes off, hungry for his cock inside of me.

As I felt his monstrous cock rub against me, I grew wetter and wetter, until I was soaking wet at the thought of those thrusts, filling me up, shaking my body with sexual magic. I grinded him back, knowing that in his mind he was imagining my wet pussy, but not wanting to touch me just yet, wanting to hold out for the next few minutes, to prolong and draw out our twin desires, bringing our passion nearly to the point of madness before giving in and losing ourselves in each other’s bodies.

But for me it was becoming too much to take. Reaching out I pushed Darren off from on top of me. He leaned back on the bed as I climbed on top of him, reaching down between his legs to massage his cock through his jeans. I moved my head up towards his, finding his mouth and pressing my lips to his once more. I slipped my tongue into his mouth, feeling the heat that developed between us, the warmth of his touch and the wetness that linked our mouths together. But the wetness below was even more palpable, drenching my panties, making me ready to take his rock hard dick as soon as he gave it to me.