I kind of like being a world away sometimes. I wouldn’t have reenlisted if I didn’t.
“I had fun this week,” she says, head tilted as her pretty eyes rest on mine.
“Same.” I take a sip of the wine, which is sweet and goes down with a smooth, easy finish.
“Do you ever write letters when you’re gone?” she asks. “Like letters back home? To friends or family?”
I shake my head. “Nah.”
“Why not?”
“Not much of a letter writer,” I say. “Some of the guys sign up for these pen pal services, but that’s not something that’s ever appealed to me.”
“Can I send you letters?” she asks. Her question catches me off guard and I need a minute.
“Why would you want to do that?”
She shrugs. “Doesn’t it get lonely over there? Don’t you want to know someone’s thinking about you?”
Laughing, I say, “I’ve served almost ten years now. Haven’t been lonely but maybe once.”
“You act like that’s some badge of honor or something.”
“Where I’m from, it is,” I say. “You see guys who miss funerals or the births of their children. You see guys missing birthdays and holidays and shit like The Super Bowl and things that civilians take for granted. It’s just easier if I keep those things out of mind.”
Her gaze lowers and her lower lip juts forward before she takes a drink. “Makes sense, I guess.”
“It’s nice that you want to do that though.”
“It’s going to be so weird saying goodbye to you.” Her voice is breathy and wistful and she flashes a pained smile.
“Yeah, but this is what we signed up for.”
Maritza nods, drawing her legs onto the couch. “No, I know.”
“Come on.” I reach for her face, cupping her chin and angling her face until our eyes meet again. “Let’s have fun tonight. If you get all sad and mopey it’s going to completely defeat the entire purpose of this week.”
She pulls in a hard breath, lets it go, and softens her expression. “All right. Sad and mopey Maritza is gone in three … two …”
Snapping her fingers, she plasters the most ridiculous grin I’ve ever seen in my life across that pretty face of hers.
I can’t help but laugh at her.
“You’re such a fucking dork,” I say, pulling her into my lap. My palms graze her outer thighs, working their way to her hips as our stares hold steady. She smells like sweet almonds and feels like cashmere and right here, right now is the only place I want to be.
Her hands caress my face, her mouth sinking onto mine. A moment later, her lips part and our tongues meet and her hips grind against the rock-hard throb forming in my jeans.
Grabbing the hem of her shirt, I lift it over her head only to reveal she wasn’t wearing a bra to begin with.
“You came prepared,” I say, breathing her in.
Her lips curl against mine. “You have no idea how badly I wanted this to happen again.”
Pushing her sweats down her hips, I slide them down her long legs, followed by her lacy black thong. The sweet scent of her arousal fills the tight space between us. When I stand, she reaches for my zipper, freeing me.
Her dark eyes are wide as she stares up at me, pumping my hardened length in her hand with a devious smirk. A second later, she takes me into her mouth, her full lips velvet soft against my shaft as her tongue circles the tip.
Groaning, I bury my fist in her dark hair, her messy bun coming undone as she swallows my length over and over.
Yanking my shirt over my head, my heart pounds in my chest. I want her skin on mine. I want her warmth, her heat, her breathless sighs in my ear. I want her biting her lip and screaming my name and riding my cock so hard she won’t be able to walk straight for a week.
But first things first.
Pulling myself away, I guide her to the sofa, positioning myself between her thighs as she leans back against a throw pillow.
Maritza exhales when my tongue drags the length of her seam and she moans when I slip a finger inside. Aided by her arousal, I add another until the tension between us aches with an impatient fervor.
My hands are greedy, my touch generous as I explore every peak and valley of her nubile body as she writhes beneath me, her breath growing quicker the closer she gets to the edge.
I can’t take it anymore.
I’ve waited long enough. I have to have her.
Reaching for my jeans on the floor, I grab my wallet and retrieve a rubber, ripping the foil packet between my teeth before sheathing my girth. Maritza watches, her full tits rising and falling as she waits, and the second I’m ready, I take her hand, pulling her up and telling her to get on her hands and knees.
Her cherry ass beneath my palm is pure fucking gold, and I slide my fingers between her thighs until I reach her swollen pussy. Guiding my cock inside, pushing it as deep as I can go, she releases the softest sigh before gripping the pillow in her tight fists.
My hands steady her hips, pulling them back to meet my every thrust. Her pussy forms to my cock, each plunge tight and slick, charging the two of us with insatiable energy. Bringing her body against mine harder, faster, I squeeze my eyes and lose myself in the distracting euphoria of this moment.
Running my hands down her hips, toward her belly, and then between her breasts, I bring her closer to me, pressing my body against her back as I drive into her. My palm wraps softly around her neck, my fingers just beneath her jaw as I bury my face in her hair.
My focus is her.
Her surrender is mine.
There’s a frenzied race to the finish as her body melds against mine, but I won’t let her go until we’re both spent, collapsed, and barely able to utter a single coherent phrase.
Her left hand lifts, her fingers reaching for my hair as I caress her breasts, pumping my length into her again and again. The rapid, shallow breaths are a sign she’s getting closer and the moment she presses back against me, taking me to the hilt, I fucking lose it.
She rides the wave, her body warm and pliant, mine wild and reckless, and when we’re done, I sink back, gathering her in my arms, her back pressed against my chest. We’re a sticky, breathless mess of unrestrained exhaustion, but already I could do this again.
I could do this all fucking night long.
Maritza turns to face me, a smile claiming her full lips, and she cups my face in her hands, saying nothing.
“Let me write you letters,” she asks a moment later. “Let me see you again, when you come home.”
“Maritza …” I need to shut this down.
The idea of having someone to come home to has never appealed to me before, but I could see myself coming home to her.
But I force that away.
This is how it has to be.
It’ll be better this way.
For me.
For her.
“I know what I said a week ago,” she says. “And I meant it. I don’t want a relationship. And the last thing I should be doing is falling for some guy who’s going away for … how long are you going away?”
“Six months this time,” I say. “If I don’t volunteer to stay longer.”
“Let me write to you,” she says, head tilted. Her fingers trace my mouth and she kisses me hard. “I don’t want to fall in love with you over letters. I don’t want some cheesy pen pal arrangement. I’m just not ready to watch you walk out that door when there’s still so much about you I want to know.”