Semper Fi Pt. 03

"Dessert?" he asked.

Later that evening, they rode the steamboat around the island, watching the log cabin eternally burn and the sounds of the Indians piped out from hidden speakers. He wondered what she thought, seeing the 'glory' of the South put forth to everyone as just good fun. He glanced at her, her face lit up by the fireworks shooting through the sky high above the castle, the colors reflected by her dusky skin.

Maybe, he wondered, taking the stupid boat ride wasn't such a good idea, after all. And then, she turned and smiled at him and leaning over, kissed him... not a friendly kiss but one that promised more in the future.

Garrett's cell buzzed. "Hello, Caitlyn."

"Garrett, we were thinking... it's kinda late and even if we left now, it would take forever to get home. How about we get some rooms here and spend the night and leave tomorrow?"

"Are you sure you can even get something this late?"

"I already called and put a hold on two. Is that all right with you?"

"Why don't you speak with Barbara?" He passed over the phone to her and stepped away a few feet, letting her have enough privacy to speak her mind. From the corner of his eye, he watched as her face broke into a smile.

"We're spending the night," she said, matter-of-factly. "You get to share a room with Frank."

"With Frank..."

"Hahahaaaaa... just kidding, silly.

The way he looked at her made her heart race. It had been a long time since any man had given her such appreciation... and Garrett wasn't just any man, he was an extraordinary person. The more she learned about him, the better she felt about her decision to sleep with him.

He stared at her, hungrily, and she felt herself softening like a chocolate bar left in the sun. She leaned toward him, staring at his mouth, hoping to kiss him again as he picked her up.

Carrying her into the room, Garrett closed the door with his foot and the noise from the hallway receded at once. Barbara looked at the room... a large king bed, a table and two chairs, a television on a dresser and a bathroom leading off to the right.

"First, a bath," he said, carrying her into the smaller room.

Barbara thought she couldn't wait to slide into the warmth of a bath, washing the dirt of the park off her skin, off her hair. Garrett set her down on the toilet and turned to the bath; she heard the water gushing out.

"I don't want you drowning in here, especially now," he said, pouring some bubble bath into the warming water and the bathroom filled with the fragrance of roses.

Garrett's arms went around her, pulling her toward him. "I've thought about you all day," he whispered, quietly, "wondering where've you been all my life and why I couldn't have met you years before."

His hand moved up her back and she felt the long zip slide down. He carefully peeled the clingy material from her body and the dress slithered to the floor. She felt him start to push the straps of her slip down over her arms. His amber eyes held hers while he slowly slid her slip down over her breasts, her waist, her hips... until it, too, fell to the floor.

Almost hypnotized, staring deeply into his eyes, she gave herself up to the intense pleasure of feeling him look at her, touch her. She had had dreams like this, where a lover had touched her, naked, kissed her... in her waking moments she wouldn't let herself remember but now the dream emerged into the light, was really happening with someone that affected her like no other lover... it wasn't a fantasy, no matter how much time they had spent in Fantasyland. She trembled and couldn't breathe.

He unsnapped her bra and let it fall and then she felt the slow, warm brush of his fingertips on her breast; her nipples hardened, dark chocolate in color and stinging with sensation.

"Garrett," she whispered.

He looked into her eyes. "Tell me you want me... tell me you like it..."

His hand travelled on, stroking her stomach; he slid it inside her now wet panties and she gave a little moan. The panties were gone; she was naked and he was looking at her body in a way that made her skin hot, unbearably hot. She turned her face into his chest, shuddering.

His hand covered the back of her head, running through her large, dark curls; he stroked her hair, moved his cheek against it... she felt a pleasure so sharp that a groan rose from deep within her.

"I want you," he said, "forever."

A moment later, she was in the bath, covered by the warm, bubbly water.

He was naked, now, the strong, athletic body moving toward the bath. And then, he was in the water with her, a tsunami pushing back and forth from him to her. The floor and all their clothes were wet.

His legs touched hers, one on either side of her and she felt the muscled thighs moving against her. She watched his mouth move saying something she couldn't hear... a mouth that made her heart beat with a strong, hot pulse.

Garrett shifted his position; his thighs moved in closer to her, enclosed her firmly, rubbing softly against her. She knew what she would see if she looked down into the bath.

"Don't forget to wash your hair," he said and got up. For a moment, she though he was getting out of the tub but he reached for the shower attachment on the wall and then stood over her, directing it down on her head.

She laughed and with water running down her face, tried to grab the shower head from him but he moved it away and then opened the small bottle of shampoo that was sitting on the shelf. He tipped the creamy liquid into his palm, knelt down and began rubbing it into her hair, kneeling in front of her, his strong fingers massaging her head. She shut her eyes, as much to stop seeing his erection near her face as to protect her eyes from the soap bubbles trickling down her face.

He rinsed the shampoo off, washed his own hair and then toweled her hair dry. She stood up.

"Where do you think you're going, little girl?" he asked, dropping the towel onto the floor by their wet clothes and caught her by the waist and pulled her back into the water, this time on top of him, her body between his parted legs.

"oooooo," she whispered as she felt his hands sliding over her bare skin, his chest behind her back, his body moving against hers, his erection pressing against her butt.

His lips moved against her ear, saying nothing that she could understand.

He picked up a bar of soap and began washing her slowly, rhythmically, methodically... first her shoulders, her arms, then softly over her breasts while she tremble and closed her eyes. His hand moved on down and she cried out in wonderful surprise.

"OOOOOO..." It was an instinctive response... a mindless response to unbearable pleasure.

As his fingers invaded, she shook violently. He closed his hands on her waist, lifted her and spun her around, lowered her again and she found herself looking into his dark golden eyes.

He began soaping her back, her butt, her legs in that slow, exploratory fashion while he watched her face.

"God, you're beautiful," he whispered and then lifted his face until their mouths met.

He excited her, she couldn't deny it, thank God, more than anyone had ever done before. She kissed him back, hungrily, her blood singing in her ears, giving in to the urge that had gripped her ever since she saw him taking off his clothes. His touch was so different from any other's and she realized there would never be another for her.

She belonged to him, body and soul... from the moment they had met, she now understood. She didn't want anyone else.

She wanted him so badly... she touched him with shaky hands, caressed his broad shoulders, the deep, muscled chest, ran her fingers downward until she heard Garrett draw a long, sharp breath.

In their entanglement, they forgot where they were, their bodies tangled together, shifting eagerly, coming closer, sliding deeper into the water.

It was only when the water came up over their faces that they broke apart, laughing.

"The water's getting cold," he said, his voice thick with desire.

He got out first and watched her rise from the water, her dark skin glistening, wet like a mocha Venus. His hand closed around hers, his fingers strong and warm. "The minute I saw you," he said, "I knew I wanted you.

She knew it had happened to her, just as instantly. She could try and deny it but why and recognized he could feel the fierce racing of her pulse under his fingertips.

"What do you want, Barbara?"

"You... I want you so much right now, it hurts just to breathe."

She slipped her arms up his chest, sending sparks of heat shooting through his body. "Make love to me, Garrett. Make love to me and make me forget there were any other men in my life, ever. Make love to me until all I can remember, all I can think about, is you."

Reaching up, she pressed her mouth against his. It was the sweet, slow kiss of a temptress. A kiss of hunger... a kiss of need... and for a quick second, he held himself back, trying to regain control.

But then she traced his lips, moving that wet, pink tongue across the seam of his mouth and the last of his tenuous control disappeared. It exploded inside him. He pulled his mouth away just long enough to pull in a breath and try and regain whatever sanity he had left.

"Make love to me," she whispered.

He dipped his mouth down for another taste. One kiss became another and then another. Hot, wet kisses that grew and grew... he could kiss her forever and forever... for a lifetime.

"Touch me, Garrett."

She didn't have to ask him twice and he slid his fingers down her tall body, past the curve of her breasts and along the arc of her waist. He cupped her butt and then retraced his journey, caressing and exploring once again. She was silky smoothness, sweetness and sin...

He wanted her fast and hard, slow and sweet and he drove his tongue into her mouth.

Her tongue moved with his and as he stepped back, his breath caught at the sight of her naked body before him. She arched her back, filling his hands with her sweet-smelling skin.

Her fingers found his erection, closed around him and he groaned. "I want you inside..." she murmured.

And, it was where he wanted to be and lifting her, he carried her to the turned down bed and laid her down onto the sheets. He moved between her thighs.

Garrett reached for the condom he had found sitting on the nightstand but she said, "No... just do it," and he couldn't wait any longer. He entered her in one, long, deep stroke.

She gasped his name and he struggled to hold back, afraid for a moment that he had hurt her but then she was arching her back, once again, against him, her nails biting into his skin as her body moved with his and she took him deeper inside her.

He gave her everything but held himself back, waiting, watching, wanting to see her face when the first climax hit her, wanting to hear his name one her lips when it did.

"Garrett..." she cried out as the climax slammed into her and made her shudder in his arms. He latched his mouth onto hers, devouring her with his tongue and teeth and he drove himself harder, faster, deeper inside her. And when he felt her begin to shudder again, felt his body explode as the climax hit him and he said, "I love you."

**********

Barbara woke to the sound of water and singing. She pulled up the blankets and was struck by aches in places she didn't even think she could hurt.

She closed her shut and thought back on those wild, crazy hours she had spent in Garrett's arms the night before. She thought she had known what to expect from sex... after all, she wasn't a virgin without any experience but nothing in any relationship she had ever had prepared her for making love with Garrett. She smiled as she recalled her response to him.

And... he told her he loved her.

"No regrets?" he asked, standing there in the bathroom entryway.

"Who said I had regrets?" She had no regrets... how could she regret what was the most incredible experience of her life? "If we choose to have an affair, it's no one's business except ourselves."

"An affair? Is that what you see this is?"

"Don't you?" she asked.

He made his way to the bedside. "No," he told her as he peeled back the covers. "An affair doesn't even come close to what I want between us."

He stripped the towel from around his waist and joined her in the bed. His erection pressed hard and heavy and hot against her as he went up on one elbow to look at her. She wanted him again, she realized as her blood began to heat. She wanted that wild, crazy feeling that she had only ever felt when he was inside her.

"I..." she started to say as he dipped his head to kiss her breasts. She squirmed at the feel of his teeth on her nipple as his mouth closed first on one and then the other.

His mouth traveled down her stomach and then farther to kiss the inside of her thighs and then he moved between her thighs and loved her with his mouth. His tongue tasted her, loved her until she thought she would shatter into a million pieces of broken glass.

And when the climax ripped with the force of an atomic bomb, she cried out.

"I'm never letting you go," he gasped and before she could reply, he drove into her and sent them both spiraling like the fireworks from the night before, exploding together.

"Yes, room service? I have some clothes that need to be laundered, please. A half-hour? That's great, thank you..." He turned to her. "We'll have our clothes in plenty of time for breakfast."

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and after making sure he had everything together, he handed over the clothing with a twenty. "Thank you."

The phone rang. "Yes?" he asked. "OK, in about an hour... we need to get our clothes back... don't ask. All right, see you then." He hung up the phone and turned to her. "Breakfast at ten downstairs and then, we can go back to the park, that is, if you want."

"Well, it IS the Magic Kingdom, after all."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is."

She should have been embarrassed, she told herself, as they took the elevator down to the hotel's restaurant... and she would have been except that she was as eager for him as she felt he was for her. The realization shocked her a little. How a woman who had remained alone for three or so years had suddenly fallen for a man she knew less than a couple of months was a mystery. She thought she had known passion before, had known love before but now, she knew she hadn't had a clue about either.

Not until Garrett had come into her life, she had not truly known how wonderful life could be. If things ended between them and he was gone, how would she ever go back to her life without him?

**********

Chapter 16 Once upon a time...

Caitlyn put on her safety glasses and although knowing she'd get a bed-head from them, ear protection, took out her Glock and put three rounds dead center into the target's printed head as the spent shells flew past her head.

"Not much chance of getting them in for questioning, that way," said Garrett. "You might want to aim a little lower, next time."

In answer, she put one into the crotch, dead center. "How's that?" she asked, seriously... angrily.

"What's bothering you, Caitlyn? You've been on pins and needles, ever since Disneyland."

"We've bought a condo together and we're going to live together but..."

"But, what, Caitlyn? What's he done? I'll kill him. Doesn't he want to marry you? I thought he did."

"He's been perfect. I guess I'm just a little scared."

"How the hell can you be scared? You've raised Kelly without a father all these years... you're a cop, for Christ's sake. How can you be scared? You're going to mess it up, again, just like last time."

"Marriage is so permanent." She put another magazine into her gun. "And, he's going to be there, all the time. There's going to be changes."

"Not much is permanent these days and change is good."

"Is that what you're going to tell Barbara?" She shot another four rounds off, all in the heart.

"Damn, Caitlyn." Garrett didn't like what she said but had to admit it worried him, too. He, somehow, was deeply in love with Barbara but he knew how easily a fast love could burn out and turn into something else. "No," he said, "that's... that's different. I thought..."

"...that I should know that?" she replied.

"Yeah, something like that." He shot three, missing wide right on each one. "Fuck..." he muttered, angry at himself. He shot three more, missing again.

"Better put your mind on your target, Sergeant..." She shot off one last round, cleared her weapon and put it down. "...or you're wasting your time."

**********

"Get your hat," Garrett said, "we've got another one. You wanna drive?"

"No... I need to think."

Garrett was worried. Caitlyn had been doing a lot of thinking, lately, and he thought nothing good would come from it. She had a bad habit of doggedly distressing about things... good for the homicide... bad for the personal life.

It was a short ride to the back of the run-down bar. The body was lying next to the dumpster and the woman didn't look like a military wife...

"Thrown out like yesterday's trash... are you sure this is connected with the rest?" he asked.

"I don't know. It looks the same but doesn't. You know what I mean?"

The detectives waited until the medical examiner's photographer had finished, the constant 'clicking' of her camera filling the windy silence of the alleyway as she moved around the body, taking pictures from every angle and distance.

The medical examiner bagged the woman's hands.

Garrett was checking his notes while he sat in the car. He looked at the woman's driver's license photo and then the uploaded photo on his laptop. In four years, the woman's face had completely changed. The face looking at him from her license was that of a typical Southern California housewife, pretty without being beautiful. The face staring back at him with dead eyes from the damp asphalt was almost unrecognizable... her hair, once seemingly glossy and full, was now patchy and dull... her face was deeply lined and there were several open sores. Her lips were cracked.

"Yeah, too different in the small details... look at this," he said, pointing at the dead woman's hands. "There's skin under her fingernails and defensive wounds on her wrists. There's never been any evidence linking the killer before... and I know we just didn't get lucky. No way... the clothes are all wrong and she has bad teeth. She looks like a meth addict."

He knew it wasn't the same as the others... from the bruising he was sure she had been strangled. Except for the admiral's wife and lover, every other killing had been impersonal, almost a necessary evil. This one was personal. Maybe the killer and the victim didn't know each other but knowing the last person she would ever see was her killer... Garrett shuddered. There weren't too many worse ways to die.

As miserable as her life had become, she still deserved his attention, he thought and using his computer, looked up whatever family she had. Not too surprising, she had a husband and two children. At times like this, he hated his job.

"Mr. Gerald Mosler? This is Detective Garrett Brinkley with the Oceanside Police Department. I'm calling about your wife, sir."

He listened to the man on the other end of the phone. It was a typical case of addiction... they had been divorced for two years, the husband used abandonment as his cause and refused to be bothered. His wife had only been twenty-four. Garrett shook his head in sadness. He thanked the man and disconnected.

Thanks to fingerprints and DNA, in most cases it was no longer necessary to have family members come down to identify the body. In this case, the man refused to come, anyway. His anger was still present three years later. How do you explain to your children that mommy was a meth addict? Better she got run over by a trash truck or something...