Commander Rainey

She laughed, held up a finger, and took a sheet of paper from her back pocket.

"'Discuss promotion. Talk about Naples. Speaks German and Japanese, discuss DLI, Monterey. Re-enlistment bonus. LDO program. Volunteers, discuss community programs.'" She held up the sheet with a grin. "I took notes on a whole list of college programs. I expected to have you locked up by the time we got our entrees. Now I'm honestly not sure how to proceed."

"Commander, I'm... what's the word...humbled, I guess.Honored, maybe. And maybe a little intimidated."

"Good. You should be. Especially the last one." She lowered her brows and gave me the hard stare, ruining it with another grin. I faked a panicky look and slid down in my seat, getting a laugh.

"So, what entices you?" she asked. "DLI? You want to learn Spanish? Arabic? Chinese? Italian? More than one? You must have seen most of these college programs, do you want to go to school on the Navy's dime? Your friend PO2 Thomas says Naples as a duty station would sound pretty appealing to you."

"It does. All of that does." I paused, then gestured to her hand. "You went to the Naval Academy. I'm betting you were high in your class. Twice as good, and all that."

"I was very high in my class, yes." There was some irritation at the seeming digression.

"Which means you've been taking names since you were what, thirteen? Fourteen? Perfect grades in high school, involved in all kinds of things, probably including student government. An athlete, probably one of note. Tennis?"

"Basketball. And track, I went to state two years."

"So, yeah. And all you've done since you got out of the Academy is outshine the sun. Look at your latest coup, full commander at... well, I'm marginally smart enough not to guess at your age, but still very young. Probably young enough not tocareyet if I guess at your age."

"Old enough to be your- what are you, twenty-one?" She laughed. "Old enough to be your young aunt, then. And we aren't talking about me."

"What I was leading up to is that you probably haven't spent much time taking 'no' for an answer. Probably sounds to you like a red cape looks to a bull."

This time her laugh was real, delighted, her head rocking back a little and her smile broad.

"That would be an accurate assessment. Yet here you are, waving a cape. You know what they say: If you fuck with the bull..."

"...Watch out for the horns? Yeah, I'm aware. Please... trample me gently."

"No promises," she said, still smiling broadly. "I want you and your relaxed competence on my staff. The tone around here since you've been on the staff has been worth your weight in gold."

I started to speak, but she silenced me with a glance and continued.

"I'm going to earn my flag someday, and you can help me. That's not a meaningless platitude. The smooth function of a command is absolutely invaluable to an officer's success, and you can be a not-insignificant part of my future. Setting allthisstuff aside- and you can pick from this sheet, make no mistake- I promise you that if you keep your nose clean you'll make chief by the time I make captain. I need a seagoing command at some point, and I'll want you to have the rank to make a difference aboard ship."

"Commander, you don't need me oranyonefor your command to shine. You could adopt a lightly trained gorilla and make it look good."

"I'mtrying," Rainey said with a laugh. My turn to laugh delightedly, head rocking back and mouth wide. An older couple at a table nearby smiled at us and waved off my apology for the loud laugh.

"So, yeah. Like I said, I don't imagine you take 'no' for an answer very often. Nevertheless..." I shrugged almost apologetically.

"That's what you're saying?"

"Yeah."

She sat forward, grinning, and her eyes gleamed as she looked at me.

"I'll tell you a secret, Ken." Her voice was quiet, almost conspiratorial. "I don't take 'no' for an answer,ever. Senior officers I go around, competitors I gothrough, junior officers and enlisted men I just roll right over."

I sat forward as she had, putting our faces pretty close together, which I think surprised her. My grin matched hers.

"And then you smile that heart-stopping smile and look at them out of those beautiful eyes and they thank you for it. You get where you're going on your competence, but nobody begrudges it because they'd die to see that smile."

Just for a second I saw the woman she was looking back at me.

"You are way,wayout of line, Mister Ken." But the smile stayed. "Don't you see the horns?"

"No sense of self-preservation, ma'am."

"Captain Fielding actually mentioned that about you," she said.

"That's where I got it."

"He also said you aren't intimidated by rank. That is abundantly clear."

"True. You intimidate me on your own merits, nothing to do with your brass."

"Bullshit," she said with a laugh, and now she sat back. "I don't intimidate youat all. Which makes me want you even more."

I willnotcrack wise, I willnotcrack wise, I willnotcrack wise...

"They're starting to give us dirty looks." the Commander said, nodding to indicate the maitre' d. We'd been there quite a while.

"Part of my therapy is walking barefoot on sand a few times a week," I said. "We could stroll up the beach for a while if you're not ready to strike colors yet."

"I have not yet begun to fight." The grin was back. "See? I need you around just to give me straight lines like that."

There was some dissent about the bill. We'd had nice dinners and about a dozen beers between us, plus dessert and the Irish coffee. In the end she pulled rank, laughing, and paid the tab over my protests. I joked about it as we sat on the sand pulling off our shoes and my orthopedic boot.

"Thank you very much for dinner. Next time is on me. After that, we arm wrestle for it."

"How about a foot race?" she said with a laugh.

"Push ups?"

"Make it sit ups and you're on. I willkill youat sit ups."

"Done, then. Sit ups, to the death."

I imagine I looked kind of funny walking up the beach with a shoe, my boot, and my cane in my hand. We were quiet for a few minutes, just watching the surf roll up to our feet.

Even in Southern California it can be cool when the year is late and the sun's gone to bed for the day, and there was a breeze drifting in off the water. I saw her kind of gather herself in a bit, like she was resisting a shiver. The look she gave me when I started to take off my jacket would have done admirably as an anti-ship weapon.

"Commander, I weigh one-eighty or one-eighty-five, something like that. Gives me at least sixty pounds of heat-generating mass on you. And I run hot, always have. So, with all due respect, put the killer glare away and take the fucking jacket. Ma'am." I grinned at her.

"Doesn't seem to be much of a killertonight," she said, acquiescing. I started to put it over her shoulders, but she took it and put it on. Evenmysense of self-preservation was strong enough to resist telling her how cute she looked in the much-too-big jacket.

"That's okay," I said. "The killer smile still has me light-headed."

"Ken." There was exasperation in her voice. After a second, she continued more moderately. "It's not that I don't appreciate the attention. It's just wildly inappropriate."

"Because you're an officer and I'm enlisted. Eight months from now I'd just be a guy trying to be charming, but right now..."

"You're nottrying, and you know it." Her eyes were on the sea. A long moment passed.

"I just finished a relationship," I finally said, "that I had to keep under wraps and that I knew couldn't last. On paper it should be an easy one to let go of, we weren't even exclusive, but I know it's not going to be."

"Fireman- now PO3, of course- Jordan."

"It scares me that you know that."

"Pure accident. I knew you had someone, pretty sure it was one of the students, and I was trying to figure out how forcefully to chase you off until I saw who it was. Hard to argue that you're a negative influence on our best student, male or female." She finally turned to look at me.

"She was in the office one morning talking to one of the staff and I heard you out in the hall. She heard you when I did and her head came up, eyes wide, big smile, and she practically bounced to the door to look. Didn't go talk to you, just went and looked, but when she went back and sat down she looked like... well, like a girl in love."

I nodded.

"You're alright, Ken. This was a couple months ago. Like I said earlier, all her evals went up and her class work was top of her class. I have no problem. As I see it, it was only borderline fraternization, anyway. There was all of one pay grade between you. Hell, she rankswithyou now."

"Okay." I nodded again and paused. "Now I lost my train of thought... I get attached, Commander. And relationship options are limited in the Navy. I don't want to ask a woman to spend six months a year as a WesPac widow, nor do I want to try a relationship with someone I'm not stationed with, which doomed Jordan and me. I admire people who can make those things work, but I'm not them. That leaves either serial monogamy as I move around or the faint possibility of real romance with someone I'm stationed with at length.

"That brings us to the more serious part of my trepidation about serving with you long-term. Like I said, I get attached," I said and looked at her. She nodded. A long silence passed.

"I wish I knew what to say to that," she finally said. "Unfortunately I know less than pretty much anyone about making relationships work in the Navy. I don't even have liaisons very often. I never manage to find time to go out and meet anyone, and my brother officers always seem to want something from me."

I think she felt my grin before she saw it.

"That's not what I meant, you insolent bastard." She tried for angry, but I could hear her amusement. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"The gutter is its natural habitat, ma'am. It would get lost anywhere else," I said. She laughed and fell silent again for a moment.

"Maybe that's why you're attractive to me," she said. "You clearly don't wantanythingfrom me. I can't seem to think of a single thing to entice you."

She grinned and quickly pointed at me.

"And watch it," she said.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised at the frankness. You don't get to be a thirty-something commander without knowing your mind and being direct. She had me off balance. Generally I'm at least as strong a personality as whomever it is I'm... what, flirting with?... whatever it was we were doing. Clearly not so in this case.

"No." I said after a moment, grinning back at her. "I think I'm attractive to you because you knowexactlywhat I want from you, and it's not a boost to my career. You can see me struggling not to try andshowyou what I want."

"Alright, that's it. You're going to the brig." She pushed my shoulder, another surprise, then laughed and grabbed my arm as I hopped on one foot, trying not to fall down.

"Yeah, sure." I said when I had my balance again, "shove the gimpy guy. At least now I can counter with a physical abuse charge when you bring me up for sexual harassment."

"Come on, gimpy." she laughed, turning me around by the arm she still held. "I assume we've walked far enough for your ankle."

"For my ankle, yeah." I smiled at her questioning glance. "Turning around puts a finite end to this evening."

There was another long silence. Her hand stayed on my arm, and it was like a butterfly had landed on me. I was afraid to move suddenly, afraid to speak, afraid almost tobreathefor fear of chasing it away.

"It's been done, you know," she finally said in a quiet voice. I looked my question at her.

"Lots of male officers have had secretaries or yeomen on their staff who were understood to be mistresses," she said. "It goes back to the beginning of women in the Navy."

"Sarah..." I said. I hadn't yet worked out how to say 'no' when the Commander squeezed my arm and shook her head.

"No," she said. "It wouldn't work. Neither of us would want such an unequal partnership. And we'd have to be much more circumspect than were our genders reversed."

"See, that's why you're the brass and I'm the gorilla. I was going to say 'I'd be a terrible wife.'"

Her laugh was like music, and the way she squeezed my arm with hers was worth the entire night.

"I believe you would, at that," she said.

"Now about this dearth of liaisons." I said with a grin. She laughed again and threw her shoulder into me.

I almost fell into the wet sand this time. When I had my balance back I realized that she hadn't put her hand back on my arm, and for a moment I was sorely disappointed.

Then our hands touched as we walked, and hers gently took mine. I think she heard my intake of breath and I know she saw my smile. She smiled back.

"Two high school kids on a date." she said.

"I know. Almost embarrassing how happy this makes me." I held our hands up a little. She grinned and squeezed mine. We walked in companionable silence for a minute.

"Okay," she said suddenly, "how the hell did we get here? I'm supposed to be railroading you into re-enlisting, not contemplating fraternization."

"It's a gift. I try to use my powers for good." My grin threatened to turn me into a Pez dispenser.

"Wipe that dopey grin off your face. I said 'contemplating.' I'm also contemplating shoving you into a seabag and shipping you to Naples, so don't make me mad."

"That the thought even crossed your mind makes my day. Hell, it probably makes my entireenlistment."

We were both grinning as we walked on.

"Besides, isn't this entire conversation fraternization? It's any improper relationship, right? And you're trying to railroad me into re-upping, that's gotta be some kind of violation."

"Not helping. And I'm the brass, remember? I'll tellyouwhen it's fraternization."

"You know, I'm right down in Ocean Beach. We could go to my place, clarify your

position on where fraternization begins." I'd intended to sound more playful than I did, that I meant it was readily heard in my voice.

"I actually know right where you live," she said, which I noted was not an answer. I glanced at her questioningly.

"I'm a block up and two over from you," she explained. "I run past the top of your street every evening. Your pickup is distinctive."

"It is at that. And it's a short street."

Another long silence. I'd gone too far. We were coming back to the point where we'd entered the beach before she kind of looked around and straightened up a bit as though waking or reaching the end of long thoughts.

"Was ist die zeit?"she asked.

"Zwei und zwanzig hundert. Sprechen sie Deutsch?"

"Nur ein bisschen." She paused, then suddenly laughed. "Four hours? We've been talking forfour hours?"

Another pause.

"I'm sorry I pressed, Sarah. I didn't mean to put the brakes on the conversation."

"Don't be." she said with a grin. "I almost said yes. And I'm going to have my regrets. It's going to be hard to get to sleep tonight, Ken, and it's been a couple years since that was true after anactualdate."

I stopped and started to draw her to me, but she shook her head.

"No. Don't kiss me." Her voice was firm. I acquiesced with as much grace as I could muster, but I know she saw the disappointment in my wry smile. She wasn't the only one on that beach unaccustomed to hearing 'no.'

We sat near the edge of the sand to put our shoes back on. It took me longer, robo-cast is a bit laborious to put on, and she sat hugging her knees and watching.

"I've lost this one, haven't I?" she finally asked. I nodded.

"You came up down ten runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Commander. Even you can't hit a ten-run homer."

"The hell I can't." she said grumpily. I grinned at her and after a moment she returned it.

"Promise me you'll think about it?" she asked.

"I'll think about anything you'd like me to Sarah. But it won't change my answer."

She looked at me a long moment, nodding, then stood and held out a hand to pull me up. We parted company chastely, much to my chagrin, and I was home in a few minutes.

After a shower and a shave I pulled on a pair of jeans, turned on the stereo, and settled down to read the latest Dick Francis mystery.

The knock on my door was a surprise. I looked up to see her looking in at me through the screen, holding my jacket.

"You forgot this." she said. The grin sort of gave her away.

"Ah," I said with a grin of my own as I moved to the door. "Well, I'm glad you came by, I don't think I could have slept tonight without it."

I'm used to having the initiative in a romantic encounter, used to the stereotypical male role. That was very much not the case here. She stepped through the door and threw her arms around my neck, kissing me hard and pushing me back into my living room, all fire and intensity, her body so strong and forceful that I had trouble keeping my balance.

We fell onto the couch, her hands roaming my bare chest and shoulders, her touch firm and strong, her kisses hard, deep, and almost demanding. She grinned as I tried to unbutton her shirt, not exactly resisting, but not giving anything either, and when she kissed my neck and collar and I sighed she sat back a little to look down at me.

"You like that, big boy?" she said, a little breathless and proud of herself to the edge of smug, running a hand down my neck to my chest with a smile. I smiled back and reached for her shirt again, and she leaned down to kiss me, still not giving anything. Grinning against her mouth, I grabbed the front of the shirt and just pulled it apart, popping buttons off and tearing fabric.

Her intensity just skyrocketed, taking mine with it. It was all groping hands and seeking mouths and increasingly hot sighs and moans for an unknowable time, but the strength never left her touch and the resistance never left her body. Not like she was fighting me or didn't want it, but there was some kind of contest to thewayshe wanted it. I had to pull the shirt down her arms by pure strength, and she didn't let it fall off until it was down far enough to start inhibiting her hands. When I pulled her bra down her arms she laughed and wrapped it around my neck, pulling it almost uncomfortably tight before I grinned and tore it away from her.

I finally got her pants open and slid both hands inside to grab her ass, pulling her up far enough to get my mouth to her chest. She cried out when I sucked one of her nipples into my mouth and bit it pretty firmly. Her hands clutched at my head and her hips gyrated like she was searching for friction, so I slid one hand around her hip to her pussy, seeking forcefully. When I found her clit she shuddered, the hips grinding down into me hard, pinning my hand against my body as she rubbed herself against my fingers. I let her do the work, just moving my fingers in time with her grinding, and a few minutes later she cried out again, a low, steady moan ending in a shuddering cry that was near a scream. She collapsed against me, her body slack for the first time.

A moment passed while she caught her breath, then she pushed away a little. The strength was back in her body as soon as she moved. There was none of the easy relaxation you'd expect in a romantic encounter. She felt more like we were working out on a wrestling mat.

"Well, I got mine," she said with a grin. "Thanks. See ya in the morning."

I laughed, kicked the coffee table halfway across the room, and rolled us onto the floor. My hand was still in her pants and I started to move it a little as I laid propped on an elbow, half above and half beside her.