Semper Fi (An Erotic Romance) Read online

  Semper Fi

  by

  Laura B. Cooper & Christopher Cooper

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Published by: Sea Island Press

  Semper Fi

  Copyright © 2012 by Author

  * Warning *

  All rights reserved under the international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from another publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

  This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  Table of Contents

  Forward

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Other Books

  Forward

  For a while the ringing had infused and incorporated itself into my dream. Then it became obvious that the sound was out of place. I rolled over towards my ringing phone still partially asleep. I grabbed the phone and stared at it. Travis’s smiling photo peered back at me from the screen.

  “Travis?”

  “Hey baby,” he said, doing his best to sound romantic through the slurred words.

  “Phone sex? Really Travis? Shouldn’t we be sleeping? Half a semester left and this is what you’re concentrating on?”

  “Naw, we just had a party and I wanted to tell you…” His voice went silent, and for a moment I thought he’d fallen asleep.

  “Tell me what?” I snapped, eager to get back to my dream.

  “Oh, yeah, Marlene was here. She’s rushing you know.”

  My baby sister had chosen to go to the University of Georgia. It’d actually been a relief to our entire family as Travis was there to keep an eye on her. This was his senior year but at least he could show her around and help her avoid the obvious freshman mistakes.

  “I heard.” I muttered. “Any clues as to which sorority she’s rushing?” With four girls in our family, our sorority choices had been a major topic of conversation. All of my sisters were currently in college: Monica was at Duke studying medicine like our Dad, Mandy was at Tennessee with a soon to be degree in Economics, and I was at Georgetown struggling through my last few months of a degree in Political Science. Marlene had just started at Georgia with a major in Early Childhood Education. With all those subjects to talk about it was an oddity that we normally only discussed our sororities.

  Travis drooled on the other end of the phone, no telling how much he’d been drinking. “I think she’s going Zeta.” He moaned. I was the only non-Zeta in my family.

  “Travis just out of curiosity how much did you drink tonight?” I purposely sounded condemning.

  “Um, I dunno… a lot? But look here Mattie, I gotta question for ya.” Again his sentence was nearly incomprehensible as he slurred.

  “Shoot.” I replied in frustration.

  “I was thinkin’ you know, since we’re getting’ hitched and all, what you thought about us seeing other people before… you know, the old ball and chain thing.”

  Ball and chain? Good Lord how much had he drank? It was a given that we’d marry one day; his family knew it, my family knew it, hell the whole world knew it. By now the idea should be almost foremost in my dreams, but it wasn’t. Situations with Travis, like this one for instance, had gotten old. Ancient in fact.

  “Travis, I don’t think when you’re drinking it’s a good time to make that kind of decision.”

  He was silent again. This time I was sure he’d passed out. “Ball and chain, ball and chain! Little Miss Mattie always so serious, so perfect. I’m fuckin’ sick of it.”

  I was stunned. Travis hadn’t issued any complaints in the seven and a half years we’d been together, and now all of a sudden he was some kind of playboy? I soaked in his words. “I’m not giving you a free pass, if that what you’re asking.” I screamed into the phone. He was pissing me off now.

  “Free pass!” he mumbled, “yeah! That’s what we need, a free pass!”

  “Tell you what Travis, you go sleep this off and if you wake up tomorrow morning and still want me to go fuck other guys, then call me.” I hung up the phone and slammed it onto my bedside table. Screw him.

  I lay in my bed staring at the blank ceiling. I didn’t blame him for being horny. I was horny as hell. We hadn’t been together in months and he was wrong if he thought he was the only one it was wearing on. I’d been through eight packs of Duracells in the past few months. My cell phone buzzed on the table beside my head. I picked it up and flipped to the new text message that’d just come in.

  Travis: 3:01am Today - Fuck whoever you want. We’re over!

  I seriously doubted that it was over. I sighed. We’d never cheated on one another; it was one of the prideful parts of our relationship. So what, or rather who, had instigated this desire in him? It didn’t escape me that I honestly didn’t care.

  Chapter One

  I brushed past him with my arms full of luggage into the stifling airport. Smoke from his cigarette clouded my path so I audibly coughed in disgust as I passed by. He was hard to miss, a giant in a normal sized world. A man like that, especially one in uniform, could catch any woman’s attention. Granted, I was precariously horny lately but something in the way he leaned irrelevantly against the wall of the airport attracted my gaze. Of course my hasty departure from Washington was due to a man so my rotten mood overcame any level of horniness that my body held. Travis had called at midnight, drunk. According to his blurred account our relationship was over. We’d been a pair since our freshman year of high school. Now I was in my final year at Georgetown and he in his at Georgia. It seemed like too much of an investment to so readily toss. If I were honest with myself and Travis I’d admit that our “relationship” had gone stale a long, long time ago. Regardless, we deserved to handle this in person as adults. So at four in the morning I went online and bought a ticket. There’d only been one seat left on the first and last outgoing plane for the next morning. A storm was barreling towards our nation’s capital and flights were becoming scarce. My roommate, Kelly, dropped me off at the airport on her way out of town.

  The woman at the airline counter
smiled as she factually informed me that all flights had been cancelled. “That’s impossible; I bought this online early this morning!” I protested holding the now useless ticket into the air as proof.

  “Sorry,” she replied, apparently bored with helping me at this point.

  “When exactly is the next flight out?” I asked, my patience obviously waning.

  She looked at me again as if she’d already dismissed me and was surprised that I was still standing in front of her. Glancing down at her hidden computer screen she clicked a few buttons and met my stare. “Well it looks like there is a possibility of a flight early tomorrow morning, six in the morning to be exact. You want me to change your ticket?”

  I sighed. It didn’t really matter, Travis would be hung over all day anyway and talking to him would resemble talking to a hill of dirt. I nodded. It was two hours in the best of traffic to the airport from my apartment. I’d let my roommate drive my car and she was already on her way to her parents house in Richmond. I could take a cab and pay the exorbitant amount they’d charge to get back to the apartment. Let’s see, it was two in the afternoon, I’d be home by four. Of course I’d have to get up at midnight to get ready to come right back here. Already I was exhausted from Travis’s antics of the night before. It made no sense to go broke paying for cabs when I’d only be able to get a few hours of rest. There was plenty of studying I needed to do; this was as good a time as any to turn my attention to finishing my degree. I scanned the new ticket she gave me, Gate A-4.

  After checking in my pink suitcase with the sour attendant I meandered through the airport cursing under my breath at Travis’s drunken ass. I’d make him pay me back for this. I bought a sandwich and an eight dollar bottle of water from the airport shop and found my way to Gate A-4. Rain was already pounding against the floor to ceiling plate glass windows that faced the runways. Wind whipped through the gangway door as a hurried security guard hustled to close it. I dug through my backpack and pulled out my old sorority blanket to cover myself against the sudden chill.

  The guard walked past me on his way to another mission, “Ma’am is there anything I can get you?” he asked kindly.

  “No, I think I’m fine.”

  “Do you mind me asking how long of a wait you have?” He was a fatherly type; genuinely appearing concerned for my well being.

  I pulled my blanket up to my chest, “Tomorrow morning at six I’m afraid. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “Oh no, no problem at all.” He smiled, “If you need anything just let me know.”

  “Will do, thanks… uh… Ralph.” I noted the name above his badge on his dark polyester shirt.

  His eyes skirted behind me, “What about you sir?”

  I turned; unaware that anyone was in the rows of seats behind me. The giant smoking god from outside the airport was making himself comfortable in the empty seats two rows back. The massive man spoke with a deep voice that held a tinge of a northern accent, “Nope. Thanks man, I’m good.”

  The guard nodded respectfully at the uniform the man wore, “The Military Lounge is probably closed by now so if you need anything find me.”

  “Yeah, it closed an hour ago. It’s alright. I’m used to the hurry up and wait plan.”

  The fatherly guard chuckled, “I’m sure you are.” He walked off down the concourse to protect us all from other doors left ajar.

  I turned back to my sandwich as my stomach grumbled under the thick fleece blanket. Packaged sandwiches were not designed for starving college students. The plastic covering was standing in my way. I struggled with it, trying desperately to open it with my fingernails. Suddenly, warmth behind me sent prickles of electricity across the back of my neck. “Need some help with that?”

  Surprised at his sudden closeness, I twisted my head to struggle to see him standing miles above my back. “You want to eat my sandwich?” I asked confused. If a man of this size wanted my sandwich then by all means. I’d just have to dig into my change purse to dig up enough for another.

  “Actually, I’ve already eaten. But you might use this.” He held a small pocket sized knife out, handle end towards me. Great! A giant with a knife. This was going to be an eventful night.

  “Thanks.” I took the tiny weapon from his thick fingers.

  I sliced through the plastic with ease, way too much ease in my mind. Damn that knife was sharp. I took care to close the blade back into the small handle before handing it back to him. His platter sized hands gently took it from me; a purple tattoo on his forearm caught my attention. In an effort to make friends with the uniformed man with the knife I questioned, “What’s the ink?”

  He looked down at his outstretched arm, “Battle scar.” He laughed slipping the knife back into his pants pocket.

  “Really? I’m not aware of a country named Leila that we’ve been at war with.” I smiled sarcastically.

  He settled into the seat behind me, “Well then clearly you aren’t a psychology major.” He began shuffling through a large green duffle bag that sat at his feet.

  I laughed; it was hard to find anyone who could match my sarcasm. I’d earned it over the past twenty two years growing up with three snotty sisters who thought that Zeta was their only future. When I went Tri Delt at Georgetown they all but disowned me. I pulled the thick blanket embroidered with three equal triangles close to my chin as I took a bite of my sandwich.

  “So, you’re in college?” the goliath asked from behind me. He seemed authentically interested.

  I turned sideways and swung my legs onto the seat beside me. “Um, Georgetown.” I swallowed my bite of tasteless sandwich. “And you’re what? An army guy?”

  His expression showed tolerance. “Marine, Ma’am.”

  “I wasn’t aware that the Marines flew domestic. I thought you guys would have your own planes?”

  His voice was deep, deeper than any man I’ve ever heard speak. Something about that struck me inside as if his every word was meant to permeate my soul. “We do. We also have our own boats, even some contraptions that are both. I’m just catching a ride back to my unit.” he said as he shrugged his shoulders heavily.

  I was suddenly very interested. I could read the latest dissertation on election polling from the textbook I’d brought with me, or talk to this gorgeous Marine. Hmmm… choices. “So you were in Washington on business, or Leila?” I took another bite of my sandwich fully aware of what a pig I must look like as I wiped invisible mustard from my chin.

  His brows furrowed, “Personal business. Are you aware that you have lettuce on your face?” He pointed to his own cheek to direct me.

  My face reddened as I pulled the two inch strip of vegetable from my cheek. “Thanks.” I said meekly, “Sorry, didn’t mean to be nosey.” I moved my concentration back to my sandwich.

  “No, it’s alright. I don’t get to talk to women much lately. I’m afraid I’m out of practice. Probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “What, and let me go around with lettuce on my face all night?” I laughed, still embarrassed from my slovenly ways.

  He chuckled, “No I suppose not.” But he adjusted himself in his seat preparing for a long night.

  “So you’re stuck here too?” I asked as I swallowed the last bite of bread.

  “I am.”

  “Don’t the Marines miss you? I mean, you aren’t AWOL or anything, are you?”

  He leaned back against the plastic seat and considered me. “Well you’re at least old enough to have watched M*A*S*H. No I’m certainly not AWOL, nor am I UA, which by the way is that we call it if a Marine goes missing unexpectedly. I was at a funeral.” He finished plainly.

  I swallowed hard. Damn, I felt bad now, teasing him when he clearly had a close loss. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know of course. Was it someone close to you?” Secretly I was wishing he’d tell me it was Leila. This guy was outrageous and just plain smoking hot. The longer I smelled his cologne the further away Travis seemed to drift.

  Again he
considered me as though I was an equation that had to be solved. “No I wouldn’t consider my father as close to me. As a matter of fact the bastard tried to kill me. But someone with a lot more clout than me explained that I needed to be here to put the old dick in the ground.”

  I was intrigued now. I’d never known anyone in the Marine’s before, had no idea what went on with them. I mean they protected our country, carried weapons and killed people who were a danger to us. Other than that, I was a complete blank.

  “Well I guess it was the respectful thing to do, you know, go to the funeral and all. For the record, I don’t get along with my Dad either.” It was true; Dad thought that a woman’s purpose in life was to land a husband. It damn well better be one that could afford me. Dr. Marvin Steinburg, better known to me as Dad, was clear that he’d pay for us to go to college, but after that we were off his payroll. We either had to get enough of an education to support ourselves or marry well. My sisters were in the process of choosing the latter. Actually in a particularly assholish moment Dad had tried to convince me to go ahead and marry Travis after high school, thus saving himself the hefty cost of Georgetown altogether. Only Mom had been on my side. Lucky for me she had a way with Dad no one quite understood.

  The Marine interrupted my train wreck of thought. “It would have been more respectful for my father to have keeled about ten years ago. Would have saved us all a lot of anguish.” He spoke uneasily, “but he chose to hang around until he could be the only thing on the five o’clock news.”

  My mind raced, I’d heard something on the news the night before. I was a political science major so I tended to watch the news every night. I was assured by my roommate that it was a quirk that most college students didn’t have. I glanced at his camouflage shirt, sure enough embroidered above the pocket was the name McNarry.

  “Wait! You aren’t telling me that your dad was David McNarry?” I’d seen the event on the news: Arlington Cemetery at its most elegant; Marines in full dress, fighters flying above, seven guns firing three times. Senator McNarry had been a decorated war veteran turned politician. He’d been held prisoner of war by the Koreans and had sustained injuries and torture that would cripple any man for a lifetime. I’d actually teared up when they handed the meticulously folded flag to his only son. His only remaining relative, I’d felt a shiver of emotion seeing the polished Marine in full dress accepting the American flag in honor of his father.