Authors: Emma Taylor
Sydney looked up as a truck and trailer pulled into the drive. Max had a cabin and stalls available on his property, far enough from the main house to afford quite a bit of privacy for the people who rented it. It was a common sight to see them pulling in on their way to the cabin.
The truck drove straight to the house, apparently unsure of where they were going. Sydney still couldn’t stand on her own yet, and was about to call for Max when the screen door to her left flew open and Max hurried out. He spoke to the driver for a minute and she parked the rig right there on their front lawn. Max walked to Sydney, his face covered with a broad smile.
Oh no,
she thought,
he’s bought me a horse.
Sydney didn’t know what to say to him. She wasn’t ready, but it was clear from his face that he’d done this for her and she didn’t want to hurt him.
He took the porch steps in one leap and scooped her up out of the chair. He carried her to the trailer as the woman opened the door and unhooked the horse. Sydney was trying to find the words when the horse began to back cautiously down the ramp. Her throat constricted with unshed tears as a scarred and battered Concerto carefully picked his way off the trailer. Max looked at her and her tears spilled freely. Somehow, Concerto had survived his fall, though his coat showed the leftover marks of his pain. He walked slowly, a slight limp in his bandaged leg. The vet walked him up to Sydney and she buried her face in his neck. He was alive and he was
here.
Max whispered in her ear, “Concerto belongs to you now. If there was any doubt before it’s gone now. I’ve seen to that. You never have to worry about your father coming for him again.”
Sydney started sobbing, rubbing her hands over his neck and through his mane. Her fingers caught on a tiny braid. She’d probably left it in the last time she’d prettied him up for some event. She pulled the band on the braid and started working the braid out when her fingers brushed against something hard. She pulled on it as she unwound his hair and the object out in her hand. The thin, simple ring was beautiful. Sydney looked at Max, confused. He smiled at her and winked, his intention clear. Not only was he giving her back her horse, but he was giving her the rest of his life. Sydney looked deep into his eyes and said the one word that would make everything right in their world.
“Yes.”
THE END
Getting dragged out to a bar that was an hour away from the nearest town seemed absolutely ridiculous to me, but my friend Maggie insisted that it was the bar we needed to go to. She had decided a few months prior that the way to meet a good man was to meet one that wasn’t around long enough to cheat on you, and fought for something he believed in. Of course that equation led her to believe that military men were the way to go, and the bar we happened to be going to that evening was the main bar where all of the navy men visited. It was the only bar near the water, so the men would frequently come ashore to relax and have a few drinks while off duty from their ships, and Maggie took the opportunity to pounce on any of the seals she deemed “worthy” of her attention. I of course got left at the bar to fend for myself, tossing peanut shells into an empty bowl while I slowly sipped on my pint, trying to ignore the loud voices ringing in my ear. I’m not sure how long he was sitting there before I noticed him, but it must have been a while because when I turned around I flinched like a toddler at their first haunted house, and he simply laughed at me.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh no, that was my bad. I must have lost myself in thoughts again, I do that a lot.”
I took a moment then to check out the man sitting next to me. He seemed tall, sitting on a five foot stool while his feet touched the ground and he still hovered over me like a giant, best guess about six foot two. His hair was a light brown, shaved down to standard military crew cut that matched his perfectly structured face very well. His t-shirt was tight and outlined every muscle on his arms and chest; he definitely did some seriously hard work-outs on and off duty. His eyes were a soft green, pale like a restaurant mint. His skin was that of a tanned god, a medium tan with no noticeable farmer tan lines and he smelt like a mixture of expensive cologne and the ocean. Safe to say he was a walking sea god, and I was shocked as to why he chose to sit and talk with me. I’m nothing to look at, especially not compared to Maggie. My hair is a dusty, faded blonde that never does anything but lay flat against my face. My eyes are a deep sapphire blue that tends to weird people out more than anything; they say it’s like looking into a dark blue hole. My body has a few extra curves where I wish it didn’t and I am taller than most girls, standing at five foot seven.
“That bored?”
“That is the life of the wing man.”
“Wingman for who?”
I pointed out Maggie who was busy flirting with not one, but two naval officers. Rolling my eyes as I turned back to the bar, taking another sip of my beer.
“Ah, that one.”
“You know her?”
“You could say that, she’s more of a regular than the officers.”
I couldn’t help but snort, it wasn’t hard to believe that Maggie practically lived at this bar, she had been against long term relationships since her ex dumped her three years prior.
“Doesn’t surprise me, she enjoys the fact that they leave eventually. No offense.”
“None taken, I was never one of her targets.”
“Lucky you.”
“Why does it sound like you don’t like your friend very much?”
“Oh no, it’s not that. I just hate that she insisted I come, and left me as soon as we walked through the door.”
“I get that, practically my whole unit ditched me to go surround her.”
We both laughed, taking one last look at Maggie and what had Geon from two naval officers to an entire group surrounding her, all of them laughing and flirtatiously touching each other’s arms.
“I’m Jacob.”
He reached his hand out to me, and I couldn’t help but be polite and reach my hand out to grip his.
“I’m Tabitha”
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Tabitha.”
“Likewise Jacob.”
I smiled sweetly at him, we clinked out beers together and both took a drink of beer to celebrate our introduction.
“So how long are you on land for?”
Jacob checked his watch and took another sip of beer.
“Another two hours.”
“That long? And then where are you off to?”
“The ship, to get some much needed sleep. We are staying anchored for two weeks.”
“So would it be safe to assume that you’ll be here tomorrow night?”
“Only if you’re assuming because you want me to be.”
I couldn’t help but smile, a light rosy blush gliding across my cheeks.
“Oh she blushes.”
I stuck out my tongue at him then; I was hoping he hadn’t noticed that he was making me blush.
“Shh, don’t tell anyone.”
He smiled at me, flashing me a wink.
“Our secret.”
It was then that another naval officer came up behind us, staring at us with a worried look on his face, as if he wasn’t sure he should interrupt us, so I decided to help him out by interrupting myself.
“Hi there.”
“Ma’am.”
He nodded and smiled very politely, it made me have a sudden love for the bar and military men. I could have easily gotten use to men with manners.
“Very sorry to interrupt, but commander, we should be heading back to the ship.”
“Right. Get the men, I’ll meet you outside.”
“Commander?”
I asked him with a confused look on my face. He flashed me another sexy grin, and I could feel my cheeks heating once again, he was too sexy for anyone’s good.
“I’m the commander of my crew, did I forget to say that?”
He laughed and I smiled, shaking my head out of entertainment.
“Well, it’s not like I asked for your rank.”
“Very true, guess we’re even then.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t ask for yours either.”
I snorted and he winked yet again, and I have to admit that I didn’t mind at all, I wanted him to spend the entire evening winking and smiling at me. Unfortunately he had to leave, and I was stuck at the bar until Maggie decided it was time to go home. Jacob reached for my hand, pulling my knuckles up to his lips and kissed them softly, causing another blush to form on my face. That man had a gift for making me blush, three times in one night was a record, including when I was an awkward pre-teen just discovering boys.
“I shall see you again soon Tabitha, I hope”
“Same here.”
I smiled and watched as he walked towards the door, turning back to give me one last smile before leaving the bar to join his crew and return to their ship. I just sat there staring at the door, forgetting about everything around me and just wishing that door would open to reveal that he changed his mind and came back. My only comfort was knowing that he was going to be back here tomorrow night with his crew again, and he practically told me that he hoped I would be here too. I forced my eyes away from the door and turned back to the bar, picking my beer up and finishing it off in one chug, I made the decision during that last swallow that I wouldn’t let anything stop me from returning to the bar the next night, to find the navy seal commander.
*****
I had spent all day thinking about the commander, all afternoon trying to perfect my outfit and look; I wanted that night to go perfectly. I didn’t even care that he was going to be leaving in two weeks, for two weeks he could be all mine. It felt strange wanting something like that so badly, I hardly knew him, but something about him drew me to him like no man I had ever met before. Maybe it was the uniform, maybe it was how easily he made me blush, whatever it was though, I wanted it as much and for however long I could hold on to it. That night I convinced Maggie she needed a wingman again, smiling too sweetly and she caught on to my intentions. She made fun of me the entire way back to the bar, singing that old k.i.s.s.i.n.g song and saying the usually “I told you sos”. In my head I was hoping that this commander was worth it, because I didn’t know how many trips like this with Maggie I could take. From there my mind wandered to ideas of not being at the bar, but being other places with him, exploring the city, having him eat dinner at my place, having him only a few feet away from my bedroom. I swallowed a lump in my throat and leaned my head back against the car seat, when I got home after the bar; I was going to have to clean my house, in a big way. I must have dosed off on the way, because when I opened my eyes again Maggie was parking.
“Oh good, you’re awake.”
“Mmhmm. I can’t believe I fell asleep.”
“Well just think of it this way, now you are all rested for your stud.”
Maggie winked at me when she said that, it was if she spent the entire drive inside my head and knew exactly what I thought about Jacob and all of the things I thought about doing to him. I was still skeptical about him though, men like him typically never went for girls like me.
“If he’s even here.”
“If he isn’t, we can always find you a new catch.”
Maggie winked at me again and I just rolled my eyes at her, she was an unstoppable force when it came to men. We hoped out of the mustang and headed into the bar, Maggie immediately ditched me for a small group of officers, and I headed towards the bar to wait and see if Jacob would actually show up. It took him half way through my beer to notice me, he was hidden in a dark corner of the bar waiting for me. He snuck up behind me while I was mid beer sip, causing me to cough and choke on beer foam as soon as his hands touched my shoulder. Jacob laughed and caressed my back, helping my lungs recover from the burning sensation of being filled with cheap beer.
“Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Seems to be your favorite past-time.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and we both laughed. He reached out and grabbed what was left of my beer, reaching his free hand out and waited for me to grip it. I happily accepted and slid off of my bar stool, giving him a wink as I laced my fingers in between his. My mood unfortunately dropped as we made our way into the tiny dark corner he had reserved for us, because a few other officers were giving him a nasty glare as we walked past them.
“What’s their problem?”
“Who’s?”
“Those officers. They don’t look happy.”
I nodded my head towards the glaring officers to point them out to Jacob, but it was if he already knew who I was referring to without having to look back.
“Just lonely I suppose, they haven’t gotten any action since we anchored.”
“Neither have you.”
Jacob twirled me around right before we reached our seats, spinning me so that I was facing him. He smiled while he slide my beer glass onto our table, never breaking eye contact with me.
“But I have you.”
He kissed me after that, pressing his lips gently against mine, pushing hard enough to move my body backwards, but not to deepen the kiss. I could feel the chair against the back of my knees, his kiss continuing to push me backwards until I fell backwards onto the seat cushion. Once I was sitting he pulled away from my lips and walked around the table, he sat in the seat next to me and just grinned at me. My face was covered in a shocked, blushing expression as I tried to find my bearings, his lips felt too amazing not to drift into another consciousness for a moment.
“You still with me gorgeous?”
“Wha? Yeah, I’m here. Sorry.”
“Don’t tell me you’re bored with me already.”
“Far from bored, I promise.”
I gave him the most convincing smile I could find within myself, it would have killed me for him to think I was bored, what I really wanted in that moment was to have his lips on mine again.
“Just making sure.”
He started laughing again, but this time he was staring at me intently while he did it. I just stared at him, embarrassed and wondering what it was he was laughing at.
“I just realized something…”
“What’s that?”
He made me nervous, dragging it out like he did. I sat squirming against my seat waiting for him to finish his sentence. The way he just watched me instead of continuing made me think he enjoyed watching me worry and squirm.
“I forgot to grab myself another beer.”
I stared at him, wide eyed and mouth open. All of that squirming, and him watching while I did it because he had forgotten to grab another pint while he was up to get me.
“Oh, is that all.”
I stuck my tongue out at him for the second time that night, but instead of laughing as he did the first time, he leaned forward and sucked my tongue into his mouth. I couldn’t help but moan as he shifted my chair to move me closer to him, feeling the warmth of his body as he pressed his chest against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and played with the tiny hairs along the back of his head, he gripped my legs just above my knees, massaging my lower thighs as our mouths explored each other’s. Despite the light beer taste along his tongue, Jacob’s taste was extraordinary, something I wouldn’t be able to describe in a thousand years. I pulled his lips harder against mine, swirling my tongue around his, I couldn’t get enough of his mouth. We continued to make out like teenagers, his hands slowly traveling up my legs until he was massaging into my inner thighs, just barely tucked underneath the hem of my short skirt.