Authors: Anna Kristell
She stripped out of her lacy undergarments and checked the water temperature in the tub before sinking slowly down into the warm aromatic water. Taking a sip of the wine and closing her eyes, she leaned her head back onto her bath pillow and tried to erase the tensions of the day. The enormous workload she had right now coupled with the latest dalliance of her lover was enough to stress anyone out, even the
level headed, no nonsense Major Jessica Walsh.
After the relaxing soak, she pulled a long tee shirt
out of her dresser drawer and slipped it over her head, threw on a pair of shorts, and went back into the kitchen to heat a frozen dinner in the microwave. Settling herself on the navy blue sofa in her living room with the plate of steaming pasta and shrimp, she flipped through the channels settling on Pretty Woman. She loved Richard Gere and watched all of his old movies whenever she could catch one.
When the chick flick was over, she rose from the couch and padded to the bedroom.
Why do the
heroines always get their man in the end?
She pondered this as she folded back the blue and yellow floral comforter on her antique iron bed and slid between the cool sheets.
Will I ever get my man?
She fell
into a deep sleep and began dreaming about a drop dead gorgeous man with the most beautiful brown eyes. They looked like huge chocolate drops. He was kissing her and caressing her, bringing her to a state of fevered desire. He whispered sweet nothings in her ear and told her softly he loved her just before taking them both on a journey to a destination unknown to her. She’d never felt the kind of sensations the man in her dream created. She could almost feel him lying next to her as she awoke to sheets soaked with perspiration, her body aching with desire, wondering if such a man truly existed. She’d had similar dreams about this man before but never quite as vivid as the one tonight.
The next morning she awakened still thinking of the dream as she made a pot of French vanilla coffee. After pouring her first cup of the sweet, steaming liquid, she sat down to read the
Lawton Constitution
. The ringing of the phone startled her.
“Major Walsh
,” she said distractedly.
“Hey, it’s Missy. I’ll swing by around seven.”
“What?”
“Bowling, remember, project get Jess out of the house
?”
“Oh,
yeah, see you at seven then.”
“Don’t sound so thrilled.”
“Sorry, I’ll be ready and I promise to try and have fun throwing a ball down an alley.”
“Just pretend the pins are Dan
,” Missy suggested teasingly.
“Now there’s an idea. See you tonight.” Jessica laughed as she hung up the phone.
That evening she chose a pair of stylish straight-legged jeans and the new soft blue sweater she’d bought at Dillard’s that afternoon. Finishing the outfit with her western boots, an Oklahoma must, she looked in the mirror and decided to leave her hair down.
Eat your heart out, Dan.
“You look great, Jess.” Missy
approved of her friend’s outfit when she picked her up as promised at seven sharp.
“Thanks. I went shopping today, found this sweater at the mall and thought it was cute. I love the slightly off the shoulder look, just in case I meet a guy and want to look sexy.” She laughed dramatically as she added, “Now let’s go throw balls at Dan’s head.”
“You never know, Jess, you might just meet Mr. Right tonight.”
“Somehow, I highly doubt that.” Jessica laughed at the thought.
The two friends arrived at the new bowling alley in Lawton. They’d been there a few times and as bowling alleys go, this one was a nice one, with modern lanes, very clean and well kept. As Jessica was tying the laces of the ugly red and blue bowling shoes she’d rented, Missy let out a low whistle.
“Would you look at that?”
“What?” Jessica asked, looking up. Her gaze followed Missy’s and what she saw completely took her breath away. “Wow!” She found herself staring at the sexiest man she’d ever seen. Broad-shouldered, tall and well-built with wavy light brown hair and a smile that would melt any girl’s heart. The sandy-haired friend with him wasn’t bad either.
“I could get close to that!” Missy sighed as she watched the two men walk toward them, stopping at the next lane over.
“Don’t stare, Missy. Act normal,” Jessica hissed.
They pretended not to notice the two most gorgeous men in the place were bowling right next to them.
Jessica stood up to take her turn. Imagining the pins in front of her were various parts of Dan’s anatomy, she threw the ball down the alley and yelped when all ten fell.
“Good job!” Missy gave her the high five and walked up to take her turn.
At the end of their first game, the two men in the next lane walked over and handed each girl a bottle of Michelob Ultra and sat down. They were by far the sexiest men Jessica or Missy had ever seen. Just sitting next to the brown haired one was making the normally calm Major Walsh extremely nervous.
“Good game, girls. What do you say we bowl girls against guys this time?” the sandy-haired man asked as he sat next to Missy.
Missy looked at Jessica, who nodded.
“Sure.” Missy smiled her sexiest smile.
“I’m Andy, by the way.” Andy was just as tall, muscular, and good looking as his friend, but Jessica’s gaze instantly fell back to the other man.
“And I’m Cody,” the sexy man with the
brown wavy hair said, flashing a smile that sent shivers up and down Jessica’s spine. He extended his right hand.
She took it saying, “I’m Jessica and this is Missy, nice to meet you both.”
The simple touch of his hand was enough to make her want to get closer to him, much closer. Her hand felt as though it had been scorched as she pulled it away.
“Thanks for the beer. You two ready to get beat by a couple of girls?” Missy looked at Andy, laughing.
“Bring it on,” he answered with a wink.
They bowled two games, girls winning one, and guys winning the other.
“How about a rematch to break the tie and the losers take the other team out for pizza afterward?” Cody challenged.
“You’re on. Right, Missy?” Jessica looked at her friend.
“Right, let’s show ‘em what we can do, girlfriend.”
To prove her point, Missy threw three strike
s in a row.
“I think we’re in trouble, man.” Andy chuckled as he looked at Cody
.
“We’ll see about that!” Cody threw the next strike as the four of them burst into uncontrollable laughter.
The girls won by two pins, much to their delight.
“We’ll let you off the hook and go Dutch since you came so close
,” Jessica said as she changed out of the ugly shoes and back into her boots.
“Sounds like a deal
,” Cody answered with a smile that set her pulse racing again. And then she knew. His eyes. There was something about them.
They decided where to meet and as Missy drove to the pizza parlor, Jessica turned to her and said, “Thanks for talking me into coming out tonight. I haven’t had this much fun in ages.”
“I haven’t either. But let’s not tell them too much about ourselves. Okay?”
“I agree.” The girls knew from experience some men were intimidated
by a female officer.
“Aren’t they hunks, both of them?”
“Oh, yeah, especially Cody,” Jessica said dreamily.
“I prefer the blonde look, myself.” Missy giggled as she pulled into the
parking lot.
“That’s good, since I have my eye on Cody.”
The mere thought of sharing a bed with the wavy haired man was almost more than Jessica could bear.
When they got out of Missy’s car, the two men were
already there waiting for them in the parking lot.
“After you
.” Cody opened the door of the restaurant for Jessica, following behind her.
After they’d all decided on a supreme deluxe pizza complete with anchovies and ordered a pitcher of beer and
soft drinks for the two drivers, they began to talk.
“Why haven’t we seen you
two ladies around before?” Cody inquired as he looked at Jessica with that same sexy smile that had first drawn her to him.
“We’ve not been bowling for a while.” She returned the smile shyly.
“We keep pretty busy with work,” Missy added, looking at Andy.
“
I hear that. We’ve been putting in all kinds of overtime at the plant,” Andy replied.
“So you both work at Good
year?” Jessica asked.
“
Yeah, like most folks around here that aren’t lucky enough to get out of town.”
“What do you girls do?” Cody asked.
“Uh, we both work on post,” Missy answered vaguely as she took a sip of the Coke that had just arrived.
“Ah, another place a lot of folks around here work
,” Andy observed.
Jessica
was incredibly intrigued by Cody. He had the most gorgeous brown eyes she had ever seen, like huge drops of chocolate candy...almost identical to the man in her dream. She began to imagine his hard working hands roaming her body, rocking her world, taking her to the ends of the earth and back…Jessica, get a grip, she told herself as she found herself staring into those beautiful eyes again.
The
other three continued with light banter as they enjoyed the pizza while Jessica tried to concentrate on what they were all saying. It wasn’t easy with the brown eyed man sitting next to her. And long before she was ready, the evening was coming to an end.
Andy and Missy had exchanged cell phone numbers already as Cody asked Jessica for hers.
She gave it to him and watched as he put it in his phone. She did the same with his.
“I’ll call you soon. Count on it, Jessie
,” Cody said as he waved goodbye.
“That’d be great. I’ll talk to you soon.” She flashed him her sexiest smile.
Once they were on t
he road, Missy said, “Wow, Jess, that Andy is one sexy hunk of man. I’d love to see him again.”
“And I could get real cozy with Cody, if you know what I mean
,” Jessica remarked thoughtfully.
What would be the harm in a brief fling with a sexy local factory worker?
Missy glanced at her friend. “Jess, that doesn’t exactly sound like something you
’d do. Are you really considering it?”
“Maybe, we’ll just have to see now, won’t we? All I can say is Cody Jones is one hell of a sexy man.”
After Missy had dropped her off at home, she prepared for bed with a smile as she remembered what he’d said.
I wonder if he really will call
. She was just settling in between the cool sheets when her cell rang. She answered sleepily, “Hello.”
“Hey, Jessie, it’s Cody, calling to say goodnight.”
“Hi. When you said you’d call soon, you weren’t kidding.” She giggled and continued, “I’m glad to hear from you so soon.”
He chuckled
. “I had a great time tonight, just had to call and tell you. I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon.”
“I had fun
, too. We’ll definitely get together soon. Call me.”
“You can count on that, baby. Sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight.”
She soon fell asleep, dreaming that a handsome, wavy haired man with huge,
velvety chocolate brown eyes was sharing her bed. He kissed her lips then moved down her body, nuzzled her neck, stopping to whisper love words in her ear as he’d done in her dream the night before. She awoke, alone again, more determined than ever to make this particular dream become a reality, and the sooner the better.
After lingering in bed a little longer than usual on Sunday morning, Jessica decided to treat herself to lunch. As she was leaving the sandwich shop
at the mall, her cell rang.
She looked at the caller ID and answered cheerily, “
Hey, Missy,”
“Hey, girlfriend, how are you today? Andy called me last night and we talked for hours.
We’re going out next weekend,” Missy told her breathlessly.
“Cody called
, too. Isn’t he the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen?”
“We’ve got ourselves a couple of live ones, I’d say.” Missy giggled.
“This could be fun, but I still don’t think we should tell them we’re officers. It might ruin everything.”
“I was thinking the same thing. It
’ll be long over with by the time we get our transfers anyway, so I see no reason to tell them.”
“Right, just a few good times, that’s all it is. That’s all it can be.”
“Agreed then, we keep our secret and go with the flow.” Missy laughed.
“Agreed, oh got to go, I’m getting a text message from Cody.”