Basic Training. Julie Miller

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СКАЧАТЬ His father’s attention had just shifted to a new topic. Travis patted the air with a placating hand, silently telling him not to worry, yet secretly glad he was distracted.

      General Craddock gave the low-down. “Eileen’s been with me for years. Works her butt off. She’s not much for socializing, but her ex is getting re-married this weekend, and Millie thinks Eileen needs to get out and meet some people instead of moping at home.”

      Hmm. Depressed hermit. Obsessed with work. Been with the general for years. Eileen sounded like a real stick in the mud. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about that bothersome picture of his sixty-year-old father getting some action. “Does she enjoy being on the water?” Travis asked.

      Unable to stop his curiosity, Hal brushed the crumbs from his hands over the sink, then crossed close enough to whisper, “This woman’s coming here with Walter?”

      Travis hushed his voice as well. “It’s his secretary, Dad. Millie and Eileen are both coming.”

      “I have no idea what her hobbies are, besides the plants she always has on her desk. She doesn’t talk about her personal life much.” Craddock’s tone altered with a mix of apology and admiration. “I don’t know if you remember my wife, but Millie can be quite formidable once she sets her mind to a thing.”

      It was Travis’s turn to laugh. He’d heard that Millie Craddock had played a small but key role in getting his brother, Ethan, and his wife, J.C., together.

      “I remember her.” Mrs. Craddock’s determination might prove his best ally when it came to easing his guilt. Whether this Eileen proved date-worthy or not, Travis would see to it that his father didn’t sacrifice one more thing on his account. “It doesn’t sound wise to disappoint the missus, sir. You come on down to Ashton and bring your guest. Dad will appreciate the company.” Now for the lie. He raised his voice a notch. “I’ve got plans myself, anyway. Dad’ll be here by himself if you don’t come.”

      Hal rested a warning hand on Travis’s shoulder. “What plans?”

      Travis winked to reassure his dad, but spoke to the general. He was making this up as he went along. He may have a bum leg, but his bullshit skills were completely intact. “I have a class reunion thing going on, meeting with some high school friends.” Why not go all the way? “I promised I’d help them with the Bay Festival this week. I don’t know why Dad wants to hang around the house—I’ll be gone most of the time, anyway.”

      Hal’s grip tightened. “When did you make these plans? The doctor said you needed rest.”

      “Rest and recreation, Dad. This is the recreation part. Besides, I’ll be hangin’ with Tess. I can’t get any safer than that, can I?” Travis offered a brief explanation to the general. “One of my classmates just happens to be my physical therapist. She’ll keep an eye on me.”

      “You’re sure?”

      Positive. “What time shall I tell Dad to expect you?”

      Though Hal knew his younger son well enough not to be completely swayed by his reassurances, he seemed to reclaim some of his excitement when he got back on the phone to make final arrangements with General Craddock. “I guess we’re still on then, Walter. If Trav has Tess to watch over him, he’ll be all right. She’s a good kid. Who’s this Eileen person? Does she know her way around a boat?”

      Travis excused himself and headed for the front door, pulling his cell phone from the waistband of his cut-offs. He took a short-cut across the yard as he punched in a familiar number. He had to get ahold of Tess. He needed to shove aside the lust still sparking through his system and ask his old buddy for a favor.

      Schedule me a PT time. Get me out of the house and keep me occupied long enough so that Dad will quit hovering and go back to living his own life. Travis needed an alibi so that the story he’d just told his father and the general wouldn’t make a complete liar out of him.

      He was dragging his sorry leg up the back steps to the Bartlett’s patio door before anyone answered. “Hello?”

      “T-bone.”

      “Trav?”

      Searching through the sliding glass door, he spotted her in the kitchen and breathed a momentary sigh of relief. But then his pulse hammered into overdrive as he shamelessly watched her through the window. She wasn’t naked; she wasn’t pleasuring herself the way she had in his dreams. But suddenly he was drop-dead stupid with want for her. He edged closer to the window.

      Tess wore a Washington Nationals baseball jersey with Frank Robinson’s number on it. Classic choice. But just like last night on the beach, he couldn’t concentrate on baseball. Either that jersey was way too long, or her shorts were way too short—because he was looking at nothing but smooth, tanned skin on that long stretch of thighs. Capped off by the swells of her sweet backside when she bent over to pull a tin of muffins from the oven, the only thing he could think of was bending her over the counter and getting a little sugar for himself.

      Tess frowned as she straightened and tossed off the oven mitt. She pulled the phone from where she’d wedged it between her ear and shoulder. “Travis? Are you there?”

      He saw a glob of batter dotting her cheek when she craned her neck to look through the west windows toward his house. That glob should have reminded him of the food fight they’d had in junior high school and how going to the office together as comrades-in-arms had been one of their first bonding experiences. Instead, he wanted to lick off that batter and find out if the skin beneath tasted just as sweet.

      “Travis?”

      “Forgive me for anything I’ve ever done to you.” Including lusting after you like a Marine who’s just seen his first female in twelve months.

      “What are you talking about?”

      Travis curled his fingers into his palm and tapped on the glass to get her attention. When she turned, her familiar smile of recognition and welcome warmed him down to his toes like a comfortable hug, and some of that unexpected obsession shouting through his veins quieted. Yeah, T-bone would help him out.

      But as she hung up the phone and approached, images of other recent hugs surfaced. The tight knots of those perky breasts smushed against his chest. The streamlined curve of her bottom snugged against his groin. Nerve endings and cell membranes and even bigger body parts leaped to attention at the thought of her stopping on her side of the window and stripping down to make his erotic dreams come true.

      Son of a bitch. Travis slapped his phone shut against his temple, ending the call and knocking some sense into his head. Where were these impulses coming from? Why now? Why Tess?

      He stepped back onto the patio as she opened the door—without undoing a single button. “What’s going on?”

      “I want your ass.”

      Shit. Had that just come out of his mouth?

      Tess’s green-gold eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

      Smooth one, McCormick.

      Travis swallowed hard, silently dressed down his libido and articulated his request as though he’d never uttered any indication of his crazy new attraction to her. “I need you to save my ass.”

      CAPTAIN СКАЧАТЬ