“Talk,” I say. With her this close all I’m breathing in is her perfume and it’s messing with my head. I am not even sure I am doing what she’s asking me to do.
“Very good,” she says, and we talk about the weather, the president and what an excellent job she’s doing, anything really as she busts my ass through the hour-long session. When she finally lets me rest, my thigh is quivering, but it fucking feels good to be using it again. If I don’t make it through this I’m going to have to retire and there’s nothing I want less.
“Alright. That was a great first session. I think we should up you to three days per week, every other day. Your goals specifically state you want to return to active duty as soon as possible. Your leg feels strong, but we should have six to eight sessions before you try running on it, and please don’t go to the gym and doing leg day. Arms are fine, though I don’t think they need any help,” she says. I know she said it without thinking, if her red face is any indication. “I, um… I’m sorry that was inappropriate.”
“I think it was plenty appropriate. I’m all for a woman who speaks her mind. Though are you that session was good? Is that why you are upping it to two times per week,” I ask, standing. My leg waivers a bit, but I don’t let it show. I push through it.
“How’d you know?” she asks, setting my chart down. She had been making notes in it.
“I couldn’t concentrate.”
“Why not?”
“You distracted me. Your perfume, those tight leggings, the fact that you are unbelievably gorgeous. It all got to me.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she says, frowning.
“Not a chance, Staff Sergeant. Not a fucking chance.”
“Oh?”
“You’re going to be mine before this is all over,” I say, causing her to gasp. I grin with she recovers quickly from that.
“You seem awfully sure of yourself, Lieutenant Colonel Delgado.”
“Only when I’m right and I thought I told you to call me Manny. Do I need to make that an order?”
“No, but only if you call me Karcin.”
“Alright, Karcin,” I say emphasizing the sin in her name because if she is anything it’s a walking sin, a temptation I won’t even try resisting.
“See you on Thursday,” she says laughing.
“Yes, you will.”
Fuck, I am in so much trouble and I don’t even care.
three
Karcin
My mind has been clouded over the last few days, stuck in a Manny fog. I felt the connection between us from the moment he walked in the door, and a part of me wanted just to sit and listen to his voice all night. I watched him for the hour of his first session as he pushed himself, fighting to get back into the action so that he can go back into the field, and I would be a liar if I didn't admit that it made me sad. Not sad for the soldier fighting to get back to the duty and to the men he leads. No. My sadness was for me. Silly, I know, but it is the truth. If he is working so hard to get back into combat, then he is definitely not interested in settling down, and unfortunately, I am almost positive that is where my head is. I want a family. A husband and children.
I sigh and shake my head. This is conduct unbecoming a soldier, as my father would say lusting after a superior. One I have to help get back into shape. “Straighten up, soldier,” I chastise myself as I continue driving to my father’s house. My father. I have so many mixed emotions when I think of him. I am eternally grateful for the type of father he was when I was growing up. He was stern, unwavering, and steady. I needed that. Especially after my mom passed away, but now, as a grown woman, it would be nice for him to treat me as a daughter and not a soldier. To acknowledge that I have needs and wants that go far beyond the service. “Fat chance,” I mumble before parking my car and getting out.
“There she is, right on time. Table is set,” he says by way of a greeting. See what I mean. No hug. No real emotion.
“What are we having tonight, Dad?”
“Tacos. We always have tacos on Mondays,'' he says matter of factly. It’s true. He has a regimen from which he does not deviate. Mondays are Tacos. Tuesdays Chili. Wednesday is mess hall day since he is on trainee duty that day. Thursday is Meatloaf. Friday is burgers at the bar for sports night and mingling, as he calls it. Saturday is a free day, and Sunday is a full-on dinner, usually cooked by me at my place.