some-odd years.”
She suddenly seemed a little worried, “I-I only have one extra bedroom, unless we put you on the couch, Ryan,” she mentioned with a little flush to her cheeks.
“Leese and I can share a room.,” He said throwing a cocky glance at Andy and Ty.
“Sure we can,” I said, a little miffed that he blurted that out, “
Andy and Ty burst out laughing.
Pumpkin Head withered under my stare. Maybe I didn’t have to get that black dye tonight after all.
“Well come on,” Naomi said, “Let me show you to the room so you can put down your bags-oh, I know what we can do. Ty, go down to the garage and grab your old twin bed. We can fit it in there so Pum-Ryan doesn’t have to sleep on the floor,” she said, giving me a wink.
It was only four in the afternoon, but Naomi said the food was done and we might as well have dinner. The only thing Ryan and I consumed today was donuts and coffee at the Murfreesboro airport when we fueled up, so I was starving. She made a big pan of lasagna, which I thought was enough to feed ten people instead of five, until I watched Andy and Ty take their servings out of the pan. Wow, those guys could eat! When we finished they went back for seconds and wiped out the remainder.
I learned a little more about them around the dinner table. Ty had just turned twenty and Andy was twenty- one. They had lived in Colorado Springs all their lives and their parents were divorced. Naomi had been raising them, single-handedly, for the last ten years. Both joined the military right out of high school and they worked as MP’s at Peterson’s Air Force Base.
With the meal finished, I asked if there was a shopping plaza or a drug store nearby so I could get some dye to correct Ryan’s poor, color-flawed hair. We drove to a nearby Walgreens and grabbed a box of Just for Men black hair color and returned to Naomi’s.
I offered to help Ryan do it, but I think he didn’t want the guys to tease him so he opted to do it himself. It was five minute hair color and he was going to shower when he washed it out, but he must have spent an hour in the bathroom, and I was starting to worry what went wrong.
We were all seated in the living room watching the six o’clock news when he emerged. His hair was glistening black and damp. He had a towel over his shoulders, and just a pair of jeans, no shirt. It was the first time I had seen his bare chest and I now regretted I said one bedroom would work. He wasn’t thickly muscled like Micah, but he looked more like one of those guys you’d find carrying a surfboard down to the beach. He had softly defined six- pack abs and a light tan and I was considering he would be a great model, when he waved his hand in front of my face.
“Hello? I asked how you like the hair,” he had this big smile on his face because he knew I was checking out almost everything except his hair.
“N-nice job,” I managed to say.
“Yes,” Naomi spoke up, “you look better sticking with your natural black, honey.”
“I think he looked better as a pumpkin,” Andy smirked and then jumped up and said he called the shower next.
By the time eight o’clock rolled around, I was surrounded by shirtless bodies. Andy emerged from the shower shirtless, toweless, and practically pantless. All he had on was a pair of swim trunks. Next Ty took a shower and followed the example, coming out equally undressed. They were all really hot and I had a feeling that the parade was solely for my benefit. Andy kept catching me glancing over at him, but it was hard to help since he was the one that had the closest ‘Micah’ body.
“Is my air conditioner not working?” Naomi asked as she finally stirred from the movie on the television.
Ty rose up and looked at the thermostat, “It’s seventy-two, isn’t that what you normally keep it on?”
“Yes it is, but why the Sam-hell are all you boys practically naked?” she scoffed.
“Would it be okay if I used your shower, Miss Naomi?” I asked. I was ready to hit the bed, but I really wanted a chance to clean up first.
“Of course you can, honey, but I have to warn you we only have the one bathroom in the house so I can’t promise that these knuckle heads left it in decent shape.”
“That’s okay,” I replied, but inwardly I knew we’d have to find a place to stay real soon, because I loathed the idea of showering behind that many people.
“You can come out shirtless, too!” Andy yelled as I headed down the hallway. I heard the loud smack as he yowled, “Ouch, Momma! What did you hit me for?”
I smiled.
The bathroom was fairly small, but the troops had been decent about not leaving it nasty. I grabbed my shampoo and soap and stepped under the running water. It had been a long day and I was hoping I could fall asleep tonight without Ryan’s assistance. I was grateful he helped me last night, but surely I could manage tonight by myself.
I toweled off and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and went back to the cramped bedroom. There was one queen-sized bed and the small twin they brought up from the garage. I decided Ryan wouldn’t fit so well on the twin, so I took it and left the larger bed for him. I could still hear the guys in the living room, laughing, talking and reminiscing.
I drifted off, but within an hour, my eyes were open. I grabbed an extra pillow off the large bed and tried wedging it behind me for a stand-in, but it wasn’t warm and there was no strong arm to slip around my waist. I heard Ryan coming down the hallway as he told everyone good night. He came into the dark room quietly, the only light being the red display on the clock and a seashell night light on the other side of the queen bed.
“Leese,” he whispered.
I tried faking sleep so he wouldn’t know I was struggling with it again, and then I tried not to crack a smile as he began to talk to himself. He was speaking lower than a whisper, but I could still hear him.
“This isn’t going to do,” he said. “She should be in the big bed, not me. If she wakes up, how am I going to fit on that little bed with her? All right, baby girl, let’s see if I can move you without waking you.”
I was ready to roll over and tell him I was awake, but his arms were already under me as I began to turn toward him. I guess he assumed he woke me.
“Shhh,” he breathed softly, “Go back to sleep, I’m just moving you to the other bed.”
There was no opportunity to argue with him as he had already lifted me. He turned to the other bed and realized there was a problem as my head was now pointed at the foot of the bed.
“Put me down,” I whispered. He was still shirtless and I was finding it unsettling to have my hands against his bare skin.
“Can you go back to sleep?” he asked as he put my feet on the floor.
“Sure,” I lied. I wasn’t prepared to argue the issues of who should be in which bed. I immediately felt a big difference between the thick pillow top queen mattress and the thin, uncomfortable twin that Ryan was now settling onto. “That bed isn’t very comfortable; sleep up here, but you don’t need to hold me.”
I didn’t have to ask twice as he rose and pulled back the covers, stretched out and sighed, “Much better. Good-night, Leese.”
“Good-night.”
I lay on my side watching the bedside clock tick by.
“You aren’t asleep, are you?” came a whisper in the dark.
I thought about ignoring him, but I finally whispered back, “No.”
His body came up behind me, warmth flooded my skin and his tattooed arm wrapped around my waist. I didn’t expect the kiss on my neck that sent shivers through me.
“Get some sleep.”
I really needed to be asleep
I laid there and wondered if Micah was sleeping right now? I cried silently. My heart ached to hear his voice, to feel his touch, and to taste his lips against my own. I was ashamed to be lying here in Ryan’s arms, knowing I wanted to roll over and let him have his first experience with a woman, but I couldn’t make that fatal mistake. It wouldn’t prove fatal to my physical body, but my heart and soul wouldn’t recover from the betrayal. Somewhere
