Innocence Burned(14)

Because of our height difference, it easily covered my butt and some of my thighs.

“I gotta say I didn’t expect you to be a Marine.”

He paused from uncovering all of the food. “What did you expect?”

“I thought for sure you were some kind of bad boy badass. You had the whole package going. Old leather jacket that probably saw lots of action, torn denim, cigarette dangling from your lips. You also said something about a bike. I had this whole fantasy going.” I tugged nervously at the hem of the shirt even though I knew I was covered.

“Really?” he asked. “You don’t think Marines are badasses?”

“Well, yeah. If I think about you overseas with a big gun in your hands defending the country from some crazy, I definitely get a badass vibe. Just different.” I took the plate he offered and put it down on the bed in front of me.

“Beer okay or you want something else?” He held up one of the long necks I ordered and tipped it my way.

“Beer’s good.” I took the offered bottle.

“I want to hear more about this badass you thought I was.” He scooted onto the bed directly across from me and folded his legs across each other. I have no idea why his posture or seating position struck me, but I realized we were about to share our first meal and what should have been some weird after sex awkward date was completely comfortable.

“I don’t know. I have kind of a warped view of the world. I never seem to see things as they really are. You could say I’ve lived a not so innocent sheltered life. So when I think badass it’s more like what I see on television.” Or the kind of guys my father kept on his payroll. I might have been sheltered, but I certainly wasn’t blind. No man guarded his secrets like my father unless they were the kind that could get him in a lot of trouble.

“Sheltered, huh? You don’t fuck like you’re sheltered.”

I blushed hot and fast at the vulgarity of his statement. Yet, the blunt language appealed to me in an unusual way.

“I’ve never done—it—like that before. But I did say not too innocent.” I took a bite of my club sandwich to keep from saying anything else idiotic for at least the next thirty seconds or so.

“Fuck too ugly a word for it? Cause in my world fucking is a very good thing. Hot like that the best.” He tipped his beer back and took several swallows while I watched his throat work. I bit my lip.

“Your world? You mean the Marines?”

He leaned his beer on his leg and started rubbing the edge of the label. “No, babe. Me and the Marines… We broke up. Got injured on my last assignment and they decided I wasn’t fit for duty anymore.” He pulled up the leg of his sweats up to his knee and showed me several scars. They weren’t old and faded, so I guessed this injury wasn’t that long ago.

“I don’t understand. Your knee didn’t seem to bother you on the roof or in the shower.” I blushed again from thinking about it.

“The Marine Corps has rigid standards for physical fitness that I can’t meet one hundred percent of the time. That means I’m out even if I am capable of just about anything.”

I nodded, not exactly understanding the justification on the behalf of the Marines. How could they release a near perfect specimen? But I suppose if events were different we would have never met. Like if I got married to the jerk my father gave me to.

“So what do you do now?”

His eyes narrowed a little, some of the light leaving them. He took another tug on the beer. “Don’t know yet. Just got home…” He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Yesterday.”

“Oh.” What else was I supposed to say? Sorry about losing your job? Not like I could judge. I’d never worked a day in my life. Not because I didn’t want to, but my father wouldn’t allow it. He insisted I grow up differently than he and his sisters and when I followed his carefully laid out plan, I would marry a wealthy man and be a great support to my husband and his family.

“Yeah,” he said. “I saw myself staying in the Corps until retirement, not going back to my old life.”

His eyes narrowed again and made me curious. “Old life? What was that?”

“You sure you want to know? I was as far from sheltered as I could get.”

Now I was intrigued. I set down the rest of my sandwich and shifted a little closer until our knees touched. “I definitely want to know. Anything has to be more exciting than home school and security guards.”

His brows lifted. “Fine. I’ll tell you, but then you owe me.”

I grinned, imagining exactly what I would owe him and hoping it meant more of those amazing orgasms he kept giving me. “Whatever you want it’s yours.” I cringed a little. Hopefully, I could handle his whatever.