The Marine Cowboy(4)
Maybe he’d swing by the library and check out a book on his next trip. He laid the letter on the porch table and secured it with a rock. The cell phone sat inside, dropped into a drawer in the entry hall and forgotten. He tracked dirt across the entry floor, but he could sweep that out later. The interior of the house needed more work than the exterior. But winter came early in Wyoming, and he could strip and refinish the floors when the snow fell too deep to do anything else.
Holding down the power button, he carried his cell back outside, and dropped to sit on the porch swing. A yawn stretched his jaw. The phone vibrated as text message after text message hit the screen.
Logan’s name popped up. So did James’s. Then Luke’s scrolled three or four times. He’d missed over a dozen calls and nearly that many voice mails. Grimacing at the screen, he fought the temptation to turn the damn thing off again. But the Captain wouldn’t send a letter if he didn’t need something.
All the voicemails were from Luke. Tossing back another swig of water, he checked the text messages first. Luke’s were straightforward. Answer his phone or call him back. Pick one. They were shorter and more terse toward the end, but essentially the same message. An unfamiliar number sent him two text messages as well.
Your 1Night Stand has been arranged. Please review email for details.
His what?
He dialed Luke’s number from memory and drained the bottle of water while the phone rang on the other end.
“Dexter.”
“Captain. What’s up?”
“You turned on your phone. Good. Madame Eve has been trying to get a hold of you.” He heard a woman laugh and murmur something and an equally muffled response from the Captain. Probably talking to his fiancée.
“Who?”
“Madame Eve—Evangeline—the lady who runs the 1Night Stand service?”
Pushing his hat back, A.J. scratched his head. “Not to sound stupid, but what the hell are you talking about?”
Luke laughed. “Don’t play dumb. We talked about this, about eighteen months ago now? We all signed up.”
He wasn’t playing dumb. Tossing the empty bottle into the recycling bin, he grabbed another one out of the cooler and pressed the coldness to the back of his neck. “Seriously, Captain? Eighteen months ago, I was running munitions and supplies between Mosul and Baghdad.”
“Perkins wanted to sign up for a service that matches couples looking for one night together. He didn’t want to date, didn’t think he was ready to do it. When he backtracked on the idea, we all said we’d do it, the whole unit.”
Vague recollection itched in the back of his mind. “Dating service.”
“Something like that. Sound familiar now?” Luke’s easy humor relaxed the tension knotting A.J.’s shoulders.
“Vaguely. But I was still in the sandbox.” He’d signed up, but didn’t think anything of it. He was away, without a leave date in sight, but solidarity held them together.
“I know. We put that on your application and when you sent word that you’d signed your discharge papers, I updated the profile to active.”
If any other man told him that, A.J. would be hard pressed not to break his nose.
“You did what?” His voice went soft and quiet.
“I marked you active. You agreed, A.J. We all did.” The gentle humor fled, replaced by the hard tone of a commanding officer, one he’d followed for years.
“Luke, I appreciate it. But I just got home. I have a lot of work here, and I don’t have time to fly back to Dallas.” Maybe he had an out after all.
“You don’t have to. Check your messages. Madame Eve’s been trying to get in touch with you. Seems someone in Freewill might be seeking a little free loving.”
An image of the sexy librarian popped into his head. He’d gotten a good look at a pair of lean, long legs at the grocery store and even more generous breasts when he’d seen her at the gas station. Her russet hair refused to stay confined to a braid and escaped in little tendrils he wanted to see spread out on a pillow while he sank into her body.
“You’re not backing out are you, Sergeant?” Luke’s voice carried just enough of a dare in it to get A.J.’s back up.
“No, sir. I’m not. I’ll check the messages.” If for no other reason than he had made a commitment to his unit, whether he remembered it or not. Another image of the sweet curve of her ass as the librarian turned away from him solidified in his head.
“Enjoy it, A.J. Enjoy being alive and home. It’s one night, right?”
“Yes, sir.” He hung up a couple of minutes later and stared at the phone. He thought about shutting it off, but he was a man of his word. And it was good to talk to Luke, to catch up on what the others were up to. He still couldn’t believe the captain was engaged.