Tony and Jessica were curled up in her small bed, her head resting on his thick tattooed arm. Their lovemaking had been gentle and comforting after such a rough two days.
“You know, if we end up hating each other, this sub’s gonna get real small,” said Jessica with a satisfied smile.
“I’ll have you know this isn’t a sub. I know subs. This is giant ball of people sitting on the bottom of the ocean like a brick.”
“Still . . .”
He kissed her neck. “All joking aside, I never in a million years thought we’d end up together, ya know?”
She smiled and rolled over to face him, still lying on his arm. “I know. I’m such a hard-ass usually. All business. Sailors have been hitting on me forever. I never screwed around on a mission.”
“Never?”
“Never. You?”
“I was in the navy longer than you.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and he leaned over and kissed her. When they broke off their kiss, she asked him if he thought the mission would go to the scheduled end.
“I don’t know. We all knew it was a high-risk deal, but I figured the danger was of the sub failing under the pressure, not some crazy fish bacteria. Ian was so excited about this whole thing. Studying his fish. It sucks. Hate to say it, but it’s not fair.”
“Well, I hope we make it through the year. And I hope we do, too.”
Tony smiled. “Me too. Although it may get harder to hide the fact that we’re an item after a while.”
“Well then you better stay for a while longer so no one sees you leave my room,” she said, and reached down to start round two.
**********
Tony quietly dressed and left Jess’s room. She was fast asleep. It was four in the morning according to the clock. Tony closed the door behind him and walked quietly down the hallway to his room. He was startled to see Ted walking up the other end of the hallway, dripping wet.
Ted faked a polite smile and said, “You’re up late. Or is it early?”
“I was gonna say the same thing to you.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” said Ted. “Took a long, hot shower to relax.”
“Feel better?” asked Tony.
“Actually, yes. I think I’ll sleep in tomorrow, in fact. ’Nite.”
Tony watched Ted hustle down the hall to his room, relieved that Ted hadn’t asked him what he was doing up so late—or early. He walked to his room, hit the sack, and was fast asleep in seconds.