There was no need for Erica to worry about disturbing Linc when she set her alarm to wake her early Wednesday morning. Linc was already awake, and judging from the cold sheets beside her and the smell of coffee wafting in the air, he had been for some time.
Groaning, Erica turned off the alarm and forced herself to sit up in bed.
“Morning,” Linc called as he came into the room.
Erica scowled at him. “I don’t know if I can live with this morning person thing you’ve got going on.”
“I wasn’t always a morning person, but there’s nothing like boot camp to break you of the habit of sleeping in.”
“I need to shower.”
“Want some company?”
Erica started to say no. Linc and his amazing body, naked and wet and pressed up against hers in the tight space of the shower, was a guarantee that she would be late for work. It was that same logic that made her change her mind.
All too soon mornings like these would be gone. Linc would be in the desert, probably fighting for his life, and Erica would have only her memories to get her through.
“Of course I want some company.” Erica gave him a sly smile. “Wait, you meant you, right? Do I want some company from you?”
Linc laughed. “Well, yeah, unless you want me to call one of my sisters to bring their kids over. Mary says Tyler hates bath time, but one look at you would probably change his mind.”
Erica didn’t know whether she should say ‘thank you’ or ‘fuck you’. Instead, she opted for, “I guess you’ll do.”
Linc laughed even harder as she climbed out of bed and started for the bathroom.
While they waited for the shower to heat up, they took turns brushing their teeth. If the bathroom was bigger, they could have shared the sink, but space was one of those things she sacrificed in the name of her freedom from roommates.
Being the first one to finish brushing, Erica undressed first. Steam billowed out as she pulled the shower door open. As she leaned inside to adjust the temperature, Linc’s strong arms encircled her and he pulled her flush against him, letting her feel his erection.
“You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?” Linc spoke softly in her ear, making her shiver despite the heat of the shower.
“I could say the same about you, Marine,” Erica said, and she felt him smile against her skin. Erica held her fingers under the spraying water, testing its warmth. “I think we’re good.”
Linc released his hold on her and she stepped into the shower. Crowding in behind her, he closed the door with a loud snap. Erica turned and her stomach hitched as she raked her gaze up and down his toned body.
“You’re beautiful,” Erica murmured, trailing her fingers along the ridges of his abdomen. “You have the most perfect body I’ve ever seen.”
Linc smiled, but it was sheepish, almost doubtful. “I didn’t always look like this. I was pretty scrawny in high school.”
Erica could not imagine him scrawny. Not when he looked like he belonged on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine.
Letting her fingers continue lower, Erica wrapped them around his cock.
“Jesus,” Linc said on a groan, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Slowly, she worked her hand up and down, taking the time to feel every bump and ridge of his impressive morning wood.
“If you don’t mind your dick smelling like my strawberries and cream body wash, I could make this hand job worlds better,” Erica offered with a seductive smile.
Linc reached for the body wash. “Don’t mind at all.”
Yeah, she was definitely going to be late for work, but it would be worth it. When Linc was gone, she wouldn’t be the only one relying on memories to get through their time apart. Hopefully, this moment, with their wet bodies pressed together and the scent of warm strawberries surrounding them as she stroked his cock, would be one of many that would make their time apart bearable.
Anna’s smile was full of warmth when Erica entered the office. “How are you, honey?”
“Actually, I’m great,” Erica answered, and Anna furrowed her brow. “The reason I needed the last few days off was so that I could get married.”
“Married?” Anna gasped.
“Yes, married.” Erica smiled as she held up her left hand to show off her ring.
“I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”
“His name is Todd Lincoln, and he’s a Marine. He’s being deployed to Iraq in five days, and we wanted to be married before he left.”
Though her smile faltered, Erica was proud of the way she was able to get through that without her breath catching in her chest. That bleak sadness threatened to overwhelm her, but she shoved it to the pit of her stomach.
Later, when Linc was gone, there would be time for dwelling on that. Not now when he was still here.
“Five days?” Anna’s eyes were wide. “What are you doing here then? You should be with him every moment until he leaves.”
“As nice as that sounds, you know I can’t do that.”
“Of course you can.”
“I have to work.”
“Nonsense, you go home and spend time with your new husband and don’t come back until he’s gone.”
Erica hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure you’ll regret it if you don’t.” Anna’s gaze softened. “Go home to your husband, Erica. All of this will be waiting for you when you get back, and trust me when I say you’ll welcome the distraction.”
That bleak feeling threatened to make itself known at the implication of Anna’s words, but Erica focused on the gift she was being given instead.
Erica spared her boss one more hug before she gathered her things and left.
The drive home was brief, less than fifteen minutes. The proximity to her office was one of the things she’d liked about the apartment; that and the fact that the rent was cheap enough that she could afford it on her own. Sure her apartment was smaller than the one Cory and Veronica shared with their roommates, but it was hers.
A smile broke across Linc’s face when Erica pushed open the door to the apartment. “What are you doing here?”
Erica laughed. “That’s no way to greet your wife.”
Shutting and locking the door, she crossed the room and dropped down on the couch.
“I’m just surprised to see you. I thought you had to work today.”
“I did, but my boss let me have the day off.”
Linc’s smile broadened. “That’s awesome.”
“I hope you still think so in a week.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anna, my boss, is letting me take my vacation time so that we can spend some time together before you leave.”
“That is awesome. I’ll give my sisters a call and let them know I can’t make lunch today.”
Erica frowned. “Lunch?”
“Yeah, since you were working, I thought I’d hang out with my family, but I’d much rather hang out with you.”
“There doesn’t need to be a choice.” Moving closer to him, Erica took his face in her hands. “I would never expect you to ditch your family for me.”
“I know, but they can be kind of overwhelming sometimes,” Linc tried to explain.
Erica smiled. “Don’t worry, Preacher. I’m tougher than I look.”
“I know, but—”
Erica put her finger over his lips. “Todd, they’re not just your family anymore. They’re my family too, and I want to get to know them, all of them, the good, the bad and the overwhelming.”
When his lips curved in to a smile, Erica moved her fingers.
“I love you, Erica,” Linc said, leaning forward to brush his mouth gently over hers.
Erica threaded her arms behind his neck. “Good thing you have plenty of time to prove that to me before we have lunch with your sisters.”
The devilish smile that followed those words was a promise of things to come.
Mary and Sarah were already at the restaurant by the time Linc and Erica arrived.
As they approached the table, Erica frowned to see neither of them had their children with them. “Where are the kids?”
“Probably with my mom,” Linc answered. “She always watches them.”
That must be nice. Neither of Erica’s grandmothers had been involved with her and Aaron. Since her father had grown up in foster care, there was no family on his side. Her mother’s parents had been alive when Aaron and Erica were born, but they weren’t in the picture much. It wasn’t until she was older that she found out the reason.
Before they died, her mom’s parents lived in Arizona. As a kid, Erica thought that was much further away than it was so she loved getting the birthday cards with a five dollar bill tucked inside. It almost made up for the Christmas packages that were always filled with practical things like socks and school supplies.
Erica was six when her mom’s parents died in a house fire. To this day, the stoic way her mom took that news still stuck with her. There were no tears or screaming. They could have been strangers for all the emotion her mom spared them. Confused, Erica had asked her mom why she wasn’t sad. Carolyn had given her a thin smile and said that she wasn’t sad because she’d lost them a long time ago.
At the time, the answer didn’t make sense. It wasn’t until after her parents’ divorce when things became clear. Huddled together in Aaron’s room, Erica and her brother listened to their mother screaming at their father; awful things. Things that included how her parents were right and she never should have married a worthless piece of shit like him and that her parents were probably laughing their asses off from the great beyond. Her parents told her not to marry Earl because he was a loser who would never amount to anything and she didn’t listen because she was stupid. She loved him and look what good that did.
Erica wondered if Mary and Sarah knew how good they had it. Besides being close to their mother who was willing to be a built in babysitter, they did not have to work. Coming from a divorced family, Erica’s mother had worked as long as she could remember. Even though her father had dutifully paid child support, that alone wasn’t enough to make ends meet.
When Erica and Linc reached the table where his sisters waited, Sarah pulled Erica into a hug before handing her off to Mary. Being hugged by Linc’s sisters wasn’t anywhere near as strange as watching him hug them as well. Erica could not remember the last time she hugged Aaron. Come to think of it, she couldn’t remember the last time they hung out together.
“Mom and Dad had a big fight after you guys left,” Sarah said.
Linc looked up from his perusal of the menu and frowned. “A fight?”
“Okay, a disagreement,” Sarah conceded.
“Thanks for telling me you got married by the way,” Mary teased.
“Sorry,” Linc said. “What happened with Mom and Dad?”
“Mom was mad at Dad. She says he let you off too easy,” Sarah explained.
“What did she want him to do?”
“That’s pretty much what Dad said.”
“Do your parents hate me?” Erica asked.
That was just what she needed, for Linc’s parents to hate her.
“No,” Mary assured her. “Mom is just worried about what will happen to you two when Linc leaves.”
“Nothing will happen,” Linc said.
“Come on, Linc, be realistic,” Mary said. “You two just met, and you barely know each other. You’ll be gone for seven months while your new wife is home alone.”
“Why don’t you say what’s really on your mind?” Linc demanded.
“I think you should drop it, Mary,” Sarah said and then smirked. “Besides, you didn’t hear how romantic our little brother sounded yesterday.”
Mary didn’t look convinced. “Romance only goes so far.”
“I know you don’t know me, but I promise you this is a real commitment,” Erica said.
“I love Erica. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s true,” Linc told them.
“I totally believe you,” Sarah said. “Now, I want to hear all about the wedding night.”
A deep, red blush spread up Linc’s neck to cover his face. “Quit it.”
Sarah laughed. “Well, you better get all the sex you can for the next five days.”
“That’s not a very Christian thing to say,” Linc mumbled.
“And it’s not a very Christian thing to do if you do it the right way.” Sarah winked and Erica laughed.
It was a relief to see this side of Linc’s sisters. Well, Sarah anyway. Mary still looked like she had a stick up her ass, but Sarah seemed to be no different than Erica’s friends.
With their father being a minister, Erica had been afraid that Linc’s sisters would think she wasn’t good enough for their little brother. Though she would have preferred for both of them to like and accept her, she wasn’t going to give up. Somehow she would convince Mary, and anyone else who doubted them, that she and Linc were in this for the long haul.
“So why does Sarah always tease you about sex?” Erica asked as they drove back to the apartment after lunch.
“She probably knows I was a virgin on our wedding night.”
“You never told her?”
“I never actually told anyone but you, but I didn’t date a lot in high school.”
“Why?” Erica asked and Linc frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why didn’t you date a lot in high school?”
“I was this tall, skinny, awkward kid,” Linc replied. “Plus I was a minister’s son, didn’t exactly make me popular.”
No matter how many times he said the words, Erica had a hard time believing them. Linc wasn’t just good-looking. He was gorgeous, sexy in an untouchable way. Linc was the kind of guy that she’d lusted after in high school but never been noticed by, but here he was telling her that he was basically a nobody, like her.
It didn’t add up, maybe because she hadn’t known him in high school. When she looked at Linc, all she saw was the sex on a stick, buff as a bodybuilder, tough as nails Marine who joined the service to defend his country.
“Linc, are you scared?”
“Of what?”
“Of Iraq and what could happen.”
“I’d be lying if I said no.”
“I’m scared,” Erica said softly.
Linc parked the car in front of the apartment, but neither of them got out. Every time Erica thought of him in Iraq, her chest constricted and she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Silent tears slid down her cheeks before she could stop them.
“I’m scared too, Rikki,” Linc whispered, pulling her into his arms.
“Why would God bring us together now?”
“I’m not sure, but I have faith that God did this for a reason. Do you have faith?”
“I’m trying, Todd, but I’ve never had faith before.”
“We have now, and we’ll have forever. Let’s just enjoy now.”
Knowing he was right, Erica decided to put it out of her mind for the moment. She didn’t want to spend the next five days being sad and depressed.
“Thank you for doing that,” Linc said. “You didn’t have to come to church with me.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to be there.”
Church on Wednesday was different than the Sunday service. Not only was it only an hour long, but everyone met in the main auditorium. Classes were reserved for Sunday school.
Erica smiled as she recalled the varying reactions of the congregation when Linc’s father announced their marriage. An excited buzz had broken out, but there was no missing the looks of disappointment on a group of teenage girls.
“You have quite a fan club,” Erica said as they emerged from the car.
“What do you mean?”
“Lots of young girls seemed pretty sad to hear you’re off the market.”
Linc laughed. “Yeah, well church is the only place where being the minister’s son makes you popular.”
“Oh, I think it’s more than that,” Erica mused, and Linc blushed. “What was it Cory said? Great face and even better body?”
“And she doesn’t even like me,” Linc replied with a smile.
Erica’s smile gave way to a frown. “I’m not sure what’s going on there.”
“As long as you like me.”
“I love you.”
“So, do you think it’s weird to go to church and then come home and have sex?” Linc grinned, turning the key in the apartment door.
“Who said we’re having sex?” Erica tried to keep a straight face as she followed him inside.
“Oh, uh, we don’t have to.”
“I’m kidding, Linc.”
“In that case,” Linc said and stopped in the middle of the living room and stripped.
“I know this is gonna sound corny, but every time I see you naked I can’t get over how sexy you are.”
“It doesn’t sound corny. It’s good to hear. It makes me feel good.”
“I mean it, Todd. It makes me breathless. You make me breathless.”
“I love you so much, Erica.”
“Show me,” Erica whispered.
Without hesitation, Linc took her into his arms.
They made love there on the couch. Being with Linc was always so intense. Erica didn’t know what it was about the two of them together, but it was a powerful combination.
Lying in his arms afterward, Erica realized Linc was right. They needed to enjoy each other now.