Corpsman and the Nerd (27 page)

Does that sound strange?
I’m sorry if it does. I just wanted to be on the same page with
someone from home. I have things covered here, but I need a spy
there. Max certainly hasn’t proven helpful. LOL

Oh, there goes the wounded
call. Gotta go! Miss you!

Love,

KC

*****

KC tore into the package. They were
into January now, well into the month, in fact, and her cookie
supply had dwindled to stale crumbs. She’d been anticipating this
box, and with relief, extracted a huge container of fresh smelling
treats.

Sighing, she bit into a
molasses cookie, and savored the first bite. Then worked at
removing the rest of the contents with her free hand. She came up
with DVDs. One read
Morrison
Holidays
, and she saw the video was dated
from this past holiday. The other simply read
Max and Ryan
.

Eagerly, she popped that one into her
laptop, then while the video loaded, continued clearing out the
carton. More cookies, more toiletries, these not gift-wrapped as
those she had received before the holidays. And another stack of
pictures.

Flipping through the pictures, she saw
Lainy’s hand in the selection. All of them portraying Max and Ryan.
Her hand stilled as she gazed at one that clearly depicted Ryan’s
bath time. KC’s heart clenched as she thought longingly of the
times she had bathed her son. Now, Max enjoyed the job.

By the expression on their beloved
faces, they were enjoying those moments together. Ryan sat in the
tub, with some of his favorite bath toys around him. KC noted a
couple new ones and smiled.

What really riveted her though, was
Max. Max clothed had begun to cause unfamiliar sensations to her
nervous system. Max shirtless was enough to blow her nervous
system. A sight to behold, indeed. The man was perfectly
made.

In the picture, he sat by the tub, and
his stomach definitely contained ridges she wanted to explore.
Flat, with texture. KC liked texture. He rested one arm on the tub
and with his biceps bent, revealed those nicely muscled arms she
lusted after.

His shoulders gleamed with moisture,
and she could detect droplets down his chest. A wonderfully
contoured chest, with a perfect sprinkling of hair. Max had the
most masculine chest she had ever had the privilege of viewing. He
really had been holding out on her and she wasn’t happy about
that.

He must have removed his glasses,
which was probably wise, knowing Ryan as she did. Her son liked to
splash. Max would be blinded by the water if he kept his glasses
on. Lainy had caught him in profile, and Ryan head on, so she could
see her son’s blue eyes, but not Max’s. She wished she could see
Max’s eyes again without his glasses.

Of course, this picture with his naked
torso did plenty for her. Maybe too much. The man was definitely
gorgeous. And she’d never noticed. Now, thousands of miles away,
she couldn’t do anything about her new Max fetish. Could that be
why she had suddenly acquired this awareness of him?

Because she couldn’t do anything about
it?

KC pondered that question. Would she
immediately revert back to old habits when she returned home? But
that didn’t ring true. These strange yearnings began before she
left home. Remembering that first morning at Max’s house calmed
her.

She had certainly been aware
of him then.
As a man
. Not as her best friend and business partner. Had she begun
to think about him as a different sort of partner even then?
Gulping, KC knew the answer to that question without additional
thinking or effort involved.

Yes
. Max Morrison had taken on the role of a far more important
partner than strictly business. When had he become her
mate?

Not able to answer that question, KC
turned to the video. Anything to keep her mind off her newest
musings.

She watched as Max’s house came into
view. The camerawoman took them around the side of the house and
showed the backyard. How she wanted to romp in that yard with Max
and Ryan. With Spuds nipping at their heels.

Winter had taken a death toll on the
flowers she knew normally resided there. The trees were bare, and
reached to a weak sun. Color came from the healthy ivy growing up
the fence and trellis and the scattering of evergreens.

KC lost interest in the vegetation
when she caught sight of Max and Ryan. They were walking from the
house to the barn, and KC stared. Grinning she shook her head as
she noticed something interesting.

Working with Max for a year, she knew
his walk. He had a languid, laid back sort of stroll. She enjoyed
how his hips easily rolled, yet there was a tightly leashed power
there, as well. Never having noticed that before, KC wondered how
she missed the evidence.

What stole her attention the most,
however, was the small boy bobbing along behind Max. A little man
who perfectly mimicked Max’s walk. Placing a hand over her mouth,
KC felt her smile. She pressed her lips between her teeth as she
gazed at the pair.

Ryan walked like Max. In this most
precious video, Lainy had amazingly captured a little boy mimicking
his dad. Tears welled in her eyes as KC watched.

Her son had exhibited Max
characteristics in the past, but now she couldn’t wait to get home
and see them in person. How many more would he have? Would she see
Max regularly in him? This video offered further proof that a child
didn’t need to be born of a parent to act like Mom or
Dad.

The video also provided
evidence that a man could love a little boy he hadn’t had any part
in creating. Because Max loved Ryan. His actions so easily proved
that theory. KC had no doubts on that fact. Their little boy. Ryan
was
theirs
.

Even if Max wasn’t the man she
married, he was still Ryan’s dad. He deserved partial custody
regardless of the outcome of their relationship. Ryan needed Max,
and she wondered if maybe Max needed Ryan. She knew she needed her
son in her life. And right now, she’d be hard pressed to deny she
needed Max as much.

*****

Max downloaded his mail and listened
for any rustlings from Ryan’s room. He only just got the little guy
to bed and hoped he stayed there. Ryan hadn’t wanted to sleep ever
since the snow started falling so heavily outside. Max couldn’t
fault his son for his enthusiasm. He had been just like Ryan at
five.

His mother had threatened, bribed,
coerced, and sweet-talked him as a kid too. Snow was the most
important thing in a boy’s life. Well, Spuds was pretty important
too, but right now, all Ryan cared about was the snow on the ground
he couldn’t play in.

Max had finally resorted to
distracting him with a story, and he finally fell asleep. Now,
holding his breath, Max hoped his kid would stay asleep. Ideally –
the entire night. Since he had no burning desire to be outside
building a snowman or engaging in a snowball fight at any time of
the night.

He saw an email from KC and became
easily distracted, himself. Must be a male trait.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: A new
video

Hello Max and
Ryan,

Did you know the two of you
walk alike? My newest video from Lainy certainly showed as much.
Like father, like son comes to mind.

I was most
amused
.

Max stared at the first paragraph. No
matter how often she reminded him of her thoughts on Ryan being his
son, he still loved her reassurance. KC seemed to have no doubts,
no qualms, no problems with this. Ryan was hers, but he was also
his, Max Morrison’s too. Amazing. He returned to her
email.

We continue to be busy.
More and more wounded are coming in. Plus, our lab is fairly
reliable, so I’m racing to keep up with the ensuing
work. We’ve lost a few more men, and I hate when they
die.

I suppose somewhere in my
mind I realized we’d see death before I came. I didn’t deal with
those thoughts then, which could explain why I’m having such
difficulty with them now. Of course, death is never easy. Nor
should it be. But the Grim Reaper has seen some
victories.

Janine, even through the
excitement of finding Ben, is a top notch doctor. She’s amazing to
watch. I’ve yet to see her flustered on the job. She’s so ladylike
and together. (Most of us are quite envious of her.) We can have
bombs exploding around us and she only raises her voice slightly so
everyone can hear her rapping out orders. Then keeps working, as
though we’re in some fancy hospital.

He wished he could understand what she
was going through, yet Max really had no basis. Watching it on a TV
show wasn’t the same as experiencing it. But he did feel her pain.
Seeing these men die would take a toll on anyone, much less a
nurturing, giving woman. Wishing he could help, he kept
reading.

I on the other hand, tend
to spaz. (No comments from you, Max Michael Morrison!)

Max laughed out loud. Yes, KC did tend
to spaz when things went awry. And inevitably, they did. She
usually ran to him, and he worked to calm her down.

A privilege.

But she was too far away for
that arrangement now. Who was taking care of her? Ah, her friend,
Janine. Max didn’t know if he felt good or bad about KC’s roommate
being the friend to whom she ran.
He
wanted sole running rights
. He continued
reading.

To be fair, my fatality
rate is decent too. Fortunately, the veteran doctors talk to us and
share their secrets. Janine has worked in a hospital in
Johannesburg, South Africa, which has given her excellent combat
wound knowledge. She finally admitted this the other day, so we
know why she’s so good. Apparently, the streets there are still
pretty tough, and the patients coming in for treatment appear to
have been in a combative situation, rather than normal living
conditions. Very sad.

Looks like I should be
home at the very end of April. Only three and a half months more!
We’re at Jan. 20th now, so really, a little more than three months.
I can handle that! Mitch did warn me in a recent email that I’ll
probably feel colder than the rest of you when I get
home.

Why? You ask. Well,
evidently, since our bodies have acclimated to the extreme heat
here, they’ll likewise have to adjust to the less extreme weather
at home. He mentioned a man who left for a funeral and wore a
sweatshirt for a few days because although it was 80 degrees at
home, he left 127 degrees in Kuwait.

There goes the signal that
we’ve got more wounded coming in. I need to end this.

Miss you!

Love you,

KC

P.S. Any news on the Bent
Rock Foundation? We haven’t heard anything lately, and thought
General Emma intended to auction off the puppies after the
holidays?

Max stared at the end of her email and
wished for more. He wanted to keep reading, because then they
shared a connection. Rereading her note helped,
minimally.

When he finished for the second time,
he pushed away from the desk after shutting his computer down. Ryan
had stayed asleep so far, but who knew when or if he’d awaken with
snow on his mind.

Wearily, Max rolled his shoulders. He
needed the next three months to hurry past. Sleep might help. At
this point, he would take anything to speed up the remaining
months. Three months.

How in the world would he
manage?

Chapter 35

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject:re: General Emma
and Admiral O’Riley

Hello KC!

I miss you so much too.
You’d think we’d not have to tell each other every time, but it’s
so true and real. Whenever I go to Max’s house, I can barely stand
the thought of you not being there. Your absence somehow seems
wrong, even though you were only there for two weeks!

In answer to your
question, I’ve definitely noticed General Emma has something for
your admiral. She doesn’t say much, but she radiates this intensity
I’ve rarely seen in her before when someone mentions his name. It’s
amazing, really!

I’d say she’s pretty
vulnerable when it comes to him too. From what I can gather, they
email regularly. So, they’re keeping in touch. I think I heard he’s
due back a month before you leave. I’m wondering what will happen
after that?

Should be interesting.
Thinking about the situation, they have to meet, because she’s got
Rocky, and I’m sure he’ll want her back. Rocky is his dog. Of
course, Emma’s going to miss her so much. I wonder if they’ll share
custody?


From what I can gather he
doesn’t live in the Hershey area, but actually near D.C. Which
makes sense. He was up visiting some friends, and liked the area
and the people so he left Rocky with them. Only they were called up
too. So they took her to the shelter. I think part of the paperwork
mix-up was their names and his were both on her papers. Which must
have confused things. (Thank goodness, or he might have lost
Rocky!)