Soldiers in Heat: Training Session (7 page)

Feeling his body going limp, he sat on the
foot rest. She joined him in his lap and kissed him.

“
Now that we had desert, what’s
for lunch?” Her mouth turned up in a devilish grin.

Chapter Eleven

Kimberly called room service and placed their
order. She rolled over in the bed, nestling her head on Carlson’s
chest.

“
So, your first name is Jonathan,
huh?” She was used to calling everyone by their last name, but had
taken note of his when she looked at the phone roster.

“
Yes, what’s yours?”

“
Kimberly. Only my family calls me
by it though.”

“
Same with me. Them or someone
trying to sell me something.” He laughed.

“
I noticed you brought condoms.
They must have fallen out your pants pocket when you took off your
clothes.”

His smile faded. “Yeah, about
that…”

“
It’s okay. I know you’re disease
and drug free or you wouldn’t be here. You remember our exam?” She
rubbed his chest.

“
They did poke and prod
everything. I was more embarrassed this time than when I first
joined. That isn’t my only concern though. Are you on any birth
control?”

Lifting her head, she gave him a long hard
stare. “What, you not ready to be my baby daddy?”

“
I’m no one’s baby daddy. I don’t
even like the term. If I made a child, you’ll be damn sure you’re
stuck with me for eighteen years. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m
not being a weekend dad.”

She sat up in the bed. “Wow. I was just
kidding. I don’t plan on ever being a baby momma. I’m using birth
control. The shot to be exact. No missing pills here. This
conversation just took a serious turn.”

He pushed himself up against the headboard. “I
don’t sleep with anyone unless I have intentions on being with
them. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I’m drawn to you
and that doesn’t happen often. I’m also not deadbeat dad material.
If there’s a bun in the oven you’re stuck with me.”

He gave her a tickle. She jumped and tossed a
pillow at him.

Tap, tap, tap.

“
You’re saved by our food.” He got
out of the bed, wrapped a towel around his waist, and went to the
door.

Kimberly heard the door shut and joined him.
She smelled the food before it neared her. Her stomach growled, and
she sat on the couch. He handed her a plate of food.

After taking a bite of the sandwich, she said,
“This is the best turkey club I’ve had.”

“
Anything’s better than the chow
hall food.”

“
I heard it’s better once we phase
up and switch sides.”

Jonathan clicked on the T.V. and started
flipping through the channels. “I doubt if it’s better. It’s
probably the same food. We’ll just be able to eat it a little
slower and enjoy it.”

“
What type of shows to do like?”
She wanted to know more about him. What was he like outside of
training?

“
I’ll watch anything that catches
my interest. It can be action or something on the History Channel.”
He stopped on Sci-Fi.

“
What about LifeTime?” She looked
at him.

“
Believe it or not, I’ve caught
some great movies on there.”

“
Wow. I took you to be an
action-packed military movie guy.”

“
They’re good too, but there’s
more to me than being in the Army.” He took a few bites off his
sandwich and finished off his fries.

“
Like what?”

“
Be around me long enough, and
you’ll find out.” He smiled.

She liked his answer and couldn’t wait for the
experience in learning. Jonathan was working his way into her
heart.

They finished eating and cuddled on the couch.
She loved how the rooms of the Hyatt Suites were built: bed on one
side, and office area along with sitting room on the
other.

“
What’s your family like?”
Jonathan asked.

She her head in his lap.

“
My mom and dad are retired. She
retired a year ago and now my dad’s home driving her crazy. Social
clubs keep her busy, but he stays home a lot. He gets mad because
she leaves him during the day. They’re funny. She told him, ‘Joe,
you retiring don’t stop my life.’ I also have a brother, Colby.
He’s twelve years older than me so we really didn’t have much of a
connection growing up. He and his family live in California. I
visit them once a year.”

She looked at him and analyzed his face. The
feeling she had was one she didn’t want to end. Being in his arms
felt perfect.

“
Your parents sound like fun. My
mom and dad are still married, living in Kentucky. My dad never
forgave me for joining the Army. He’s a Marine and so are both of
my brothers. Family gatherings aren’t all that pleasant. Mom’s
always bugging me about remarrying and the others remind me of how
I let the family down. They are Infantrymen to the core. The
infantry never crossed my mind. I knew I’d have to retire one day
and want a skill I can use on the outside.”

“
Interesting. Before being a Drill
Sergeant, what did you do?”

He stroked her hair as they spoke.

“
Military
Intelligence.”

“
Is there such a thing?” She
laughed. “Are you hoping you get branched MI?”

“
I put it down, but I wouldn’t
mind Quartermaster. Everyone needs supplies.”

“
True.”

“
What about you?” He changed the
channel.

“
Admin or course.” She playfully
rolled her eyes at him. “Seriously, I wouldn’t mind MI or
Quartermaster either. I only want to be an officer.”

For the rest of the day, they got to know each
the more. In between conversations, they made love until it was
time to report back to the base. They took one last shower together
before heading out.

Chapter Twelve

Going back to training was a hard pill to
swallow for Jonathan. With Woodson, who he secretly begun calling
by her first name, Kimberly, as squad leader, he could no longer
stand next to her in formation. Harvey was the Bravo Team leader
and stood next to her. Jonathan noticed the looks of desire Harvey
had been giving Kimberly and didn’t like them.

If Harvey was a peacock, his feathers would be
all fanned out as he strutted around. The man jumped at any chance
to be in her presence. All week long, Kimberly didn’t seem to
notice, but Jonathan sure did.

They were in the company area strategizing.
Each squad was off in their own area. His squad was down on a knee
as Kimberly spoke.

“
I need a volunteer to show us how
to properly plot positions on the map for Land Navigation,” she
said. “Some of us are a little rusty in the area.”

“
I got you, Big Serg,” Harvey
said. “I completed Primary Leadership Development Course a few
months ago.”

Jonathan held back his laughter. PLDC was
needed to become a noncommissioned officer, but it wasn’t something
you did on a regular basis. The course used to be thirty days. Now
it was fifteen.

“
Actually, I was thinking more
like Carlson or Jacks. Jacks is an Infantryman and Carlson a Drill
Sergeant who has experience teaching. I don’t want any of us
failing this portion. Beng twenty to thirty yards off your position
can mess you up, especially for the nighttime portion. If we get
the practice down, the real thing should be a piece of
cake.”

“
A true leader knows how to lead
by deferring to the experts. Great thinking, Candidate Woodson. I’m
baffled at how many candidates ignore their experts. I’m looking
forward to all Go’s from this squad.” Captain Brown walked away
from them and over to Third Squad.

Jonathan and Jacks took charge of the training
session for their group. When they were finished giving examples,
Jonathan gave coordinates for everyone to plot.

“
Now, everyone should get their
pace count down. It’s best to do your normal walk and not something
funky. When you get tired of walking in the field, your body will
relax and you’ll fall into your normal routine and throw off your
count,” Jonathan said.

“
We all know nobody will be
marching in the woods,” Jacks added.

Jonathan observed as the rest of the squad
practiced their pace count. Kimberly’s foot had healed. He was glad
because the terrain on the map looked hilly for the land navigation
course and they would be going out to practice the next
morning.

Jonathan said to walk causal, but most of the
newbies in the squad were doing the opposite. “Lilburn, come
here.”

If Jonathan was still a Drill Sergeant, he’d
call the boy Gomer, as in Private Gomer Pile. Lilburn was a tall
skinny kid whose uniform looked as if it belonged to his dad. There
wasn’t a spot on his face without a pimple. Instead of looking
twenty-one, he looked thirteen. The clean-shaved face for all the
males did nothing to help him. To make matters worse, his haircut
still looked like the first cut all males got in basic
training.

“
Yes, Candidate Carlson.” He stood
in front of Jonathan at parade rest after running over to
him.

“
First off, get out of parade rest
and stop putting candidate in front of my name. We’re all
candidates unless in a leadership position.”

Lilburn relaxed but not much. “I can’t help
it, knowing you’re a drill sergeant and all.”

“
Drill sergeant or not, I’m in
hell just like you. What’s wrong with your walk?”

“
What do you mean?” He scratched
his head.

“
As tall as you are, why do you
take choppy steps?”

“
I always walked that way. Growing
up, folks always telling me to slow down. Somewhere, I guess I got
tired of it and walked shorter.”

“
Walked shorter? Okay, carry on.
Far be it from me to change up your walk.” Jonathan shook his head
as Lilburn walked away.

_______

Jonathan lingered back with Kimberly as Harvey
stood at the marker comparing the coordinates. Their squad broke
off into three groups, and they, along with the rest of the
company, were on the practice Land Navigation Course. Kimberly had
successfully led them to the last two points. Now it was Harvey’s
turn.

Kimberly had originally been paired with
Lilburn and Harvey but Jonathan made sure that changed.

“
What do you think about Harvey?”
he asked.

Swatting flies from her face, she said. “What
about him?”

“
He’s a nice enough looking
fellow. I was just wondering…”

She looked at him out of the corner of her
eye. “I hope you don’t think I want to be with Harvey? He’s done
everything to get my attention but club me upside my head. No thank
you.”

Jonathan laughed.

“
And he’s not nice at all. He’s so
busy trying to show off that he’s rude to everyone but me. I hate
rude people.”

“
Geesh, I didn’t mean to get you
started. Now I feel bad for the guy.”

Harvey headed back in their direction. “The
coordinates are off, but it has to be close by. We need to climb
the hill over there, and I can see a little better. Come
on.”

He walked off to the east. They followed.
Kimberly rolled her eyes at Harvey’s back.

“
That’s not good leadership,” he
whispered.

“
A leader would have replotted.
How far off do you think it was?”

“
I wasn’t talking about him, but
you. Eye rolling Squad Leader.” Smiling, he dodged her playful
swat.

Harvey took off into a field.

“
Hell no, Harvey, come back here!”
she called to him.

“
I see point. It’s about twenty
paces. I can get to it quicker this way.”

Jonathan looked at what caused Kimberly to
stop. A thorn field. “This is a FUBAR.” Though Kimberly was admin,
he knew she understood his meaning—fucked up beyond all
recognition. There was no way he or Kimberly were walking through
the field with him.

Harvey got midway. “Guys! I’m
stuck!”

“
What does he want us to do?”
Kimberly asked.

Jonathan looked at his watch.
Crap.
They had less than forty-five minutes to get back and report the
numbers off the markers. A flash of red and white off a sign caught
his attention. He pulled out his map.

“
The marker we need is over
there.” He pointed. “Go get the number off it so aren’t stuck doing
this again tomorrow. I’ll talk him out of the field.”

“
Roger that.” She took off to the
west.

“
Harvey! Slowly pull as many of
the thorns off your clothes as you can.”

Harvey yanked and tugged on his uniform,
ignoring Jonathan.

“
Calm down, man,” Jonathan
said.

“
I got this.”