To Love Through Space and Time

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

“Calling another of your ladies, Dominick?”

“I like women,” I reminded him. I liked men, too, but the U.S. military had taken a giant step back to the early part of the century, and it wasn’t smart to mention it. That was one of the reasons so many female names were in my little black book. I wined and dined them, took some of them dancing, and occasionally slept with them. It kept the Air Force happy and unaware.

Ed Carlyle, my bunkmate, made a scoffing sound. “You’re a user.”

I gritted my teeth. I’d been in the Air Force long enough to know I’d be confined to quarters at the least if I took a swing at the irritating man, so I got myself under control and simply gave him a mocking smile. “If you’ve got it, Eddie…”

The situation with Carlyle was supposed to have been temporary, but here it was, six months later, and we were still sharing quarters. We were both captains, but because he was also a pilot, he felt that made him more of a captain than I was.

I didn’t let it bother me, though, and for the most part we got along okay, except for this tendency he had to be a bit too interested in my private life.

“You don’t have to listen, you know.” Fortunately he’d been in the can when I’d called the two guys I’d invited for a nooner—they were partners who enjoyed bringing me in for a threesome from time to time. That was the date I most regretted having to break. “I wouldn’t want to torment you.”

He laughed and put his feet up on the desk that was the only furniture other than the bunks in our quarters on the base at White Sands.

I flipped him off, but he didn’t see. He was too busy reading the Gideon Bible that had somehow found its way to this room. Poor book was probably distraught at being in the presence of such a sinner as me.

I scratched Bobbi’s name off the list—we would have had an early dinner—and dialed Jennifer, the second of the three women I’d made a date with for tonight.

This whole situation was really my bad. I’d intended to make up for lost time, since I’d known we’d be taking off in the MRM soon, but hadn’t realized exactly how soon. Couldn’t the powers that be have given us a little more notice? I straightened when a honeyed voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Jennifer? It’s—”

“Nick?”

“That’s right, angel.”

“Darling, you didn’t have to call,” she cooed. “We’ll be seeing each other in a matter of hours. I have plans for your luscious body.” I could hear her murmur, “One, two, cha-cha-cha.”

One of the things I loved about Jennifer was her uninhibited attitude, but in this case when I’d told her we were going dancing, I’d meant exactly that. “That’s what I’m calling about. Look, I’m sorry I have to cancel this evening, but something’s come up at work.”

“Really? Do you realize I spent a week’s salary on the outfit I plan to wear tonight? You promised to take me—”

“—dancing at the Starlight Room. Yes, I know.”

“Oh, really? And you have the nerve to cancel at the last minute?” The sweet voice on the other end of the line suddenly wasn’t so sweet. Cold was more like it, as a matter of fact.

“It’s not precisely the last minute.” I was supposed to pick her up at eight, and Jennifer had time to scrounge up another guy who’d fall all over himself to be seen with her on his arm. I was quite aware I was just another fish on her line. I kept quiet, though, and listened as her tone became more and more acidic. Finally I had to interrupt her. “Ah, come on, angel. Don’t be like that.”

“Who’s the bimbo you’re seeing?”

“I’m not seeing another bimbo…I mean another woman. You know I love you, honey.”

“Then be here at eight.”

By eight I’d have been in space seven hours. “I’m sorry, angel, but this is my job we’re talking about. You knew I was a flyboy.” That was one of the things that attracted her to me. Well, it attracted all of them.

“You…you—” She slammed the phone down.

I winced and gingerly hung up the receiver. This latest trend, swinging back to old-fashioned telephones, had to have been dreamed up by women for the satisfaction of slamming the receiver on a hapless lover.

“Well, that didn’t go too badly.” Ed sat there grinning at my misfortune, and I gave him an injured look.

“You think this is easy?” I drew a line through Jennifer’s name and then dialed the last number. “You try using the same hokey excuse to cancel four…uh…three dates you made for the same night.”

“It’s not an excuse if it’s the truth, Dominick.”

“You think they care?” Or believed me? “Not in this lifetime, pal. Now shut up and let me deal.” Eight rings and nothing. Where the hell was Barb? If she didn’t answer, I’d have to leave a message, and I didn’t want to do that if I could help it. It was cold.

“Hello?” Barb finally picked up just before the answering machine could field the call. She spoke in a breathy voice, and I could never tell if she’d just gotten off the treadmill or if I’d called while she’d been in the bathroom.

“Hi, sugar. It’s Nick.”

“Nicky!” she squealed, and I winced and switched the phone to my other ear. “I can’t wait to see you, dream!”

“Neither can I. Look, sugar—”

“I found a new drink I want us to try!” Her voice became sultry. “It’s called an X-rated kiss!”

“I know you—it’s called what?”

“Oh, yes. It’s got raspberry liqueur, X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, and gin, and it’s garnished with edible flower petals!”

Where did she find these drinks? “Never mind. I know you were looking forward to our date tonight. So was I, sugar, but something’s come up and—”

“Don’t tell me you can’t make it!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“You’re seeing someone else, aren’t you?” She sniffled. Oh, God, I hated when women cried.

“No, sugar. You know I wouldn’t break a date with you to see another woman. I’ve been called back to base—”

Ed threw the Bible at me, and I caught it and flung it back. It hit him square in the chest, and he flinched and rubbed the spot. Take that, I thought smugly.

“What are you doing?” he growled. “This is supposed to be a classified mission.”

I covered the receiver. “Everybody knows. It’s in all the papers.”

“And I’ll bet it gets you a lot of tail.”

“Don’t be crass, Edward.”

Meanwhile Barb had gone past crying and was outright sobbing. “My friends warned me about you, but you had the sweetest blue eyes, and I thought I could trust you!”

“Of course you can trust me. Ah, sugar, you know you’re the only woman I love.”

“Dominick Marsham, you’ve broken my heart for the last time!”

“No, wait, please, don’t slam the phone—shit.”

Ed rolled his eyes and burst into laughter. “Too late, huh?”

I scowled at him and cupped my ear protectively, trying to dull the ringing. “I don’t know why she didn’t believe me when I told her I love her. I do, you know.”

“Yes, but the thing is, you also love sweetheart and angel and honey…”

“Yeah, yeah.” I shrugged, balled up the paper with the phone numbers of the women in my life, and threw it into the trashcan. I kept the men’s numbers where they’d be safest—in my memory. “I hope Doc appreciates me. I’ll have a lot of groveling to do when I get back to town.”

“I sincerely doubt that. You’ll return the conquering hero, covered with glory—”

“So will you, Ed.”

He waved that away. Oh, God, a self-effacing hero. “And they’ll trip all over themselves to see you again. I don’t know how you do it, Dominick.”

“It’s a gift, m’boy.” I didn’t want to rub in my success with the ladies, but I always figured if I had it, I might as well flaunt it.

Granted, Ed had only joined our crew six months before, but he’d been on the base for months before that, and the scuttlebutt was he didn’t date. I wondered if he was even acquainted with Mother Palm and Her Five Daughters.

Now me—if I did without s*x for that long, I’d start looking at anything that was human.

I had my standards after all.

I’d offered to take care of that little matter for him a few weeks after he’d started bunking with me—I’d wanted to give him some time to appreciate the offer. If he’d asked, I’d have told him it was in the interests of brotherhood, only Ed had a completely different perception of what I meant. He’d thanked me and told me he could get his own woman just fine.

Either the man was completely without a clue, or he was so straight he had a corncob up his butt.

If he gave me the least indication, I would have relished replacing that corncob with my c**k. In spite of his abrasive personality, Captain Edward Carlyle had one fine ass.

And just because I liked women and mostly dated them didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate it.

“Come on, Dominick,” he said, swinging his feet off the desk and rising to stretch any kinks that might have taken up residence in his back. He turned and stooped to retrieve his gear. “Time to get ready for our mission.” He started for the door.

It was probably just as well he missed the look I gave the firmly curved part of his anatomy that flowed from his lower back to the long muscles of his thighs. It was mostly habit on my part anyway and meant nothing.

“Have you got your cards?”

“Yes.”

Technology for space travel had improved a lot over the past century, and we could walk around the cabin without weighted boots to keep us from floating into each other. Clothes would be supplied, and they wouldn’t take up much room. However, it had been suggested we take along some things to pass the time. Ed had that deck of cards.

“We going to play poker?” I’d asked.

“No. This is my Bible.”

Okay, I’d gotten it. The ace was God, the deuce the Old and New Testaments, the trey…Yeah.

I didn’t know what Doc and whoever he’d found to be our navigator were bringing along, but I slid a palm-sized reader into my jacket pocket, along with a set of miniature headphones. This reader not only held thirty-five hundred books—and only a small portion, a really small portion, of those were porn—but my entire music library.

I reached the door, then paused, turned around, and went back to the desk. “Thought I’d forgotten you, didn’t you?” I opened a drawer. In it were condoms and lubricant. Birth control and protection against sexually transmitted diseases had taken huge strides, but my old man couldn’t have cared less about seeing I was vaccinated, so I used my own precautions to make sure I was safe. I wouldn’t be needing them for the three weeks we’d be away from Terra, and I left them in the drawer. Instead, I took out a package of bubble gum, and tossed it into the air. After I’d caught it, I put it in my shirt pocket and followed Ed out the door.