If Things Were Different

"You got that right, Dustin. Once she's a little closer to retirement, I may try testing the waters and see if she might be interested in dating a rather...successful attorney."

He looked at the younger man then said in a way that told Whitaker the colonel knew 'the kid' didn't have a prayer, "Don't go getting any ideas, though, okay? You're a great kid, but let's be honest, you are just a kid."

Undaunted, Captain Whitaker said, "You know, sir? It's funny, but I have actually thought about that myself. And now that she's retiring...."

Aimee's heart was in her throat as she continued listening, unable to even move.

"Yeah, right! Like she'd be interested in someone half her age!" he said with a booming laugh. "Look, there are all kinds of gorgeous girls around here, Dustin. Hell, the University of Washington is only a few miles away and it's crawling with beautiful young co-eds. If I was your age, I know where I'd be hanging out in my spare time."

Whitaker wasn't going mention co-eds held no interest to him, or point out the age difference was thirteen years rather than the 16 or 17 Woods was implying. Then again, it was one of those 'distinctions' without a difference where the older man was concerned, and he was pretty sure he'd get it thrown right back in his face.

Instead he just said, "I'd never tell her how I feel as long as she's on active duty, either, but you know, once she does retire, things will be different and...."

Colonel Woods laughed loudly again, stood up, then said, "Keep dreaming, young man. Always dream big." He leaned toward the young officer then said, "Even if it's nothing more than a pipe dream."

Captain Whitaker stood up to walk the colonel out and as he did, Aimee quietly got up and quickly slipped out of her office before they opened the door.

She made it several steps down the hall, then turned around and walked back just as they were saying goodbye.

"Colonel Woods! Good to see you, sir!" she said professionally.

"Hello, First Sergeant. You, too."

He also smiled then said, "Are your ears burning?"

"Sir?" she asked pretending to be clueless but worried he might somehow know.

"We were just talking about you," he told her. "All very positive and professional, I assure you."

She reached up and touched her ears, both of which were exposed as her hair was worn up and said, "No. They're not even warm, sir."

Both men laughed politely then Colonel Woods thanked her again for all the support over the weekend.

"Oorah, sir!" she said enthusiastically.

"You know, we're all gonna miss your smiling face around here, First Sergeant. Any chance you might be retiring locally?" he asked, laying down his initial marker.

She glanced at Captain Whitaker then said, "Up until just a few minutes ago, I was thinking I might be leaving the local area."

"Oh? What's suddenly causing you to think about staying?" the Marine officer/attorney asked.

"Until then I was under the impression there was no reason for me to stay. I guess I'm just feeling a little hopeful that things might be...different."

She glanced at Captain Whitaker again as she replied to the reserve CO, and he couldn't help but wonder if she somehow knew what he'd said. He'd watched her walking toward them in the hallway, and he hadn't seen her in her office when they were talking. But he also knew she could have overheard them, and suddenly he felt like a little boy who'd been caught stealing cookies. A very hopeful little boy at that, though.

"Well, once you retire, things will be different," Colonel Woods told her with a smile. "That'll change a whole lot of things, right?"

Again, she looked at Captain Whitaker as she answered.

"Yes, sir. It really will. Or I'm hoping it will, anyway."

Once the unit commander was gone, Captain Whitaker told the first sergeant, "Can you step into my office? There's something we need to discuss."

Her heart went from calm to racing as she grabbed a yellow legal pad and said, "Yes, sir."

Once he was seated she sat down and waited hoping and praying he might finally say something.

"It's September and we have the Marine Corps Ball coming up in November. You'll be gone, but we still need to get things ready."

Crestfallen, she forced a smile and said, "Roger that, sir. We've got a lot of the preliminary stuff out of the way already, but we still have a ton of details to take of care of."

"Exactly. Are you and the reserve unit's sergeant major working together on this?"

"Oh. Well, when he has time, sir. As you know, he's a police officer and he puts in a lot of hours."

"Right. Okay, I guess that pretty much leaves you, me, and our band of merry men and women on the staff, huh?"

"No worries, sir. We'll get it all taken care of along with the next two drill weekends," she assured him. "And with any luck, my replacement will be here in time to have a decent turnover."

"I have no doubts, First Sergeant," he told her with a smile.

"Will that be all, sir?" she asked wanting to go back to her desk and then just keep going.

"Um...no. I guess there's one other thing I wanted to mention," he said.

Aimee had never seen him look nervous or unsettled, but that's exactly how he looked as he said, "I'm not sure how to put this, but...."

He looked away for a moment then said, "I...I just wanted to tell you, I'm...I'm not...brain dead."

"Sir?" she asked momentarily feeling almost dizzy as her thoughts swirled around wildly.

"In terms of relationships, that is. I may be a little...dense at times, but I'm not...brain dead."

The way he looked at her told her he knew. He wasn't going to come out and tell her he knew, but he was letting her know he understood he was the guy she'd been talking about who might be able to keep her in the local area. She in turn, wasn't about to tell him she'd heard every word he'd said about her.

Her heart had stopped racing the moment he'd mentioned the birthday ball, but it was now revved up again and pounding hard as his words sunk in.

"I'm...I'm very happy to know that, sir," she said very quietly.

They sat there in an awkward silence that seemed to last a very long time before Captain Whitaker finally said, "I uh...I think that'll be all for now, First Sergeant."

"Oh. Right."

She stood up and said, "I'll uh...I'll get to work on the ball right away. As soon as we come back on Tuesday."

"Good. That sounds...really good," he told her, his speech halting as he talked.

"Okay, so I'll just go back to my desk then I guess," she said pointing toward it.

"Yeah. Of course. That makes sense," he said knowing neither of them was making any sense.

As she started to walk out, he said, "First Sergeant?"

"Sir?" she said immediately as she spun around.

"Do you um...I mean...you PT on your days off, right?"

"Oh, yes, sir. All the time," she said, her heart now beating like a drum.

"Me, too," he replied before the start of another long, awkward pause.

"Did the captain want to...ask me something, sir?" she said with hope it might be about something more than just what she did on her days off.

"I was just wondering if, you know, since you like to run and I like to run, well...would you maybe like to say...go for a run? Together?"

Almost bursting with happiness and feeling like a teenager, she said, "Yes. Definitely. I'd like that. Very much."

Also relieved, Captain Whitaker said, "Great. Me, too. Would it be okay if I maybe gave you a call so we could decide when and where to meet?"

He was a grown man who'd dated older women, but his palms were still sweating and so were other places that were soaking his tee-shirt.

"Oh. Yes, sir. Anytime. You can call me anytime at all," she said repeating herself and feeling silly but happy beyond words.

"Great," he said again feeling equally foolish. "I'll uh...I'll do that then."

"Okay...sir. I'll...I'll look forward to it," she told using a voice he'd never heard from her before. It wasn't businesslike at all. It was soft and feminine and even sweet.

As she sat at her desk, Aimee found herself unable to even think let alone focus. She had a stack of paperwork to finish, but just sat there and stared at it as she thought about what had just happened.

The 'strangeness' of the conversation not only didn't matter, she understood why it had been so...strange. In fact, it seemed to her that it almost had to be like that as this amazingly-handsome commissioned officer who was also her reporting senior, tried to reach out to her and let her know how he felt about her without being able to openly tell her.

An hour passed and she'd barely made a dent in the stack before realizing she couldn't go home until it was done. She took a deep breath then reached deep down into her very deep well of professionalism and forced herself to accomplish the mission and just before midnight she was finally done.

She tapped on their adjoining door and waited.

"Oh, hey, First Sergeant," he said as though he'd been daydreaming.

"I...I just finished my last report, sir. I wanted to see if you had anything else for me before I head home."

"Oh. No. Nothing else. Thanks for everything this weekend, by the way," he told her.

She noticed the stack of paperwork in front of him and unlike her, his hadn't even been touched.

"Can I maybe give you a hand with some of that?" she asked tactfully nodding to the pile of folders in front of him.

He looked at her then the stack then back at her.

"Oh, no. That's fine. I...I've just been a little distracted, I guess," he told her barely glancing her way.

She took off her 'first sergeant face' again and said just as sweetly as before, "I hear there's a lot of that going around lately...sir."

"Yeah. I've heard that, too," he told her as he sat there now staring at her. Even after two very long days in the field without showers or any real amenities, she still looked beautiful to him.

"Well, have a good night, sir," she said knowing he was staring but not aware of it.

"Yeah, you too, First Sergeant," he told her before she walked out.

Aimee was wide awake by 0600 and checked her phone immediately as if she might have missed his call in the nearly six hours since she'd seen him last. She realized it was ridiculous but carried her phone with her as she used the bathroom then into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. In fact, she barely let it out of her hands the entire morning.

She'd looked at it a hundred times and when it finally rang about 11am, it scared the hell out of her. When she saw who was calling, she smiled as her heart began racing again.

"Good morning, sir!" she said happily.

"Good morning! You ready for a run?" he asked now sounding much more confident.

"I am," she told him just as confidently.

"Can we maybe meet halfway between our houses? You're in Spanaway and I'm in Lakewood. There's a bicycle trail on McChord (Air Force Base) that's really great."

"I love that trail!" she said immediately.

"Oh, is it one you run all the time? I mean, we can go somewhere else if...."

"No. That's perfect. I'd love to do that," she said excitedly.

"Okay. Is twenty minutes enough time?"

"Yes, sir. That's plenty. I'll see you there!"

"Oh, and can you try not to hurt me this time?" he said playfully.

"I can make no such promise, sir."

There it was again. That soft, sweet, feminine voice.

"Fair enough. See you soon?"

"Yes. See you soon," she said as they hung up.

As she drove to McChord, she wasn't about to mess this up by coming on too strong. She was going to continue being the loyal first sergeant while hoping her...her...what was he to her anyway? 'Love interest' sounded so hokey, but he certainly wasn't her boyfriend. Whatever he was in that sense, he was someone she now found irresistibly attractive and desirable, and if he'd once fallen for a woman who was 40 then...who knew?

Her heart raced when she saw he was already there stretching out when she drove up. He was bent over and she could not only see that wonderful butt of his, but she also took note of his muscled legs, something she hadn't noticed before.

She laughed when she thought about walking up to him and saying, "Do you work out?"

It was as old and as bad as a guy saying, "Do you come here often?"

Besides, she knew he did work out and the results were staring her right in the face.

"Hey, there, sir!" she said with a huge smile as she walked up.

He turned around and smiled back and said, "Good morning!" as she stood directly in front of him.

"I'm really glad you asked me to go for a run with you," she said, her resolve not to say anything at all waning fast.

"Me, too. We should have done this before."

"Well, things were...different before," she said sweetly in that voice he was growing to love.

When she saw the way he reacted, Aimee felt sick to her stomach as though she'd just said something awful.

"Sir, I was just trying to be funny. You know, the 'if things were different' line. If I said something...."

Without warning he leaned over and kissed her. Aimee was so shocked that he'd done what she'd hoped he'd do, that she nearly pulled away.

"Oh, my God. First Sergeant, I am SO sorry," he said as he watched his career evaporate right before his eyes.

"No. Don't be. I...I wanted you to kiss me. I was just so surprised when you did I think it scared me," she told him with real earnestness.

"So...you're not upset?" he asked still not sure of himself or of how she was really feeling.

"I'm upset that I reacted like that," she said tenderly with a sweet smile as she moved closer again. "If you kiss me again, I promise I won't pull away this time."

He smiled then said, "Maybe you should call me Dustin. You know, if I'm going to be kissing you."

She smiled in a way he'd never seen before telling him she was very happy.

"Okay...Dustin. If you'll call me Aimee."

"Aimee. You are so beautiful," he said before he kissed her.

This time she not only didn't pull away, she put her arms around his neck and kissed back. The kiss was long and deep and very passionate.

"I've wanted to do that for quite a while," he told her when it ended.

"I'm glad you did," she said still smiling happily. "You have no idea how glad."

"So you see, I'm really not brain dead," he told her trying not to laugh.

"No. You most definitely aren't."

"Even so, I still want to ask. Am I that guy?"

"Hmmm. Maybe you are brain dead," she said sweetly before kissing him for several seconds. "I put in for retirement hoping and praying that would make things different enough for you to feel comfortable enough to let me know how you feel."

"You knew?" he asked thinking he'd played it oh-so cool.

"Ha! I'm not brain dead," she teased.

He quickly picked her up and spun her around causing her to shriek with laughter.

"I thought I was playing my hand rather well," he told her when he set her down.

"I hope you don't play poker," she teased.

"Hey!" he said teasing back. "Was it really that obvious?"

"All that matter is it worked out, right?" she told him.

"Yeah. I guess so," he agreed.

"I have a confession to make," she told him, her arms still around his neck.

"Oh? Do tell," he said as he touched her pretty face.

"I kind of overheard you talking to Colonel Woods in your office on Sunday," she said playfully wincing.

"Ah, hah! Eavesdropping, were we?" he said trying to be very stern.

"Kind of?" she said, her eyebrows raised high. "I didn't mean to listen in. I just sat down and you were both talking and...."

"I see," he said matter of factly. "So you must also know someone else finds you very attractive."

"Oh, would that possibly be a...very successful attorney?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yes. One and the same. Should I be concerned?" he asked.

"Nope. Not one bit," she told him. "I don't have a wicked crush on Colonel Woods."

"But you do on me?" he asked as though he didn't know.

"Yep. I got it bad for you, Marine. Very bad," she said as she pulled him close again and kissed him.

As he pulled her even closer she 'felt' him and pushed back.

"Mmmm. You know, we don't have to go for a run," she whispered.

"No. We don't, do we?" he said.

"I mean. There are a lot of ways to PT, right?"

"Yes. A lot."

"So...what would you like to do with me, Dustin?" she asked as she playfully bit his ear.

"Well, being a gentleman, I probably shouldn't say it out loud," he replied playing along.

"Oh, okay. Well, you could just...show me...if that would make it easier."

"It would," he told her. "Could I maybe show you at my place?"

She pulled him close again then said, "Do you have any idea how happy I am right now?"

As their bodies met again, she felt him again. Harder and thicker.

As she pushed back against him again, he said, "I believe I do."

Aimee got serious for a moment then said, "I don't want to do anything too soon that might ruin any chance of a long-term relationship. I mean, I want you so bad I can't stand it, but I could wait if...."

"Uh-uh. I want you, too, Aimee. For the short-term, the middle-term, and for the long-term," he told her as he stroked her cheek.

"Then...yes, I'd very much like you to show me what you'd like to do with me—at your place."

She smiled then added, "Or...to me?"

He walked her to her car then said, "Follow me?"

"Anywhere," she told him.

He went to turn away, and as he did, she grabbed him and pulled him back for another kiss.

"I don't know how long it takes to get to your place, and I wanted to make sure I could make it."

"I'll drive fast, okay?"

"K," she said sweetly.

"But I promise I'll slow way down once we get home."

"Mmmm. I may not be able to wait that long," she told him.

He kissed her one more time then said, "Get control of yourself, First Sergeant!"

"Aye, aye...sir," she said as he walked away.

"Oh, nice butt!" she called out.

He laughed as she said, "I've wanted to say that for quite a while, too!"

Gill had been a very good lover, but Dustin Whitaker had just rocked Aimee's world.

She'd cum three times before he finally entered her and she'd exploded in a fourth, mind-blowing orgasm several minutes after he did.

"Oh, my God! You're like some kind of secret weapon!" she said as she lay in his arms.

"I was worried," he told her. "I'm very much out of practice."

"Seriously?" she said as she raised up to look at him. "I can't wait to find out what you're like when you're back in fighting form!"

He laughed then said, "I've been told I'm a handful."

She reached down and took him in her hand and said, "You can say that again!"

Both of them laughed as he rolled her over and made love to her a second time.

"I feel like I'm living in a dream I never want to wake up from," Aimee said when they were finished.

"Same here," he said sincerely.

She raised up again then said, "Tell me the truth, okay?"

"Always."

"Am I...I mean...do I...look...old to you?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern.

He gave her a serious look back then said, "Hmmm. I was kinda busy. Maybe I should take a closer look."

He raised up the sheet that was covering them and started looking her up and down as though he was trying to see if she looked old.

As he did she said, "Dustin! Stop! Don't be mean. I need to know, okay?"

He pulled her on top of himself then said, "Aimee, you are quite possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Really? Do you really mean that?" she asked, her eyes still hungry for the truth.

"Of course I do, honey," he told her using an endearment for the first time.

Within a second of hearing that word, her eyes filled with tears as she said, "I...I don't want to scare you, sweetheart, but...I think I may already be in love with you."