First... thank you for all the reviews, they really do help me know how people like or don't like my OC characters I'm using. I'm so happy that everyone loves Lydia(who is canon)! She might not be a Beach fan, but she's seems like a good honest woman. You can see why Stalker loves her! On to the new chapter!
They arrived at the motel and Lydia was laughing so loudly that Courtney could still hear her over the squealing of the tires as she braked into the parking spot. "That was AWESOME!" She finally managed to stop. "Oh man.. my boys would love to ride with you.. not that I'd ever allow it, understand.. but that was truly a Mr Toad's Wild Ride, girlfriend!"
CoverGirl was all smiles as she popped the trunk and hefted some of the bags out. "Thanks! Usually the guys just scream and cower in the seats. It's nice to have a real rider with me."
Lydia got the rest of her bags and followed the slender woman down to the room. "Well, the guys are a bit timid that way. They should just let you drive all the vehicles.. I'll bet the transport times would be cut by at least a third!"
They both laughed again and CoverGirl sat on the room's bed(she noted, there were indeed two beds in this room as well) while Lydia cleaned up and unpacked some of her things. Lydia suddenly let out a sigh. "Oh great! I forgot my toiletries bag!" She pressed her lips together in a angry line. "I can't believe it! I packed the WHOLE thing! And I must have left it sitting at home. Well FUDGE!"
Trying not to snicker at her lack of cursing, CoverGirl held up her hands. "Well, the base PX isn't very far away.. no problem if you want to go, we could just run over there and you can get whatever you like."
"Well, I don't want to be a bother.." Lydia did look so relieved that there was no way Courtney wouldn't take her now.
"No bother at all.. let's go.. maybe we'll get back before the guys finish playing with their guns. Besides.. I need a new teeshirt or two. I'll bet there's a couple cool ones. Maybe I'll have to get Beach a new Ranger teeshirt." She smiled and got up, jingling the keys.
"Thanks..I do appreciate it." They headed out, turning heads as the high number of bachelor soldiers would always choose to stop to watch a pretty female.. civilian or Army.
BeachHead and Stalker were walking back to the motel when a loud horn blew behind them. A lilting voice called out in a flirtatious tone. "Hey.. pretty Ranger boys... you wanna ride in a pretty car?"
Beach turned to yell angrily and was knocked aside by Stalker who jumped into the convertible to wrap the dark-skinned beauty in the front seat up in his arms. "LYDIA!" Beach grumbled softly and walked up to the side of the car. Stalker grinned at his wife. "You got here? What are you two doing over here?"
She laughed and pushed him out of the car. "Get in the back seat.. let poor BeachHead in the car. We're holding up traffic." The two of them arranged themselves in the backseat and Beach settled into the front seat, propping his rifle carefully against the seat and frowning at CoverGirl. Lydia reached to pat the tank jockey's shoulder. "Home James."
"You got it, girlfriend!" CoverGirl smiled at Beach and lifted her new sunglasses to give him a onceover. "You look good, Beach. Get your gun all ready?" She slammed the gas pedal down and sped down the road, making Beach swallow nervously as he saw the upcoming cross street.
"Street.. cars... Kreiger.. watch the.. " He shut his mouth as she braked, reaching out to brace himself against the dashboard. "My gun is set. Thank you fer askin'." His breath caught slightly as she slammed the gas to take off again, the wheels squealing against the pavement. "Easy.. ya ain't gotta fly under the danged radar..."
"Hush up and let me drive." She grinned as the engine roared. "Shooting competition day after tomorrow, right? Can we come to see that?" She swung around the curve and watched out of the corner of her eye as he braced one hand on the dash and grabbed the door in a death grip with the other. "Lydia is great, by the way. We went by the PX. There's a ton of stuff.. I could shop for a couple hours there."
Beach gritted his teeth and tried to answer in a calm tone of voice. "Ya'll can come watch parts of the shootin' but it's over a obstacle course too. Yer welcome to see the jump tomorrow though..." He inhaled sharply. "Pedestrians... fer gawd's sake don't run down that major.."
"Oh for pete's sake Beach.. calm down. I've never run down anyone that I wasn't trying to run down." She swerved just slightly and missed the small group of officers by at LEAST a full foot. The rearmost one jumped and squawked, glaring after them. Lydia laughed at his face and waved out the back at them.
Her call back to them made them frown harder. "Sorry guys!"
Beach put a hand over his eyes. "Oh gawd help me.. ya'll are gonna get me in trouble yet. It's the first danged day.. could ya try not to get me arrested before at least I get to jump?" He winced as they whipped into the parking lot and swung into the spot in front of the room. "Yer crazy, Kreiger. Besides.. you really should have driven more carefully.. you might have terrified Miss Lydia."
Everyone climbed out of the car and the two ladies grabbed bags up. Lydia gave BeachHead a slap on his arm. "Oh don't try using me as an excuse you big wimp. I'm fine with a little bit of daring driving. Makes a girl feel alive! Besides.. I'm sure Courtney doesn't get to drive exciting vehicles like convertible Mustangs very often." She smiled over her shoulder at them as she followed her husband down to their room. "It's not like you military men let her drive tanks or things like that!" The couple disappeared into the motel room and Beach turned a extremely annoyed look on CoverGirl who held up her hands defensively.
"I swear I have not said a word to her. Honest, Beach. You know I don't blab to civies." She waited while he thought it over. "Just a coincidence, I swear."
He nodded. "Alright.. you ain't never been one to leak information no how." Nodding towards the door, he flipped out his room card and opened it up. "You girls got everything ya need with all yer shoppin' then?" His rifle was settled back into it's case.
"Yep.. got everything. Lydia accidentally forgot her overnight bag.. so she had to buy several things.. the essentials you know." He blinked at her. "Soap... make-up remover.. brush.. comb.. toothbrush.. that sort of thing?"
"Oh. Gotcha." Beach rubbed at his shoulder a little and Courtney stepped over to stroke up his arm.
When her hand got to the ball of his shoulder, he winced just slightly and pulled away. She peered at him. "What's wrong?"
"Shoulder is sore. Stiff from sitting in that stupid plane fer hours, then I put a lotta rounds through my rifle.. wanna make sure it's perfect." He rolled his shoulder a few times trying to stretch it. "It's fine."
CoverGirl smiled and reached to push him backwards. "Well.. let me help you with that.." He stepped back when she crowded him and bumped into the edge of the bed and tumbled backwards onto the bed. "There you go.."
"Hey! Back off! What are ya doin'?" His hands came up to fend her off as she reached for him. "Stop!"
"Oh good lord, stop being such a baby. Roll over." He pushed her hands aside and finally grabbed her wrists. "Beach! What's wrong with you? Roll over!"
He held firm to her wrists. "Why?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her and she sighed at him. "No.. I don't.. uhh.. I..."
She leaned over him, resting her weight on her captured wrists he still held up and away from him. "Beach.. I'm not trying to molest you. I'm offering to rub your shoulder out for you. You know.. massage the knots out of your back?"
He blinked at her. "Oh.. ahh.. yeah.. that's nice of ya.. really.. but.."
"But what? Roll yourself over and relax." She waited and he hesitated and thought about it a moment. When he released her hands, she stood upright and tossed her hair back over her shoulders to get it out of the way while he arranged himself facedown on the bed. "There you go.. just relax." Climbing up on the bed on her hands and knees, she straddled his hips and tried not to think about the muscled rear under her. "Pull off your shirt. It'll be easier to work on your back." He twisted and dragged the teeshirt off over his head and wadded it up to toss at the chair. She rubbed her hands together and gazed at the sheets of muscle shifting underneath marred skin. "Lie still and relax."
"Yeah..." He shifted around one last time and finally settled.
Her hands touched down and she felt him jump under her touch, the twitch running across one shoulderblade before he stilled again. The bundles of muscles felt tense and hard under her palms and she rolled her palms carefully across the various muscle groups repeatedly. "Beach.. please.. just relax.. I promise I'm not going to DO anything."
"I am relaxed.." Even though he protested, she saw him twist slightly and then his back softened as he allowed himself to un-tense. She began to knead the knots out of each area carefully, causing him to let out soft grunts and groans as she hit especially sore spots. Working her way up to the kinks in his right shoulder, she pressed her knuckles into a particularly bad knot and he jerked under her. "Ow.. take it easy.."
"Relax.. it's got to hurt a little. I thought you were tough." She smiled as he grumbled under his breath. Rolling her knuckles back and forth slightly, she eased off the pressure bit by bit until she could begin to knead that spot out. "See.. feel it releasing?" He grunted in reply and shifted a bit under her hands to give her better access to that shoulder, turning his face to the side and closing his eyes. "You okay?"
"Unnnngh.." Beach was mostly concerned with making sure he didn't begin drooling. Her fingers dug into his meaty shoulder and pinched into the spasmed spot, causing pain to shoot through it to his upper arm. "Ow.." He was pretty proud he'd gotten the actual word out in a coherent manner. She didn't let up the painful grip until the spasm began to release and then it was a slow gradual thing. When she began to massage that spot out finally he sighed and closed his eyes again, feeling the warmth from her thighs where they rested along his hips and the warm hands stroking and rubbing out the soreness from his back and shoulders. Letting out another soft sigh, he tried to thank her and managed a deep groan.
She smiled down at him. "That good? You're turning into a limp dishrag, Beach." She began to massage his shoulders carefully, smoothing all the spots out.
"Yaa.. dish...nngh..." Another softer groan and he became still underneath her legs. The feel of his bare skin under her hands turned warm. She looked over his skin, watching the way it pulled taut with the scar lines tugging where they cut through the layers and sometimes into the underlying muscles. She had to be careful where she pressed in to avoid tweaking the scarred muscles into spasms. Little pock scars tied the outer skin to deeper damaged muscle. The resistance finally dissipated totally and his back relaxed.
"There you go..." She stroked her hands over his back softly, feeling her way over the gouges and sleekness. "Better?" She didn't get a reply and leaned over him to peer into the slack face. "Beach?" she asked softly. The only response was a slightly deeper breath drawn in and slowly sighed back out. "Aww.. Beach." He was asleep and she carefully lifted her leg to get off the bed without waking him up. "I wasn't angling for a nap, really... but.." She sighed and shrugged to herself, rolling her eyes in amusement. "I guess you're gonna take a nap." She reached to lift his foot slightly and placed it all the way onto the bed. Tugging the coverlet loose from the one side of the bed, she laid it over him and then settled up at the head of the bed, resting a hand on his back gently. A soft mumble emerged and she shushed him. "Go back to sleep.."
"Gunngth.." Comment made, he settled back to a deep sleep and she flicked the tv on, putting the sound down low so he wouldn't wake up. Finding a mindless chick flick, she settled to watch it for a while.
End chapter
I hoped that you enjoyed. Yes, I know, a massage scene is pure sugar. My beta loves them. Okay, I love them too.