Karen was removing clothes all the way to the bedroom. Jason was so delighted and excited he floated behind her without blinking. He barely breathed. When Karen turned to sit on the bed, which was already pulled down, all she wore was the most tasteful and sexy dark colored underwear Jason had ever seen.

"My God, what a woman you are, Karen."

"You like?"

"I love. You're gorgeous."

"Good. Now get your butt over here and let me even the score a little."

Jason once again obeyed, and before long he stood in front of her completely naked.

"You're not so bad yourself," Karen said, looking Jason up and down his entire body. She stopped when she got to his eyes. "What a man," she purred.

Jason couldn't remember ever being this excited. Maybe it was Karen's beauty, maybe it was all those years of abstinence, but Jason was as excited as he had ever been. "I want you, Karen."

"You can have me, Big Boy," she moaned. "I'm all yours," and fell back on the bed.

 

 

Jason and Karen laid in bed afterward winded and fulfilled. He was stunned at all the ways Karen used her body and his. Making love was like basic instinct to her. To Jason it seemed as if they had made love a hundred times. No, he corrected himself. It was far too exciting for it to have been the hundredth time. It was more like the tenth. New enough to be exhilarating and exciting but familiar enough to be intimate and comfortable.

She's like a professional, Jason thought, cradling Karen with his right arm around her slender body. No, not a professional, he corrected himself and couldn't hold back a smile. At least I hope not.

As he simmered in the unbelievable experience, Karen leaned up on her left elbow and began to touch his chest ever so lightly, causing goose bumps to appear wherever her fingernails grazed his skin. After the animalistic ritual they had experienced, this tenderness was completely unexpected and entirely prized by Jason who until two weeks ago felt like he may never experience anything like this again.

Megan used to do the same thing, he remembered, and was taken with a twinge of guilt. I hope you're not too upset with me, my sweet Megan. But I had to move on sometime, didn't I?

"Are you okay?" Karen asked, her face a picture of beauty and concern in the room's soft light.

He said, "I'm fine, Karen," but thought, Maybe this is too soon. Maybe this was a mistake. I barely know you, and here I am making a commitment to you.

Jason heard Karen whisper something, but he didn't catch the words. "What was that?" he murmured warmly.

"What are these spots I feel on your shoulder?" she asked, leaning over his body trying to see the puckered and dented skin she kept rubbing on his upper left arm.

"Oh, it's nothing really."

She crawled over his body and gasped, "Nothing? Are you crazy? What happened to you?"

There were four small football shaped scars within a three square inch area.

"It's no big deal. I..."

"What the hell happened to you? Are these bullet holes?" Karen exclaimed and sat up on her knees with her derriere resting on her heels.

What a gorgeous woman, Jason thought as he took in the sight of her tanned skin.

She leaned back down and explored behind his shoulder with her right hand. She found the corresponding exit wounds on his shoulder. There wasn't much he could do to avoid dealing with the subject now, so he admitted, "Yes, I was shot. It was quite some time ago. It's no big deal, really."

"Yeah, right! Just a normal everyday occurrence. What happened, were you a policeman or something?"

"Something like that," he said, rolling away from her and the inquisition he was afraid he was in for. "It's nothing. Forget it."

"Talk about secrets, you son of a bitch. What are you hiding from me?" she derided angrily and covered her body with the sheet.

"I'm not hiding anything illegal or anything like that, Karen. I may have a secret, but it's nothing bad."

"I'm thinking it's a big, fat secret, and I thought I made it clear to you that I don't like secrets." She slid off the bed dragging the upper sheet with her, leaving Jason without a cover. "Was this ever a mistake?"

"I hope you don't really feel that way, Karen," Jason said, reaching out for her.

She screamed, "Ouch!" when he grasped her injured wrist.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry, Karen," he said and reflexively released her arm. "I forgot about your bad wrist. Just calm down and come back to bed. I'll tell you what happened. I just don't like to talk about it. It's from a bad period of my life. Come on. Come back to bed."

He held his hand out for her. Reluctantly, she gave him hers and climbed back into bed but remained upright with the sheet wrapped tightly around her body. She remained completely silent, staring directly at his mouth waiting for an explanation.

He had definitely found her sore spot. Was she cheated on or abused? Maybe both. What else could cause such a reaction? But who in their right mind would cheat on this absolutely gorgeous woman?

He gestured for her to lay down next to him, but when she continued to stare and remain unmoving, he propped his body on his left arm, took a deep breath, and said, "I was in the military many years ago." He pointed toward his left shoulder and continued, "This happened there."

Still upset, Karen said, "What's the big deal with that? Why the big secret?"

"It's not a secret, really. I just don't go around advertising my service or my injury."

Softening, she said, "Unless you did something terrible your service is something to be proud of, not kept hidden away. There's certainly no reason to hide any of it from me."

"Well, maybe I won't in the future. Like I said, it's no big deal."

"I'd say getting shot is a pretty big deal. My God, did this happen in a war?"

"No. Actually we were having an inter-battalion picnic. The badminton tournament ended up getting a little out of hand."

She shoved him, and he toppled from his perched position on his elbow to his back.

"You're a strong little vixen, aren't you?" Jason complained. Before she could hit him again, he said, "Yes, it happened in war. It was in Afghanistan."

"This looks bad. My God, did you almost die?"

"No. Well, yes. The injury was grave, but I wasn't close to dying. Not unless you count from blood loss."

"I think that qualifies, you jackass," she said, and pushed him again and began to laugh.

Laughing also, Jason said, "I guess that's true when you think about it. But my squad didn't consider blood loss a very good excuse for dying. My injury wasn't even bad enough to get me kicked out of the Navy. Why are you smiling?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Karen said, and chuckled. "It's just that you're so formal. The way you talk is. It's like I just slept with a teacher or something. You weren't a professor, too, were you?"

Jason laughed loudly. "Call me Mathurin Kerbouchard. Scholar, physician, sometimes a soldier, sometimes a reader of the stars."

"What?" Karen exclaimed.

"Nothing. It's a character from one of my favorite novels. No, I'm no professor. I suppose I speak the way I do because of my mother. She used to talk kind of formal like this. It's weird how that happens. Or maybe it's not weird at all. Anyway, duh, I got hurted when I fighted in da war and stuff..."

"You're a shit," Karen said, laughing. Then she leaned over and kissed him.

That led to round two and some indecision later that night on Jason's part. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep up with this T-Rex in the bedroom or in the emotional arena either.

What a dilemma, he thought and smiled as he fell asleep with Karen's head on his chest, watching her head rise and fall faintly with the cadence of his calm breathing.