Finding Mikayla Read online

  “Those are some damn fine stitches, Sergeant,” Brad says, admiring Mitch’s handiwork. “You sure you’re not a doctor?”

  “No, sir,” Mitch replies. “But thanks for the compliment.”

  I, too, appreciate the proficiency of his efforts. Most doctors can’t even stitch that well. When Brad leaves I ask Mitch, “How did a flight medic, who works under tremendous pressure and must do things on the fly, learn how to suture so well?”

  “It’s a gift,” he says. He leans close to my ear and whispers, “Among my other talents.” My face heats up and goose bumps prickle across my skin.

  “Ugh!” I hear, and turn around to see Jamie walking in for her shift. “Would you mind keeping your PDAs to a minimum? This is a workplace, you know.”

  I roll my eyes at the person who, just a few short weeks ago, was spread-eagle on an exam table in this very same place of work.

  I give Jamie the daily report before Mitch and I head out. I walk in the direction of the mess hall because it’s approaching dinnertime, but he grabs my arm and jerks me the other way, toward the apartments.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” I ask.

  “Very.” He looks at me from under his hooded lids. “Just not for food.”

  Suddenly, he scoops me into his arms and carries me across the parking lot.

  Oh!

  “With the way you’ve been looking at me all day,” he says, “undressing me with your eyes . . . do you really think food is what I crave?”

  “Undressing you?” I pout. “What about you, with your whispers in my ear and all the leaning into me and brushing against me?” Just talking about what he did to me today makes me feel all warm and gooey in all the right places.

  “Sweetheart, I don’t care who started it as long as we both make it to the finish line.”

  We get to his apartment to find that, thankfully, Austin has already left for work. Mitch is still carrying me and doesn’t put me down until he practically throws me on his bed.

  Caveman.

  He wastes no time at all tearing at my clothes. “Mitch, we’re out of condoms,” I remind him.

  “Mikayla, if you think I’m going to let that stop me, you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

  “But we can’t—”

  “No, we can’t,” he cuts me off. “I promised you we’d stay safe. I keep my promises.” He pulls my pants off and stares at my almost naked body. He runs his hands up my sides, all the way up to my head where he releases my hair from its captive tie. He works his fingers through my tresses and then pushes it behind my ears. He leans down to whisper, “I want to taste you, Mikayla . . . every inch of you.”

  I stiffen and my heart pounds so hard I think it might actually burst through my chest.

  “Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?” he asks.

  “No. It’s just that . . . um . . .” I feel it coming, but I can do nothing to stop the deep crimson that I’m certain is working its way across my face. “I’ve never done that before.” I throw my arm over my eyes in a childish manner, as if doing so will render him incapable of seeing me.

  “What?” he asks, in utter disbelief.

  Hiding under my protective arm, I say, “Uh . . . Jeff was kind of a germaphobe and he said that there was just too much bacteria to be safe. He said he saw some pretty disgusting things during his gynie rotation. So he never . . . I never . . . well, we just didn’t.”

  “Okay, well, how do you feel about it?” he asks. He removes my arm from across my eyes and stares at me with want and passion. “Will you let me taste you, sweetheart? It’s all I dream about. Well, that and cereal,” he jokes.

  Of course I want this. I’ve heard stuff. I’ve definitely read stuff. But I can’t speak, I can only nod my head in agreement. His eyes light up then he kisses me long and hard, his lips and tongue sucking, swirling and licking—all a preview of what he plans to do to me and it has me squirming under him before he even makes it below my waist.

  Ten minutes later, I’m staring up at the ceiling, unable to move after screaming exaltations to Mitch and to God and to whoever else might have been within earshot.

  “Oh. My. God.” There are simply no other words.

  I feel Mitch smile against my stomach, where his head rested after bringing me to the best, quickest, and most earth-shattering two orgasms I’ve ever experienced.

  “Well, thank you . . . thank you very much,” he says, doing a terrible Elvis Presley impersonation, earning him a smack on the head.

  “Ow,” he says, feigning injury. He raises his head and looks up at me. “But, seriously, Mikayla, that was the hottest damn thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

  My eyes go wide. “You watched me?” I ask, horrified by how I must have looked shaking and yelling under his ministrations.

  “Hell yes I did.” He removes the pillow I placed over my head in my embarrassment. “And you have nothing to be ashamed of, sweetheart. You were amazing. You are amazing. I will never get tired of watching you come apart beneath me.”

  I feel his erection press against my leg and know what I have to do. What I need to do. What, more than anything, I want to do. I reach out to grab him and maneuver myself so that he understands my intention.

  “You don’t have to do this, Mikayla. I don’t expect you to do anything.”

  “I know you don’t. That’s one of the reasons I want to.” I kiss him and taste my own juices on him which I find surprisingly erotic. “I want to see you come apart, too. I want to make you feel as good as I felt.” I close my eyes and summon the courage to say one final thing. “I want to taste you, Mitch.”

  I could swear his eyes dilate on the spot at my words. His erection grows even harder and throbs in my hands as I lower myself and take him into my mouth for the first time.

  “Sweet Jesus,” he says, minutes later, coming down from his powerful release. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

  “So, it was okay then?” I ask.

  “Okay? Shit, sweetheart, that was more than okay. It was incredible, phenomenal, life-changing. Are you sure that was your first time?”

  I can’t help the victorious grin that overtakes my face. “Yeah, but you’d be amazed at what you can pick up from books.”

  He laughs, coming up to kiss me, not even complaining about tasting himself. I lose myself in him once again.

  We never do make it to dinner.

  ~ ~ ~

  We walk hand-in-hand over to the softball field for our regular Friday night game. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but it feels so comfortable, so incredibly right to be walking like this with him. Everyone has gotten over the initial shock of the town doctor now having a boyfriend. Everyone but John and Jamie, that is. Jamie is as spiteful as ever. Pam overhead her and a friend talking about Mitch being fair game until he puts a ring on my finger. Apparently Jamie said that even then, she still wouldn’t count him out because that’s when things really get interesting.

  I know Mitch is not the least bit drawn to her. But she is gorgeous and thin and sexy and has big boobs—all the things men find hard to resist—so there is always going to be that insecure part of me that worries he will fall into her trap of seduction. I often wonder why she ever set her sights on Mitch when she could have just about any man in camp eating out of her hand. I think it stems back to the very beginning when she thought she would be in charge of the clinic with her years of advanced nursing experience. Then the green medical resident shows up and suddenly gets seniority over her. It’s like high school all over again, and I hated it the first time.

  Luckily, Jamie is working tonight so she is nowhere near the softball game. John, however never misses a game and he is not very discreet about loathing Mitch, either. If John and Jamie would get over themselves, they would see they are perfect for each other. They are both young, attractive, highly sexual and, of course—snakes in the grass. Kindred spirits I’d say. But they’ve set their sights on us and apparently, they don’t like
to lose.

  In the seventh inning, Army is up by six and probably won’t even lose the game if they try. We have a man on first and I’m up to bat. Mitch is pitching and smiles seductively at me right before he throws an easy lob right over the plate. I smack it out to left field and take off running. Mitch’s eyes follow me the entire way. I make it to the base just in time to see Mitch double over and grab his leg.

  He turns around and shouts at John, who threw the ball directly into his thigh, “What the fuck was that? The runner was going to second, even I know you don’t have that bad of aim.”

  John smirks at him. “Well, if you were paying attention to the game instead of being so worried about your piece of ass over there, you would have seen it coming.”

  Mitch throws his glove down and walks quickly towards John. John throws his glove down and pushes his sleeves above his elbow. I don’t miss the devious smile that forms on his lips.

  Shit! This is not good.

  Does John have a death wish or something? Mitch has taken him down once already and that was before we were even a couple. I have no doubt that Mitch would pulverize him to defend my honor. John may have bigger muscles, but Mitch is taller, broader and stronger than he is.

  “What the fuck did you just call her?” Mitch yells at him, no longer bothering to address him properly after his display at The Oasis a few weeks ago.

  Others take notice of what is about to happen and run over towards them.

  “I just call it like I see it,” John says. “That’s what she is, right? A piece of ass until you get your memory back and move on to your real life.”

  Mitch’s eyes flash over to mine before he all but runs the last few steps to John. Luckily, Austin and a few other guys get there first and push John and Mitch apart before they can throw any punches. I run over to them as well, but I keep my distance.

  Austin pulls Mitch back and says, “Don’t let him get to you, man. You know he’s just trying to goad you, right?”

  “Come on, John,” one of the major’s friends says. “It’s not worth getting into a fight.”

  “Maybe not,” John says, loud enough for everyone to hear. “But, have you seen her rack? I’d take a few punches over those any day.”

  Mitch breaks Austin’s hold and balls his hands up into fists, pulling one back to take a swing at John. But, Austin is too quick for him and grabs Mitch from behind, forcefully restraining him from hitting John.

  Mitch points a finger at John and yells, “Don’t talk about her, don’t look at her, don’t even think about her, you piece of shit!”

  The game obviously finished, some of the guys drag Mitch away and we all walk over to gather up our things.

  “Don’t worry, Mitch,” John calls out over his shoulder. “I’ll be here to pick up your sloppy seconds when you’ve moved on.”

  Mitch tries to turn around, but Tom and Austin have not released him from their hold. “Let it go, man,” Tom says.

  “Come on, let’s go get a drink,” Austin says to the group of us standing around Mitch and everyone murmurs their assent.

  Holly whispers to me, “Jeez, testosterone much?”

  I roll my eyes at her.

  “Seriously, Kay . . . you need to watch out for John. He’s picking a serious bone with Mitch and you seem to be the pawn. I’d stay as far away from him as you can get if I were you,” Holly says.

  Holly, Pam and I walk over to The Oasis together while the guys talk Mitch down. By the time we get there, Mitch has calmed down somewhat and we find a table while Craig and Holly go in search of much needed alcohol.

  After a few shots, everyone settles down and we even manage to ignore the major and his friends who have chosen a table on the other side of the deck.

  A slightly inebriated Mitch drags me out to dance when a slow song starts playing. I let him practically fondle me on the dance floor. I know it’s for John’s benefit. Mitch is marking his territory and for some reason, I’m more than happy to let him do that. I see John taking several shots while eyeing us dance. Luckily, he eventually gets drunk enough to pass out and some of his buddies take him home allowing the rest of us to enjoy the evening.

  Mitch gets called up to play guitar. “Do you mind?” he asks.

  I smile and shake my head. Do I mind?

  Is he kidding?

  Watching him play guitar is the most potent aphrodisiac in the world. While he plays, he locks eyes with me and it’s as if each song he plays, he plays only for me, sings only to me. I think he’s onto me, because he just feeds my fire with his selection of seductive songs.

  Holly announces to the table loudly, “If you all hear noises coming from my bedroom, it’s because I’m releasing the mountain of sexual tension oozing off these two.” Everyone at the table laughs.

  When Mitch comes back to join us, Pam puts a brown lunch-sized paper bag with a bow on top of it in front of me. I eye her suspiciously. “What’s this?” I ask.

  She motions to everyone sitting at our table except me and Mitch. “It’s a little something from all of us. We pooled our resources to get you an early birthday present.”

  Oh! Okay . . . well, my birthday isn’t for another week, but now I’m excited. I open the bag and reach in to pull out the contents. But, before I can completely reveal to everyone what I’ve been so generously given, a blush comes across my face and I stuff it back in the bag.

  The others laugh and Mitch asks, “Well, what is it?”

  “It’s for you,” I say, slapping the bag against his chest while I roll my eyes at my friends.

  “For me . . . but I thought they said it was for your birthday.” He opens the bag and looks inside. His face lights up like a Christmas tree when he sees the three-pack of condoms.

  “Awww, guys, you shouldn’t have,” he says to them. Then he stands up quickly, causing his chair to fall over backwards. He throws me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I scream at him to put me down, but he just grabs the paper bag off the table. “No, actually you should have. Gotta go now.” He gets some high-fives from the guys on our way out.

  I fully expect him to put me down when we get out of view, but my caveman won’t have it and continues to carry me like this all the way to his apartment.

  One condom, two hours and three orgasms later, we lie beside each other, panting, our bodies covered in a sheen of sweat. He says, “Best. Present. Ever.”

  I giggle and agree with him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  There was a lot of excitement around camp this week. A small convoy arrived, bringing information from the capital. The soldiers were making their way through Florida, finding groups of survivors and telling them the state of affairs. Apparently we have done pretty well for ourselves here at our little outpost. They chalked it up to good leadership and a remote location. Unfortunately, most groups didn’t fare so well.

  The U.S. took the hardest hit from the solar flares and EMP so it will take many years to rebuild the infrastructure that we had come to rely on. Some countries in the Far East came out nicely, but they are holding back help for political gain. Shipping companies are by far the business to be in nowadays as they are transporting new and rebuilt electronics overseas daily.

  The soldiers told us of people hitching rides on ships. They heard that anyone who wanted passage would have to work on the docks for a month in exchange for the ride. Soldiers and others stationed abroad had started trickling in months ago. But there was much death and destruction overseas, especially in the places that were at war, and they weren’t very optimistic about all the troops returning. Ironically, more people are leaving the country than are entering it, choosing to go in search of places overseas that don’t have it quite so bad. With the massive reduction in world population, crossing borders into most countries doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore, barring those far eastern countries that didn’t take a big hit.

  They said the primary objective of our government, other than the safety of our people, is to get
the power up and running. At this point, they have limited power in the D.C. area with rolling outages. It is estimated that power will reach Florida in about a year.

  They’ve told us to sit tight for now, but to also think about the future. They will need men to work the power grid when they get this far. The government has also started a program of deeding land to those who will participate in sharecropping. That too will work its way to us.

  Medically, there is talk of people gravitating to the Jacksonville area where one of the largest hospitals is working to become a regional point of care.

  Undoubtedly, we are devastated to hear that the projections were correct and that the population is a mere fraction of what it was just a year ago. That, in turn, led to another main objective of the government which is to prevent disease due to the millions of decomposing bodies around the country. This convoy is part of an initiative to recruit and set up remote bases for biological hazard containment. The colonel has graciously offered Camp Brady as a coordination site and many men here have volunteered their services.

  Colonel Andrews is cautiously optimistic at this point and would like to maintain the status quo around here until we get further information.

  The news has left many people stunned. I think some thought that one day the power would just come back on and it would go back to life as we knew it. Now, with the details these soldiers have provided and the stories they’ve told us about what has gone on for the past year, reality has finally hit some and hit them hard.

  I’m not one of those. I like it here. I wouldn’t really mind if things stayed like this forever. Growing up, I read all the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ books and I dreamed about being Laura Ingalls Wilder. Okay, yes, I do miss some of the conveniences from our former lives such as air conditioning, modern medicine, and most recently . . . readily available prophylactics. But, I’ve come to think that my mom was right. Technology did poison society. I see firsthand how relationships these days are stronger and more genuine without texting, e-mail and other electronic forms of communication that distance people from each other.