Liam's List (4 page)

Chapter Four

Liam

My missions in Dohuk often involved
simultaneous and overlapping duties—security, combat,
reconnaissance work, humanitarian efforts, and training of the
local nationals. But since my return to Iraq, the primary concern
in Dohuk had been security, which meant I spent more time on patrol
than anything else. As the insurgents expanded their war against
the coalition forces, killings in and around Dohuk had escalated.
Civilians were subjected to kidnappings; the Iraqi police remained
targets and were being murdered.

My company commander ordered a total lockdown
of the city, and we began door-to-door searches of the entire
community. Methodically and systematically, we entered every house
and checked every room, seeking out weapons caches and rooting out
insurgents. But despite our best efforts, the violence did not
abate.

Dohuk remained a hotspot for insurgent
activity.

My platoon worked long shifts, trying to keep
the area secure, and at the end of each day, we were all
frustrated, exhausted, and under significant duress.

To blow off some steam,
most of the men in my unit played first-person shooter video games
like
Halo
and
Call of Duty
. I used to join them, but I didn’t anymore. Something about
the rhythmic thumping of a machine gun just built up all my
hypervigilant emotions.

So instead, I spent my downtime strength
training—mainly pushups, pull-ups, and crunches. Midway through my
workout, I heard my phone beep.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I leapt to my
feet and grabbed my phone off the desk.

A slow grin began to spread across my face as
I read Vivian’s “dirty” text.

Hey, babes. I’m sine and you’re cosine.
Let’s make a tangent.

It was so Vivian-like to use a math line.
Sexy but in a nerdy and dorky sort of way. After all, isn’t sex
like math? You subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and hope to
God you don’t multiply. Unable to wipe the grin off my face, I
texted her back.

If you’re sine squared and I’m cosine
squared, then together we are one.

Seconds later, I got another text from
Viv.

I wish you were my second derivative so you
could explore all my concavities.

I was about to
text:
I want to be your derivative so I
can lay tangent to your curves
. But then I
decided to go with something else. Something a little bit more
naughty.

Baby, I don’t need to be
your second derivative to know your inflection points and critical
values
.
Right
now, I long to be your definite integral
…
to fill the space between your
curves.

Shortly afterward, my phone beeped with her
response.

Oh, I like that… and I’m not opposed to
integration by parts. BTW, I’m a big fan of 90-degree angels.

Barely a second later, my phone beeped
again.

Autocorrect, you idiot nightmare!!! Clearly,
I meant angle.

A deep chuckle rumbled in
my chest. Viv was such a straight goofball and I loved that about
her. Grinning like an idiot, I texted:
I
miss you so much
…
like a limb lost at war.

My phone beeped right away.

Nooo! Don’t say that!!! You’ll jinx
yourself!!!

I texted back:
Oops. Sorry
.

Viv’s next text didn’t come right away. But
when it did, it gave me pause.

Sigh. I wish I was your math problem
set.

I texted:
Why?

My phone beeped.

Because you’d be doing me on your desk.

My gaze wandered over to my desk. I imagined
bending her over, caging her body against the desk as I took her
from behind, filling her pussy in one smooth and deliberate
stroke.

The building swell of my erection pulsed
painfully beneath my fatigues. I released a ragged sigh. She was
making me so goddamn hard my cock was going to have a permanent
imprint from my zipper.

Restless and highly
aroused, I paced the room. I
had
to hear her voice, see her face.

Swallowing with a dry throat, I began
texting, my thumbs working in perfect tandem.

Can I call you now?

No sooner had she replied, letting me know
she was at home and could talk, I called her. She answered on the
fourth ring. “Hey.”

“
Hi,” I said. “You sound a
little breathless.”

“
I do?” I heard the smile
in her voice. “So do you. What were you doing before I texted
you?”

I closed my eyes, trying to dispel that
image. That image of me fucking her against my desk. “Just some
strength training exercises,” I answered. “Pushups, pull-ups,
chin-ups… that sort of thing.”

“
How many?”

“
I’m not sure. I think I
lost count after a thousand.”

“
Show off,” she said,
ignoring the teasing note in my voice. “I can do pull-ups, too, you
know.”

“
Really?” I asked, though
I never once doubted she could.

“
Um-hmm,” she said in that
sassy tone of hers. “A girl ought to be able to manage a few
pull-ups. Hell, if I ever found myself hanging over a precipitous
drop, I’d feel pretty damn stupid if I was just hanging there and
couldn’t pull myself up.”

“
Good point.” I took a few
paces, swinging the tension from my arms as I walked. “So tell me,
how was your day? Wait,” I amended, “since it’s just the start of
your day, how was your day yesterday?”

“
It was okay.” I heard the
slight strain in her voice.

“
And how were your classes
at the U?”

“
They were all right, I
guess.”

“
Talk to me,” I said. “I
can always tell when something’s bothering you.”

She sighed into the phone. “My problems are
nothing compared to yours. I’d feel silly even talking about
’em.”

“
C’mon now.” I gently
coaxed. “You know you can talk to me about anything.”

She sighed again. “It’s my philosophy class.
The professor is an obnoxious pig and I’m in way over my head.
Everyone else seems so sure of themselves when half the time, I’m
just second-guessing myself.”

“
You’ll do fine.” I
assured her. “Trust me, you’ll likely ace the class.”

“
Really?” she said with
some surprise. “You sound so confident of that.”

“
That’s because I have all
the confidence in you.”

“
And why’s that?” she
asked.

“
Because you have the kind
of wisdom each of them lacks, namely, an open awareness of your own
ignorance.”

My answer startled a laugh out of her. “How
do you always do that?”

“
Do what?” I was still
pacing the room, trying to extinguish the heat in my
groin.

“
Know how to make me feel
better. Even though you
did
just call me a bright idiot.”

“
I did
not
. Viv, you’re the sharpest knife
in the drawer,
and
I called you an open-minded genius.”

When she didn’t comment, I cleared my throat.
“You know, speaking of open-mindedness, um…” I coughed lightly.
“How do you feel about Skype sex?”

“
Interesting segue.” Her
voice took on a coy inflection.

A nervous laugh escaped me.

A moment passed.

And then another.

The silence was unnerving. “It can be an
important part of a long-distance relationship,” I offered.

Still, she said nothing.

Just as I was about to backtrack, she said,
“I think it’s a great way to keep the sexual spark alive.”

“
Yes.” The word came from
me in a rush, too earnest, too eager, like some post-pubescent
teen. “Yes!
Exactly
what I was thinking. We could, you know, go the distance in
spite of the distance.”

“
Uh-huh.” That’s when I
heard it, the faint note of wariness in her voice. “I’ve never done
it before, though.”

“
Neither have I,” I said
gently.

“
What if I don’t know what
to say?”

“
You don’t have to say
anything at all. Let your body do the talking.”

“
Let my body do the
talking,” she repeated.

“
Yes,” I said
carefully.

After a pause, she said, “Okay.”

“
Okay?” I asked, just to
be certain.

“
Okay,” she said with
resolve. “We’ll try it. All experimental pursuits take some getting
used to, right?”

I closed my eyes and tried to master my
breathing. “Of course.”

“
So…” Her voice was
pitched low, little more than a purr. “When would you like to do
it?”

“
Well…” I hedged.
“Merrick’s not here. He’s over at Julian’s quarters, playing
Call of Duty,
so it’ll
be hours before he comes back.”

“
All right, soldier.” She
laughed softly. “Turn on your web cam, and I’ll turn on mine.” At
those words, my cock hardened to granite intensity.

Chapter
Five

Liam

Vivian’s webcam flickered to life. “Hi.” She
looked directly at me, her soft expression stealing the breath from
my lungs. She looked impossibly sexy in one of my white Oxford
shirts. Sun-streaked blond hair fell past her shoulders in a swath
of waves, caressing those lush breasts that rose temptingly beneath
the button-up shirt.

I felt my cock twitch. “You wear that shirt
often?”

“
All the time.” She smiled
at me, her eyes now full of determination, maybe even excitement.
“It smells of you.”

My gaze raked over her body before making the
slow climb back up to her face, and there it lingered on her
mouth.

Her lips fell apart, plump and red, and she
moistened them with her tongue.

If she kept that up, she was going to make me
come in my pants. “Do me a favor and flick a few buttons open on
that shirt.”

She sat back in her chair and held my gaze.
“How many?”

I held up five fingers.

She reached up, slowly, almost deliberately,
taking her time as she worked the buttons, drawing my eyes to her
exposed breasts. The morning sun was shining through the slanted
venetian blinds, casting a beautiful contrast of shadow and light
across her pale and lustrous skin.

Reaching an arm above my head in a long
stretch, I reclined in my chair as I silently appraised her,
enjoying the way her coral-pink nipples puckered under my searing
gaze.

“
You trying to draw
attention to your abs?” Vivian’s lips tipped into a charming,
flirtatious grin, and it was clear her nerves had melted
away.

Slowly, I lifted my eyes to her face. “I’m
just trying to get comfortable.”

The sunlight caught in her eyes, setting them
shining, making me think of how beautiful she looked when our
bodies were tangled between the sheets, how sexy she looked when
she came.

“
Lose the pants, soldier.”
All teasing fled her voice. “I want to see more of you,
too.”

I ground my teeth at the effect her voice had
on me. With a flick of my wrist, I undid my pants and shucked them
off. “Your turn.” I held her gaze. Intense. Probing.

She hooked her thumbs beneath the edges of
her pink boy short-style panties and dragged the scrap of lace down
her long and shapely legs.

“
Now touch yourself.” I
swallowed. “Cup your tits.”

I loved her tits. There was a magic and
bounce to real breasts that couldn’t be replicated with fake tits,
and Vivian had been blessed with two of the greatest.

Smiling slightly, she bounced her tits in her
palms before squeezing them teasingly, thrusting those luscious
breasts forward for my view.

With one arm still stretched behind my neck,
I stroked my heavy cock as she massaged the soft swells of her
breasts, giving herself up to the pleasure, letting the rolling
sensations flow and seep through her body.

“
Look at me,” I said
quietly. “Look at me when you touch yourself.

When our gazes locked, neither of us smiled.
We were beyond smiling at this point. Pressing her soft tits
together, she rolled her engorged nipples beneath her thumbs,
moaning low in her throat as they peaked and hardened under her
ministrations.

I watched her, the heat in my eyes
tantalizing her, encouraging her until I could no longer bear
it.

“
Spread your legs for me,
Viv,” I ground out. “Yes…” My breathing turned rough and uneven.
“Keep touching your tits.”

She complied, toying with her tightly beaded
nipples as she opened her legs, baring her smooth pussy to my
darkening gaze.

Her labia, now flared wide open, was pink and
dewy… coated with tiny beads of moisture. “Beautiful,” I murmured,
my voice low and reverent. My cock throbbed at the sight of her
plump clit peeking out of its hood. “Now slide a finger inside that
slick heat,” I commanded.

Keeping my desire in check, I maintained a
slow pace, my hand stroking from the base of my cock to the swollen
tip as I watched her pleasure herself.