ELEVEN
Cooper
Two Years Later
As I got out of the yellow cab and saw the New York City skyline, I suddenly realized how much I had missed the city. The car drove away. I walked up on the sidewalk and pulled out my phone.
Everything had fallen apart after Jade left FOB Cobra in Afghanistan. Captain Jeffries, involved heavily with the smuggling operation, had ordered her to the chopper after Max blew himself up.
The damn fool had constructed a bomb from mining dynamite. It had gone off before he had a chance to take it off the base. He had said it was to shut-up a local Afghani who wanted to report us.
I glanced up at her building from across the street, wondering what apartment was hers. Was she looking out a window at me right in that moment? I checked her address on my phone then put it away.
After more than two years of not hearing from her, I had looked up her information online. It had cost me two hundred dollars, but I got it.
Crossing the street, I wondered why she hadn’t contacted me over the years. Her last night in Afghanistan had turned hot and heavy, but she was sent away before we could finish what we had started.
I made it to the front door of her building, not seeing a doorman. After finding her name, I pressed the button to ring her apartment. She’s not home, I thought immediately, stepping away. I’ll come back some other day.
“Hello? Who is this?”
The sound of her voice thrilled me.
“Me,” I said.
“Who is me?”
“Cooper.”
“Cooper?”
“Yeah, from Afghanistan.”
“Oh, Cooper! Come in.”
The door buzzed and clicked, unlocking. I walked through, entering the lobby. On the way to the elevator, I thought about the two years since I’d last seen her.
Was I insane for showing up out of the blue? Questions went through my mind as I rode the elevator up to her apartment on the eleventh floor.
The moment I reached her door, I knocked. The door swung open immediately. When I saw her beautiful face, memories of the naked moment we shared in Afghanistan flashed through my mind.
“Cooper,” she said, her long, dark hair as curly as ever. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s been two years since we met, and I thought I’d look you up.”
She didn’t seem thrilled to see me. I guess I didn’t know what to expect.
“Come inside a minute. I need to leave for work.”
I stepped into her apartment.
“Anyway, like I said, we were separated a bit abruptly, and…”
“Yeah,” she interrupted then took a step toward the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the living room.
Her shoes tapped on the well-polished wood floor as she walked over.
I followed her, captivated by her body. She hadn’t changed a bit.
“That’s quite a view.”
“Right? It’s why I moved here. The rent is crazy expensive, but I think it’s worth it.”
“You must be some big-name journalist by now.”
She frowned.
“No. I’m an editor now.”
“Oh, working on the other side of the equation? Still a journalist though. They kicked me out of the Army about a year after you left. I’ve been roaming around since then.”
“I’m not actually a journalist anymore. I edit…other stuff.”
The way she said “other stuff” peaked my interest.
“I’d love to talk with you about it.”
“Like I said, I’m on my way to work. It’s weird that you caught me. I’m usually not here this late in the morning. How did you find me, anyway?”
“Oh, some stuff I did online.”
She smiled.
“Turn-about is fair play.”
“How about dinner tonight?” I asked.
I watched as she took a deep breath. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to stop thinking of her naked body. If anything, I found her even more beautiful.
“Okay,” she said. “But I need to go now.”
She put her hand on my arm then let go and walked toward the door.
“I’ll pick you up around six?” I asked as I followed her.
“Yeah, that should work. Give me your number.”
“Here…” I dug my phone out and handed it to her. “Call yourself.”
As her fingers manipulated the screen, my eyes kept stealing glances of those perfect breasts. I wanted to see them again, taste them again.
She handed my phone back to me as we stood outside her door.
“If I don’t call you, meet me here at six,” she said as she turned the doorknob to check that it was locked.
“Here’s hoping you don’t call me.”
She smiled.
“My life’s a little chaotic right now, but it’s good to see you, Cooper.”
“I understand. We can take it slow.”
As we walked down the hall side by side, I pushed all the questions aside. The elevator doors closed and my body tensed as I fought the urge to take her right there.
She turned and grinned at me as we rode down. Did she feel the sexual tension in the air too? The doors slid open and we walked toward the front door.
“It’s good to see you, really,” she said again, gently placing her hand on my arm.
“I’ll see you later tonight. Have a good day.” I turned to walk away.
“Are you headed uptown? We could share a cab?”
“No, I’m the other way.”
“Oh well. We have a lot of catching up to do. I guess it’ll have to wait until tonight.”
“Tonight…” I replied, smiling at the thought of what the night could hold.
She waved then spun around and took off down the street, stretching her arm out for a cab. I watched a moment or two before turning and heading to find a place to kill time.
After leaving the military, I had been living on the small nest-egg I’d acquired helping Max and the others extract a ton of minerals from Afghanistan.
On rare days I missed working, having a reason to get out of bed in the morning, but most of the time I enjoyed having nothing tying me down.
Max called me occasionally, wanting to go into business together, but I’d never taken him up on the offer. We got away with our operation in Afghanistan. I didn’t want to push my luck.
Thoughts of the past faded as I concentrated on the future. After two years, I would finally be having uninterrupted time with Jade, the woman I’d never been able to forget.