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9

WORM

W aiting in the hallway for Allison to emerge from her room, Worm adjusts himself, willing his cock to behave itself. He needs to get his mind off this sexy woman, but her unique, sweet flavor is lingering on his tongue. Damn, if he isn’t hard as rock. The last thing he needs is to be sporting a boner in front of his teammates and Emma’s family.

Worm had been dreading spending a week in the Tennessee mountains. He’d rather be at base training, on deployment, or back at home with his mom and sisters. He isn’t a fan of sitting around chit chatting.

When Worm had called Leigh to tell her about the wedding, his mom had been with her so Leigh had switched the call to Facetime. The three of them had had a nice conversation. Leigh and his mom had insisted he needed to take this time for himself and enjoy his teammate’s wedding. Seeing his mom looking more like herself had eased some of his worries but not all of them.

The sound of Allison’s door opening draws Worm back to the present. Thankfully, thinking about his family has calmed his raging hard-on. That is until he sees Allison stepping into the hall. His breath catches in his throat at the sight of her. Fucking beautiful.

Allison’s brown hair is hanging in waves around her face and down her back. She’s wearing a navy short-sleeved A-line dress. Her ample cleavage peeking out from a deep neckline. The dress is made of a flimsy material that clings to her curves. The hem falling to the tops of her knees, but still showing off her legs.

Worm’s heart pounds in his chest. His eyes travel from bottom to top. Allison pulls the door closed, turning, she looks up. Their eyes meet. She blushes and drops her gaze. He wonders if she is remembering the way he’d made her come just minutes ago.

He pushes off the wall he’s been leaning against. “Damn, sugar, you’re giving me blue balls.”

A laugh burst out of her. It’s the most beautiful sound he has ever heard. “Sorry…not sorry!” Allison sasses with a grin, then takes off down the hall swaying her hips dramatically. Worm groans, jogging to catch up with her. It’s going to be a long night.

Reaching her side, he takes her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. When they reach the elevator, they’re met by Gloria, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Lettie, the latter of which grabs Allison into a hug.

“Where have you been keeping yourself, Allison? I haven’t seen you in forever!” Aunt Lettie exclaims, tightening her hold on Allison. Worm isn’t sure how she can even breathe from the woman’s tight hold. “Please tell me you have found yourself a nice young man to settle down with?” Aunt Lettie glances at Russell, giving him a scrutinizing look. She looks back at Allison with expectation. Allison shakes her head. “No, Aunt Lettie. I haven’t found a man to settle down with.”

Aunt Lettie frowns with a heavy sigh. “Well, there’s still time, dear. We never thought that Emma, being her size, would ever find a man,” Aunt Lettie continues, shaking her head, “but she’s got quite a handsome one. I thought she would be the old maid out of all you girls.”

“Aunt Lettie, don’t be rude,” Allison chides. “Emma is beautiful just as she is. You know she has health issues that make it difficult for her to lose weight.”

“Yes, that’s what she tells us,” the woman says, though her tone indicates she isn’t convinced. She looks at Allison with a determined look. “You need a man, Allison. I worry about you out roaming the world all alone.”

“I’m fine on my own,” Allison says. They step onto the elevator as a group. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

Worm is proud of Allison’s strong, independent nature. She’s standing up for herself to her overbearing aunt, but a strange, unfamiliar feeling sweeps over him at her words. Something inside him wants her to need a man…to need him.

“I’ve taken self-defense classes,” Allison continues, “I have my conceal carry license, and I never leave home without Alice.”

“Alice?” Gloria asks, giving Allison a hard look. Allison smiles sinisterly at her cousin.

“Yeah, Alice,” Allison says, lifting the hem of her dress to reveal a thigh holster with her hot pink pistol inside. “Never leave home without her.” Allison laughs at the shocked looks. Worm’s cock responds to the glimpse of her creamy flesh. Memories of how soft and warm it is flooding him. He tries unsuccessfully to hold back a chuckle. Allison elbows him good naturedly.

“Oh, Lord, Allison! Cover yourself!” Aunt Jenny exclaims, her eyes darting to Worm. He averts his eyes to keep the woman from berating Allison further. “If you had yourself a good man, you wouldn’t need to be carrying a gun,” Aunt Jenny counsels. “Do you even know how to use that?” her voice rising higher.

She turns to Aunt Lettie without even waiting for an answer. “What are we going to do with these kids? They have all lost their minds. Women carrying guns, like some wild west gunslinger, running around half-dressed. What is this world coming to?”

“A lady wouldn’t be caught dead carrying a gun in our day,” Aunt Jenny joins in, shaking her head. “It just boggles the mind.” The two older women continue to bash the younger generation on the way down.

They exit the elevator into the lobby then turn right, heading toward the hotel restaurant. Wallace and Emma are standing just outside the entrance greeting everyone as they arrive.

“Oh, Allison, you’re looking refreshed,” Emma says as they approach. Her eyes squint while giving Allison an assessing look. Worm glances over to see Allison’s face is flushed, no doubt remembering their encounter in her room.

“Um, yeah, I had a nice nap,” Allison replies, fidgeting with the skirt of her dress, her cheeks getting redder by the second. She glances at Worm, nervously. Still holding her hand, he gives it a squeeze. She relaxes a little, but becomes tense again as more of the crew arrives.

The noise level is rising with everyone chatting. A hostess appears behind Wallace. “I have your table ready if you’d all follow me.” The woman turns, heading toward a room in the back of the restaurant.

Worm places his hand on Allison’s lower back as they walk to their table. He pulls out her chair, then takes a seat next to her. More of Emma’s family and friends have arrived, including many of Worm’s teammates.

“Welcome everyone!” Emma exclaims, once they are all seated. She begins the introductions. “As I say your name, please stand so everyone can see you. I realize thatsome of you know each other, but Curtis and I wanted to have this week for our friends and family to get to know one another.”

Emma begins by pointing to a brunette. “Susie Beth, is my best friend since we were toddlers.” Worm has known the petite brunette for a while. She is completely opposite to Emma, having a thin frame and long, dark hair. She has a firecracker personality and is Emma’s biggest fan, next to Wallace.

“Beside her is Christopher Manchester a.k.a. Virus. He serves with Curtis.” Virus stands, briefly, nodding at those around the table. He is tall and lean, but muscular. His dark brown hair is longer than a standard military cut, and is paired with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. Most of the guys on the team have longer hair and beards to help them blend in when they’re on assignment.

“Next is my cousin Gloria and her husband Tim.” Gloria is dressed in a long-sleeved plaid dress that comes down to her ankles. Tim stands and nods to the group. He isn’t very tall. Worm would guess him at just under 5’ 11”. His blond hair is perfectly styled with a lot of products in it. The man is impeccably dressed in a suit, giving off a metrosexual vibe, nothing like the men Worm is used to being around.

“Beside Tim, is Robert Ford a.k.a. Straw, another of Curtis’s friends, and his girlfriend Abigail and her daughter, Ellie.” Straw and his woman stand. Straw has sandy blond hair with a lean, but muscular build and is sporting a day’s worth of scruff on his face.

Abigail is petite with light brown hair. Her daughter, Ellie is sitting between them swinging her feet. Her dark hair is pulled back in a high ponytail with a large bow attached. The child is full of life and has Hawk and Charlotte’s twin boys wrapped around her little finger.

“Next we have my cousin Leslie and her husband Johnathan,” Emma continues. The couple stands. Leslie is about the same size as Emma, though she is a little taller with long, straight, dark brown hair. Her dress is very conservative as well. The sides of her hair are pinned back with barrettes. Her husband is a little thick around the middle with a reddish-brown receding hairline.

“Now we have another cousin of mine, Samantha, or Sam, as we like to call her, and her husband, Derrick.” Derrick stands, holding out his hand to help his wife. He looks to be in his late twenties, same age as Worm. The couple just seems perfect together. Both are dark headed, a little on the heavier side, and about the same height. Worm admires the way Derrick looks at his wife, like she’s the only woman in the room.

Glancing at Allison, he realizes he feels the same way about her. More feelings than he’d like to acknowledge flow through him. He tries to squash all thoughts along that line. Worm has more responsibility than he can deal with already. He can’t be adding on more. He forces himself to focus on Emma, once more.

“Next we have my cousin Brittany and her husband, Michael.” The couple stands. Brittany is around 5’ 1” at the most. Her strawberry blonde hair is pulled into a severe bun. Her clothing is similar to the other women in her family, very demur, covering most of her skin. She looks so small and pale standing next to her 6’ 3” husband who has a darker complexion with jet black hair. His dress shirt is crisp and neat.

Emma then introduces Aunt Jenny and Aunt Lettie.

Feeling bored, Worm lays his arm along the back of Allison’s chair. She turns, glancing at him with curiosity and a smile. Worm leans close to her. “I’m getting hungry. Emma needs to hurry this along before I decide to skip to dessert,” he whispers, causing Allison to blush and giggle softly. She reaches over to pat his leg in sympathy. Then, Emma introduces them.

“Most of you know my cousin Allison,” Emma points to her. Allison stands, giving a little wave.

“Next to her is Russell Chapman a.k.a. Worm, another of Curtis’s teammates.” He stands giving a nod to those gathered around.

Once Emma is finished, the waitresses, who have been standing aside waiting patiently, step up to fill the water glasses and take everyone’s order.

“Why on earth do they call you Worm?” Leslie asks with derision. Her nose is curled up like she’s smelledsomething bad. Worm is wondering if he should ignore her or answer her question when Wallace pipes up.

“Worm got his nickname in bootcamp,” Wallace answers. “We’d just finished a difficult obstacle course and the drill sergeant was giving us hell, even though we’d finished in record time.” Several of Emma’s family have shocked expressions on their faces.

“We were soaking wet and covered in mud,” Worm jumps in to tell the story himself. “When he reached me, I had a nightcrawler hanging from my forehead in front of my right eye. We were standing at attention, so I couldn’t remove it.”

“The sergeant got right in his face,” Wallace resumes, “and yells, ‘Chapman! Why is there a fucking worm hanging off your forehead?’ We were all shocked when he replied. ‘Worms like me, sir!’” Laughter erupts around the table, at least from his teammates and their women. Emma’s family appears to be shell shocked from the F-bomb.

A petite, busty blonde with a head full of hair, leans over Worm to pick up his glass, brushing her large breasts against his bicep in the process. He glances over at the contact. She gives him a huge smile and look that lets him know she is more than a little interested. Just yesterday, he’d have been all for a little meet and greet after the meal was over, but after having tasted Allison, the blonde doesn’t do a thing for him.

Looking to his left, Allison is deep in conversation with others at the table. She is gorgeous. She is wearing minimal makeup, which Worm has always preferred. Even so, when it came to an easy lay, he hadn’t turned down a woman who was heavily made up. He is thinking that’s no longer going to be the case. He shifts uncomfortably. How can this woman get under his skin so easily?

Shaking his head, he decides he is just being ridiculous. He doesn’t have any feelings for Allison, other than desire. It’s just because he’s horny as hell since he hasn’t gotten laid in a very, very long time. Yeah, that’s the reason I can’t stop thinking about her.

The meal, which is delicious, goes by without incident, other than the waitress continuing to convey her interest unabashedly. The woman is persistent, but Worm continues to ignore the subtle hints she keeps dropping.

The dessert, a chocolate mousse cheesecake arrives. The waitress places Worm’s down in front of him, again, with a brush to his right upper arm. “Is there anything else you need?” she asks in a husky, come hither voice. Allison’s head jerks in their direction.

Worm shakes his head, reaching for his fork. “Are you sure?” the blonde asks, walking around to his left, placing herself between him and Allison. “Perhaps you need a napkin?” She lays one down next to him. It has a phone number written on it in pink ink with the name Monica and a huge heart.

Worm looks up at the blonde. He can see Allison is watching with rapt attention, just behind the waitress, with a mixture of emotions in her eyes. Anger, disgust, and uncertainty. Worm wants to wipe them all away, immediately. She should only look blissfully happy like she had after he’d made her come on his tongue.

“No, thank you, I won’t be needing it.” Worm picks up the napkin and hands it back. The woman’s expectant expression falls into a pout. She stuffs the napkin in her pocket, before slamming Allison’s dessert down and storming off.