Jake arrived later that morning with flowers and full of apologies. He begged Jolie to forgive him and forget all the tension he'd caused. He reminded her it was his last day in town, they'd made plans with others, and he didn't want to part badly.
She'd found herself in an exceptionally good mood after recent activities. She watched him, with great effort, showcase his best manners in his greeting to Warren even while being stared down by his adversary. As awkward and painful as it was to watch, she had to give it to him, he was trying.
Jolie buckled. Warren tried hard to hide his irritation, only the tick of the his jaw gave him away. She made a mental reminder to reward him for his self control that evening.
Eventually, all three adults accepted the truce. They sat at the kitchen table tossing around small talk in between sips of coffee and bites of English muffin slathered in strawberry jam.
"Do you remember the night Colson put his cruiser in the duck pond?" Jake laughed at the memory as he took a bite of his muffin. He pointed at Jolie with the remaining crescent. "It was right after you were cross trained between the agencies."
They'd been trading old memories and new stories of funny incidents for a while now. Warren had supplemented the conversation with a few good tales of pranks he'd pulled on Dustin and Luke while they'd been deployed.
"I remember! He yelled shit on the radio as he was sliding into the water and got in trouble by his supervisor." She giggled. "We were all giggling and laughing in dispatch, picturing his patrol car surrounded by muck and ducks and wondering how it happened."
"He put a patrol car in a duck pond and still had a job?" Warren asked incredulous.
"If I remember right, the story was that he failed to set the parking break when he jumped out to chase someone. He lost the guy and when he came back to the car it was just in time to see it slipping into the muck." Jake used the last bite of his muffin to illustrate the patrol cars demise.
"Did Luke ever tell you about the time he took out the fire hydrant with a Humvee?" Warren took a drink of his coffee and watched the amused look of curiousity take over her face.
"No! Please tell!" She'd never solicited stories about Luke because she'd thought they would upset her. Recently, with Warren, she found she really enjoyed them. They made her feel closer to her late husband. She could picture Luke, Warren, and Dustin as the three amigos, brothers in arms, together in the desert. It was a comforting thought, even if not entirely accurate.
Warren leaned back in his chair with his mug. Even Jake appeared ready to listen and enjoy the story. "It was right before he re-enlisted. We were back in the states. We pulled some crap, busy work detail transporting vehicles between bases. We'd just finished moving a convoy of 7-tons, which are really big transport trucks, over 200 miles." He tried to remember not everyone followed his terms. "We'd all piled, Luke, Dustin, two other guys and me, into a Humvee for the trip back. Luke was driving which was bad news. I don't know if you share my opinion, but Luke- he was a terrible driver."
Jolie giggled and grinned. She remembered gripping the seats in nervousness during long trips. Riding with Luke had been like being catapulted from location to another. Lots of speed and seemingly little control or regard for the laws of gravity.
Warren continued. "We were all pretty relieved when we made it back to the original base in one piece. Just as we were turning into the base, seriously we were home free, he pulled the turn too sharp. He ran right into, and on top of, a fire hydrant."
Both Jolie and Jake were laughing openly and leaning forward in anticipation of the conclusion.
"So there we are, right in front of the gates, MP's staring at us like we're nuts. I'm sure they were trying to decide if we were a terrorist threat, drunk or what. The front end of the Humvee was jacked 2-ft. up in the air and we're all staring out the windows down at the ground in shock." He stopped with a dreamy, nostalgic grin, reliving the moment. "Finally, Dustin looked over at Luke and just reached over and smacked him in the back of the head.That's when we all lost it. All the shocked chuckles turned into roaring laughter."
Jolie was almost crying with laughter picturing the men she loved so much in such a predicament and the looks on their boyish faces as they assessed the situation. She reached across and placed her hand on Warren's arms as he heaved with his own laughter.
"The MP's must have called in for reinforcements. They just stood there looking unamused. We hadn't even gotten out yet, we were laughing too hard. When the higher ups arrived, we finally got out and tried to look properly contrite. Which of course made it worse. It was a lost cause. This Lieutenant was staring us down, demanding to know how we've damaged hundreds of thousands of dollars of government property in one fell swoop. None of the five of us can keep a straight face, much less try to explain it." Warren took a drink of coffee and chuckled.
"That was the best part of the story. In the end, Luke had no good excuse, he got written up. I think it was the only discipline he ever recieved if I remember right. We didn't let him drive anymore after that." Jolie's hand was still on his forearm. He reached over and covered hers with his own. He loved the sparkle she got in her eyes when she was truly happy and the flush her cheeks took on when she laughed with such abandon.
Warren glanced across the table at Jake and saw something equally pleasing. Surrender. It was written all over the other man's face.
Yep. She's mine. Good choice.
Warren struggled to keep a smug smile from forming. He'd won, there was no reason to pour salt in the wound. He turned his attention back to Jolie. She didn't appear to notice the exchange.
To his credit, Jake put up a good front for Jolie's sake. He'd gained a modicrum of respect in Warren's eyes for the effort. It seemed he really did care about her. The rest of the day passed smoothly to any casual observer.
Jolie invited Jake to dinner. He graciously declined citing his need to return to the hotel to prepare for their night out and pack for his departure in the morning.
Warren offered to order pizza so Jolie could take her time getting ready. She thanked him with a kiss before heading off to the shower. It took almost an hour and a half for the pizza to arrive. He'd forgotten it was New Year's Eve and others were trying to sherk their cooking responsibilities as well.
He called to Jolie down the hall that the food was in the kitchen. Snagging a piece of pizza he retreated to his room to change. It had been a long time since he'd pulled the dark gray suit from the back of his closet. He surveyed himself in the mirror after putting it on. The full suit looked like too much for a small town shindig so he removed the coat, tie, and loosened the top button. He was satisfied with the results and a lot more comfortable.
Warren exited his room and walked down the hall. As soon as the kitchen came into view he stopped dead in his tracks.
Jolie had her back to him still. He took the opportunity to really observe and soak in her beauty. He had no idea where she'd found a teal blue, sequined, mid thigh shift dress in their little town, but he was glad she had. It wasn't tight, but settled against her curves in all the right ways. Her long legs stretched from the hem to matching colored heels. Her blonde hair was styled into large shiny, golden ringlets that fell about her shoulders. The result was classy, yet sexy as hell.
I am one lucky bastard.
He smiled as he approached quietly. She seemed to be focused on the pizza before her on the counter. She hadn't noticed his approach. Warren placed both hands on her hips and quickly moved to nuzzle the side of her head. He caught her earlobe softly between his teeth.
Jolie jumped and let loose a shocked squeak. The piece of pizza she'd been holding fell onto the counter with a wet splat sound. She whirled with her hands out wide to face him and swallowed with an audible gulp. He moved in and licked her lower lip.
"You had tomato sauce on your lip. It was messing up your lip gloss." He teased.
"You are so lucky. I almost knee'd you in the groin or worse yet- I almost put my greasy, pizza hands on your nice shirt." She rolled her eyes and tried to look upset. "If you had caused me to get sauce on this dress... you would be dead."
"It is an amazing dress. You look gorgeous in it. However, hard as it is to believe, I think you might look even better out of it." He moved fast, kissing her deep and hard. He had to physically wrench himself from the kiss a few minutes later. She looked dazed and smouldering with pent up lust. Her lips puffy from his attention. "Unless we want to tear all this to pieces and start over," he gestured toward their clothes, "we'd better stop."
It took her a moment to get it together. Eventually she nodded and pulled away from him a little further. It was as if being that close, he exhibited some sort of magnetic force that messed her all up. As much effort as she'd put into looking good tonight, she half entertained the thought of simply calling it a night and staying home naked with him.
Thankfully, sanity took back over. "Did you call your cousins?" She asked as she picked up her lost dinner and took a bite.
"Caleb can't come. I forget the lame excuse he gave, but Beau, Sue and Tommy will be there. Sue is bringing a friend from work and Tommy asked out some checker he's had his eye on who agreed to bring her roommate." He consumed an entire slice in four bites in between snippets of his news.
Jolie smiled happily. She wanted Jake to have a good time. Things had been peaceful all day. She wanted to keep the truce intact until he left in the morning. Having a large group would ease some of the tension and the extra women would make for conversation and dance partners.
She glanced at the clock. It was time to go. "I'll send Jake a text that we are leaving. Then I've just got to grab my coat and fix the lip gloss you destroyed. I'll be right back." In her high heels she didn't have to tip toe to kiss the side of his mouth.
She sent the text and retreated to her room to apply lipgloss in the vanity mirror. Wow, Warren looked hot, she mused. She'd seen him in workout clothes, dress casual, and naked. Of course, naked was her favorite. But Warren all dressed up for a night on the town- wow. She imagined stripping those sexy clothes off of him later and felt her body overcome with heat. First things first, party and dancing, then alone time with Warren.
Jolie's phone chirped. Jake advised her he was leaving the hotel for the community center. She took one last look in the mirror and left to rejoin Warren so they could meet the others.