Gunslinger

At 4am on 26th November, E Company arrived at Camp Mourmelon outside the village of Mourmelon-le-Grand in France, 30 kilometres from the cathedral town and champagne centre of Reims.

Upon arrival, the men made a bee-line for the showers. Knowing that she would have to wait, Dana wandered to the laundry and deposited her bag of dirty clothes. It was caked with dirt, dried blood and various other stains that she couldn’t even identify. Dana had always been a clean person and she couldn’t believe that she had gone over two months without a shower. To say she smelled ripe was an understatement, however the men were in the same boat as she was, and nobody commented anymore.

After about an hour, she wandered over to the shower, and smiled at O’Shea who was standing guard outside.
“You gonna be my permanent bodyguard?”, she asked with a laugh.
“Someone’s gotta keep the pervs away”, O’Shea responded with a wink.
“You didn’t do so well at that last time”, Dana grinned. O’Shea shrugged.
“I didn’t say I was good at it”, he laughed.

Dana wandered into the shower, and was washing away the layer of grime from her body. She grimaced at the amount of brown water running off her skin and hair. She heard a slight commotion at the door to the shower tent, and heard furiously whispered voices. Shrugging, thinking that O’Shea was fending off a perv, she tipped her head back to wet her hair further before she tried to clean it with the soap, and disentangle it.

She heard rustling coming from just outside the shower, and opened her eyes to see Brian standing in front of her, wearing just his uniform pants. Dana covered herself and stared in wide eyed fascination at Brian.
“Damn Haner, this is becoming a habit.” Brian’s eyes were riveted on her, and she could see his chest rising and falling with every sharp breath that he took.
“Um, you shouldn’t be in here”, Dana prodded gently. Brian continued to stare at her. A light flush took over his skin, and she noticed the way that his chocolate coloured eyes darkened and she gulped. Her wide eyes took in his muscly frame and his tattoos stood out in stark relief against his skin. Damn, he was making it hard to concentrate.
“I, er, sorry”, Brian stammered. “I was just so desperate for a shower”, he started before scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Well, you can wait for a minute”, Dana said with a roll of her eyes. She was still standing awkwardly with her hands covering herself.
“I, um yes I guess so”, Brian said. He however made no move to remove himself from the shower.
“Um, that was a hint to leave”, Dana said. Brian turned to leave, then seemed to visibly shudder before he stopped. He glanced back at her, and an array of emotions crossed his face.
“Oh to hell with it!”, he snapped out suddenly. He whirled back around and within a few strides he had stepped up to Dana still half clothed, not seeming to care that his uniform pants were getting wet. He grabbed her forcefully and pulled her to him.

Before Dana could utter a word, other than a surprised squeak, Brian’s lips had closed over her own and she felt electricity shooting along her spine. She gasped into the kiss, and made to move to push him away, but the logical part of her brain was shutting down and she shivered as she felt Brian’s arms snaking around her naked body. His lips were insistent on her mouth and he licked the bottom of her mouth. Without thinking, she opened her mouth and she felt Brian’s tongue touching her own.

Seemingly of their accord her arms lifted to wrap around his muscular torso, and Brian moaned into her mouth as the kiss deepened. One of his hands went to the back of her head to hold her in place as the kiss became more and more passionate.
“Oh my god”, Brian murmured against her mouth. He lowered the hand at the back of her head and both his hands drifted down the sides of her ribs.
“What are we doing?”, Dana stammered.
“Going with the flow”, Brian murmured in response.
“Your horny flow?”, Dana asked. Brian grunted and pulled her even closer. She could easily feel his erection through his wet pants. Damn that boy was packing!
“I’m always horny”, Brian responded.

It was like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over her. She jumped back from him. She had forgotten for a moment, in that first heady rush of desire, just how much of a horndog that he was.
“I can’t believe this”, she spat. “You think a quick fuck in a shower is what I need?” Brian stepped back, his eyes wide.
“No, Dana. No!”, he began but she hauled back her arm and slapped him.
“I’m not just some slut like you’re used to, Brian!”
“I never said you were”, Brian said with a sigh, as he felt his stinging cheek.
“Just get out of here”, Dana said, turning away from him. With a sigh, and a longing glance at her, Brian left the shower area.

O’ Shea found her there 10 minutes later. She was sitting on the floor of the shower, the hot water having long since run out. She had her arms around her knees, and silent tears were running down her face. He turned off the water, wrapped her in her towel and held her as she cried.
“The man’s an idiot”, O’Shea said.
“He thinks I’m just a whore that’s gonna sleep with him”, Dana sobbed. “He’s going to use me for sex like he does every other girl.”
“No he’s not”, O’Shea responded. “He may be an idiot, but only when it comes to you. Dana, the man’s in love with you.”
“He’s what?”, Dana asked in surprise pulling back to look at O’Shea’s face.
“He’s scared of what he feels”, O’Shea advised her. “But trust me, he loves you.”
“I think….I think I’m starting to fall in love with him too”, she admitted in a quiet voice.
“Well, the two boneheads admit it”, another voice said. Dana glanced up to see Pagliaro standing in the doorway.
“Well, he hasn’t said anything”, Dana said with a sniffle.
“He’s a man”, O’Shea said. “We suck at stuff like that.”
“Now put some clothes on before we get busted in here and put on latrine duty”, Pagliaro laughed.