My Commander

Chapter 3

Entering the restaurant, we stop at the matrade stand where a pretty young woman with red hair is standing. She looks up at us, and her eyes rake over us from top to bottom, but her eyes linger on Justin longer than I like, and then she frowns at our linked arms. 

"How may I help you, gentlemen?" she asks with fake happiness.

"Reservation for Smith," Justin growls, noticing her lingering eyes and fake attitude.

She looks down at the book on the stand before giving us a now forced smile; "Follow me, please."

 She turns away after grabbing two menus, and we follow a couple of steps behind her. Justin places his large right hand on top of my left hand that is in the crook of his elbow. Glancing up at him, I find him smiling down gently at me, making me smile. The woman leads us to a table for two, leaves us with the menus and a promise that a server will be with us shortly.

Justin makes me blush when he pulls a chair out for me, then pushing it in for me once I'm settled. He then sits across from me with a wink as he hands me a menu, and taking the other for himself. 

A minute into looking at the menu, he asks me; "What looks good to you?" 

"You," I blurt out, then slap my left hand over my mouth with wide eyes, and a gasp of horror. 

Justin stares at me for a second before throwing his head back with a loud roar of laughter; "Soon, but first I want us to know each other better before we make love. I don't intend to fuck-an-dump," he sincerly tells me which causes me to blush crimson.

"I appreciate you saying this, and I'm sorry for blurting that out," I shly tell him. "I'd like that, too, but are you stationed here or on leave?" 

Justin sighs softly; "I'm on leave, and I'm here visiting since this is where my family lives."

"Oh, I see. How long are you on leave for?" I softly ask, biting my lower lip in nervousness. 

"Today is day one of my thirty day leave," he admits, and seems guilty about his answer.

"Then how long is your deployment? Can we exchange letters while your gone to continue getting to know each other?" I softly ask, hoping I don't hate either of his answers. 

Before Justin can reply, a male server stops at our table with a bright smile; "Hello, I'm Ash, and I'll be your server tonight. Do you gentleman know what you'd like to eat?"

"I'll have the shrimp alfredo with a side salad with a lemonade, please," Justin replies. 

"Um, I'd like the chicken alfredo, and I'm good with water, please," I softly answer, avoiding eye contact with the server. 

Ash jots our orders down on his pad with a nod and smile, and a promise of returning with Justin's lemonade, and our food when it is ready. Justin gains my attention since my gaze is on my lap by placing his large, warm hand over mine, and gently squeezes.

Bringing my gaze to his, I softly ask; "Hhmm?" 

"Are you alright, little one, since you've become pale?" he worridly asks, rubbing the pad of his thumb over my knuckles. 

"It's silly, so please don't worry about me," I murmur, my skin blushing light pink at his rapt attention. 

He tilts his head to the right, his eyes filled with worry and sinserity; "Whatever it is, isn't silly, so please tell me?" 

"Um, okay," I nod, chewing on my lower lip. "I'm worried about you being hurt when you go back to your ship?"

He instantly smiles at me; "I promise I won't get hurt, little one, but I appreciate you're worry."

Slightly jutting out my lower lip at him while slowly nodding my head at him; "Okay. Um, so, what's your family like?"

"They're great! I have an older brother, Jeb, and he's the clown of the family, and always has been. Then there's my younger sister, Jonell, she's the serious one of us. Last, but not least, is my younger brother, Jacob, and he's the carefree one of the bunch. Mum and dad have been married for thirty-seven years, and togeter for forty-one years. They were high school sweethearts," he tells me, and sounds content. 

"How old are your siblings?" I ask with a fond smile at how happy he sounds. 

He grins; "Jeb is 35 years, Jonell is 30 years, and Jacob is 25 years."

"Why such an age gap?" I curiously question. 

"Dad was on deployment, that's why," he answers, as the server places his drink on the table in front of him before leaving. 

"Now I get to ask two questions," he smirks, making me smile wider in response. "Why didn't you live with your dad after your mum kicked you out? Your aunt Mae is your mum or dad's sister?"

"My dad died when I was 14-years-old in a work accident - he was a over the road trucker and he had a heart attack, and died instantly. Aunt Mae isn't biologically related to me, she took me in after she found me rummaging through the dumpster behind the cafe looking for food," I admit with a thick voice. 

"Well, she is even more awesome than I thought," he says with a slight nod of his head. "I'm sorry about your dad, little one."

Ash returns with our food, and a smile as he places the plates on the table in front of us before leaving again with a soft 'enjoy'.

After Justin takes a couple of bites, he offers a forkfull of pasta with a piece of shrimp; "Would you like a bite, little one?" 

Shaking my head vigorously at him; "I can't. I'm alleric to all fish."

He instantly retracks his hand over his plate with a horrified expression; "That's good to know. Does this mean I can't kiss you goodnight at the end of our date?"

"Probably would be a good idea not too," I reply with a frown. "I didn't think about that when you ordered." 

"Well, then our next date, I will be giving you two kisses at the end of our next date," he sincerly replies. 

Wanting to mess with him a little, I quirk my left eyebrow at him; "Oh, really, Commander? You think there's going to be another date?" 

His mouth drops open in shock, and does the fish-out-of-water think, and that causes me to instantly burst out into loud laughter; "I'm teasing, Justin. I'd love to have another date with you as long as it doesn't interfer with you visiting your family."

His body visably relaxes in relief; "Oh, thank goodness. You had me worried for a moment."

Grinning at him, I let out a giggle as I take a bite of my food; "Sorry, but I couldn't help but tease you."

"That's mean, but I'll forgive you this time," he grins, sipping his lemonade. 

The banter continues throughout the rest of dinner, and the evening. After dinner we went to a concert in the park, which was great and relaxing. By 11 p.m., Justin is dropping me off at home since he insisted on doing this, and I didn't argue because I wanted to spend more time with him.