Project Whores

Chapter 18

Selah. Joice stayed with Kyle that night and the rest of the week. He looked forward to coming to his room in the evening and seeing her sitting on the bed reading, typing on her laptop or watching television. Sometimes, since it was starting to get cold, he would go to the DFAC and fill a container with food, bring it to the room, and they would eat there. She had a small pocket bible she read from every night and she brought her laptop to his room and left it there. They ate Mexican food tonight, and Kyle was finishing the last of it.

"This is my favorite food and I could eat it every day!" he exclaimed, as he started cleaning up.

"I see that," Joice said, and laughed. "When do you leave for R&R again?" she asked, getting up to find one of his tee shirts and a pair of his long underwear. He would have to order more because she was stretching them out, but Kyle could not care less, as long she stayed with him.

"Why are you putting that stuff on? You know I like for you to sleep naked. Your body is so soft and warm," he said, grinning.

"You keep it so cold in here I am freezing all the time, and all you keep on the bed is a sheet. This room feels like a refrigerator, Kyle," Joice said, picking up all the clothes off the floor so she could fold them or put them in the basket. He laughed. He liked the way she said his name, as though it had two syllables. She pronounced Kyle, so it sounded like Kyull. He smiled and wondered what kind of upbringing she had that she spoke so formally. Joice did not use terms of endearment with him. Even in the heat of the moment, he was Kyle. She talked in a way that if you did not know her, would make you think she was always frustrated with you or scolding you. Her sex talk by text was like reading from a biology book, she used proper names for body parts and avoided slang and profanity. But he never said anything because he liked for her to be comfortable. She didn't talk the way he did and he didn't want her to start on his account. Joice was a freak in bed but there is no way anyone who had never been intimate with her would ever figure that out. Kyle found that to be a huge turn on.

"I know baby, but I have to have it cold like that or I get sick," Kyle said, earnestly, "and in answer to your question, I leave two weeks from Sunday."

"Then I leave four or five days after you," she said, cheerfully. "Are you going home and home is Texas, correct?" she asked, squinting at him over her glasses.

"Yes, and I live in Houston," he said, trying to think of a way to get off this subject.

"I live in Spring!" she exclaimed. "So do you have plans for your R&R or are you just going home?"

"I'll probably just stay home," Kyle mumbled, opening up his laptop.

Much to his relief, she went back to her reading. He knew he had to let her know he was married, but he just needed time. He could not think that far ahead right now...Once they returned from R&R he would open up and tell her what she needed to know. Of course, he realized telling her would probably end their relationship, and that thought was unbearable... Unbearable, but how did this happen? Having her here with him seemed to solve every riddle in his life. She was... perfect for him. All the women he slept with over the years and none of them had any effect on him until now. Of course, he liked some better than others, but he never had any problems letting them go once the thrill was gone. Yet, somewhere along the way he went from trying to make this one a friend with benefits, to not being able to sleep without her. Kyle did not know how it happened, and he really was not sure when, he just knew he was inexplicably in love with Rejoice Battle.

He worked on his laptop while she read. An hour or so later, he looked at his new roommate. Her head was upright and that little bible was on her lap, but she was totally unconscious. Although he was getting used to it, Kyle had never seen anyone sleep sitting up like that. He picked up the bible and looked at it. Why would someone who cannot see try to read something so small? He turned it over in his hands, he guessed it was white at one time, but now it was a grayish brown. Her little bible has definitely seen better days, he thought, as he laid it on the plastic, three-drawer container he called a night stand. Then he took off her glasses and just as he had almost every night since she'd come back to him, put them next to the bible on the plastic container. Kyle gently laid her down and turned off the light. He kissed her, and put his arm around her waist. Within 5 minutes he was in a deep sleep.