The heavily muscled marine walked into the entry, quickly scanning the expansive family room: the huge Christmas tree, a crackling fire, and, especially, the beautiful brunette sitting elegantly on a lucky couch.

“Congratulations, little Bro; you rock!” exclaimed Gavin.

“What the hell you mean, you lawyer puke?” said Blake.

“As always, you still have a way with words.  I heard you won the Marine middleweight boxing championship, and I wanted to congratulate you.  At least that allows you to release your violence in a sanctioned way, rather than on the streets or at a bar here at home when you’re not deployed to some secret location.

Blake wasn’t sure whether this was compliment, but he responded to Gavin in his usual style.  “Thanks, I think, but now that you’re the official CEO of Dad’s firm, you think you’re shit is hotter than ever.  Remember, though, I can kick your ass with one hand tied behind my back and one leg in a cast any time I want to. Not too bad for a guy who wasn’t smart enough to go to ‘Pussyversity’ like you did.  By the way, I had no problem getting some despite not going to ‘Pussyversity’”

Blake smirked while he watched his brother smile nervously at his new lover, Delphine, who was giggling at Blake’s statement and trying to hide her pleasure with her dainty hand.  He also noticed that she didn’t attempt to hide her slender legs that were barely covered by her short skirt, and so he stared at her legs while they talked.

“Funny, Blake.  You have about as much class as I do patience, and yeah, I guess that is one of the advantages of higher education.”

“Whatever.  By the way, Gavin, are you going to introduce me to this beautiful lady or are you going to keep yapping your mouth?  If she were my girl, I would’ve introduced her first thing.  I’d be proud as hell.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.    Blake, this is Delphine.”

She stretched out her hand adorned by long fake fingernails to Blake and smiled, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it. She blushed in surprise.

“I met her in Bordeaux when I was providing legal advice to the St. Emillion wine consortium a few months ago.  She’s a model who works in both Paris and New York, and, well, we hit it off pretty well.  So I invited her here to visit me in the windy city for a while before she has to go back to New York for a photo shoot.  I wish she could stay longer.  C’est vrai?

“Oui, et ton frère est tres interessant et tres beau!” said Delphine.

“Chicago will never be the same with her here, that’s for sure,” said Blake.  “I don’t know what she said but I damn sure loved the way it sounded.”

“She said that you seem like a nice boy but a little rough around the edges.”

Delphine glared at Gavin because of the fabricated translation.

“Tell me, Delphine, I know you must speak English fairly well.”

“Oui.  I mean yes, of course.”

“Is that really what you said to me, the way Gavin interpreted it? He’s my brother, but I don’t trust him when it comes to women.”

Delphine looked for guidance from Gavin who smiled nervously.  “Well, I think Gavin doesn’t understand French as much as he thinks he does.  I don’t know what ‘rough’ means, but basically I meant to say that you are an interesting and handsome man.”

“Thanks and you can bet I’ll need some time with you later to learn some more special French words in private,” said Blake.

Gavin quickly intervened before things got out of hand. “Let’s go to the living room and have some drinks before the chef brings us dinner.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Blake.  He watched Delphine saunter gracefully and he smiled at her while Gavin resumed the conversation on the couch.

“So tell us about your exploits in the marines, Blake.  We haven’t heard much from you over the years.”

“That sounds damn boring.  I’d much rather talk about Delphine.”

“No, please, monsieur Blake, please tell me, I mean us, of your valor,” said Delphine.

“Ah well, if you insist. Unlike your lover who went to HarvardLawSchool and travels to the Caribbean every year to play with the girls on the beach, I served my country.  It started in marine basic training, of course.  I shot expert on the rifle range early on, and that’s why they noticed me.  After I scored maximum on the first class PFT, the corps began to separate me out for certain specialty training.”

“PFT.  What is that?” asked Gavin.

“Physical Fitness Test.  A maximum score includes a three mile run in under eighteen minutes, twenty dead hang pull-ups, one-hundred sit-ups in fewer than two minutes, and finally a fifty-meter swim holding a weight out of the water and then treading water for thirty seconds while holding the weight.”

“Impressive,” said Gavin.

Gavin opened a bottle of Chateau Meraux for both Delphine and himself, but Blake was happy with his bottle of Corona and lime.  He was even more pleased that he was sitting across from Delphine on the opposite couch, taking in the spectacular view she presented.  He alternated quick glances at her legs and thin ankles, then her full lips while she swirled the wine deftly inside her delicate mouth.  He could feel her staring back at his bulging biceps outlined by large veins.  Blake had seen that gaze before, and he understood that it usually meant that she admired his hard physique and secretly wanted him to ravish her aggressively.  At least that’s what he hoped she was thinking.   Gavin had shared with him on the phone previously that although he had known her only a few weeks, she seemed to constantly want sex with him, any time, any place.  Blake figured that Delphine would only satisfy Gavin’s needs briefly, then as usual, he would dump her and look for new conquests, allowing his brother to move in for the kill.

No, Blake thought, this hottie may have enjoyed Gavin’s movie-star looks, but it was his wealth and future financial security as CEO of the firm that most likely attracted her to his gene pool.  He reasoned that what she desired to taste for the moment was completely different from what she wanted for a lifetime.  He knew she wanted him for the moment more than she wanted his brother, and he would make sure they ended up in bed.

“I knew that I had aptitude, so I volunteered for Force Recon and became Recon qualified then went to sniper school.” Blake continued the best he could despite the gorgeous distraction sitting across from him. “After sniper school I was deployed for several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a few other places that I can’t talk about.”

“You know, Blake, Dad told me he was proud of you, and so am I.  We just wished that you would’ve communicated with us more than once a year when you deployed.  We were worried about you and Dad started smoking and drinking more because of that.”

“Bullshit.  I do what I’m trained to do.  I do my job to perfection with no emotion and without need for attention.  There’s a shitload of bad people out there who want to kill Americans everywhere, but I’m one of the guys who has the skills to stop them.  I don’t need you to worry about that stuff.  You need men like me to fight for you so you can eat caviar and drink champagne at the damn country club.”

Gavin shifted on the couch and tapped his feet on the ground.  “You know I appreciate your service Blake.  But listen, when you get out of the Marines, you can always get a job at the firm working with me.  Dad, as you know, left me in control.  But I understand that with your share of the inheritance you won’t really need to work.”

Delphine eagerly chimed in.  “You are an American hero.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that, sweetie.  Yeah, the inheritance is great, but I’m a career Marine.  Can’t think of another career that would suit me right now, and I’m not the kind of guy to sit on his ass and drink fru – fru drinks all day.

**

Satisfied, Blake got up to leave.  “I’ll see you when I see you, Gavin.  Thanks for the dinner and Merry Christmas to you both.  And Delphine, it was pure pleasure to meet you.”

“Enchante` monsieur Blake.”  She smiled so warmly Blake was immediately aroused.

Gavin and Blake shook hands, and then Blake hugged Delphine and inhaled her French perfume deeply into the bottom of his lungs.  He pulled her close to his body and he loved that she didn’t pull away. She seemed to stick to him.   Although he didn’t see her look back when he walked down the lighted sidewalk to his car, Blake could feel that Delphine was studying the back of his tight jeans, even with Gavin standing next to her.  He was trained to have that sixth sense.

Gavin pulled her away from the doorway and they walked into the house hand in hand towards the bedroom upstairs.  “Sweetie, what do you think of my little brother?”

She smiled. “Well, he’s definitely not little and he is certainly an interesting man.”

SRC

© 2012  Unlawful reproduction will be prosecuted.