A mind of her own.

Their first meeting.

Deke remembered her first arriving at the college, about two years earlier, after she had graduated from high school, somewhere out west.

He had just been taken on, after coming out of hospital.

Susan had made an impression on him even then, had noticed him too. He had seen that, as they often smiled at each other in passing, before they had dared speak for the first time. And then they had advanced to passing the time of day. They had been a while sizing each other up.

And then there had been that one fateful day for them both, when she had accidentally injured him.

On that day, everything had changed for both of them. It had been a turning point; a shockingly delicious, indelicate moment of eye-opening understanding between them, in the privacy of the teachers’ washroom. That moment had never been repeated, of course, but neither of them would ever forget it. That was also when he had kissed her for the first time, and the last. Much more had happened too, that she dared not think about. She often dreamt about it, went over every detail of it in her mind, every word spoken, every action, everything that had happened between them, that he had done to her.

They’d had lunch together each day after that in the noisy, bustling cafeteria.

After eating, they generally went their separate ways until the next time they might meet; usually on the next day. She did not have many friends, being about a year older than most of the girls in her year, so she found his regular company at those times to be special.

This would be her last year, ending in a few more days, unless she decided to stay for a supplemental year and specialize in some way, or was taken on to become a teacher, which seemed likely.

He had seen the exam results posted each year on the bulletin board, and had found her name (others had noted his continuing interest in her) and in how she had fared. She was far ahead of everyone else in her year, as well as in the entire school, and had been ever since she had been there. Some of the teachers consulted her on her knowledge of Latin, and on some of the more difficult mathematical problems beyond anything in the school curriculum, and that would have been a challenge for a university graduate.

He knew that Miss Childers, the headmistress kept a close eye upon her; upon him; and upon them, when they were together, as did others, though the others said nothing about what they knew, or thought they knew.

Susan would graduate, summa c*m Laude, or egregia c*m laude, in a few more days, as a very few of them did, and would maybe leave. They hadn’t spoken about any of that yet, but they would soon have to, before that happened.

Now everything had changed again. She was here, with him, in his home. They were alone for almost the first time ever, and there was no supervision; no hordes of young women spying upon him or them, and she was naked!

He would have to be on his best behavior with her here, and as she would expect of him, if she expected it, but his hormones were tearing him apart at the seams. He didn’t want to be good, but knew that he must be.

He had been in love with Susan for almost two years, since he had first seen her, though he had never let her see it, nor had he spoken of it to her.

One day, the woman that would share this home with him would appear. Except he did not want any other woman, he wanted only this one.

This one was his, and was not to be shared with all of the raff and scaff of those unfeeling, uncaring animals at the army base, and she would make up her own mind about what she wanted in her life. If it involved him, so much the better. If not…? He sighed heavily.

From such a small and gentle beginning in that college, she had come to occupy so many of his thoughts and his feelings. Truth to tell, he had been thinking of her for the last two years as he had been building this home, and wondered what she would think of it. Would she approve of what he had done?

He had built it for her, listening to what she had said she would want in a home, eventually, and now she would now be able to see it without realizing what she had achieved in molding what he had done.

He submerged those dreams and slowly continued to wash her all over, to get the smell of cigarettes off her body and her hair. He was entranced by her, feeling how firm and exciting her breasts were to him, as he washed over them repeatedly with his bare, soapy hand, and then moved down to between her legs, being very gentle about that too, as he learned more about her there, without doing any damage, but it did not help his difficult feelings for her in any way.

He had never seen such a beautiful young woman in his limited society until she had arrived, but the make-up she had on, and those clothes she had been wearing in that bar, had made her look like a common tart. That, had not been her. He knew that. He was certain of it. He was not prepared to judge her. There was a simple explanation of it all; a story to learn in all of this, and he would find it.

She had too nice a young body to have had it violated as that soldier and his friends had thought to do. Deke deserved that privilege, not them. But it would have to be her choice.

He worked on her to get the makeup off her face and eyes, talking to her all of the time.

She wouldn’t have let him do any of this in the morning when she awoke, but she’d have enough on her mind by then anyway, and would know nothing about where she was, or what had happened to her, at first. She would assume the worst, until she learned otherwise, and recognized him. How would she respond to him then?

One step at a time, boy.

He made a first pass at washing her hair and realized that she would have to do that for herself in the shower, when she was able to. After rinsing the soap off her with the loose showerhead, and draining the bath, he lifted her out, to sit on a towel between his legs, and to lean back into him.

Constantly, he came back to admire her body as he dried her everywhere, a haunting body to go with a haunting girl. No, no longer a girl, a woman that drove him wild with desire.

She was safe here with him, despite him being aroused all of the time he had seen to her. Being close to her, and seeing her unclothed body did that to him. It always would. He needed to know everything about her, every little detail and intimate secret, every fold of skin, every crevice, but she would have to be his guide for the most interesting parts of that.

He brought her close into his embrace and rocked her slowly, speaking to her, though she could not hear him, marveling at how close he had been to losing her. He told her everything about his feelings for her, how he had first noticed her, and then having met her and spoken with her, how those feelings for her had grown. But she already knew all about that.

He told her about himself, and more than he had ever told anyone, about his dreams, his ambitions, and how they had been thrown off track when he had been wounded, and had spent four weeks in hospital, recovering again. His eyesight was good, almost back to normal, but not good enough to return to active duty. He had been a good sniper until then, and was being groomed to rise up through the ranks and to take on special missions.

Now he used that skill to kill the bigger alligators when there was a market for them, or someone called him in to deal with one that was being a problem for their kids, or had eaten their pet dog, or was lying in the bottom of their swimming pool, waiting for lunch to unexpectedly drop in. Or it couldn’t easily get out.

Small ones, he roped or netted out, and then let them go. Bigger ones…? It depended. You didn’t mess with the big ones. They were always mean, and fought to kill you no matter what you did.

Susan was what every man dreamed of meeting, but looks were often deceptive. Though not with this one, other than for the way she had been dressed. Even if he had not known her, her body language in that bar had screamed that she was respectable, and out of place.

She had also been polite and well mannered when the waitress had asked her if she wanted anything to drink. He had read that much of her manner and her body language before he had recognized her. There was no hiding quality. Actually, her body language, the way she had gesticulated, and had looked around, seeking help from anywhere, anyone, had been what had soon identified her to him.

He was forgetting himself, daydreaming. He continued to dry her thoroughly, mostly dabbing at anywhere that might be awkward for her, especially between her legs, out-of-bounds to him at this moment, before carrying her along to the only bedroom on the lower floor. It would be cooler down here than upstairs. He saw her settled under the mosquito net. There was no point in trying to dress her, or cover her with anything. It was too hot and humid for anything over her. She’d be concerned when she came around to find herself like this, in a strange house and with him checking on her from time to time, but at least she would know who he was. The dog, which would also sit with her, might provide her some reassurance when she woke up. However, she would be unconscious for a few more hours.