B & B BIVOUAC
by
DC DeVane

(An Excerpt of B & B BIVOUAC from OPERATION: L.O.V.E.
Book One from the sweet military romance anthology published by Highland Press)

Chapter One

      Pink. Definitely . . . pink. No other color but lacey, frilly, lady-lovin’ P.I.N.K.

Captain David Grantham lay in bed, staring up at the girly-colored lace canopy above his head and mulled over the extremely unexpected twist his life had taken the past three weeks.

It had all started off so normally. He’d received his orders to report to Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, Washington for the survival training known as SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape—that was mandatory for all spec op, pilot, and air crew personnel. He’d excitedly packed his bags for the month-long class, threw a mock salute at his reprobate roommates and told them to hold down the fort while he was gone, as he headed for the wilds of the scenic Northwest to report for duty.

He remembered even having the not unpleasant thought that, if everything worked out well, when SERE finished he might take a few days off before his next assignment to get in a little wine tasting and horseback riding while in the area. That part of the country was known worldwide for its vineyards, and the Cascade Mountains were prime territory for a man with a good horse to hit the trail for a couple of days.

And that had been the last ‘normal’ part of his journey.

Never in the history of military transport had there been so many delays, missed or canceled flights, reroutings, and “Sorry, Sirs!” He hadn’t made one single connection, military or civilian, since leaving his apartment to catch that first hop. Even the cab that morning had failed to show up on schedule, causing him to arrive just in time to watch the C-130 he was supposed to be on, go wheels up without him.

David’s heart had slid sickeningly into his stomach. He’d never missed a rotation before. If he’d had any sense, he would have taken it as an omen of things to come, quietly resigned his commission, and gone back to bed. Yeah. Right. Like that was an option. He’d been selected for the Air Force’s Special Operations Division and there was no way he was going to screw this up by resigning . . . or being late for SERE, which he had to get through before making the cut for that most sought after position with the OSI.

The upshot of all the FUBARed  itinerary—he was the last one of his class to arrive. The last to discover the barracks they were to be bivouacked in—along with two others that had been under renovation on either side of said barracks—had burned to the ground the day before. And, drum roll please, the last to receive his newly revised housing assignment.

The pimple-faced Airman 2^nd Class doing his inprocessing had tried, and failed, to keep from smirking as he handed him his billet for the next month. “Sorry, Sir. All bunks on base are already filled. We had to resort to putting people in civilian digs. You got the only room left in the whole town and the Master Sergeant had to pull strings to get that one. It’s the height of the tourist season around here and everything else is totally booked out.”

With those ominous words thudding in his ears, David had looked down at the paper. He read . . . then reread . . . the words three times over—just to make sure—before, clearly not amused, his eyes pinned the kid to the wall. “The Romantic Rooster Inn? A B&B . . . for Lovers?” he enunciated each word softly, menacingly. After the last 48 hours he’d had, this shave-tailed Airman Basic better not be jerking him around or he would eat him alive.

“I have a brochure . . . , Sir!” the now-smirk-free-air-boy squeaked as he hesitantly proffered a glossy tri-fold pamphlet.

David stood on the other side of the counter, slowly steaming.

* * * *

The ride over to the B&B had been uneventful by every standard of the trip so far; no lost luggage, no technical malfunctions and most importantly, it only took five minutes, which was good since time was going to be a real consideration. Usually, SERE classes were housed together on base. This saved time and energy and promoted team building they would need later in the training. They ate together in a chow hall, slept and showered together in a common barracks, went to class, studied and trained together. And all of this was within a tightly contained, quickly and easily accessed space. From the way it was shaping up, this class was going to be a vastly different proposition.

David needed to get to base fast in the morning and not be too far away when he exhaustedly returned to his bunk at night. He mentally clicked off the miles and paid attention to the route so he could return early tomorrow without getting lost. As the jeep screamed around yet another corner, followed by several blind turns in the road, a mocking voice in his head kept whispering, You should have left a trail of breadcrumbs

With a final sharp yank of the wheel, the driver turned directly in front of oncoming traffic, forcing David to grab for the panic bar to keep from getting thrown out the door, sped up to the front of the butter-yellow colored house, and sprayed gravel from the driveway as he jerked to a stop. David glared across the stick shift at the lower rank. The man, as if sensing his imminent demise, jumped out of the jeep and well out of reach. Quickly, he grabbed David’s bags and placed them on the wide front porch, practically running back to dive into the driver’s seat and peel out of harm’s way.

David watched the jeep lurch around the end of the drive, out onto the road and disappear around the corner. He took a deep breath and told himself this wouldn’t be too bad. The place had looked decent enough as he had careened up the driveway. Actually, except for the name, he liked what he saw. The quaint, turn-of-the-century building with its painstakingly restored, frosting-white gingerbread and fretwork had a homey, lived-in and loved-on look to it. At any rate, he’d only be there long enough to sleep. Considering SERE was going to require 16-plus hour days from him and the rest of the class, he wouldn’t even be doing much of that here. He sighed. Bet he wasn’t even going to get in any wine tasting or horseback riding. Oh well, so much for that fantasy.

With that cheery thought, he turned around to grab his bags and found another reason to think this might not be such a bad billet after all. There, staring straight at him, were two of the biggest, prettiest hazel green eyes he had ever seen. His gaze moved southward to a set of full, smiling lips surrounded by adorable dimples and framed by a cascade of dark honey-blonde curls. He refocused to scope out the rest of the woman standing in front of him and suddenly forgot how to breathe. He didn’t even realize he had moved until, without warning, the beauty grabbed him by the forearms and pulled him sharply toward her.

“Whoa. Easy there, Captain,” she said, righting him onto his feet and stepping back to arms length. “One more step back and you’re going to wind up in my bushes.”

“Your bushes?”

“Mine.” Her smile broadened as she stuck out her hand with a warm laugh and velvety soft voice. “Susan Collins. Welcome to The Romantic Rooster. I’ve been waiting for you.”

* * * *

David followed the lovely owner of the preposterously named inn into the reception area, all the while admiring the view of her walking before him. He definitely liked how the soft corduroy pants hugged her full curves and long legs before disappearing into a pair of trim cowboy boots. The way her chocolate brown turtleneck sweater showed the rest of her well-rounded figure to advantage drew his gaze and he smiled appreciatively at the picture she presented.

But it wasn’t just her looks he found instantly appealing. He liked the way she had looked him straight in the eye and the way she had had a good, solid handshake when she greeted him. Too many women shook hands like they were holding a dead fish; and once they found out he was an officer, and a pilot to boot, spent all their efforts either trying to entice him with their ‘feminine wiles’ or compete with him to see who was going to be top dog in any kind of relationship. Susan did neither. She simply and quietly held her space and welcomed him into it. It was . . . nice.

In record time Susan had her new guest checked in and they’d climbed the stairs to the second floor. She glanced over at the handsome young captain and wondered what he was going to think of his new digs. Best give the man a heads up so it wasn’t a total shock when he opened the door.

“Ummm, Captain Grantham, I guess I should warn you, The Rooster is still undergoing renovations.  We haven’t gotten to all the rooms yet . . .  and I’m afraid that yours is one that hasn’t had its makeover.  I hope you’ll find it acceptable.”

“No problem.  After some of the ‘No-Tell Motels’ I’ve had to put up in over the years, I’m pretty well inoculated. I wasn’t expecting to come to SERE and get put up in a five-star hotel. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Susan stopped at the door to his new room and just stared at him. She could tell from what he’d said that he was expecting shabby. Oh well . . . no point in delaying the inevitable. With a deep breath and no further ado she opened the door and stepped back so he could truly take in the . . . um . . . personality. . . of his home for the next three weeks.

* * * *

Smiling at the memory of his first sight of the room,  David lay in the canopy bed looked around the room and wondered what his beer-swilling, Harley-riding, bachelor officer roomies would make of his new ‘boudoir.’ The thought ran through his head and sent a man-goose down his spine. Good God, don’t let the other guys see this room or I’m dead meat. SERE I can survive. Being caught—dead or alive—in this room?  Nope. That is just not survivable. This is the kind of story that could follow a guy the rest of his career . . . and NOT in a good way.

He let out a weary sigh. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. Best get some sleep and be ready to rock and roll in the morning. His orders said to report at 0900 tomorrow. Apparently, the first day was going to start later than normal because of the fallout from the fire on base. Hey, he wasn’t going to complain. That would give him time to get to the base and secure transportation to and from the B&B for the duration.