That would have been a very bad thing but itdidn't stop him from kissing Ryan when he noticed him in the ‘DavisClub’ - a place where he shouldn't have been but had followed thefour in like a guard dog.
The whole set-up during the combative came fromConnelly. That fucking bastard. Once Ryan's body touched his,Phillip had been a complete mess. After that it was less aboutteaching and more about rubbing against that hard body.
To say that he had taken advantage of hisposition above Ryan was a gross understatement.
“Freckles,” he said.
He watched as Ryan surged to his feet. Aftereight weeks of hearing his voice Phillip knew that it was aconditioned response. “At ease,” he said quietly.
“Drill Sergeant Grabowski.” Ryan greeted him,his tone a bit icier than normal.
“PFC Gracin,” Phillip replied. “Why didn't yougo out with your friends?”
“I didn't feel like going to the Club, DrillSergeant.”
Phillip thought about it for a moment and thennodded. “Come to my office.” He about-faced and walked into theoffice, not paying attention to whether Ryan was on his way in ornot. He wanted to be alone with the kid. He wanted to be able tolook at him without disguising his looks, but most of all he wantedto be able to have the moment alone with Ryan that he had wantedsince the first time he saw him.
Ryan entered behind him. His face was hard toread.
For Phillip it was hard to grasp. Ryan's facehad always been so easy to read he almost felt bad for the kid. Hefollowed Ryan's gaze and saw it was resting on a picture of Katie.“My daughter,” he said, smiling. “My ex brought her up todaybecause after tomorrow I have a week off.” He watched as Ryan'sdemeanor changed rapidly. “She's with my mom right now. I drewbabysitting duty tonight.”
“Ex?”
“Yes, Gracin. I'm a dick but I wouldn't fuckaround on a spouse.” Phillip kept his tone light. He sat behind thedesk and motioned for Ryan to sit down.
Phillip could practically feel the tension meltoff Ryan.
They sat in uncomfortable silence before Ryanbroke it up.
“How long have you been in?” he askedcarefully.
Phillip knew that it had to kill Ryan to be soinformal with him. After he had graduated from Basic he had beenthe same way. Suddenly instead of being the FNG (fucking new guy)he was the ‘been there, done that’ guy. His Drill sat down anddrank a beer with him even though he wasn't old enough. The wholetime Phillip figured he was just one fuck-up away from the smokingof his life.
“I joined when I was seventeen. Graduated earlyfrom high school and followed my father's footsteps,” Phillip saidproudly. “That was nine years ago.” Anywhere else in the world heand Ryan would have been peers, but not so much in the Army.
Surprise was all over Ryan's face. Phillip knewhow that went too. Something about Drills always made them think ofthe old hard-nosed veterans that his dad hung around with, not someyoung guy that had already seen way too much of the world.
“Surprised?” he asked.
Ryan seemed to think about it for a second.“Yeah, I guess so, Drill Sergeant.”
Phillip laughed then. “How about we knock theDrill Sergeant stuff off for the moment?” He laughed again whenRyan paled and looked nervous. “It's just us and you're practicallyout of here anyway.”
They lapsed into the same silence as before.Phillip had never had this hard of a time with anyone he wasattracted to before. He knew he should just let the kid go back tohis room and forget him but somehow forgetting Ryan Gracin wasgoing to be a lot harder than he thought.
“Um, I should go back to my room. I have to…”Ryan rose and turned.
Phillip waited all of one second before he toorose and was around his desk. He caught the back of Ryan's uniformand turned him around. “Fuck it,” he growled before slamming hislips down on Ryan's.
Something about kissing Ryan brought out themadman in him. He couldn't stop kissing him if his life depended onit. His tongue demanded entry and Ryan was all too willing to giveit to him. He was surely going to hell if he didn't stop this.
It didn't surprise Phillip one bit when Ryandidn't. Instead he just slammed the door shut with his foot, neverbreaking the kiss.
He pushed Ryan against the door and let hishands wander down the blonds’ sides. He pulled his lips away from amouth that should be absolutely illegal. His mouth wandered fromthose lips to the nicely-carved cheekbones, to the long, gracefulneck that disappeared beneath his BDU top.
He paused only for a second. “If you don't wantthis, now would be a good time to say so.”
For a moment Phillip thought Ryan was going toleave. Ryan's hand settled on the door for a moment-- and thenturned the lock on the door.
