Fifteen minutes later, Shawn came down the stairs, all cleaned and polished, and joined Jesse and Chi in the sitting room.

  "Are you happy now?" Jesse asked with a little attitude in his voice.

  "Yeah, nothing like a warm bath in the morning to get the blood flowing. Got any more of that coffee?"

  "Can we get a cup to go for the smart-ass, please?" Jesse asked Chi.

  She smiled and nodded, then left the room.

  "You know we have to be at field headquarters in five minutes."

  "Boy, that's cutting it close," Shawn said seriously.

  Jesse just gave him an incredulous stare that slowly turned into a smile.

  "Yea, Right, asshole."

  Jesse and Shawn walked through the bamboo curtain to find Chi waiting for them with the coffee cup in her hand.

  "Madame Chi, please take my advice and leave for Saigon today. This city will not withstand the NVA attack that is just days away." Jesse said with deep apprehension in his voice.

  "Thank you for your concern. I will think it over."

  Then Chi stepped into Jesse, kissed him tenderly, and caressed the back of his head. Pulling back, she said, "Be careful today. You're such a beautiful man; I wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Besides, you owe me that rain check."

  Stolen story; please report.

  Blushing, Jesse put his head down and said, "I will be careful, but please consider what I said about leaving today. The NVA will not be as kind to you and your girls."

  Madame Chi just nodded and gently touched the side of his face.

  Shawn looked at the red lipstick plastered all over Jesse’s mouth but said nothing to him. He just inwardly smiled.

  Jesse and Shawn headed for the Jeep, and when they got in, Shawn said. “Wow, what the fuck was all that about, man? I was just about to tell you two to get a room. I can’t even get a handshake from the woman, but she put a lip-lock on you that when you two were done, I thought about checking to see if she had taken out your tonsils. I’ve been trying to get a little of that since I first laid my eyes on her but with not so much as a peck on the cheek. But she practically throws herself on you. And what was that, “you’re such a beautiful man shit?” I just about lost my cookies. Wow.”

  Jesse turned red again and said, “What can I say…I think she likes me.”

  “Well, I don’t care if she likes me or not, but I sure as hell would like to take that tight little dress off of her.

  Jesse looked at him and said, “You’re such a fucking animal!”

  “I’ve been called worse!”

  “Asshole!”

  “Yea…too many times to count.”

  They looked at each other and started laughing as Jesse hit the gas.

  As he drove, Jesse said, “One or maybe two more days of recon, then it’s back to good old Saigon.”

  “Amen to that brother. By the way, you got any cigarettes, man?” Shawn said as he took a drink of coffee when the Jeep came to a stop in traffic.

  Jesse reached into his top pocket, pulled out a pack of Marlboros, and handed them to Shawn.

  “I know you had two packs when I dropped you off last night; what happened to them?”

  “I think those pretty young things stole them along with my virtue this morning.”

  Jesse glanced at him amusedly and said, “Can I use that line…that was good?”

  “What… the cigarettes?” Shawn said very seriously.

  Jesse just looked at him, shook his head, and hit the gas without saying another word.