caught himself.
He glanced over at Connie Davis, still sitting in the sun. Her gentle waves of hair glittering in the sunlight. Her expression was open and easy. Her smile was there, not blinding, but bright enough to make him feel he hadn’t just been stupid beyond belief. There was no invitation, but there was a zone of safety here.
That wasn’t something a SOAR flier was particularly used to.
He liked the way it felt.
Chapter 20
John still hadn’t pushed her. The man was decent down to his very core.
Connie cut across the parking lot between the temporary quarters to Grimm Hall for a meeting.
She would have to figure out how to thank him for that some day. And to thank him for coming to sit with her. The first time, when waves of the anger and sorrow and pain threatened to overwhelm her. The solo battle always wrung her dry. John had made it easier to face, or at least easier to ride through.
And the second time, just the easy companionship which was not something she was used to. And none of the pressure to get her in bed. She actually wouldn’t mind that so much with John, but the pressure got old real fast. She was pretty enough and she was Army and she was female. That put her front and center in most Army guys’ gun sights. And even when it was fun, it didn’t stay that way for long. Guys either got serious and she was never going there. Or they stopped caring it was her and just wanted a body shaped like a woman, and she had too much self-esteem for that.
But John didn’t bring the heat. He was just there, which was a gift.
Her only mistake had been trying to thank him with another kiss before they left the fence the second time. The impact hadn’t lessened in the slightest. Her body had roared aloft as her brain had settled into soft and quiet. She’d let the kiss build a bit. Hell, it had blown her away like a blowtorch finding jet fuel. She’d never felt anything like it.
Felt it still.
John’s kiss was a dangerous thing.
A lethal weapon.
A great power that could block her reason between one heartbeat and the next.
Despite doing her best to avoid him and his dangerous kiss since then—her own, personal version of Assessment Week that she wasn’t much enjoying—her body still flashed cold and hot every time she thought about him, which was a true challenge while they worked together each day.
In the narrow hall outside the main briefing room at Grimm Hall, they asked for her ID. That focused Connie’s attention back on the main track. This wasn’t some minor checkpoint, they were actually running her ID through a scanner and studying the on-screen results. Time to push John to a sidetrack. She rarely thought about only one thing at a time, but the primary focus of her mind should not be on a man she wasn’t planning to touch again. He was way too powerful. Way too dangerous.
Something unusual was up. They were already inside the SOAR perimeter inside Fort Campbell, but when they were done with her ID, they went to a finger scanner to confirm her identity.
After a solid week of training on the new ADAS equipment, the two DAP Hawk crews were ready for a serious test. However, the high security implied a mission, not a test. And that didn’t make sense. They weren’t ready for that yet.
Then they let her into the briefing room. In the center of a space that could seat twenty crews, she found a fight going on.
“No, Peter. Not no way. Not no how. This is not a safe flight.”
A man in an elegant suit and with dark hair that fell in a soft wave to his collar faced the shouting Major Beale but stood at perfect ease. This was a feat of daring Connie had trouble imagining. Clearly civilian, he must not know any better.
Major Henderson stood beside his wife, his arms folded across his chest, but incongruously, with a small smile on his lips. Several of the DAP crew members ranged nearby, mostly looking uncomfortable.
John came through the door behind Connie. She could feel him
He glanced over at Connie Davis, still sitting in the sun. Her gentle waves of hair glittering in the sunlight. Her expression was open and easy. Her smile was there, not blinding, but bright enough to make him feel he hadn’t just been stupid beyond belief. There was no invitation, but there was a zone of safety here.
That wasn’t something a SOAR flier was particularly used to.
He liked the way it felt.
Chapter 20
John still hadn’t pushed her. The man was decent down to his very core.
Connie cut across the parking lot between the temporary quarters to Grimm Hall for a meeting.
She would have to figure out how to thank him for that some day. And to thank him for coming to sit with her. The first time, when waves of the anger and sorrow and pain threatened to overwhelm her. The solo battle always wrung her dry. John had made it easier to face, or at least easier to ride through.
And the second time, just the easy companionship which was not something she was used to. And none of the pressure to get her in bed. She actually wouldn’t mind that so much with John, but the pressure got old real fast. She was pretty enough and she was Army and she was female. That put her front and center in most Army guys’ gun sights. And even when it was fun, it didn’t stay that way for long. Guys either got serious and she was never going there. Or they stopped caring it was her and just wanted a body shaped like a woman, and she had too much self-esteem for that.
But John didn’t bring the heat. He was just there, which was a gift.
Her only mistake had been trying to thank him with another kiss before they left the fence the second time. The impact hadn’t lessened in the slightest. Her body had roared aloft as her brain had settled into soft and quiet. She’d let the kiss build a bit. Hell, it had blown her away like a blowtorch finding jet fuel. She’d never felt anything like it.
Felt it still.
John’s kiss was a dangerous thing.
A lethal weapon.
A great power that could block her reason between one heartbeat and the next.
Despite doing her best to avoid him and his dangerous kiss since then—her own, personal version of Assessment Week that she wasn’t much enjoying—her body still flashed cold and hot every time she thought about him, which was a true challenge while they worked together each day.
In the narrow hall outside the main briefing room at Grimm Hall, they asked for her ID. That focused Connie’s attention back on the main track. This wasn’t some minor checkpoint, they were actually running her ID through a scanner and studying the on-screen results. Time to push John to a sidetrack. She rarely thought about only one thing at a time, but the primary focus of her mind should not be on a man she wasn’t planning to touch again. He was way too powerful. Way too dangerous.
Something unusual was up. They were already inside the SOAR perimeter inside Fort Campbell, but when they were done with her ID, they went to a finger scanner to confirm her identity.
After a solid week of training on the new ADAS equipment, the two DAP Hawk crews were ready for a serious test. However, the high security implied a mission, not a test. And that didn’t make sense. They weren’t ready for that yet.
Then they let her into the briefing room. In the center of a space that could seat twenty crews, she found a fight going on.
“No, Peter. Not no way. Not no how. This is not a safe flight.”
A man in an elegant suit and with dark hair that fell in a soft wave to his collar faced the shouting Major Beale but stood at perfect ease. This was a feat of daring Connie had trouble imagining. Clearly civilian, he must not know any better.
Major Henderson stood beside his wife, his arms folded across his chest, but incongruously, with a small smile on his lips. Several of the DAP crew members ranged nearby, mostly looking uncomfortable.
John came through the door behind Connie. She could feel him
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