Page 23 of Confessions of an Apache Pilot

Watching her walk away, I was torn. I was grateful she was taking Karolyn with her, but it would have been nice if Jen had stuck around longer. I settled back in my chair, arms positioned to hide my hard-on. Whether I was tired or not, I was going to be stuck here for a while.

CHAPTER 14

Jen

“This morning we’ll be giving you the local area orientation. There’s a few Forward Operating Bases where our friendlies are stationed out here, as well as local points of interest.”

I nodded along as Mark gave me the introduction. Last night it’d seemed innocent enough to accept his offer of an orientation, but now I realized that meant I’d be spending a good portion of my day with him. I considered canceling, but the Colonel had agreed and gave us authorization for the flight and it was too late. Now that we were in the briefing I was apprehensive.

Mark was giving the brief, and he was wearing his Combat Flying Shirt. It was aptly nicknamed the ‘Sexy Shirt.’ It was made of the same flame resistant material as our regular flight suit, but this was designed for hot weather, and to be worn under body armor. The sleeves were full length and the same camo pattern, but the center, the part that covered the chest, stomach and back, was made of a torturously sexy moisture wicking material, and it was skin tight.

Mark wasn’t just giving the brief, he was doing so while letting us know he had firm pecs and tight abs. It was bad enough that last night when he brushed his rough knuckles over my arm I was instantly covered in goosebumps, now I was trying to subtly fan myself to keep from passing out as I got a close up look at his sexy body. I pushed up on my chin to force myself to look into his eyes...those piercing eyes which were glued to me. Dammit, snap out of it girl!

Mark continued. “We’ll take off to the north, hook west along the river, back down through Mazar E Sharif, then south of The Wall.”

“The Wall?” I asked. Finally, joining the conversation.

“The giant-ass mountain range south of us. It doesn’t taper off like any decent mountain, it just drops four thousand feet. Thus, The Wall.”

I nodded again. I was having mixed feelings about the flight. On one hand, I was thrilled for the chance to be in a flight with Laura, when we weren’t being shot at. On the other hand, I was still unsure of Mark and the rest of the crew. Last night had been nice, but I still hadn’t forgotten about how they ‘accidentally’ set fire to the airfield when I first got here. I could only imagine what else they had in store. Nick and Ross had both told me about some of the other crap they’d pulled. They really didn’t like the Apache guys. But they did come through for us when it counted. When I’d messed up. Whereas what Ross had done was commit the ultimate sin as far as MEDEVAC was concerned.

Mark was wrapping up his map reconnaissance and asked, “Any questions?”

“Think we’re good. Sarah, you and Karolyn go with Nick and start getting everything ready. I’ll head to the Tactical Operations Center for the last minute updates.”

“Sure thing.” They stood up and headed out. When Sarah passed by Mark he grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. I watched him lean his head down to her ear. He whispered to her so that no one else might overhear. She smiled, stood up straighter. Then hunched down again and blushed. He jerked his arm and she stood up straight again. Then he straightened, winked at her and walked away. Sarah was preening; she ran her hand through her hair, like a nervous distraction. But she was still standing tall.

A mixture of jealousy and curiosity hit me. I gathered myself and approached her and asked, “What did Sheppard say to you?” It almost came out as an accusation.

“He told me to stop slouching so much. He said that I shouldn’t try to slink away from my Amazonian height and instead I should own it, and own the room with it. He said I was too smart to be so shy, that a twenty-two-year-old flight medic was practically unheard of, that I must be smart and capable to hold that position, so stop hiding from it.”

She was holding back on me. “And?” Sarah looked down sheepishly, though I couldn’t help but notice, she didn’t slouch. “What was the blush?”

Sarah turned deep red again. “He said…he said that some boys are slow, and whichever one of these knuckleheads it is that hasn’t caught on yet might need a hint. Give him a kick in the ass so that he takes notice.”

“Caught on?” Somehow, she managed to blush even redder. “Ah…I see.” I looked back to Mark, he was already heading to the operations center. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. He wasn’t flirting with her, and given how he was at the bonfire last night, it's like he assumed some sort of fatherly protector role over her. It was...sweet. It also made me wonder how he’d known Sarah was interested in a guy here before I’d caught on. I could only blame my inattention on the fact that he was distracting me so thoroughly from everything, I hadn’t noticed.

“So what exactly have you been up to after hours?” I said with a playfully accusing tone.

“Nothing.” Her blush deepened and she brushed her hair back in a nervous way.

“Nothing? The type of nothing that has you hanging around the Apache guys?”

“No…their mechanics. Mechanic,” she muttered.

“You’re going to tell me all about it later.” I said smiling, then I took off after Sheppard, getting my mind back to the flight we were about to go on. “Sheppard, I’ll call the Weather Officer and get the updated weather briefing,” I said walking into the operations center. “Least I can do since you did all the planning.”

“We’ll get it, you get your gear and we’ll meet you outside.” Mark, followed by Brady and Artie, all walked over to the phone.

“Okay.” I couldn’t help notice Laura smiling as she got up from the table. “What’s so funny?”

“These guys always fight to get the weather brief. You’ll never have to make that phone call yourself.”

“Why’s that?”

“Just stick around for a minute, you’ll see.”

I peered through the doorway to watch them. “Hey what’s that annoying noise?” Brady asked, strutting through the room like a rooster.

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