Page 57 of Confessions of an Apache Pilot

“I don’t plan to. She’s just so… guarded. Getting through that icy exterior takes time.”

It would be worth whatever hurdles she puts in your way. You don’t let a woman like that go.

“Icy, she’s on fire for you. You’ve thawed her out.”

I wished that were true. Soon enough, if I played my cards right, it might be. For now, I had to be careful how I handled her. I hoped that, if I did it right, she’d wake up one day and realize I’d wormed my way past her defenses when she wasn’t looking.

Putting Walker out of my mind wasn’t easy, but there wasn’t anything better for working off frustration than shooting a bunch of targets. I walked over to where the guys were waiting to begin.

CHAPTER 32

Jen

“Ihave to admit, the range was way more fun than I thought it would be,” I said to Laura. Sheppard had dropped me off by the barracks and I met up with Laura to get lunch. “Although…”

“Although what?”

“Nothing, it’s probably nothing,” I amended

“I knew that you’d have fun or your date.” Her grin was downright predatory.

I choked and spit my food out. “No! Not a date. Don’t say that.” I must have turned six shades of red.

“I knew it! It was a date! You want this, want him. The ‘let's be friends’ crap is just bullshit!” She looked at me smugly while making a circle with one hand and sticking her finger from the other hand in and out. She was grinning maliciously at me. “It wasn’t just a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.”

“Pervert,” I said, throwing a piece of food at her. “Stop it, before someone sees or hears you.”

Laura leaned in conspiratorially. “Come on, it’s okay. He likes you too. Clearly.”

I put my head down and did my best to look unimpressed. I held out for about four seconds before I broke. I practically whispered, “You think? I didn’t blow my shot?”

“Do you see him kidnapping anyone else and dragging them to the range?”

“No,” I muttered. “He better not.” She had a point there. I tried to convince myself that it was the sex, that maybe there wasn’t something under all this. I wasn’t buying it.

“Was he the one giving you all the instructions?” I nodded, still looking down. “So, not the Green Beret firearms instructor, but the pilot, was the one running you through the drills?”

I looked up at her and started to fidget. A dangerous feeling was spreading in my chest. Hope. “Ty stayed behind under the awning, it was just me and Mark.”

“Do you really think…?”

Laura nodded smugly. “Now are you going to tell me that you didn’t like it?”

I looked left and right to make sure no one else was nearby before leaning in. I tried to contain myself and talk evenly, instead I blurted out, all at once, like a gushing schoolgirl, “It was hot. Like, really hot. The way he grabbed hold of me and manhandled me into position. That’s never happened to me before.”

“Aww, congratulations honey, you’re a real woman now.”

“Fuck you.”

“I told you, once you drop those adult boys and get with a real man, things change. When a real man gets a hold of you, you know.” We both laughed before she continued. “So…tell me the rest.”

How does she always know?

“I might have…moaned. A little. Loudly.” Laura’s eyes about popped out of her head, her eyebrows shot up, and the smile she was repressing looked like it might burst through at any moment. I ducked my head, avoiding her gaze. “And I might have, definitely, rubbed my ass against his crotch. Accidentally. On purpose,” I amended.

“You fucking tease.”

I buried my face in my hands. “That’s not all. When I did, I- I felt… I woke up… He…poked…” I stopped stuttering and took a breath. “He was standing so close I could feel him brushing up against me. It was sexy.

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