Page 49 of Attraction

He can be heard shouting over the swirl of the blinding sandstorm the helo’s whipping up.

“GET YOUR FUCKIN’ HEAD DOWN!”

That’s aimed at her, she knows she’s sitting too high and with only a small amount of safety offered by the sand hole the three of them are in, she’s trying desperately in the melee of noise and dust to patch Ozzie’s wound. Oz is grimacing—trying to act like it’s only a scratch, while she quickly and proficiently dresses it with bandages. It’s what she does best, and she does it to perfection—still not knowing for sure if the bullets are real. Even practice rounds can do plenty of damage.

Then finishing up she puts her head way down.

* * *

With the tangos neutralized by the team’s return fire, the helo peels away, disappearing as a black speck in the solid blue sky, and as the arid smoke clears everything on the ground goes quiet. Kat leans her head back in the sand and taking a breath she closes her eyes. She smiles as she hears Digby calling out, asking if everyone’s okay. “Alright then… let’s push on! We need to make that extract point by nightfall, we don’t wanna get caught out here with our pants down and you never know what elsehemight have lined up.” Digby laughs. He’s high on the heady mix of testosterone and adrenaline—he and Darius—this team, they thrive on it and she can tell by the over-excited tone in their voices.

There’s not a moment to take a breath, as Ozzie drags her to her feet and Zak points forward, gesturing towards a high sandy ridge. “That’s our LZ.”

Kat squints, shielding her eyes to the sunlight. She looks to the extract point on the ridge in the distance and it still looks miles away… probably because it is.

“Alright, let’s haul ass and pick up some of your slack.” Darius pushes them on faster, headed toward a small cluster of rocks. Then it’ll be up and over a low rocky ridge before crossing another vast open section of ground and on to where they’ll be airlifted out.

She’s wondering now what othersurpriseshe might have waiting and her heart’s beating so hard that she struggles to breathe. Focusing, she takes slow deep breaths, her lungs filling with the hot arid air, and to counter dehydration she has a long drink of the now warm water in her pack. This is so much harder than any training, or for that matter, any mission she’s ever been involved in and Darius really is pushing them to the limit of their endurance. But she smiles—loving every moment and something inside her doesn’t want to give this up—at any cost, this is everything she’s ever wanted from her career.

Digby drops back from the front of the line, checking everyone’s status until he reaches the end with her and Ozzie. “Oz, you push upfront, hold number two position and take over-watch,” he orders, and Ozzie moves without question, while Digby drops into his position so he’s now behind Kat.

She can hear him growl and feels the stare of his eyes as they bore into her back, and sure he’s looking at her ass, she sighs with annoyance. “Ryan, what the hell are you doing?”

“Just checking my medic is okay, and well she… she looks damn fine to me.” He smiles. “Oh, and good job there by the way, with Oz’s arm. You did well under pressure.”

“Thanks.” She smiles apprehensively, now noticing Darius turning around to watch them. “Ryan, you need to go.”

“Just ignore him,” he says.

“Please… Ryan, don’t do this!” She frowns. “Just go do your job and let me do mine.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” He grins, saluting her. “You know,” he calls out loudly. “I gotta say… the view here… it’s so much better than looking at your ass, Dee!”

Kat sighs loudly, closing her eyes. She couldn’t be more annoyed with him. That’s exactly the type of comment she’s been dreading, and it really doesn’t help. “Ryan, what thehellare you trying to do?” She turns on him, her tone sterner and more aggressive. “I said just go!”

“Oh relax, I’m just havin’ some fun with you and besides, I can’t go, I don’t wanna mess up the formation.” He laughs, winking as she stares at him. “Anyway staring at your ass makes for a much better mission.” He groans loudly, nonchalantly chewing his gum. He’s in a playful mood—enjoying being out here, doing this, a little too much.

Zak shakes his head and laughs, listening to Ryan’s teasing, and he turns and smiles. Kat doesn’t. She’s annoyed and curses under her breath. “Fuck!” Darius darts them all another disapproving look. Turning away from his gaze, she sighs. Then, as she looks again behind her, Digby tips his head grinning. And with hisI-wanna-fuck-youlook, she can’t help but smile disapprovingly, as she turns forward and ignores him.

As they get to the rocky outpost, which is bigger than it looked, they climb to the top. It flattens out, again laying waste to another vast expanse of barren land, and as Digby clears the last crumbling boulder, she can hear him trip and stumble. “Aww … fuck!” he grimaces as the rest of the team keeps going, Darius leading them up faster. Digby clasps a hand to his thigh. “Ahhh.” he groans, stopping to sit down.

Zak frowns, watching as Digby hobbles forward, and he whistles ahead. “Hey, whoa… Alpha-One, hold up. Man down!”

The rest of the team immediately stops.

“What the hell’s goin’ on?” Zak asks, watching as Kat heads back to him and tries to help him to his feet. She frowns with concern looking at the screwed-up look of agony on his face.

“That doesn’t look good. Are you hurt?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “Yeah, I think I pulled somethin’ when I tripped, I heard a snap.”

“Alright, well that’s not good. Let me look.” Lifting her kit from her shoulders, she places it on the ground and kneels in front of him. She asks him to show her exactly where the pain is and he points vaguely to the inside of his groin, rubbing it with his hand and she places her fingers on the indicated area. She feels firmly but gently against the muscle, checking for damage.

“No, it’s higher than that.” He frowns as she moves her hand further up, continuing along his thigh, checking for any unusual tightness. “No, no, not quite. Here, let me show you.” He grabs at her hand and places it against the large bulge in his pants—his hard-firm cock, and immediately she pulls away.

Furious, she growls, glaring. She couldn’t be angrier. “Is this supposed to be afuckingjoke?” she snarls.

“What?” He laughs at the stone-cold serious look on her face. “Oh, c’mon Doc, what, you’re not gonna put your healin’ hands on me? Not even to give me some pain relief?”

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