Airman Mendez gave Airman Wright a menacing look before replying. “No ma’am, I rescheduled it.”
“Why?” Elena pushed on.
“Because she wants to in-process the captain,” Airman Wright blurted out.
Elena’s patience was wearing thin. “Airman Wright, I’m asking Airman Mendez a question. I suggest you go back to your desk and take care of those reports I gave you an hour ago to finish.”
Airman Wright’s shoulders dropped in disappointment. “Yes, ma’am.”
Elena was relieved to only deal with one of them for now. “What’s going on with this captain?”
“He’s really good looking,” Airman Mendez whispered.
Elena hoped she’d misheard what Julie had said. “Excuse me?”
“The captain,” Airman Mendez clarified with a wicked smile on her face. “He’s gorgeous.”
Elena looked around the room making sure no one was within hearing distance. “I know who you’re talking about and I shouldn’t have to remind you he is an officer,” she warned.
Elena glanced at the folder Airman Mendez still held in her hands. “Give me that.” She snatched the folder from her hand. “Get back to work.”
Elena was obligated to take matters into her own hands and do the deed herself. She gathered the rest of the items she would need and headed toward the conference room where the so-called good-looking captain was waiting.
She entered the room and saw him sitting there with his back to her. “Good morning, sir,” she said, closing the door to the conference room.
“Good morning,” he murmured without even bothering to turn around and acknowledge her.
One of those, she thought. How wonderful. She made her way to the other side of the table and found herself as curious as her airmen about the man sitting in the room. She stole a glance through lowered lashes at the infamous Captain Grant. He was still looking down, preoccupied with the base newspaper, so she wouldn’t get caught checking him out.
She didn’t know what all the hype was about. He looked like the typical “I’m too good looking for you” type of guy with the perfect tan from hours on the flight line, a freshly shaved flawless face accentuated by a strong, arrogant jawline and a powerful set of rugged shoulders. He wasn’t a pretty boy, she admitted, but his aura screamed with pretentiousness—the one thing Elena couldn’t stand. She took the seat across from him and started taking out the documents she would need from the folders. She told herself she would try to get this over with as fast as possible and be rid of him for now.
“So how long is this going to take?” His tone filled with authority and impatience. He set the paper aside on the table and leaned back in his chair.
Elena’s pressed her lips together. First, it was her airmen with their petty squabble, and now this one with his air of superiority—it was going to be a long day.
She looked up, ready to politely tell the captain to hold his horses when she was greeted by the deepest blue eyes she had ever looked upon.
He was watching her intently, and Elena could feel the walls of the room starting to close in on them. Her stomach made a small flip, and a sudden panic began to set in.
A muscle quivered at his jaw. He looked away, breaking the brief trance he held. He glanced at her nametag. “Sergeant Garcia.”
Elena fidgeted with her neck tab and fought back the urge to leave the room and get as far away as possible from him. Her body’s natural instinct had kicked in, and she was in fight-or-flight mode. What was wrong with her? She was behaving as juvenile as the airmen she had chided earlier for the same behavior. She tried to concentrate on the task at hand. “It shouldn’t be long, sir. I just have to go through some documents with you.”
He looked at his wrist watch. “I arrived last night, and I’m jetlagged. I hope you can understand; I would like to get all this paperwork out of the way as soon as possible.”
Elena could feel her face tensing at his dismissive tone. He was the typical pilot academy graduate who thought he walked on water and everyone else was there to serve him. “I understand you must be tired. It is a long flight from the States to Japan, and it takes a couple of days to adjust to the time change.”
Daniel remained silent, his blue eyes never leaving hers. She lowered her lashes and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She grabbed the first document. “Here is some information on the base and officer’s quarters. If you are looking to live off base, I have included the housing office phone number and hours of operations. Also, you’re due for your physical, so I have included the information for your next appointment. If the date doesn’t work, please let us know because we will have to call the clinic and reschedule.”
He thumbed through the documents uninterested.
“Here is your squadron hat, patches and flight scarf.”
He reached out to grab the items she handed him without even saying thank you. She made a mental note to not expect any manners from him.
“I’m not sure if Major Rodriguez mentioned this to you, but you will be supervising a second lieutenant and two first lieutenants.”
“Yes, of course, he did.”
“Good; you will be receiving emails when their offer performance reports are due. In your folder, you will find some forms which need to be filled out with your new contact information. Your in-processing checklist is also included, with all the places you will have to visit to get those items signed off. You have until the end of the month to complete the checklist, and the remaining forms can be turned in later this week.”
He started paging through all the forms. “So, why can’t you guys fill most of these out? I’m sure you already have most of this information in the system, right?” He flashed a very charming smile her way, showcasing his dimples and perfect white teeth.
Part of her wanted to be the shy girl and smile back and say, Sure, we can take care of those for you, but her stubbornness and pride dictated otherwise. “I’m sorry, but it’s best you fill those out, sir. We want to make sure we have the most up-to-date information. Also, when you settle down, we will need your new contact information.”
He started tapping his finger on the table. “Are we done here now?”
“No, not quite yet,” she reproached. She would not be cut off by him, and dammit, they would be done when she said they were done. “The commander likes to meet with all the new incoming personnel. I have scheduled your appointment with him for next Tuesday at 1300 hours. Again, please let us know if this date and time will conflict with your schedule.”
“How about the first sergeant?”
“Incoming officers aren’t required to meet with the first sergeant, but I can get you on his calendar if you would like.”
“I’m assuming I’ll have a dedicated crew chief assigned to my aircraft, yes?” His reply was more of a statement than a question.
She stared at him wondering if this was his form of humor. Of course, he was going to have a crew chief assigned to his aircraft. The damn thing didn’t take care of itself. “Yes, you will have a crew chief, unless you wish to service the aircraft yourself.”
He raised a brow at her insolence. Elena’s heart skipped a beat; she was going to be in big trouble because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
To her relief, he grinned and chuckled. “No, Sergeant Garcia, you’re right I wouldn’t want to service my aircraft. And yes, I would in fact like to meet with the first sergeant. I would be most grateful if you scheduled an appointment for me.”
Elena’s hands trembled as she attempted to take notes, but she was so tense she didn’t know what the hell she was writing. Her grip on the pencil was so tight she thought it might snap in half at any moment.
“I can assume we are done now? Unless you have something else for me, that is?”
Elena looked up from her mess of notes. “Yes, we are done for now. Are there any questions you have for me?” Elena tried to sound aloof. In reality, she wanted to leave the room as soon as possible.
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br /> “No, I don’t have any questions.” He paused. “At least for now.”
As he got up to leave, Major Rodriguez walked in. Elena liked Major Rodriguez; he was prior enlisted, so he held no air about himself, and he was always very helpful and pleasant to deal with. Enlisted people like herself considered him the best type of officer because he had started as one of them and knew what it meant to be on the other side.
“Good morning, Major Rodriguez. This is Captain Grant. We have just wrapped up his in-processing.”
Captain Grant stood up to meet his new supervisor. “Hello, sir. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Oh, so he does have manners, Elena thought, they are just reserved for other people.
“Welcome aboard, Captain. I’m sure Sergeant Garcia has been taking good care of you; she is one of the best we have.”
Captain Grant looked at Elena like he was about to rat her out and complain about her smart mouth. Elena gave him a warning look. Even though she was a staff sergeant and he was an officer, she had a certain stare that came with her Hispanic genes that said, Don’t fuck with me—you’ll regret it.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” His tongue was heavy with sarcasm.
“My pleasure,” she replied with equal enthusiasm.
They both left the conference room, and her shoulders dropped in relief.
From that day on he had become her personal tormentor, and despite his good looks Airman Mendez and Airman Wright refused to deal with him after witnessing his very arrogant traits, so she was stuck with him.
“Captain Grant, do you understand that you have to write the evaluations yourself? Handing me a piece of paper with bullet statements typed on it is not going to work.” Elena bit her tongue, regretting her choice of words, but she was at her wits’ end. She was fed up with the young captain’s refusal to follow a simple task he found beneath him. She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure and save her ass from getting a letter of counseling from her flight commander later. “Sir, we are here to support you, should you have any questions,” she reminded him, “but not to type your reports for you.” She had tried everything with him, and it had gone in one ear, and just as quickly, it had come out the other. It was like pouring water through a strainer.
Daniel’s eyes darkened like a tiger who was about to pounce on its prey. “Is that so?” Daniel looked around him. “If I’m not mistaken, this is the orderly room, and isn’t it you and your airmen’s job to provide administrative support? Come on, how hard is it to just hand it off to one of them to do?” He waved his hand toward the other side of the office where both her airmen were standing pretending not to eavesdrop on their conversation. “If I do the write-ups, I don’t know why it’s so difficult for you to put it in the correct template or fix the small errors you find?”
Elena usually didn’t mind fixing small errors to speed up the process and get the reports finalized, but Captain Grant had taken this to another level. The man wouldn’t even type up the reports in the correct form, no matter how many times she provided it to him. Her patience was coming to its end; she tapped her pen on the desk to keep her hands from reaching out and choking him. She was ready for this conversation to be over with. “Sir, I have over fifty reports sitting on my desk that I have to review and process—reports for which the commander has to answer for to the group commander. If you would like, we could go into his office right now and ask him if he would like me to stop what I am doing to type up your documents and fix your grammatical errors.” Her tone and sarcastic smile left no room for guesses on how he should answer.
His jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed; he seemed to be getting as irritated as Elena already was. But she would never cower to him; she met his gaze, refusing to look away. He was a bully who took advantage of his position and held no respect for anyone else.
“What I don’t understand,” Daniel said, getting a little closer to her desk, “is for some unfathomable reason, Major Rodriguez is always bragging about how helpful and wonderful you are. But I have yet to witness any of this myself. Maybe I should have a little chit-chat with your flight commander to see what she thinks about this?”
Elena held on to the side of her desk and then grabbed the document in question he wanted her to fix. She examined it and all the red marks she had made all over it. Maybe she had gone just a bit overboard with the edits, but he had it coming to him. “Maybe I can help you out after all.”
A look of skepticism crawled into his face. “I find that hard to believe, but against my better judgment, I’ll humor you.”
Elena placed her hand on the stack of folders pouring over her desk. “I could put the promotion recommendations on hold while I take care of this for you.” Leaning her elbow on the table, she rested her chin in her hand, waiting for her offer to sink in with him.
Daniel glanced at the stack of folders on her desk.
Elena knew he was up for consideration for promotion to major and his form was among the pile of folders. And being the selfish person he was, he would always choose himself first.
He gritted his teeth. “All right. I’ll write the damn thing.” He snatched the document from her desk. “Can you at least send me the updated template?” he snapped.
“I’m sure if you look at your emails, you will find several messages from me with reminders and attachments with the template for you to use.” She refused to throw him even the smallest bone.
Elena thought Daniel would erupt like a shaken up bottle of beer, but instead, he retained his bearing, but there was a distinct hardening of his eyes. He leaned forward and placed his hands on her desk. “You know,” he whispered close enough for only her to hear, “one of these days you’re going to need a favor from me.”
His empty threat held no power over Elena. His presence, however, was playing tricks with her senses. His face was so close to hers she could feel his breath on her. Her heart skipped a beat, and she was irritated by the response he elicited from her.
She lifted her chin and met his gaze with defiance. “I wouldn’t bet on that, sir.”
Daniel stood up and stormed out of her office. Elena sank in her chair and sighed relieved, glad to be over with it, at least for today. She was exhausted, and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to deal with him. She had never met someone who could get under her skin with such vehemence. For someone who had been in the squadron for only a couple of months, he had already managed to make her life a daily living hell.
She had tried talking to her flight commander about the troubles she was having with him, but it seemed her flight commander was as hypnotized by his good looks as everyone else and didn’t notice his pestering attitude toward her. She had told Elena to suck it up and deal with it because he was one of the best pilots in the squadron—the golden boy. Elena should have known better than to ask her anything; she was an academy graduate too, and they seemed to have a secret code of loyalty. But Elena knew there was something more to the golden boy than he let on, and she was determined to find out everything she could about him.
Elena made a trip to the military personnel flight, and since she worked in the orderly room, she was allowed to check out his personal information file, which covered all the information from his military record since he joined the Air Force. She felt like she was on a covert mission to learn all she could about her enemy. With the folder in hand, she ran back to her car eager to dive in and see what little secrets it contained. She opened the labeled tri folder; it was organized by sections, with some sections containing his previous assignment orders and copies of all his previous officer reports. She quickly thumbed through all the sections and stopped when she found what she was looking for. A smile curved her face as she read the form in front of her: RECORD OF INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING. Bingo, she thought. It seemed that the perfect little captain had a dirty little secret after all.
It came as no surprise to Elena to find that Captain Grant’s offense had been for direct insubor
dination by refusing to follow the orders of his commanding officer while out on a flying mission. The summary of counseling went on to say how his behavior and refusal to follow a direct order could have resulted in jeopardizing the safety of himself and his fellow wingman. It was followed by a warning that any further derogatory actions would result in a Letter of Reprimand, which Elena knew would be detrimental to his career. Well, at least now she knew that his arrogance had bitten him in the ass before, and she was sure karma would come back to him again. After she was done studying the rest of his file, she promptly returned it and headed back to work, feeling proud of her detective work.
As soon as she walked into the office, she was bombarded by one of her troops. “Sergeant Garcia, Captain Grant has called several times asking for you. His account is locked out again,” Airman Mendez said.
Elena sighed. Not only could the man not fill out a form properly, but he also couldn’t seem to type in his password correctly either. Ever since she had received her computer support administrator certification, which allowed her to provide first-level user support, the man had managed to lock out his account at least twice a week. Once, she was even called in at three in the morning when he was on duty because she had to unlock his account when he could have easily called the communications squadron help desk, which was manned at night.
“Okay, I’ll reset it. But you will call him to let him know his account has been unlocked. I can’t deal with him anymore today.”
Airman Mendez hung her head. She dreaded talking to the captain as much as anyone else in the office did. “Yes, ma’am.”
Elena was thankful it was Friday and her day would soon be over. She was looking forward to accidentally running into Steven Mitchell, the hot crew chief assigned to Captain Grant’s aircraft. Steven and Elena had arrived the same month to Kadena Air Base, and they had connected, or at least she had connected. She was immediately taken by his dreamy green eyes and flirtatious smile. And although her instincts told her to keep her distance from him, she wanted to be adventurous for once and be the girl that gets the hot guy. She started going to clubs Steven would frequent so she could get to see him and spend some extra time with him. Sometimes she felt like a stalker, but most of the single enlisted people frequented the same clubs out on Gate Two Street, so she used that as an excuse to herself.
The Man of My Dreams Page 2