For once in her life, Elena was grateful he was there. “Thank you.” She accepted the handkerchief and tried to erase any evidence of vomit off her face. “Really, the wing commander?” Elena had to hear the story behind this.
“Yup. I was stationed in Korea as a first lieutenant, and I was running to the gate to meet curfew. I made it with a minute left to spare and was greeted by the wing commander who enjoyed doing random ID checks. Well, let’s just say I had had way too many Ammo Bowls that night, aka Korean death liquid, and it all came up right there and then on to the commander’s nicely polished boots.”
Elena’s eyes widened in comedic humor. “No, you didn’t.”
Captain Grant gave a small chuckle. “I wish I could say it was a joke. The worst part was, I had just been assigned to sit in as his exec officer for two weeks starting the following day.”
Elena laughed until her sides hurt, and Captain Grant laughed along with her. When she was finally able to breathe again, she felt a little better about herself. “I’m sorry you had to witness this today.” Out of all the stupid things Elena had done in her life, this moment trumped the books.
He grinned. “No need to apologize. Why don’t we get you home so you can rest?”
She smiled in return. Something about him was different tonight. Tonight it felt like the bars and stripes were gone and they were just two individuals standing alone in front of a club. She didn’t know if it was the alcohol affecting her senses or if he had changed. She had let her guard down with him, and it felt nice. “Home sounds wonderful right now.”
He led her to his car, always walking right beside her and never leaving her behind. They walked in silence, which she appreciated because she was afraid that she would puke again if she talked too much. She examined him through the corner of her eye. She had to admit he looked very different in civilian clothes, maybe a little less arrogant and a little more gorgeous. He didn’t look or act like any of the guys in the squadron. There was something different about him. Yes, he was a pain in the ass, but he carried himself with an air of confidence and masculinity absent in most men she had met, including Steven.
What was it about Captain Grant that made her feel so different, she wondered? What was it about him that made her feel so angry and alive at the same time? Every time she was near him she felt instantly awake, fully aware of her surroundings, and when he left, she felt an extraordinary void. When his stormy blue eyes looked into hers, she swore they were telling her more than what his mouth uttered. She felt like there was a secret behind them she needed to discover.
Chapter 5
Daniel took her to his car and drove her back to the dorms on base. Elena had fallen asleep even before he had a chance to turn the car on. Daniel looked over at her and admired her beauty. He reached out and gently moved one of the curls that had fallen over her face. She looked so peaceful in her sleep compared to the scowls she always had reserved for him. A part of him wanted to be the one to make her laugh and smile, but he knew that would never be possible.
Daniel couldn’t help but feel protective toward her. From the first moment he saw her, he felt something special about her. At first, he thought she was a total hardass, but the more he got to know her, he learned she was just a young innocent girl who wanted what everyone else wants out of life: love and adventure. He had never met anyone like her before. He had been bored with the evening until he had spotted Elena sitting alone. He couldn’t help but admire her from afar, a flower in the midst of thorns. Seeing her in civilian clothes for the first, he noticed a natural beauty and vulnerability in her he hadn’t seen before. In that moment he’d wished he could exchange the bars on his shoulders for stripes on his arms.
It had taken every ounce of strength he had not to reach over and drag her out of there and shake some sense into her. What the hell had she been thinking? He knew his crew, and Steven was the worst scumbag he had ever met. A good crew chief, he admitted, but the stories he had heard Steven tell about the girls he had been with made him sick to his stomach. And imagining Elena with him made him want to punch a hole in the wall.
He had been so close to crossing the line between an officer and an enlisted and throwing it all to hell, but it would ruin them both. He would be stripped of his rank and risk being court martialed. She would be kicked out as well and would lose everything she took pride in, and he would never do that to her. Maybe in a different life where the lines of duty and commitment weren’t an obstacle between them, things would be different. He hated how he had to be a jerk to her. He knew how much it angered her, but it was the only way he knew how to keep his distance from her. He had to build a wall up to protect her and himself. Sitting in the car with her she was so close to him but so far out of his reach. Her skirt had ridden up in her sleep exposing her tanned legs. He resisted the urge to run his fingers along them. Instead, he grabbed his jacket and covered her up.
He didn’t want to wake her up. If it were up to him, he would stay there all night admiring her, but he knew the sooner he left and put some distance between them, the better off he would be. “We’re here.” He gently rocked her shoulder to wake her from her slumber. She groaned and turned toward him, still asleep. Daniel felt like God was testing his willpower. He rocked her shoulder once again. “We’re here.”
She moaned and stretched in her sleep, not realizing where she was. Daniel studied her and wondered what it would feel like to have her in his arms and kiss her until her lips were swollen. She opened her eyes and looked around, still dazed; when she realized where she was, she sat up straight.
He chuckled.
She looked out the window. “How did you know where I lived?” She tucked a curl behind her ear.
Daniel grinned; he noticed she had a tendency of fidgeting with her hair when he was around her. He was happy he wasn’t the only one that was affected when they were together. “You told me Amanda was your suite-mate, and well…the rest came easy.”
“Oh.”
“Do you need help going up the stairs?” He pointed out the windows toward the three flights she would have to climb.
“No, I will be alright, thank you.” Elena looked down and noticed Daniel’s black jacket covering her legs.
“Drink some milk and take some aspirin.” He wished he could be there next to her when she woke up in the morning.
“You have been very nice this evening,” she said. Her beautiful smile adorned her heart-shaped face.
He smiled. If he could, he would give her the world. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m always nice.”
“Are you sure you haven’t had any drinks?” she teased. She took his jacket off her lap and handed it to him.
“Keep it,” he insisted. “It’s starting to rain.” He knew it was inappropriate to offer it to her, but he wanted her to have something from him.
She looked at him and quickly lowered her lashes. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” She laid the jacket next to him and turned to open the door.
“That’s an order, Sergeant.” His tone left no room for argument.
Elena turned, her eyes snapping at him. “Excuse me?”
There it was, the hot Hispanic temper that had intrigued him these last four months. Daniel grabbed the jacket. “Turn around.” His voice was uncompromising yet oddly gentle.
Elena studied him like she was debating her next move. She glanced at the jacket he held open for her and then at him. His mouth curved into a sensuous smile and the fight in her eyes melted away, and the barriers were for a brief moment put down. She dropped her eyes before his steady gaze, and in an unspoken surrender, she turned around. He leaned in and placed the jacket on her shoulders. He lifted her hair out of the jacket, letting her curls slip between his fingers. He could feel his body responding to her proximity, and he couldn’t resist but leaned in close and whispered into her hair, “Wouldn’t want you getting sick. Especially when you have so much work to do marking up my reports.”
She s
ucked in her breath, and he could see the rise and fall of her chest exposing her cleavage underneath his jacket. As if his touch had delivered a bolt to her, she rushed out of the car.
“You know you should be careful who you hang out with,” he called after her. “Stay away from Steven.” It was more of an order than a suggestion.
“Thanks for the advice, but I think I can take care of myself,” Elena countered back filled with pride.
“Can you?” he challenged, “Because who I saw today was someone getting hammered to impress some guy who isn’t worth it.” He couldn’t help the anger in his voice.
As if on cue, Elena rose to the occasion. “Captain Grant, what I do with my personal time is my business, and with all due respect, it is none of yours.” She took off the jacket as an act of defiance and threw it on the seat. “Good night.” She slammed the door and walked off.
Well, he couldn’t say he didn’t deserve that. But he hoped she would heed his warning. He watched her walk to the dorm, which had an open concept with the door facing the balcony so he could see when she entered her room. When she reached the building, she paused by the stairs and took off her high heels. He laughed. When she reached her room, she paused and turned to look down at his car. He knew she couldn’t see him through the tinted windows, but he swore their eyes locked. After a brief moment, she turned around and went into her room, and he drove away.
Chapter 6
Monday morning PT came all too soon—rise and shine at 0500 hours. Elena rested her head on the steering wheel of her car. She wasn’t ready for the daily torture to commence. Her only saving grace was Major Rodriguez, who was the PT leader this week, he tended to go a little easy on the group, or at least on her. He would often turn a blind eye when she would stop for a rest or couldn’t complete all the required push-ups. But the best part was Steven, and Captain Grant PT’d in the afternoon because of their flight schedules so they wouldn’t witness her shameful exhibit.
She got out of her car and adjusted the ugly uncomfortable uniform shorts that always found a way to ride up in between her legs—a curse from having big thighs. She walked toward the group when she heard the dreadful call, “FALL IN.”
Elena’s head snapped up. She looked at the front of the formation. “What the hell is he doing here?” she whispered to herself. Captain Grant was in front of the formation and the kind major was nowhere to be seen.
Elena panicked and hurried to the end of the group to hide from his view. She had not fully recovered from her shameful behavior on Saturday night and was not ready to face any witnesses yet. She tried to blend in at the back of the formation as Daniel led them through the usual boring stretches and then hell began. “Push-up position,” he yelled. Everyone hit the floor in unison and assumed the position.
“READY. ONE, TWO, THREE, ONE,” he called in cadence.
After fifteen push-ups (or more like thirty since two push-ups really only counted as one) and fifty sit-ups, Elena lay flat on the floor, her arms shaking and her abs burning. He was going to kill us today, she thought.
“Up,” he said to the crowd. “Jumping jacks. Ready…one, two, three, one.”
As Elena jumped up and down, so did her behind. She was happy no one was behind her to witness her jiggle. She loved many things about being in the military—this was not one of them. After fifty jumping jacks, Elena was struggling to catch her breath.
“Form into groups of five. We’re going to do last runner up for two miles around the track.”
Elena rolled her eyes; she was bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She looked up at everyone else, and they already looked tired as hell too. The thought of doing last runner up, the torturous exercise of five people running in a single formation with the last person in line sprinting to the front of the group, was giving her post traumatic stress disorder from basic training. She was embarrassed to admit she had once cried begging them to stop. Elena looked around for the slow runners so she could join their group. Their strategy was the first person in the line would jog like a shuffle so all the slow runners could catch up.
“Sergeant Garcia,” Daniel called.
“Shit,” Elena mumbled. She walked begrudgingly toward his group. As soon as she saw him, memories of Saturday flooded her, and it felt like everyone else in the field disappeared, and it was just the two of them. “Yes, sir?”
“We are one short; you join our team.” He spoke with an air of authority and indifference—totally different from the person she had dealt with on Saturday.
Elena glanced at his team; they were the fittest one in the squadron. She knew she was screwed; he was trying to humiliate her in front of everyone. She would never be able to keep up with them, and he knew it. But like the stubborn person she was, she would not let them see her fail.
“Okay, sure,” she replied with confidence.
He grinned and joined the head of the line. Elena was the third in the line of five and the shortest one, which meant she would have to move her legs twice as fast to keep up. Daniel took off at a sprint, and the person behind her almost knocked her down. She started running as fast as she could, but her legs and lungs had never worked so hard for more than a minute. When she was the last one in the line, and it was her turn to run to the front of the line, she felt the line speeding up so she wouldn’t be able to catch up.
“Hey,” she screamed, she had had enough of this shit. “Can you all slow down? It’s not the Olympics.” Her efforts went ignored and instead the pace increased like they were all plotting against her and she had a pretty good idea who the ringleader was.
“Having a hard time keeping up, Sergeant?” Daniel heckled her from the line.
Elena decided to ignore him, and once she reached the beginning of the line, she slowed down to a snail pace to irritate everyone. After the two miles were over, she couldn’t believe she had made it. She knew it was out of pure stubbornness on her part and her body was starting to feel the effects of it. She walked to her car and threw up right next to it.
“Well, this is the second time in three days I have seen you retch your guts out.” His words were loaded with amusement.
Elena wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her shirt was wet with sweat, her shorts were riding up her thighs, and her face was as red as a tomato. Right now was not the time to mess with her. “Do you enjoy humiliating me in front of everyone? Have you met your daily quota of torturing me, or do I have more to look forward to later on?” Her voice was shaking with anger and tears started forming in her eyes.
His smug smile faded, and his expression grew serious. “It wasn’t my intention to upset you.”
His apology should have calmed her anger, but instead, it fueled her rage even more. “Is this all some kind of joke to you? You’ve given me a hard time since you joined the squadron. I can’t do this anymore; I don’t even want to come to work anymore because of you.” She stabbed her finger at his chest.
He stared at her, his jaw doing this weird ticking thing every time he started to get upset. He took one step toward her, she backed up trying to put some space between them, but she bumped up against her car—she was trapped.
“Like I said. I’m sorry if I upset you but let’s not cross lines here and forget our places. You are still a sergeant, and I am a captain, and as such you will watch your tone when you address me.”
Elena smiled wickedly; if he thought to intimidate her with this light threat, he had another thing coming. He would have to bring it up a notch if he intended to bully her. She straightened her back and was forced to look up at him because he was taller by a foot. “You listen to me, Captain, and you listen well,” she said between her teeth. “If you don’t cease to threaten me, I will be forced to talk to my first sergeant and the commander and submit a harassment complaint. Aren’t you coming up for the Majors Board? I don’t think another letter of counseling would look very good on your record. How about you?” She knew she was dealing a dangerous ha
nd of cards, but he had broken the rules of engagement, and they were now both rogues.
He peered at her intently, and she could feel her cheeks color under the heat of his gaze. Beads of sweat were dripping from his tanned face and wet hair. She could see the outline of his lean muscular chest under his shirt; she could feel her heart flutter wildly in her breast.
After what seemed like an eternity, he turned around and walked away. Elena felt physically and emotionally drained. Only four more months, she promised herself, and then she would be at her next assignment and far away from Daniel Grant.
Daniel sat in his office trying to concentrate on the work before him. He had been distracted these last couple of days since he had last seen Elena and it was starting to show in his performance at work—something he couldn’t afford to happen. He had regretted the words that had passed between them and had purposely avoided her these last three days trying to give her the space she needed to cool off. He knew he should just keep his distance, but the urge to see her and talk to her again was greater than common sense.
He opened the latest report from Elena with all her red markups. He smiled. Some mistakes he had made on purpose to ensure he would get to talk with her. She must think he was the biggest idiot in the squadron, unable to get a simple report right, but he didn’t care as long as it brought her close to him—maybe not in the way he wanted, but close enough to not drive him mad from not seeing her.
He got to work and made all the corrections and printed the new document out. He walked to the printer, and a red light was blinking at him—it was out of paper. He headed down the hall toward the supply closet and paused by the enlisted break room as he overheard Steven talking with someone else in his crew. He had never been one to care about what went on in there, but since Friday, Steven was now on Daniel’s shit list.
“Dude, I bet I can get her in bed by the end of next week,” Steven bragged.
The Man of My Dreams Page 4