“Thanks,” he said, and bolted back into the swirling dust. He made his way across the base to the flight line. There were very few people out at this early hour, especially with the sandstorm. Aside from several security details, Chance saw only a couple of other soldiers making their way toward the dining facility.
He reached the hangar closest to the helipad and ducked inside. An Apache helicopter sat in the middle of the open space and two mechanics were working on the engine. They glanced up as Chance walked through, noting his PT clothing, but they didn’t challenge him.
“Which pad are the Black Hawks parked on?” he asked. The dust was so thick that he could barely see his own hand in front of his face, never mind a Black Hawk helicopter several hundred yards away.
One of the mechanics gestured toward the right. “A couple of them are over there. But all birds are grounded until this shit clears up. Can I help you with something?”
“No, thanks.” Chance pulled his military ID free from his pocket and flashed it toward them. “I’m looking for a female pilot who may have come through here a little while ago.”
The two men exchanged a meaningful look. “Yeah…she’s over in tail number Romeo-Echo-Hotel-five-six-one.”
Muttering his thanks, Chance left the hangar and made his way over to the helipad. As he got closer, he could just make out the dark, looming shape of several helicopters, and paused to read their tail numbers. REH561 was the third chopper on the pad, and the one farthest from the hangar. Without pausing to reconsider his actions, he slid the cabin door open and climbed inside, pulling the door tightly closed against a gust of swirling sand and grit.
“What are you doing here?” asked a feminine voice, clearly laced with hostility.
Relief swamped him. Removing his goggles, Chance glanced around the small compartment until he saw Jenna at the rear of the cabin. She sat slumped in one of the troop seats. Keeping his head low, he picked his way carefully around the equipment and wiring on the floor and lowered himself into the seat next to hers. This dust-covered, despondent version of Jenna seemed so starkly different from the woman who had boldly straddled his Harley that for a moment he was taken aback. He wanted to touch her so bad, to drag her across his lap and just hold her. Instead, he linked his fingers together between his knees and angled his head to look at her.
“Hey,” he said softly, bumping his shoulder against hers. “You okay?”
She pulled away and refused to look at him, focusing instead on her hands. “I was. Until you showed up. Why are you here? To gloat?”
“Why would I gloat?”
She turned her head to give him a tolerant look, and he could see the misery in her hazel eyes. “Why is your call sign T-Rex?”
“What?” Chance was unprepared for the sudden change in subject. Call signs were the nicknames given to aviation pilots and crew members. “I guess because as an Apache pilot, I’m one of the biggest, baddest predators out there. And because I’m from Texas and T-Rex sort of sounds like a shortened version of Texas. Why?”
“Do you know what my call sign is?” she finally asked.
Chance shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“Goalie.”
“Ah. As in everyone tries to hit on the goalie?” He’d not only hit on her, he’d scored. Big-time.
“If the guys in my battalion ever find out…”
Chance knew this was his cue to assure her that he’d never tell anyone about that night, and promise her it would never happen again. But the words stuck in his throat. There was no way he’d utter them, because they weren’t true, and if he had anything to say about it, they’d be doing the same thing again soon and as often as possible after that.
“I didn’t take you for the type to feel sorry for yourself,” he said casually, studying the backs of his hands.
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” she retorted with indignation.
“Good,” he replied, his voice sounding rougher than he intended. “Because I’m not sorry about that night, and I’m not going to apologize for what happened between us. I had no freaking clue you were a pilot, or that you had some dumb-ass rule about not hooking up with other pilots.” He pinned her with a hard glare. “Not that it would have made a difference.”
She made a snorting sound that ended on a groan of self-loathing. “If this ever gets out—”
“What?” he demanded, spreading his hands. He sympathized with her, he really did, but he was quickly losing his patience. “What’s the worst that would happen? People would realize that you’re human after all?”
“You’re a guy. It’s different for you. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.” When she remained quiet, he tipped his head back and blew out a hard breath. “Okay, you know what? The next time you decide to sleep with a stranger, do yourself a favor and at least get the guy’s name, rank and social-security number, okay?”
He was deliberately callous in an attempt to piss her off, because anger would be a whole lot easier to deal with than self-pity. If she started to cry, he’d be toast. To his surprise, she slanted him an amused glance.
“I thought I had,” she said. “Well, except for the social-security number. What are the chances that twin brothers would be assigned to the same base?”
Chance shrugged, relieved by her response. “I have a little more leeway about where I want to be assigned than Chase does. His unit is based permanently out of Fort Bragg, so I requested an assignment with the 82nd Aviation Regiment and was fortunate enough to be picked up. Not that we get to see each other all that often, but it makes my mother feel better knowing we’re within shouting distance of each other.”
“Well, it makes sense in hindsight,” she said, and a ghost of a smile tilted her lips. “I actually tried to hit on you yesterday, after we arrived, but in fact I was hitting on your brother.”
“Yeah,” he said darkly. “I heard. When you called me Chase, all I could think was that you might have slept with him, thinking he was me. You were clearly upset, and I knew he was on the base, so I jumped to conclusions.”
“You really freaked me out,” she said, straightening up. “When you asked me what your name was and wanted to know when we had met, I was convinced you’d suffered some sort of brain damage.”
Chance laughed softly. “I can see why you thought that. I must have seemed a little unbalanced.” Reaching over, he laced his fingers with hers, gratified when she didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry. I should have come clean with you that night at the airfield about being a pilot.”
She made a self-deprecating sound and rolled her eyes. “Me and my big mouth. I said some pretty horrible things about pilots, and I don’t blame you for keeping quiet. After my anti-aviator rant, you were probably too terrified to tell me the truth.”
“I was not terrified,” he said firmly. “I didn’t tell you that I was a pilot because I didn’t want you to beat yourself up over what we’d done, not when it was so freaking great.” He was quiet for a moment, debating. He squeezed her fingers gently. “But what I really didn’t want was for you to hate me. Or yourself.”
She turned to look at him, and her expression softened. “You told me that you hoped I wouldn’t think badly of you if we ever met again.”
“Look, if you would just give me a chance—”
A hard gust of wind hit the side of the helicopter, peppering the exterior with sand and small rocks and startling them both. Through the windshield, the world was an impenetrable haze of brownish-yellow fog.
“Christ, this thing could go on for days,” Chance muttered. “I hate being grounded.”
Jenna released his hand and stood up, keeping her head low, but he was unprepared when she straddled his thighs and looped her hands around his neck. Under the fine coating of dust that covere
d her skin and workout clothes, he could smell her fragrance.
“When I saw your brother yesterday at Kalagush,” she said quietly, looking directly into his eyes, “and I thought he was you…my first reaction was absolute shock.”
He gave a huff of laughter. “I can understand why.”
“When you acted as if you didn’t recognize me, I thought you were sending me a clear message that you weren’t interested,” she said wryly. “That, or you were trying to keep our previous relationship a secret from your men.”
Reaching up, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “That’s what you would do, not me.”
He deliberately didn’t make any comment about being interested or not. He’d already told her how he felt about that night, and he’d all but said he’d like a repeat performance. The next move was up to her, although he wasn’t sure how he would react if she insisted they couldn’t see each other again. He hoped he would accept her decision with grace, but just the thought caused an uncomfortable tightening in his chest.
She gave him a rueful smile. “Well, I’d already decided I wanted to see you again.”
Chance pulled back a bit and studied her face. “That was when you thought I was special ops. Would you have felt the same way if you’d known I was an Apache pilot?”
Jenna averted her gaze and silence stretched between them until Chance was sure she wasn’t going to answer. She dropped her arms from around his neck and plucked moodily at the front of his T-shirt. “I’d like to think so, but the truth is…I’m not sure.”
“Well, at least you’re honest,” he said drily.
“Even believing you were special ops, I had to think long and hard about whether I really wanted to hook up with you again.”
Chance gave her a lopsided grin, even as something fisted low in his gut. “That bad, huh?”
When she raised her gaze to his, she wasn’t smiling. “No…that good. But the last time I saw you, I got the distinct sense that you couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
“Not true,” he retorted gently. “I had just had this amazing night with you, only to discover I was the embodiment of everything you were determined to avoid. If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t get any sleep that night.”
“Good,” she murmured, “because neither did I.”
Jenna’s gaze dropped briefly to his mouth, and he heard her breathing hitch. Chance’s body tightened under her sensual scrutiny and it took all his effort not to lean forward and kiss her.
“I really wanted to see you again, but I knew I needed to tell you the truth about what I do for the army,” he admitted. “It took me a couple of days, then I went over to your battalion to look for you, only to find out you had deployed.”
He knew he’d surprised her. “You came looking for me?”
“I did, yeah. I missed you by just a few hours.” He studied her face. “So imagine my surprise when, two months later, I find out that not only are you here at Kabul, but you actually propositioned my damned brother!”
Jenna cringed. “Sorry. I thought he was you—special ops.”
“Understood. And now you know that I’m not.” He dipped his head to look directly into her eyes. “So…?”
“So now I understand why you asked me not to think badly of you if we ever met again.” She paused. “Well, I don’t.”
Relief swamped Chance so strongly that he had to fight to keep the silly grin off his face. She hadn’t actually said that she’d revised her opinion of male pilots in general, but the fact that she wasn’t throwing him out of her helicopter was more than he’d hoped for. Now he arched one eyebrow. “Really. Maybe you could, uh, demonstrate how you do feel.”
Jenna settled herself more fully on his lap and glanced at his watch. “It’s oh-six-hundred hours. Don’t you have to report for duty?”
Chance wanted to groan at the sensation of her smooth thighs straddling his bare legs, and the sexy expression in her eyes. “Not until oh-eight-hundred hours,” he finally managed. “That gives us two hours—give or take a few minutes—in which you can show me exactly how much you don’t think badly of me.”
“Then we’d better hurry,” she murmured. “This could take awhile.”
7
IN FOR AN INCH, IN FOR a mile, Jenna decided, or at least a solid eight inches, if her memory was correct. She’d already had sex with Chase—er, Chance. Granted, she hadn’t known he was a pilot at the time, but it seemed hypocritical to let that stop her now. She still had a hard time believing he was actually a pilot, and she cringed when she recalled the derogatory things she’d said. No wonder he hadn’t told her what he did for a living; she would have kept her mouth shut, too.
She’d been shocked when he’d introduced her to his twin brother, but there had also been a part of her that was secretly relieved, since it meant he hadn’t really rejected her when she’d propositioned him in the hangar. She supposed she should be grateful that Chase hadn’t taken her up on her offer.
Recalling how she had spent most of her life trying to win the approval of her father, she still had no intention of allowing her relationship with Chance to become more than casual. But she didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t enjoy whatever he might be willing to share with her. Once the sandstorm was over, she would return to Kandahar, and their paths would separate once again. Kabul Air Base was one of her routine stops when transporting troops, and she’d spent the night here on several occasions. The opportunity to see Chance again was excellent, and provided they were discreet, there was no reason why they couldn’t continue what they had started in that field at Fort Bragg.
Her legs were long enough that her feet easily reached the floor as she straddled his thighs, and she was close enough that her breasts almost brushed his chest. The sandstorm raged outside and the lighting in the helicopter was dim, but she could still make out the heated expression in his eyes. His hands rested at her waist, and his nearness created a chaos of sensations inside her. The way he looked at her made her feel both shy and confident, like she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen and he couldn’t wait to devour her. Now she realized it was that precise quality that had been missing when she’d crossed paths with his brother the day before. There had been none of the sexual awareness, none of the mutual attraction. In hindsight, she couldn’t understand how she’d gotten them mixed up.
From her position on his lap, she couldn’t fail to notice the growing evidence of his arousal beneath the soft fabric of his workout shorts, or the way his pupils had dilated so that his irises were nearly swallowed up by the blackness. Even his breathing had changed, and Jenna found her own ability to breathe compromised by his nearness.
“Jenna,” he muttered, his gaze dropping to her mouth. Almost as if he couldn’t help himself, he reached up and pulled her ponytail free, threading his fingers through her hair until it hung in loose waves around her face. He framed her jaw in his big hands and dipped his head, his lips just brushing her own.
As a kiss, it was no more than a tentative question, but when he drew slightly back, Jenna followed, seeking more of the elusive contact. Her hands came up to curl lightly around his wrists and urge him back.
“Please,” she murmured on a soft exhale.
With a groan of defeat, Chance buried his hands in her hair and brought his mouth down on hers. This time, there was nothing tentative or hesitant about the way he kissed her. He consumed her, slanting his mouth hard across her own until she welcomed the hot, hungry thrust of his tongue. He licked at her, dragging an urgent response from her. The kiss was so carnal and sexy that heat exploded beneath her skin and raced along her nerve endings until every part of her body was on fire. She was only vaguely aware of scooting forward on his thighs and winding her arms around his neck, her fingers rubbing over the hard muscles of his shoulders and
back.
“God, you feel good,” she said against his mouth.
In answer, he bent her back over one arm and pushed her T-shirt upward, smoothing his hand across her bare skin until he encountered the edge of her bra. But that was no deterrent and, with one easy flick of his fingers, he released the front clasp, exposing her breasts. He broke their kiss long enough to pull back and admire her. His eyes glittered hotly as he bent his head and flicked one distended nipple with the tip of his tongue, causing a sharp stab of lust to knife through Jenna.
“Oh, yes,” she breathed, spearing her fingers through his short hair and urging him to continue.
Chance complied, laving her breast with his tongue until finally, when Jenna thought she couldn’t stand any more of the sensual torture, he drew the pebbled tip into his mouth, sucking hard and causing a rush of warm moisture between her thighs. She squirmed on his lap and he pushed a hand between her legs to cup her intimately through the material of her shorts.
“You’re so damned soft,” he muttered against her breast. “I want to see you.”
Before she realized his intent, he stood up, lifting her with him and then turning until she reclined on the nylon seat, while he leaned over her. She made no protest when he dragged her T-shirt over her head, and then eased her bra off until she wore nothing but her shorts and her workout shoes. For a moment, he just stood and stared at her, and Jenna had to resist the urge to clap her hands over her breasts.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said gruffly, reading her thoughts. “You’re gorgeous.”
“What if somebody comes?” Her gaze slid to the window, where the outside visibility was absolutely zero.
“Nobody’s coming out here to check on the choppers,” he assured her. “Not in this weather. But just in case…”
Jenna watched as he made his way to each sliding door and secured a metal latch, locking the doors from the inside. Returning, he crouched in front of her with his hands on her bare thighs, and Jenna leaned forward to press a moist kiss against his mouth. He deepened the kiss, stroking her with his tongue and causing the tiny flames that licked along her skin to reignite. When he cupped her breasts, she almost groaned with pleasure at the sensation. He massaged her sensitized flesh and rolled her nipples between his fingers before squeezing them gently. His kiss, combined with his caresses, had her arching toward him, and she ran her palms over his shoulders and arms, before grasping the hem of his T-shirt and tugging it upward.
Uniformly Hot! Volume 1 from Harlequin: Letters from HomeBreaking the RulesComing Up for Air Page 41