Page 11

He was handsome, she supposed, if she pushed aside all her preconceived notions about the guy.
She dodged the chopper around a pocket of thicker fog, noting the way his breathing kicked up as he fisted his hand. “You’re Beckett.”
Foster Beckett. Major. Retired. And part of the reason she’d finally decided to give up the Coast Guard to help her father.
Though, to hear him talk about the man, Beckett was more legend than mortal. Had received a shoebox full of metals for various acts of bravery while under fire. She’d come to refer to him as the ghost. Always there but never seen. Her dad had been trying to get the guy to join Raven’s Watch for the past six weeks, but all he’d gotten was the same three words. That Beckett wasn’t interested.
Beckett’s mouth twitched. “I see you share your father’s current opinion of me.”
She snorted, angling the machine toward the shore in the hope of beating the advancing fog bank. “All I know is that my dad finds something wrong with every pilot I send his way because in the end, none of them are you. Which means, I’m now stuck working double duty while my father tries to woo you.”
Beckett stared at her, his eyes narrowed as he constantly shook out his right hand. As if it had gone numb and still hadn’t come back to life. “Woo me?”
“Something wrong with my choice of words, Major?”
“Only in the sense that Atticus Parker doesn’t woo anyone. Threaten? Sure. Bully? Definitely. Hell, he might even resort to asking somewhat nicely if the stars are in alignment. But he’d never woo.”
“Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think?”
“Or maybe you’re projecting your own feelings into the matter.”
“My feelings? I don’t even know you.”
“But something tells me you believe you know my type. That maybe I think I’m too good to work for your dad? Or too lazy?” He arched a brow. “I’m close, aren’t I.”
He hadn’t phrased it as a question, and she merely shrugged. “You do you. Just do me a favor and send some fellow Air Force jackass his way so I can get more than a few hours of sleep. This time of year is the most dangerous, weather wise. And people out here seem to lack any form of common sense when it comes to self-preservation.”
“I’m aware. I grew up here. And I’ve offered to send guys his way, but he blows me off before I can give him any names.”
“I told you. They’re not you. Which raises the question of why you keep saying no?”
Beckett stared at her, snapping his head to the back of the cabin when their other passenger made some weird gurgling noise before taking a few loud, gasping breaths. He swallowed, coughed, then looked back at her, shaking out his right hand, again. As if simply hearing that odd sound had affected him.
He rolled that same right shoulder, wincing as it rotated. “Other than three plates and a few dozen screws?”
“You managed that rescue like a pro. Flying doesn’t require nearly that much mobility.”
“I’m retired.”
“Right.”
He furrowed his brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, it’s just…” She blew out a rough breath. “Guys like you, like my dad, never really retire. I mean, I know my dad tried. Lasted all of a month before he decided he needed to start up this search and rescue business. Though, I suspect he’d planned it that way from the start so he could argue that he’d given retirement the ol’ college try. Just like your buddies.”
“Maybe I’m not like them.”
Mac spared him a quick side eye as she lined the chopper up with the big H on the tarmac. “Or maybe this has nothing to do with retirement or plates and screws and everything to do with why you chose now to leave the Air Force. The reason you wanted me to drop you off at the truck instead of bringing you on board.”
She made full eye contact this time. “Why you can’t bring yourself to actually sit in that seat.”
Beckett inhaled, clenching his jaw so tight she thought it might crack before he looked away. That right hand still fisting and releasing. She gave herself a mental slap, realizing a bit too late exactly what she’d said. She’d definitely crossed a line. Especially considering he’d just jumped into the fray to help people he didn’t know. Had put his own life at risk when he could have walked away.
He didn’t owe her or her father any explanation.
She berated herself under her breath, fighting the gusting winds and punishing rain as she landed the chopper on the tarmac, quickly spooling down the engines. She hadn’t even had the chance to look over at him before he was up and moving, helping Charlie carry the basket out of the chopper and into the hanger.
Red and white lights reflected off the fog beyond the building, the ambulance obviously waiting for them.