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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Casper woke up with his belly growling. Turning his head, he saw it was two-seventeen in the morning. Thirteen minutes before his alarm was set to go off. He’d managed to set it before he basically passed out.

The reason he woke up hungry was obvious.

Laryn.

And her cookie lotion.

He smiled and closed his eyes once more, enjoying the moment. He’d meant to stay awake until she came into his room. He couldn’t wait to see her in his bed for the first time. He’d planned, despite his words to the contrary, to eat her to an orgasm, then hold her as she fell asleep against him.

His damn exhaustion had claimed him before he could put his plans into action. But he had to admit there was something so calming about holding Laryn as she slept. Even in sleep, she clung to him. It made him feel ten feet tall.

He dozed for the thirteen minutes until his alarm went off.

Laryn stirred in his arms and groaned when she realized it was time to get up .

“Hi,” he said quietly after he’d shut off the annoying buzzer from his phone.

“Hi,” she returned.

There was so much Casper wanted to say. To do. But they didn’t have time. And things were still very new between them. So he simply kissed her forehead and said, “I’ll be done in the bathroom in a few minutes. I’ll make coffee to go while you shower, if that’s okay.”

“That’s perfect. Thank you.”

Reluctantly, Casper scooted out from under her and the covers and stood. Then he turned and placed his palms on the mattress and leaned down. “Best night’s sleep ever,” he whispered, before kissing her lightly on the lips.

He left before he did more than that, before he gave in to the urgent feeling deep inside him to claim this woman.

There wasn’t time, and he didn’t want to rush their first time in his bed.

It was a stupid thing to think because they’d already made love, but this was his space.

His domain. And it felt different to be with her here. More real for him, somehow.

Which didn’t make sense, considering things between them already felt as real as they could get.

Mentally shrugging, assuming it was a guy thing, he hurried to shower and do what he needed to do in the bathroom so he could turn it over to Laryn and get some much-needed coffee made for them both.

One thing was for sure, he felt different waking up with her by his side. The day didn’t seem so mundane. So routine. Everything felt special with her there. The possibilities for the day seemed endless. It was a euphoric feeling. One he liked a hell of a lot.

That euphoria didn’t last very long. Only until he and Laryn parted ways when they arrived at the base.

She had to go make sure last-minute preparations for departure were done on her end.

To check on the mechanics who were making the trip with her.

And he had to meet his team and attend one last briefing about the situation they’d be flying into.

The plane ride across the world was frustrating. He and his friends were seated in one area of the plane, and Laryn and the men and women who worked for her in a different area. That was how it had always been in the past, but now the seating arrangements irritated Casper.

They landed and had to be shuttled to the destroyer, and Casper was able to finagle a seat next to her in the chopper. He pressed his thigh against hers but didn’t dare do anything more that might make her uncomfortable around their teams.

It was the smile she aimed his way that warmed his heart though. While she was definitely in professional mode, as was he, it felt good anytime they shared an intimate look.

As soon as they landed on the deck of the destroyer, they went their separate ways once more. Him to check in with the other pilots onboard and to meet with the special forces teams about the situation on the ground, and her to check on the choppers, which had arrived before them.

Hours later, Casper was feeling jet lag and the little sleep he’d managed to get before leaving the States. He was also hangry, and he wanted to check in with Laryn and see how she was getting on.

“Where’s the fire?” Pyro asked, as he and Casper strode down the corridor toward the mess hall.

“You aren’t hungry?” Casper asked, instead of answering his question.

“Starving. But since I’m not holding my breath that what they’ve got cooking in the galley is anything worth busting my ass to get to, I can wait the extra thirty seconds it’ll take to get to the mess hall and have it served up. Let me guess…Laryn?”

Casper shrugged, unwilling to pretend she wasn’t important to him. That things hadn’t changed between them. “Yeah. Just want to know how her day went and how the birds look.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. With Laryn in charge, how could they be anything but?”

His friend had a good point.

“This is serious, right? You aren’t just fucking with her, literally or figuratively?” Pyro asked nonchalantly. “I mean, it would suck to lose her because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.”

Pyro wasn’t denigrating Laryn, but it was still difficult to stay calm. “It’s serious,” he told him.

“Cool. I like her.”

Casper gave him a sideways glance.

“Not like that,” Pyro was quick to reassure him with a chuckle. “Jeez. Things got serious between you two pretty fast, huh?”

He nodded. “Let’s just say I got my head out of my ass and opened my eyes to what was right in front of my face. I’m grateful no one else caught her eye while I was being a dumbass.”

Pyro laughed and smacked his shoulder. “She’s good for you, I think. The guys and I have always wondered why you two sniped at each other so much, and it makes sense now.”

“What does?”

“You liked her. Even when you were teasing her. Maybe you thought you shouldn’t go there, or that she was too good for you, or some other bullshit reason to stay away.

So you told yourself that you weren’t attracted to her.

But you still couldn’t resist getting under her skin anytime you had the chance. ”

“What are you, a psychologist now?” Casper grumbled, secretly thinking his friend was right.

“Naw. Just a guy who sees things. ”

“I wish you’d have seen this one coming so it didn’t take me so long to let her know I wanted to take her out.”

Pyro chuckled again.

They reached the mess hall, and Casper looked around eagerly when they entered.

To his disappointment, he didn’t see Laryn anywhere.

He and Pyro went through the line and loaded their trays before sitting at a large table.

It didn’t take long for Buck, Obi-Wan, Chaos, and Edge to join them.

Just when Casper had given up on seeing Laryn, she walked into the huge room.

He was on his feet before he even realized he’d moved.

She looked as tired as he felt.

“Hey,” he said as he approached.

When she realized it was him, she smiled, and it transformed her face. How he’d never noticed how pretty his mechanic was, or acknowledged it at least, he had no clue.

“Hi,” she returned.

“Everything all right?” he asked, accompanying her to the line for food.

Instead of answering, she raised a brow and asked, “You don’t think I can carry my tray all by myself? Or are you getting seconds?”

Casper felt himself blushing, and he shrugged. “Just wanted to see you. Talk to you. It’s been a while.”

“Oh. And it hasn’t been that long. Not really.”

Casper made a point of looking at his watch, then said, “Six hours, fourteen minutes, and forty-three seconds.”

She chuckled. “That long, huh?”

“Yup. You had a chance to check out your berth yet?”

She gave him an incredulous look.

“Right, sorry. You were elbow deep in the guts of my chopper, I’m guessing?”

“Yours and the others. I wanted to make sure your MH-60 made the trip all right—which she did—and the other two choppers were still up to par. You guys still heading out in the morning?” She started down the food line, grabbing a little of everything and piling her tray high.

“Yeah. For a reconnaissance flight. Get the lay of the land, so to speak. Then we’ll head back here, debrief, get some sleep, and head out on our first mission tomorrow right after the sun goes down.”

Laryn nodded.

Casper grabbed a water for her and gestured toward his team’s table.

She sat down and smiled at everyone. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Yo.”

“All settled in?”

She chuckled at that. “As settled as I’ll get, I guess. You guys?”

Everyone agreed.

Laryn ate quickly, which Casper assumed was because, like him and his fellow pilots, she could get called away for an emergency at any time. Really, when they were onboard a ship, they were all on call 24/7.

Talk at the table turned to the choppers she maintained, and Laryn reassured everyone that things looked good for both the morning flight and the actual missions they’d be going on the next evening.

“You done for the night?” Casper asked. “With maintenance, I mean.”

“Yeah. Unless I get paged.”

“Shall we go find our berths?”

She gave him a side eye. “If that was code for hanky-panky, I’m thinking…no.”

Everyone at the table laughed.

Laryn’s cheeks were pink, but she met Casper’s gaze without backing down .

“No funny business. This isn’t the time or place. But I do want to make sure you’ve got everything you need and that we know where you are…just in case.”

She tilted her head and stared at him without blinking for a long moment. Then she said, “You really were serious about things being different.”

“Definitely,” Casper told her with a firm nod.

“I’m good. I have everything I need,” she said.

“Give it up,” Chaos said. “When Casper gets something in his head, there’s no convincing him otherwise. If the man wants to make sure you’re settled in and don’t have a bunk on the bottom level of the ship, where it stinks like fuel and is noisy as hell, you should let him.”

“Wait—you can get me moved if I’m under the water line?” Laryn asked. “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s go!” She smiled to let everyone know she was joking.