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But he figured there was probably an ounce of honesty in her words.

Buck reached over and grabbed her now-empty tray and stacked it on top of the other six trays in his hand. He carried them over to the bins, where he threw away their trash, then put the trays on the belt to go into the kitchen to be cleaned.

Casper’s fingers itched to grab hold of Laryn’s hand as they all stood to head out, but he refrained. Instead, he leaned close to her as they walked and said softly, “Long day, huh?”

She nodded as she looked up at him. “Yeah.”

“Did all your equipment make it all right?”

“Uh-huh. How were your meetings?”

“Long. But informative. The mission will be tough, but nowhere near the most difficult we’ve had. It’ll be fun to fly at night through the mountain passes.”

Laryn rolled her eyes. “Fun. Yeah, right. You’re a weirdo.”

Casper merely smiled. “Takes one to know one.”

She huffed out a breath of laughter. “That’s mature. ”

Casper was having fun already. Maybe that was why he’d needled this woman so much in the past. One, because she never seemed to take offense to his teasing, and two, because he loved seeing her exasperated responses.

“What’s your berth number?” Casper asked.

“Four A.”

“We’re twenty-six A and B. We’ve got three-man berths.”

Laryn smiled at that. “I think I’m in a berth with twenty-three other women.”

Casper frowned. “You should have more privacy than that.”

“No, I shouldn’t. First, I’m not an officer. Second, I’m only here temporarily. I would never want to take a room away from someone who lives onboard for months or years at a time. It’s fine, Tate.”

“Maybe you can sneak up to my berth and sleep in my rack with me.”

She flat-out laughed at that. “You do remember how big these racks are, right?” she asked. “They’re tiny. Barely enough for me to roll over and not touch the bed above me. You might have more room since you’re a hotshot pilot, but I’m guessing not that much more.”

She was right. Damn it.

“I still don’t like it.”

Laryn stopped and looked both ways in the corridor. The other pilots had peeled off to head to the floor where they were bunking down. Seeing no one, she stepped into Casper and put her hands on his chest and went up on her tiptoes. She kissed him hard and fast before stepping back.

Casper’s hands shot out and gripped her hips, but he didn’t haul her back into him like he wanted to.

There was no telling when someone would come down the corridor.

He didn’t want any rumors to start about him and his mechanic.

Not because he cared, but because he’d never do anything that might hurt her career or cause people to gossip about her .

“What was that for?” he asked.

“For everything. For letting me eat with you. I usually find an empty table or one without many people. For wanting me to have a private room, even if it’s never going to happen. For wanting to be with me.”

“When we have more time before a deployment, I’ll see what I can do about getting you in a berth closer to me and the guys. And maybe we can plan time to eat in the mornings and at lunch, so you don’t have to eat by yourself.”

“I’d like that.”

Casper wished he had his phone on him so he could take a snapshot of the shy smile Laryn was giving him. He wanted to be able to see it whenever he needed a pick-me-up. It was almost scary how fast this woman had gotten under his skin and into his heart.

“Come on, let’s go find where I’m staying so I can make sure my stuff was delivered,” Laryn said

Casper’s fingers brushed the small of her back and he wished he could keep them there, but he dropped his hand and followed closely behind Laryn as she made her way down the corridors to her berth. When they arrived, he waited while she entered, and she reappeared thirty seconds later.

“All good?” he asked.

“All good. My stuff is there and my rack is on the bottom, which I prefer.”

“I’m glad.”

“Me too. So…what time for breakfast?”

Thinking about his schedule for tomorrow’s morning flight, Casper said, “It’s going to have to be early. Maybe meeting up tomorrow wasn’t the best idea.”

“It’s okay. I need to get up and get to the helo hangar anyway, you know that. If you’re up, I’m up.”

“True. Okay, oh-five-hundred?”

“Perfect. ”

They stood there for a moment, simply staring at each other.

“I want to kiss you,” Casper said softly.

“I want that too. But…probably not a good idea.”

She was right, but that didn’t mean Casper liked it. “If you need anything—I mean, anything —come up to my berth. You won’t disturb me or anyone else. Okay?”

Laryn nodded. “It’s dumb but…this is hard. I know it was only two nights, but I got used to having you around.”

“Same,” Casper said, amazed that he knew exactly how she was feeling.

“Sleep well. You need to be rested for tomorrow’s reconnaissance flight, then the mission tomorrow night.”

“I will. You too. Don’t need my mechanic screwing up any easy shit, like not checking oil levels because she was up all night, dreaming of her hunky pilot.”

Laryn burst out laughing and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “Not conceited at all, are you?”

“Nope. Not at all.”

They stood there for a beat before Casper forced his feet to move away from her. “See you at the mess hall in the morning.”

“Yeah.”

He turned and headed back the way he came, feeling a hole in his gut at walking away.

Truthfully, he didn’t like the feeling. It made him question what the hell he was getting himself into for a split second.

Then he shook off the thought. Would he rather go back to being alone and not having stomach pangs and feelings of uneasiness…

or deal with working with the woman he was sleeping with, who made him laugh and had his back at all times?

It was an easy decision.

Learning how to be romantic partners with someone he worked with was going to take some time, but Casper was ready for the challenge.

“Tomorrow night? Perfect. I’ve got people ready to intercept,” Altan said, satisfaction heavy in his tone. “How’re you going to get her into that chopper?”

He listened as the man on the other end of the line explained what he’d done.

“There’s no guarantee it’ll work, but I’ve got some ideas to make the situation even more urgent.

To make it seem like they have to take off immediately or be grounded.

Guarantee those hotshot pilots won’t want that.

And from what I’ve learned of the mechanic, she won’t let them leave without knowing exactly what’s wrong with her precious chopper. ”

“This needs to work,” Altan threatened.

“And like I said, there’s no guarantee. It’s not exactly easy to get a fucking mechanic off this ship, especially to get her inserted into the middle of a top-secret mission. You should be thanking me, not threatening me,” the man growled.

Altan did his best to rein in his temper.

He needed to get his hands on Laryn Hardy, and he had no choice but to depend on others to make it happen.

Yes, he could wait until she was back on US soil and get one of his contacts in the Norfolk area to break into her apartment and spirit her away, but then he’d need to get her off US soil, which was even more difficult than getting her off that destroyer.

No, if he could get his hands on her while she was in his territory, he’d have more support from his government.

After all, entering the country without proper documentation or permission would mean he could brand her a spy.

Keep her under lock and key, force her to use her expertise on their newly acquired MH-60s.

Her being on that chopper when it went into the mountains to retrieve the soldiers nosing around, looking for assholes hiding in the nooks and crannies, was paramount.

Altan didn’t give a shit about ISIS. They were more annoying than anything else. The ragtag group of men and boys in the mountains would be dealt with later. And hell, if America wanted to come in and take care of them for his country, that was more than all right by him.

His only concern was Laryn. In order to increase their military strength and defend their territory, he needed the knowledge she had in her head. She’d share that with his people or die. He’d make sure of it.

“Let me know how it goes down,” Altan ordered.

“I’ll be in touch when I can. Not sure when that’ll be, as my ass will probably get chewed out for this stunt I’m about to pull. The money you promised better be in my account by tomorrow morning.”

“It will be. And don’t fucking threaten me again,” Altan said, before severing the connection.

He sat back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together under his chin.

This had to work. It just had to. He needed that American bitch.

It wasn’t even natural that she was a mechanic.

She should be home having babies and serving a man.

But the fact that the best MH-60 technician in the world was a female would hopefully make her easier to break.

“Come to papa,” he whispered, before reaching for the phone once more.

He needed to make sure the men he had in place on the ground were ready.

It was going to take quite a few people to move Laryn from the mountains to his facility.

Hopefully during that time, she’d figure out that her best option was to do whatever she was told, as soon as she was told to do it.

If she was cowed and broken by the time she arrived at his doorstep, all the better.

Feeling hopeful, Altan dialed a number and waited impatiently for his contact on the other end to pick up.