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The more the specialist hesitated, the more determined Casper was to get Laryn’s address.

“Look, I trust her more than I trust my own instincts,” he cajoled.

“She literally holds my life in her hands. It’s her work that keeps my ass in the air.

” That was a small stretch, because as incredible as Laryn was, it was his skills in the cockpit that had gotten him through some extremely harrowing missions.

But he’d say whatever it took to get Chuck to spill the beans on Laryn’s address.

“I’m not going to hurt her or anything, that would just be stupid.

Besides, you know I’m going over there, so if anything did happen to her, you’d just go to the MPs and tell them I was the last one to see her. ”

“True.”

“And Laryn can take care of herself. I bet she has one of those giant wrenches she uses on a daily basis right next to her door, ready to bash in someone’s head if they so much as look at her sideways.”

To his relief, Chuck laughed. “Right? I can totally see her brandishing a wrench in someone’s face instead of a pistol.

She’s not too far from here. Said she wanted a place close by in case she needed to get here in a hurry.

She’s at 147 Little Creek Road. It’s a small apartment complex. She’s in 2B.”

Casper desperately wanted to ask how the hell Chuck knew so much about his boss, but he kept his mouth shut.

He knew where all his fellow Night Stalkers lived, so it wasn’t much of a stretch that Chuck would know the same kind of info about his coworker.

This new jealousy making itself known was annoying and surprising at the same time.

“Thanks,” he said as casually as he could.

“If she’s mad about you showing up, you aren’t going to tell her that I spilled the beans about where she lives, right?” Chuck asked, sounding worried.

“Nope. She’ll be too irritated that I forgot to give her necessary intel to worry about that, anyway.”

“Okay. She said she wasn’t going to come back in until tomorrow afternoon, hopefully you can hold her to that,” Chuck said.

“I will,” he vowed.

Someone called Chuck’s name from across the hangar.

“I gotta go,” the mechanic said.

Casper nodded and braced as the young man walked away. Sure enough, Pyro immediately laid into him.

“What the hell, man? Something was wrong and you didn’t say anything to me or Laryn?”

He turned to his copilot. His friend. One of his very best friends, who he trusted one hundred percent to always have his back. They’d been in more than one fucked-up situation and every time, Pyro had come through. “Nothing’s wrong with the chopper,” he said.

Pyro frowned. “Then what was that all about?”

“I don’t know,” Casper said honestly.

“Dude,” Pyro drawled.

“I just…something’s up with Laryn and I want to check on her. That’s all.”

Pyro stared at him for a solid twenty seconds without saying a word. Long enough for Casper to want to squirm. He didn’t, he’d been trained better than to let what he was thinking or feeling show. But it was extremely difficult to hide what was going on in his head from one of his best friends.

“You’ve never felt the need to check on her before,” Pyro finally said. “You aren’t going to fuck over the best mechanic the Army has ever hired, are you? Because we need her.”

Irritation swept through Casper, but weirdly, he was glad Pyro was looking after Laryn. “No.”

“What’s changed?” Pyro asked with a tilt of his head.

“Because for the last three years, you’ve never felt the need to check up on anyone other than Obi-Wan, Chaos, Edge, Buck, or me.

And your brother, of course. Not that I think you’re unfeeling, you’re just…

focused. Your only old lady has been the choppers we fly.

Does this have anything to do with your brother getting engaged? ”

“No. Maybe. Look, I’ll admit that the mission to pick up Nate shook me.

And seeing him with Josie made me think about what I could be missing out on.

But that’s not why I want to check on Laryn.

Not entirely. She’s been with us for three years now, and we know nothing about her.

That’s not right. I know everything about you and the guys.

She’s literally worked her ass off to make sure our choppers are top of the line, and we never have to worry about anything mechanical when we fly.

I feel as if I’ve been a dick for not knowing her better than I do now. That’s all.”

Pyro gave him another long look. Finally, he said, “You’re right.”

Casper’s tense muscles relaxed. Then tightened again with his friend’s next words.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No!”

The denial came out a lot harsher than Casper intended.

“I mean…thanks, but that’s okay. I’m just going to stop by real fast and make sure she’s good, then I’ll go home and rest up. The next couple of days will be intense with the flight trial coming up. And you know if everything goes all right, we’re being deployed to the Middle East again.”

A grin formed on Pyro’s face—and Casper realized he’d had no intention of going with him in the first place. And he’d walked right into his copilot’s little trap.

Then the grin faded, and Pyro got serious.

“If you’re just looking for a quick lay, there are lots of women at Anchor Point who would gladly hop into your bed.

Hell, if you wanted some excitement, you could bring one of them back to the hangar and do her in the chopper.

Don’t fuck with our mechanic,” he warned. “We need her.”

“I’m not looking for a fast fuck,” he told Pyro in irritation. “I’m just going to check on her.”

“All right. Call if you need a wing man,” Pyro said with a wink.

Casper rolled his eyes and did his best to relax his shoulders, which had hunched up defensively at his copilot’s warning. “If I did, I’d call Edge.”

Pyro fake gasped and laid a hand on his chest. “I’m offended,” he said.

“Whatever.”

“Seriously, bro. You need anything, you call me. I’ve got your back,” Pyro told him.

“I know, and I appreciate it. Go get some rest. We’ll have our hands full with the trials the day after tomorrow.”

“I’m just gonna check things over here then head home.

Go, Casper. Assuage your curiosity about Laryn.

Don’t think I haven’t noticed something about you has changed when it comes to her.

Go see if you can figure it out. Because the last thing we need is your head somewhere other than behind the stick in two days. ”

“I’m always focused when I need to be, and you know it,” Casper complained.

“Except when we were flying and you heard about your brother’s team being taken out,” Pyro reminded him.

He nodded in recognition. He wasn’t wrong. He’d felt Nate’s despair that day .

“Or when he was being tortured in Iran.”

“Right, point made,” Casper said irritably.

“Throw a woman into the mix? Someone who means something to you? You’ll be a hot fucking mess in the pilot seat if shit goes south with her.

And hey, I’m not warning you off or nothing.

I’m thinking you could use someone to iron out your rough edges.

We all could. Go. And don’t be a dick like you usually are to her. Be nice…You can be nice, right?”

“Fuck off.”

“Right, maybe you can’t be nice,” Pyro teased.

Casper turned and walked away from his copilot and the chopper, throwing up his hand with his middle finger extended as he did.

He could hear Pyro chuckling as he neared the large hangar doors.

But he couldn’t deny his friend had a good point.

He and Laryn had fallen into a kind of routine.

They sniped at each other, but Casper had never really meant anything by it.

It was just how they were. But when he thought about Laryn being exhausted from working double shifts just to make sure the chopper he’d be flying was in as good a shape as it could be, it made his belly clench.

He didn’t want to simply be the asshole pilot who flew her choppers anymore. What did he want to be to her? He wasn’t sure. But he needed to find out. And this evening was the perfect chance to make the first move toward changing their relationship.

He wanted to be her friend…for now.

For three years, wherever the Night Stalkers went, Laryn went.

Why he and the others had never invited her to have a drink with them, to eat with them, he wasn’t sure.

He and his fellow pilots bunked together, ate, shit, showered together.

They were connected at the hip. He hadn’t thought twice about where Laryn was sleeping, when she was eating, or what she did during her down time .

When they debriefed after a mission, she was usually there in the background, listening as the performance of the choppers was discussed and learning what kind of enemy fire they’d faced, if any.

Then she’d leave as the debrief continued, off to do whatever she needed to do in order to make sure their choppers were ready to perform perfectly once more.

Casper often wouldn’t see her again until he was headed out on another mission.

He felt like shit now for not really thinking about where she was, what she was doing during the days, weeks, or even months they spent on naval aircraft carriers during missions. She was simply always there, in the background, reliable as the men he flew with.

A relationship with Laryn wasn’t off the table. She wasn’t in the Army any longer, she was a contractor. There were no actual barriers to them being friends…or more.

It was that thought that had Casper picking up his pace as he headed toward his Ford Taurus.

His buddies gave him crap about his nondescript car, but he liked his helicopters flashy, not his vehicles.

He wanted to blend in on the road. A thought occurred to him—maybe he could use his car as the excuse he needed to be knocking on Laryn’s door.

It was making a funky noise, and he could ask if she’d take a look at it.

It would still be weird, him showing up out of the blue and asking her to look at his car, but it was better than lying about the performance of his helicopter or admitting that, after three years of knowing her, he was suddenly concerned for her welfare.

If she was getting enough sleep. If she was eating.

Feeling better now that he had a plan, even if it was lame, Casper unlocked the door to his car and slid into the driver’s seat.

He put Little Creek Road into the map on his phone and started the engine.

It wasn’t until he was halfway there that he realized his heart was beating fast and he felt the same way he usually did while on a mission.

Adrenaline was coursing through his veins and he was looking forward to what was about to happen.

Casper smiled. He hadn’t felt this way about seeing a woman in a very long time.

He hoped that boded well for what was to come.

If not, he was about to crash and burn hard …

and he could ruin the relationship he and his fellow Night Stalkers enjoyed with the best mechanic they’d ever had. His friends would never forgive him.

But then again, maybe things would work out. Time would tell.

Casper pushed his foot down a little harder on the accelerator, eager to see how this evening would play out.