Page 69 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

He’d come to Fort Dale almost a decade before, a freshly promoted general ready to take on the world.

It amused him to think that even a man in his late thirties could still have the same naive confidence and optimistic enthusiasm of a man ten years his junior.

Every few years, when he looked back on his life, he wondered how his past self could have been so blind.

Philip is supposed to be showing up in an hour.

Understood. And you are aware he has a title, correct?

Yeah. Why, what are you going to do, report me?

That brought a soft laugh from David, who pocketed his phone rather than responding and encouraging Christian.

It was probably not a good idea, at least professionally speaking, to let his receptionist show him what could be called disrespect, especially since it had begun with Christian referring to a superior by his first name without his proper rank and title.

Yet, it was a small pleasure for David to have someone like Christian around.

Everyone else he dealt with, save his sister, treated him as General Winter, a man to be respected and spoken to carefully.

There was the occasional unruly soldier who ignored that, but General Winter knew full well how to throw his weight around if necessary.

With Christian, David knew there was no disrespect from the younger man when he spoke flippantly or even when he harassed David.

If anything, there was a playful casualness David welcomed in his otherwise stiff and formulaic life.

But he also wasn’t so foolish as to encourage the man more than necessary.

When he returned to the office, Christian was seated behind his desk, as usual, popping something from a small plastic bag into his mouth. When David grew closer, he realized the snacks were, in fact, carrots, and he couldn’t help but smile smugly.

“I see you decided to take my advice,” David said.

Christian sighed. “Yes, General Winter, after your repeated...reminders, I decided I could incorporate a few healthy snacks into my meals.”

“Sounds like a polite way of saying I nagged you,” David pointed out.

“I would never be so bold as to accuse my superior of being a nag,” Christian said, batting his eyelashes.

The gesture was affected and not meant to be taken seriously.

Yet David couldn’t help noticing the slight pull in his gut.

Along with finding the man’s personality absolutely endearing, there was something about the entire package.

David would have been a liar if he tried to tell himself he wasn’t occasionally drawn to men a decade or two younger than he was.

“No, you wouldn’t, but you’d be willing to insinuate it strongly when there’s no one around to hear you,” David said.

Christian winked, popping another carrot into his mouth with a crunch. “I might be guilty of that sort of shady behavior occasionally.”

David chuckled. “So, what time is my Operations leader supposed to be showing up?”

“You mean your Operations leader at the moment , right?” Christian asked with a raised brow.

David frowned. “Have you been reading my outbound messages again?”

Christian sighed. “I’m sorry, yes. I thought General Pollack wanted another one of your recipes when I saw the message. Didn’t realize it was work-related. I told you to mark any emails I’m not supposed to see, but you never do.”

That was true. “You didn’t need to keep reading it once you saw what it contained.”

Christian wrinkled his nose. “Once I realized, I stopped reading. But it was too late. Cat was out of the bag. You’re trying to get Philip transferred.”

David cleared his throat. “That you’re privy to the information is fine, I suppose. But I’d prefer that you didn’t talk about it openly, thank you.”

Christian winked. “You got it. Lord knows keeping my mouth shut is a skill I’ve had to master over the years.”

David cocked his head, wondering why Christian felt the need to say, ‘years’ rather than just ‘year.’ Christian had been placed directly under David about a year ago, and working the front desk required discretion.

Not just because Christian was exposed to David’s life but because of the problematic soldiers he dealt with, and when Command showed up.

However, his question was tossed aside as Christian put down the carrots and linked his arms behind his head.

He leaned back in his seat, letting out a low groan as he stretched the muscles in his back.

It had the unintended side effect of making the front of his uniform ride up, showing a flash of bare skin and the pale blond hair of his stomach.

Once again, David felt that pull in his gut, but much harder than before.

“The water Philip is so fond of is already in your office fridge, and he was nice enough to mention that he just wanted to ‘catch up’ on things. So, I took the notes you gave me from the last meeting, mixed them with what’s changed since then, and created a little cheat sheet.

Maybe it’ll be good enough to get you through the meeting faster than usual,” Christian said as he dropped his feet on the ground and stared at his computer again.

David nodded, thankful, and shoved aside the image of Christian’s bare skin and the question of what the rest of him looked like.

In a strange quirk, he liked his men younger than him but his women older.

He knew damn well that if Christian was not firmly off-limits, David would be sorely tempted to try and find out what the rest of Christian’s pale skin looked like.

But he was Christian’s superior, and there were strict rules about fraternization, particularly regarding generals.

“I’ll give it a look over and try not to consider dipping into the case full of liquor I have in there,” David said, rounding the desk once he thought it was safe to expose the front of his uniform.

Christian chuckled. “I’ll even be a good boy and warn you what kind of mood he’s in. I’m hoping for all business. If he’s jolly, he likes to stand around and chat before he comes in to see you.”

“Oh, the horror,” David said dryly as he pushed into his office.

Predictably, Philip was late. A full twenty minutes after the arranged time, David received a notification from Christian that Philip had arrived.

It took another ten minutes before the next message told him Philip was on his way in.

David took that to mean Philip was particularly happy and had lingered to chat with Christian.

The addition at the end of Christian’s message raised David’s brow.

Seems a little too happy if you ask me.

David wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t have time to contemplate it.

The door to his office swung open, and Philip strolled in, or more accurately, strutted in.

Philip Rogan enjoyed living big and did everything with as much expression and confidence as he could muster.

Where someone else would walk, he would strut.

Where they would talk, he would proclaim.

Most of the time, David ignored it and let the man say whatever he had to, praying he would get through the meeting before the day was supposed to end.

“Phil, good to see you,” David said, standing up to take the man’s hand.

Philip grinned wide, shaking David’s hand briskly. “David, a pleasure as always. I hope you’ve been well?”

“As well as can be expected,” David said, gesturing to the seats.

Philip dropped into one. David didn’t require formality from those he worked closely with, and next to Philip’s desire to seem at ease with everything, there was a casualness between them that went quite far.

Much of that informal relationship came from David being responsible for Philip’s continued contract with the military.

A few years before, there had been a quiet but substantial incident that could have cost Philip everything.

David, out of pity for a man whose entire life depended on staying in the military, had quietly interceded.

The situation had been swept under the rug, and Philip not only went unharmed but had even been, against David’s private concerns, placed as the head of operations at Fort Dale.

A decision David hoped would soon be changed.

“Well enough, I suppose. Seems like there’s always something needing my attention. I’m lucky to get my breath,” David admitted as he sat down.

Philip let out a loud laugh. “Yes, I’m more than aware of what that feels like.”

David chuckled, trying his best not to ask what exactly it was that kept Philip so damned busy.

It certainly wasn’t his job since David did half of it.

Though he supposed it was hard work, staying on decent terms with the other generals and the rest of Command.

Those connections had made it difficult for David to finally get someone to listen to him about replacing Philip, and hopefully with someone who might do the job better than David, whose attention was constantly divided.

It just required one more piece of the puzzle, one he would have to follow up with Christian after his meeting with Philip.

“It’s been a bit since Sergeant Rider settled in. How’s he getting on with the team?” David asked, knowing the answer since he’d seen the reports.

Philip wrinkled his nose. “Not well. I can’t say I agree with your choice of an intel officer for Team Maelstrom, especially considering they’ve done nothing but argue since they met.”

Well, two of them were arguing. It seemed the team leader and the new intelligence officer were not seeing eye to eye. Then again, David hadn’t expected the transition to be smooth and wasn’t bothered by the reports. The deep crease in Philip’s brow told him he was bothered.

“Can’t expect everything to go smoothly, especially with all that’s happened with Maelstrom. Best to let them work things out on their own for a while. Just make sure the team leader knows to keep everyone busy, including himself,” David said.