Page 29 of Keeping Laryn
She wasn’t wrong. And once again, it reminded Casper of just how much this woman knew about their machines. He often took for granted how flawlessly they performed when he was flying, but Laryn was exactly right. If something was off even by the smallest margin, it could be a huge disaster.
“I didn’t notice it pulling right, but if you say it was, it was,” Casper said as he approached. He slung an arm over Laryn’s shoulders and gave her a quick one-armed hug. “She performed beautifully. Thank you all for your hard work to get her up and ready to go.”
The younger mechanics’ faces lit up at the praise, and it hit Casper then that it wasn’t only Laryn he should’ve paid moreattention to. Building these men up would help not only him and his friends, but any future pilots these mechanics worked with.
As the two men—boys, really—babbled on about specific maneuvers he’d performed in the test flight, Casper was acutely aware of the woman at his side. He hadn’t removed his arm from around her, and she hadn’t shrugged him off. It might’ve been his imagination, but he could’ve sworn she leaned closer as he patiently listened to the effusive praise her coworkers were giving him on his flying prowess.
This would’ve been the perfect time to improve the relationship between him and the mechanics who worked on their choppers…but Casper was only interested in improvingonerelationship right this moment. The one with Laryn.
“Thanks, guys. But I truly believe a pilot is only as good as the machine he’s flying. And thanks to Laryn and everyone who worked on my MH-60, today I got to be one of the best. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to steal Laryn.”
“Of course.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you guys have an AAR to attend.”
A pang of guilt hit Casper. He wasn’t stealing her to go to a boring After Action Review. No, he wanted to convince her to go to Anchor Point with him and his fellow Night Stalkers to celebrate the successful trial.
He dropped his arm from around her shoulders and instead took her hand, turning her around and walking away from the mechanics who were still staring at them with interest. Reluctantly, he dropped her hand when they were out of hearing range of anyone around them. It was crazy how right her hand felt in his.
“What’s up?” she asked with a slight tilt of her head.
“Come to Anchor Point with us,” he said without preamble.
She blinked as if surprised. Then let out an adorable little huff of breath. “I thought you wanted to talk to me about the chopper leaning to the right.”
“Nope. I want you to agree to come to the bar to celebrate with me and the guys. It’s tradition.”
“I don’t know,” Laryn hedged. “I have paperwork to do, and I want to take a look at the bird before she gets loaded up to head to the destroyer. Make sure nothing shook loose in the trials or needs to be replaced.”
“The chopper is fine. Your guys can do that. Come on. Come out with us.”
“You’re just asking because you feel you have to babysit me after hearing about that call last night,” she accused.
“I’m not,” Casper said. “Remember, I told you last night that I wanted you to come with us when we celebrated the flight trial. And I’m asking because I honestly want you to come. I’ve been a shit team leader because I’ve excluded one of the most important people on my team for way too long. We all want to celebrate with you. Share in the triumph of being back in the air after losing that bird in Iraq. I’ve felt naked without a chopper, and now I can get back to doing what I’m good at.”
He considered using the magic word that seemed to make this woman agree to whatever he wanted, but he didn’t want to abuse the power that word seemed to have over her.
“I promise it’ll be fun. The guys and I want to get to know you better. We never get hammered, and we won’t stay out too late.”
Laryn sighed, looking back at her employees, then over at the MH-60 sitting in the hangar, then finally back at him. “Fine. But not for long. It’s already way late.”
It was. It was twelve-thirty. “Awesome. And it won’t be for long, as the bar closes at two.” He wanted to grab her hand again but was cognizant of the many eyes on them, and the last thing he wanted to do was embarrass her or make her have to answer any uncomfortable questions from her staff. There were no rules against her dating a sailor or soldier, but instinctively, Casper knew she’d be uncomfortable with any attention being drawn toherself or her actions. She was much more comfortable flying under the radar.
The thought made him smile, as that’s where he was comfortable too…literally. Flying his chopper under the radar, so he was invisible to enemy forces.
Instead, Casper put his hand on the small of her back as he urged her toward where his friends were waiting patiently. He hadn’t had a chance to talk to most of them privately about what was up with him and Laryn, and honestly, he wasn’t sure what he’d tell them. That he’d suddenly noticed she was a very attractive woman? That he was drawn to her? That he felt like an idiot for overlooking her for so long? All of that was true, but he was still formulating a way to inform the others what was going on.
But then again, he probably didn’t really have to. He’d never brought a woman to PT before. And while Laryn technicallywasa part of their team, it was still unusual enough for him to have taken such an intense interest in what was going on with her. So much so that his friends—other than Edge and Pyro, who he’d already had conversations with about Laryn—probably had an inkling his interest wasn’t entirely professional.
“High-five!” Buck exclaimed as they neared.
Laryn smiled and smacked his hand.
“She flew sweet and strong!” Pyro added, pulling Laryn into a bear hug.
She squeaked, but was still grinning as she returned his exuberant embrace.
“Did you see Casper turn her practically on her side as he circled around to get behind us?” Obi-Wan asked.
