Page 56 of Keeping Amanda
“True.”
“I don’t know how or what will happen, if anything, but I just wanted you to know. If there’s dirt to be found, Tex will find it.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I might not know the kids the way you do, but your actions proved your love for each and every one of them. I saw it with my own eyes, when you thought little James was missing and ran to look for him, sacrificing your own rescue in the process. I saw it when you had to say goodbye to them at the school. I heard the agony in your voice when you told me you weren’t sure Blair would put in a good word to allow you to adopt.”
She gave him a small smile, and Buck reached for her hand, relieved and pleased when she didn’t hesitate to intertwine her fingers with his own.
“Besides,” he said, wanting to lighten the mood, “if the bitch had anything to do with the hundred or so bug bites on my ass that I got from sleeping on the ground in the jungle, I need revenge.”
At that, Mandy giggled.
“What? You probably don’t have any onyourass because I protected you when we slept. All snuggled up behind you. My asswas the one out there flappin’ and apparently attracting all the bloodsucking creatures of the rainforest.”
Mandy giggled some more. “Right, butyoudon’t have bug bites on your boobs like I do, because I was protecting your front side every night.”
Immediately, Buck got hard. Thinking about her tits, and kissing each and every one of the bites she claimed to have. Shit. He needed to get himself under control. Tonight wasn’t about sex. It was about sharing her with his friends. About showing her off. About getting to know her without the drama they’d endured for the last couple weeks.
“True. So we’re even?” he asked.
“I don’t know about that, but I’ll go with it for now,” she said, still smiling.
Thankfully by the time he pulled into the Anchor Point parking lot, he’d managed to get control over his libido. The lot was full, and he had to park near the back. Which was annoying, because there weren’t any lights in the back part of the lot, so it would be very dark by the time they left.
He met her in front of his car, and this time, Mandy reached forhishand as they walked toward the door, and Buck felt on top of the world.
They joined the rest of his friends in a back corner of the bar, and they immediately did their best to make Mandy feel at ease. They wanted to know all about her, where she’d worked previously, what she was planning on doing now that she was back in Virginia, about the kids she’d taught down in Guyana, how she got into teaching…it was a little like the third degree, but done in a friendly and open way that Buck didn’t think Mandy minded, considering she patiently answered their hundred-and-one questions.
They asked so many questions, in fact, she actually didn’t have much time to ask any of her own in return. Something she pointed out hours later.
“I feel as if you guys know me really well now, but I don’t know you at all,” she complained. That was after enjoying two beers, which seemed to go straight to her head, despite the meal she’d eaten earlier. Her cheeks were flushed, and she’d run a hand through her hair several times as the evening continued, making the smooth hairdo she’d had at the beginning of the night a thing of the past. She looked more like the woman he’d gotten to know in the jungle, which pleased Buck to no end.
“You know us,” Edge countered. “I’m the good-looking one, Chaos is the clumsy one, Pyro is the one with the best sense of direction, Obi-Wan is the charmer, Casper has the brains, and Buck is the all-American pretty boy.”
Everyone laughed.
“What does that make me?” Laryn asked. She’d been kind of quiet, content to sit next to Casper, drinking water with her meal then nursing the same beer the last couple of hours. But Buck had no doubt she’d been observing carefully. She was protective not just of the helicopters she slaved over, but also the men who flew them.
“You’re ourrealleader,” Edge said wisely. “Without you, we’d be nothing.”
“Damn straight,” Laryn said with a grin.
Buck leaned back with satisfaction. He loved these people so much. Because of them, he loved his job, felt safe when he flew in the worst of circumstances, and he knew he could rely on them for whatever he might need. The addition of Laryn to their inner circle was a good one. She softened their sharp edges a little and offered a new perspective on the things they talked about.
“It’s getting kinda late and I’m tired,” Laryn announced. “I’m going to use the restroom before we head home though. Mandy, want to come with?”
“Sure.”
Buck stiffened. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Mandy to gowith Laryn, it was more that he was unsure what she might say or do. Laryn was a tell-it-like-it-is kinda girl, and if she didn’t like Mandy, she might say something that could hurt her feelings. And that was the last thing Buck wanted.
“I’ll be back. I probably should get home to Rain anyway.”
Buck nodded, then watched Laryn and Mandy weave their way through the crowd toward the restrooms.
“I don’t understand why women have to go to the bathroom in pairs,” Chaos grumbled. “I mean, they have stalls, it’s not as if they can hold hands and sing kumbaya while they’re pissing.”
“Safety in numbers and all that,” Casper said with a shrug.
