Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Jen

" J ennifer Walker, nice to meet you," I said. My hand didn't exactly disappear into his, but it felt that way when we shook. His weren't oversized like some of the giants walking around here, but the way he grabbed it, firm, strong, made my pulse pick up a little faster. He seemed so restrained, it felt like he was holding back, probably to avoid hurting me, and the fact that he could was oh so sexy. I mentally shook my head. This was the man that in the span of thirty seconds had knocked my ex on his ass and dressed me down like I was fresh out of flight school.

I didn't need to be thinking about him like this. Not only because I need to keep my wits about me out here, but because there is obvious tension between our teams . I was surprised that a fight hadn't broken out during the briefing, the way his guys were antagonizing everyone.

He seemed as momentarily distracted as I was. He held on a bit longer than was comfortable and my heart kicked up into another gear, reminding me that it'd been a while since I'd found a man this attractive. Tall enough I had to lift my head to meet his eyes, dark hair, shaved low and neat. Strong, chiseled chin, the type you saw from men in the olden days that's so rare to see today. His skin was dark like a nice tan, I wondered if it was just a tan or if his whole body was that golden shade. His eyes were dark hazel and hypnotic. It felt like I could get lost in them. They flashed to mine and something flickered there, then out of nowhere he just let go, like he suddenly remembered where he was. I was grateful because it snapped me back to reality as well.

I couldn't help but smile at him. The man was too gorgeous for my own good.

"This is Arthur and Brady, the rest of the team," Laura told me, gesturing to the other two pilots.

"Call me Artie, and we've met," Artie said, giving a half-wave, half-salute from the other side of the table.

"We have?" I asked.

"Umm...yeah, we met in passing yesterday," Brady said sheepishly, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck while looking at the ground.

My eyes went wide. He was the naked one singing happy birthday! Out loud I said, "Ah, yes, the birthday...dance." My face heated as I realized I'd seen this man in all his...naked glory. I now knew far too much about him. I swear that Sheppard let out a growl at Brady as he pieced together what we were talking about. Brady looked shocked for a moment, then subtly stepped back behind Artie.

Laura's laugh echoed off the walls loud enough to break the awkward silence. "Come with us Jen, we'll introduce you to the Beards, the Green Beret team that we work with," Laura said, while grabbing my arm and pulling me along. Her words, and being dragged behind her, broke the awkward silence that'd fallen over our group.

Sheppard turned to follow us. Despite keeping my head locked forward I could feel his eyes roving up and down my body. I tried to ignore the creeping heat washing over me and instead focus on Laura. I wasn't worried about meeting the Green Beret team, or Beards as Laura and Sheppard called them. I was worried that with Sheppard following us I might melt. Stepping into the fresh air wasn't helping any, I could still feel him behind us.

We moved outside and walked along the south end of the flightline. I took a deep breath, hoping to cool myself down and get back under control. I was acting like a love-struck teenager. I'm a soldier, I reprimanded myself. I needed to act like one.

I coughed a few times and followed it up with a sneeze as my nostrils filled with the smell of burnt grass. I eyed the two of them accusingly. It was still smokey from the fire they had set last night.

Laura, catching my evil eye, let out her patented laugh. You would know if she was within a hundred meters because of that laugh. It started from deep inside her stomach and was so loud the force of it made her bend over. I just narrowed my eyes sharper at her, trying to will daggers to shoot from my eyes. Despite my annoyance, I was trying not to break down and laugh with her. It was one of those sounds; you couldn't stay mad at her once it started up.

"That's so weird, it smells like someone burned something out here," Sheppard said, an innocent look on his face. He blinked at me, but I saw the shrewd look in his eyes. Was he testing me for a reaction? "I wonder why it smells like that? I wonder if some jerk started a fire nearby?"

I shifted my scowl from Laura to him. The jerk was standing right here. And he was testing me. I wasn't about to play his game, but I needed to decide whether I was going to be on their side or if I would side with the Chinooks and other lift pilots. That was what he was trying to figure out, after all.

Weren't we on the same side? I didn't want to spend the entire deployment fighting with the Apache pilots. Instead I cleared my throat and waited for Laura to compose herself. "It is weird," I responded, nonchalantly. I wondered if it would be possible to stay neutral between these two groups who despised each other? Or would I end up being the one who'd get burned in that scenario? For now—until I figured out how to play this situation to my advantage—I'd be Switzerland.

Still giggling, Laura grabbed my arm and tugged me along behind her once more.

The Green Berets' building was the next one over from ours. Too far to be considered next door, but still only a short walk to them. Everything was a short walk for the Special Forces Units. Those guys had abs that would make a woman weep, and usually a personality that would, too, typically from heartbreak. Sheppard walked in front of us and let himself in, I followed with Laura right behind me.

I'd finally escaped Laura's hold on the way over and decided to stay out front so she'd stop tugging me along. This also gave me the perfect vantage point to check out Sheppard's ass. There was something about the Army Combat Uniform pants that did wonders for a man's ass. The way they mold against him.

My thought broke off as Laura slammed into me from behind. I realized I'd stopped in the doorway and was downright drooling over Sheppard. I hastily moved inside and averted my eyes. Seriously, what was wrong with me? I hadn't reacted to a man like this since I was a teenager, and I was constantly surrounded by men in my job. What was so different about this one?

The room we'd stepped into was actually a garage, with two brown Polaris side-by-side ATVs toward the front. Off road vehicles that had been customized for combat. There was a table in between them with rifles, ammo, and other various weapons on it. Along the walls were more weapons racks. The whole thing looked like every redneck gun nut's dream garage. The place definitely reeked of testosterone. Thankfully not the kind found on the floor of the shower.

A large, muscle-bound man with light brown hair and matching beard approached Sheppard and shook his hand, followed by a quick ‘bro hug'. Did I say large man? Make that a medium sized man, at least by comparison to the other monsters in the room who moved over to stand near us. There wasn't a guy in here under six-foot tall, and every one of them was wearing a tightly fitting shirt, with muscles threatening to rip them to shreds with one flex.

"It's like they were all ordered from a body builder catalog," Laura whispered into my ear.

No shit. I'm used to seeing fit men in the army, but this was a whole new level. Between Sheppard and the Green Beret team I doubted there was an ounce of fat combined. I shot her a quick look, then composed myself, and followed Sheppard into the center of the room. I had their full attention.

"This is Captain Walker, the new MEDEVAC commander. Captain Walker, meet your future customers. This team's call sign is Jaguar."

They all put their things down and gathered around. The room was suddenly very warm again, or maybe that was my own body temperature shooting up out of control.

Sheppard continued talking. "This is Ty, call sign Jaguar-eight, he's the only nerd they allow to talk on the radio. He'll be the one directing you in if your services are needed."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his hand. My professionalism was at least making an outward appearance even if my inner teenager was giddy as could be.

"What if he's my customer? Who's allowed on the radio then?" I asked. This got a laugh from the room.

"He's not allowed to get hurt, can't risk one of these assholes getting on the radio." This came from the one that seemed to be in charge.

Sheppard pointed to the man, a mountain with legs, and naturally—a beard. "This is Captain Peralta, the team leader. Then you have Jeremiah, Jaguar-one-one, explosives expert and carrier of all heavy things. The weapons sergeant there is Dozer. Then Doc here is the medic, next is The Ginger, our communications geek, Sneaky Pete, the sniper, Derek or D for short and finally Max, and his dog… Where's the dog?"

"She's in her kennel, tucked in for the night," Max answered.

"Oh, well, forget him then, he's only interesting when he has his dog." Sheppard gave him a dismissive wave. Max gave him the middle finger as a response, but laughed when he did it. "The rest of the guys must be at the gym."

"Why doesn't Max have a nickname?"

"Max is my nickname. Every team has to have a guy on it named Max. If it doesn't, someone gets assigned the name."

I blinked a few times trying to make sense of what he said. I gave up and just said "alright."

They all stood silent for a moment, sizing me up or checking me out? I hoped they were sizing me up, although it didn't make me any more comfortable.

"She going to make us do the three-hundred-meter dash like Dickface did?" This was asked by Ty, and directed at Sheppard.

A clue about some of the current hostilities between our teams?

It irritated me that they were talking around me like I wasn't there, but honestly I was used to it. Until you gained their respect you couldn't earn their trust. That wouldn't happen until they saw me fly.

They weren't disrespecting me because I was a female. No, this happened to everyone, man or woman. These men went into the most dangerous situations and they counted on you to get their asses out of an active shooting zone and patch them up. Trust was important to them and they didn't give it easily. It sounded like Ross and Nick hadn't managed to earn it. Worse, it sounded like they did something to piss them off. Which meant it would be even more difficult for me to earn their respect.

Now Sheppard turned to me and sized me up alongside them. It was very unnerving. My anger boiled below the surface, but I kept it in check. Blowing up on them would be the quickest way to have them dismiss me permanently.

Before Sheppard could respond, Laura spoke up. "She's solid." They all turned to my friend, then simultaneously nodded.

That's it? Two words and they were done judging me? They were willing to trust me just based on Laura's recommendation? I was grateful that my friend stood up for me. She didn't have to do that. I would've eventually proven myself to them—would still have to, really. The fact that they took her word without question...they certainly respected her.

I leaned over to Laura and whispered "Three-hundred-meter dash?"

"Don't worry about it right now."

They all looked back to Sheppard, then went back about their business. D and Ty moved closer and the five of us made our own huddle as they started peppering me with questions. The interrogation to prove my worth wasn't over yet, but they were at least being nice about it now. The conversation had dropped down to normal chit chat, which was a bit easier.

"Where is your team deploying from?" D asked.

"Fort Hood, Texas. Other than Nick, my whole team is from there."

"I've been trying to get stationed at Hood for years. I grew up in Austin, my dad and sister still live on the south end, in the suburbs." This was from Ty.

"Hood is huge; they won't let you get back there?"

"Not if I want to stay on the Green Beret teams. I have two options, go where I'm told or get off the team. Right now these slugs can't handle me leaving, so I stay with them."

"Are you still here? I thought we left you on the last mission? I thought we agreed to ditch him?" That came from The Ginger.

Ty smiled, "See, completely lost without me." I glanced at Sheppard, who had been watching me interact with these guys. He smiled at Ty's comment, it made me nearly lose my breath. I shifted my attention back to Ty, before a blush could set in. I wanted to stay and keep talking. This group was so much more relaxed than you would expect, especially considering the introduction.

Surprisingly, it was Laura who interrupted the fun. "Time for me to be the adult, we need to get back. We have more planning to do. We'll catch you at the next brief before the mission starts."

With that, the three of us left and dispersed back to our respective Command Posts.