Page 81 of Lucky Charm
“That if he was my friend, he’d analyze my past behavior and get a clue. Not exactly in those words, but close. What did you tell Scott?”
“That I’d worked for him for a long time with no problems, and he shouldn’t make assumptions. I had to work to bite off saying more.”
“Are we not being careful enough or are they responding to gossip?”
“Maybe a bit of both.” He dropped her hand and put his arm around her. “Sorry about the mean face.”
“I can deal with the mean face. What I can’t deal with is people assuming sexist, crappy things about this because we can’t come out in the open about our relationship.”
“No matter what we do, people are going to have opinions, some of them wrong, some of them not nice, some of them supportive. All we can do is live this the way we want to.”
Cait twisted to see his eyes. “This isn’t the way I want it. If I had a choice, I’d be sleeping with you every night. But we both have prior commitments, eyes on us, and rules to follow. How do we make that work?”
“We stay the course. The services are super sensitive about fraternization, sexual harassment, and rape in the ranks. This between you and me is going to fuel a bunch of stuff we do not want to deal with.”
Cait went quiet. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s hard, though. I’ve been apart from you for long enough.”
“Agreed, but we can do hard things. Both of us. We wouldn’t be in our professions if we couldn’t. So, we keep finding private moments together, stay low key, and deal with it until we’re both out of here. Speaking of dealing with it, we have to go. Be careful of Stocker. He’s CIA, in charge of the CIA side of the mission, and not happy that it went wrong. He’s questioning everything.”
“He sounds like an asshole. I can handle assholes in my sleep.”
“Agreed. But keep alert.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Navigating new territory, honey. Take all care.”
Cait smiled softly at the endearment. “I will. I promise.”
“Get your jacket. It’s cold.”
She shrugged into the heavy coat. “I don’t suppose you still have that cookie in your pocket?”
He grinned. “Nope. It’s in my coat. I dropped it in the Operations Center, but I do have this.” He pulled a purple sucker from his cargo pocket. “Doogie’s mama. She buys all this stuff for Doogie’s pantry, then we tuck it into the travel bag.”
She grinned, delighted. “They’re your favorite? Don’t want to steal it if it is.”
“There’s more where this came from.” He unwrapped the sucker, kissed her slow and deep, then lifted the sucker to her mouth.
Grape might be her new favorite flavor.
∞∞∞∞∞
They’d opted for a small conference room next door to Scott’s office instead of the operations conference area, an expected choice. Still, Hunt’s stomach twisted with jumping nerves the likes he hadn’t had since his first sea voyage as a brand spanking new seaman. If the space was much smaller, it would only hold Stocker and Cait, but that wasn’t the way this would play out. He had Scott to thank for that.
The white metal table had six chairs. The walls were bare because it wasn’t a place you decorated. Scott used it for private personnel conversations and kick-ass lectures. With Scott, Reynolds, Stocker, and him along with Cait at the table, there wasn’t much room. He refused to be left out. He’d been in command of the mission, and they wouldn’t be blaming Cait for anything. She’d done her job.
But the chill in the air came from more than the weather.
Worried that Cait might be intimidated, he glanced at her. She had on her doctor’s face, which clearly shouted, “Don’t mess with me.” He hoped she could maintain it, because when the other three men saw the pictures, the shit would hit the fan.
He took a risk – a risk to sit by her. He could smell her subtle apple blossom scent, see her chapped knuckles, and fought the temptation to slip an arm around her shoulders. His body language had to transmit confidence, which he had in her in spades, but his instincts raged and keeping his cool was essential. Rule number two: They both couldn’t go batshit crazy had a corollary. Neither could go batshit crazy with command in the room. He forced himself to relax, bumped Cait with his knee, which in turn encouraged her to relax.
Stocker opened the questioning as he expected. “Start at the beginning Dr. Michaels.”
“That would be Captain Michaels, and I don’t believe we’ve been introduced, or is that top secret, too?”
He frowned. “Phillip Stocker. That’s Major Mackey Reynolds. Lieutenant Commander Scott. Lieutenant Hunter, you already know.”
“Thank you.” She lifted her drawing pad to the table.
“You don’t need to take notes, Doctor. In fact, given the classified nature of this assignment, we’d frown on that.”
