By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс
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him in horror. “Oh, no,” she said, reaching for the door handle. “There is no way I am going to have a face-off with Captain Larson.”
But Chase leaned across her body and covered her hand with his own before she could open the door and jump out. He searched her eyes, and what she saw in their depths made her pause. “Trust me, Kate, okay?” His voice was low and compelling. “Just give me this, and I promise I won’t ask anything more from you.”
Slowly, she released the door handle and sat back, still staring at him. “Okay,” she muttered.
Satisfied, he resumed his position beside her, and they drove in silence across the base to the flight line. But instead of pulling up to the terminal, the Humvee drove to a separate building with a sign over the door that read Flight Operations.
Kate’s heart was pounding so hard, she thought for sure that Chase must hear it, but he seemed too intent on getting her into the building to notice. Inside, three soldiers sat in a reception area, fielding phone calls and monitoring computers. The first soldier looked up, his gaze flicking from Chase to Kate, and then back again. If he thought it unusual that Chase was dragging a civilian female into the flight-operations center, he was too well-trained to let it show.
“The pilots are in the conference room,” he said without preamble.
“Thanks,” Chase muttered, and pulled Kate along a corridor until they reached a closed door. Without knocking, Chase opened it just enough to poke his head inside. “Sorry for the interruption. Can I speak with you privately? Now?”
Kate couldn’t see who he directed his question to, but knew it was Captain Larson. Drawing a deep breath, she mentally steeled herself to face the pilot, vowing that she would never speak to Chase again for putting her through this humiliation. But it wasn’t a female pilot who came out of the conference room.
Kate stared in dismay at the tall, broad-shouldered man who stepped into the corridor and closed the door carefully behind him. He wore an army-green flight suit with the US flag on one shoulder and an insignia patch on the other. Kate gaped at him, and her eyes dropped to the name patch on the front of his uniform. Rawlins.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed.
She stared at him, registering the translucent green eyes, alight with interest, the square jaw and sensuous, smiling mouth and the deep dimples in each cheek. Like Chase’s, his brown hair was cropped close to his head, and Kate could see the bronze and gold glints in the short strands. He was identical, in every way, to Chase. Except that where Chase’s expression was grim and unsmiling, this man seemed to have a perpetual glint of devilment in his eyes. Now he looked from Kate to Chase.
“Ah,” he said meaningfully and with great relish. “This has a distinct déjà vu feel to it.”
“Kate,” Chase said, “I’d like you to meet my brother—my twin brother—Chance Rawlins. He arrived yesterday morning from Bagram Air Base. He’s an Apache helicopter pilot.”
Chance gave her a winning smile. “I suspect that the reason you’re here is because you saw me with a certain female pilot and mistakenly believed I was Chase.”
Feeling light-headed, Kate threw out a hand to steady herself, but Chase was already there, putting an arm around her back and supporting her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just … astonished,” she finally admitted, leaning against Chase. “I had no idea … you said you had a brother, but you didn’t tell me you were twins.” She passed a hand over her eyes. “I feel like such an idiot.”
“Don’t,” Chance said, still grinning. “Not so long ago, Jenna—Captain Larson—actually propositioned Chase, believing he was me. Don’t worry, he turned her down. So this is all very cathartic for me. I don’t often get to see my brother in this situation.”
“Careful,” Chase warned. He turned to Kate. “Are we okay? Are we good?”
Something loosened and then broke free in Kate’s chest, and she felt her throat tighten with emotion. Chase hadn’t cheated on her. Unable to speak, she just nodded.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” he said. “Thanks for clearing things up, bro.”
“My pleasure,” Chance replied, his hand on the doorknob. “Oh, and don’t forget my offer. Something tells me you’re going to need it.”
Chase steered her out of the building and over to the Humvee. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
Kate looked up at him, not hiding anything. “I’m more than okay,” she assured him, smiling. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I just kept replaying what I’d seen over and over again in my head until I thought I was going to lose my mind.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m such an idiot, because it’s not like I have any claim on you, right? You made it clear that you couldn’t make any promises to me, and you’re free to do what you want.”
Chase frowned and blew out a hard breath. “Look, Kate, I said a lot of stupid things. When I said I couldn’t do this, I only meant that it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to wait for me. I hope you don’t really believe that I’m capable of leaving your bed to climb in with another woman?”
It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to wait for me.
The words reverberated through Kate’s head. Had he really considered asking her to wait for him? Her heart lodged somewhere in her throat as she searched his eyes. “No,” she finally said. “I think you have more integrity and class than that.”
He gave her a wry smile. “Thanks.” He hesitated, and when he finally spoke, his words were carefully measured, but Kate didn’t miss the intensity behind them. “Listen, I know this will probably seem crass, considering what you just went through, but Captain Larson is gone for the next few days and we’ve been offered a chance to use her housing unit. If you want to, that is. I could arrange for a security detail to watch over your sister, if that’s a concern. But it’s totally up to you, and I’ll understand if you can’t.”
Just the thought of spending another night with Chase was enough to send her blood churning through her veins in anticipation. Did she want to be with him again? More than anything. Even the knowledge that they might not have any kind of relationship after she left Afghanistan wasn’t enough to deter her. She didn’t have the courage or the strength to refuse him. They only had these few remaining days together, and maybe she would never hear from Chase Rawlins again after that, but she was going to take whatever he had to offer and to hell with the consequences.
“Tenley will be jet-lagged and exhausted when she arrives,” she finally said. “If I can get her to turn in early, then I’d like to take you up on that offer.”
Chase grinned in relief, the dimples in his cheeks transforming his face so that Kate caught her breath, and she barely resisted reaching for him. “I’m glad,” he said simply.
They both heard the roar of the jet at the same time, and turned to watch as an enormous plane approached the flight line, coming in on a steep spiral maneuver. Kate was certain the aircraft would slam into the ground. But at the last minute it leveled out and its wheels touched down on the runway, the engines throttling back as it screamed to a stop.
“Wow, that was pretty impressive,” Kate said in admiration.
“You bet,” Chase said. “Most flights make that combat landing. C’mon, let’s get over to the flight line.” He gave Kate a meaningful look. “Your sister is here.”
KATE STOOD WITH Chase as the enormous aircraft taxied to a stop on the tarmac not far from them. Had it really been just three days ago that Kate had arrived at Bagram Air Base? She slid a sideways glance at the man standing beside her with his arms crossed