Authors: Adrianne Byrd
“And Sydney is right in the middle of it.”
“I’m afraid so.”
Jett didn’t know what was happening to him. Everything moved in slow motion and he felt as if he’d been submerged at the bottom of the ocean and the only sound that filled his ears was his own heartbeats.
He didn’t remember walking out of the hanger or even returning to his car. Yet, he didn’t return to his new quarters or even turn the engine over. All he did, all he seemed
able
to do, was sit.
Jett waited-for the pain, the tears, and the denial--but nothing came. He just felt...numb. What did that mean? He loved Sydney. Even after all this time, that hadn’t changed.
He remembered in vivid detail the first day he’d laid eyes on her. She was leaning back against a car, her face tilted toward the sky. Nothing before or since had ever looked more beautiful. When she opened her deep, sable-colored eyes, his heart tugged, pinched, and tried to squeeze out of it chest. It was as if it recognized its other half-its better half.
They were like oil and water from the start. Sydney’s beauty captured his attention, but it was her fire and down right take-no-crap attitude that had him hook, line, and sinker...
Our love...
Chapter 7
Monday August 18, 2003 0800 Hours Nellis Air Base, LV
Crisp in his Air Force blues, Jett marched beneath the blazing sun. He took special note of the other men marching before him and drew his measure. The best of the best from the Navy and Air Force all marched before him. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and accelerated his heart at the thought of flying and competing against them. He couldn’t wait for the rest of them to discover what he already knew.
He
was the best.
When he’d learned of his selection for the Weapon School tactical training program there was a satisfaction in knowing that despite his so called ‘hot shot’ tendencies, the powers that be knew what they had in him.
Upon entering the appointed classroom, Jett chose a seat near the back. It was the perfect bird’s eye view of everything thing and everyone. In minutes, the room was nearly filled to capacity and the instructors had begun to filter in as well from a door in front of the classroom.
Then something happened. The atmosphere changed. The room’s atoms shifted—something. Whatever it was, Jett was suddenly compelled to glance toward the main door. What he saw shocked the hell out of him.
Sydney Garrett stepped inside and commanded everyone’s attention. Historically, the military’s uniforms, no matter which branch of service was not all that flattering to a woman’s natural curves and the sterile hairstyles left a lot to be desired. However, Sydney-somehow, someway, strolled into the room and waltzed down the center aisle for a front seat beholding all the grace and beauty of a runway fashion model.
Yet, Jett experienced a stab of disappointment when she walked past and didn’t notice him-or pretended not to. One thing
he
noticed was the gold leaf on her uniform.
Captain
Sydney Garrett.
She outranked him.
He couldn’t help the chuckle that tumbled from his lips and at the sound of his obvious mirth, he warranted a few curious stares his way-including Captain Garrett.
If she was surprised or shocked to see him, she kept the emotion well contained. And somehow, her continued cool demeanor turned him on.
When his gaze fell to the surrounding men following Sydney’s every move, his face heated and his body coiled tight. The faint voice of reason penetrated his rising tide of jealousy and it took every bit of his military discipline to keep him locked and loaded in his chair.
In the end, he had no choice but to sit and suffer through the men’s open gawking toward his-what? The woman wasn’t his wife or even girlfriend. Hell, in truth, he hardly knew her. His sudden fierce sense of possession bordered insanity.
At precisely 0830, Major Charles Maxwell moved front and center of the classroom and began his spiel. “Gentlemen, welcome to Nellis Air Force Base-Home of the Fighter Pilot.” Maj. Maxwell crossed his arms behind his back and paced before the assembled airmen. “Nellis is a member of the Air Force’s Air Combat Command and home of the Air force Warfare Center. The Warfare Center is the largest and most demanding advance air combat training in the world. So go ahead. Take a look around.”
At his well-rehearsed pause, everyone did as instructed.
Maj. Maxwell droned on, “You are looking at the best fighter pilots our fine country has to offer. By now you’ve probably figured out that along with being the best much more is expected of you. In the next nine weeks, I along with Lieutenant Colonel Bryant, Major O’Keefe, and Major Delsanto will see if you have what it takes to rise to the challenge.”
Jett caught the slight nod of Sydney’s head and then craned his own to get a good look at her beautifully sculpted face. There was something fascinating about the way she gave the instructor one hundred and ten percent of her attention. There was something sexy about the obvious intelligence radiating from every pore of her features.
Somehow, someway, he had to win her. His pride commanded it, his heart...demanded it.
For the rest of the class, Jett hardly paid attention to Maj. Maxwell’s class syllabus while he planned his next tactical move with his beautiful Captain.
At 1100 hours, the officers were dismissed for chow and everyone filed toward the door. Jett suffered through his annoyance at seeing a few of his new colleagues shuffle toward Captain Garrett.
However, she dismissed their advances with her iceberg aloofness and instead headed straight toward him still settled behind his desk.
He gave her a lazy salute and an even lazier smile.
“This is a surprise,” she said, ignoring his salute and folding her arms across her chest.
“That is an understatement, Captain.” He boldly accessed her figure. “I hardly recognized you.”
She smiled. “Have anyone ever told you you’re a lousy liar?”
Jett pretended to think the question over. “Hmm. No one comes to mind.” He met her gaze dead on. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re too serious?”
Her eyebrows rose adorably high. “Just about everyone I’ve ever met.”
“Then it should be your call sign.” He eased out of his chair and towered above her. Closing the small distance between them with a half step, he liked the fact she didn’t retreat and allowed their bodies to be less than an inch apart. “Unless ‘ball breaker’ isn’t being used.”
The sweet smell of honeysuckle tickled his nose and became, yet one more surprise about the intriguing woman, mainly because he considered the sweetness a contradiction.
“You have to have balls in order for me to break them,” she responded with her stone-face seriousness.
He laughed at the quick retort. “Do you give every man that’s interested in you this hard a time?”
Finally, she looked taken aback and Jett drew great pride in scoring a direct hit. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve been a soldier so long that you’ve forgotten how to be a woman.”
Annoyance flashed across her face. “This conversation is over.” She turned on her heel and proceeded to march out of the now empty classroom.
Jett wasn’t about to let her go so fast and strolled behind her and clasped her wrist to restrain her. However, he was not prepared for her to round on him with the fierceness of a caged animal.
“Un-hand me, soldier,” she snapped.
He was quickly reminded of the difference in their ranking and his hand fell away as if releasing a hot poker.
“Let’s get one thing perfectly clear,
Lieutenant.
” Her sable eyes darkened to polished onyx. “While other women may like that cockiness you call charm, I certainly do not. From the moment I met you, you’ve done nothing but belittle my intelligence, place my life in danger, stand me up and now attempt to manhandle me. I don’t know what rock you crawled out of or what village is missing its idiot-”
Jett kissed her. He had to in order to shut her up. And just as he suspected, she melted into him and moaned when he flicked his tongue against hers.
That wasn’t to say she wasn’t having her own effect on him. His pulse showed no signs of slowing and the heat rushing through his veins refused cool now he had her in his arms. It was just another confirmation she was like no woman he’d ever known before.
All sort of erotic images floated through his head. By the way she pressed against him; he knew her body to be toned and her breasts to be as soft as pillows. And though he had initiated the kiss, he could feel her slow shift to take control.
Surely, she would be the same way in bed.
One thing for sure, the longer he kissed her, the harder it became to think. His lung sang in relief when she broke the kiss; but for a fleeting moment, he was afraid that she was going to start talking again.
Instead, she spun on her heels and marched out of the room.
Jett smiled and shook his head as his gaze swept her backside view through the door’s glass window. Still loving what he saw, he released a low whistle to himself. “This is going to be the best nine weeks of my life.”
Chapter 8
After the kiss, it took everything Sydney had to walk out of the classroom in a straight line. A thick fog muddled her thoughts, her knees felt paper thin, and the taste of Jett Colton lingered on her lips. What was worse, she could still feel his heavy gaze move up and down her backside. What was he thinking? Did he approve of what he saw?
Now, why in the hell should I care?
She burst through the building’s doors and closed her eyes to fill her lungs with Nevada’s dry air. The act did nothing in curing her ailments; if anything, it made things worse.
“Nine weeks,” she mumbled under her breath. How in the hell was she going to avoid him that long?
Once you’ve seen one chow hall you’ve seen them all so Sydney didn’t devote much attention to casing the place. She selected her lunch, found an empty, secluded spot, and sat down. Making new friends had never been a priority on her list and she saw no reason to change now.
She twirled her fork through her Spaghetti bake and told herself to review what was covered in class that morning; but her mind rebelled and
the kiss
replayed in her head-not once, not twice, but several times.
After awhile, she slowed the picture of Jett’s full lips descending toward her as though she controlled everything by remote control. Each time their lips met, her body experienced the same scorching heat as though it couldn’t tell the difference between memory and reality.
“Mind if I join you?”
Sydney’s eyes snapped up at the husky feminine voice and she felt much like a deer caught in headlights. When she reminded herself the woman couldn’t see inside her head, and most likely didn’t know about her romantic daydreaming, she relaxed. At the same time, the woman seemed to be waiting. “Excuse me?”
Captain Trenese Post, according to her nametag, handsome face split with a wide smile. “Mind if I join you?”
“No, no. Go right a head.” Sydney moved her tray closer and gave her new lunch-mate more room.
Post took her seat and then jutted an arm across the table. “I’m Trenese, by the way. Friends call me Niecy.”
Syd mentally recoiled from the woman’s sunny disposition, but stretched her hand across the table to accept the greeting. “Sydney.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Not knowing what else to say, she returned her attention to her half-eaten meal.
“I see you’ve made another friend today.”
Syd’s eyebrows dipped together as she brought her head up; however,
Niecy
wasn’t looking at her. Sydney followed the Captain’s line of vision and was knocked off guard when her gaze crashed into Lt. Colton. Forcing herself to remain calm, she turned back around.
“Talk about undressing someone with their eyes,” Niecy commented. “I’d say he imagining you naked and draped across his bed.” She swung her smiling brown eyes back to Syd. “I guess that makes you the luckiest woman in the room.”
Speechless, Sydney took another bite of Spaghetti.
Captain Post smirked while she took the first bite of her meal. By the time she swallowed, she seemed confident with herself for having vetting Sydney’s character.
“Lt. Colton and I were at McDill in Florida together a few years back. Our next stop after training is Afghanistan.”
“Been there. Done that. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Niecy took another bite of her food and then continued. “First time I laid eyes on him I thought I died and gone to heaven.” She chuckled and continued on with her story without paying heed to the fact Sydney looked anything but amused. “You won’t believe the trail of broken hearts he left back at McDill.”
Sydney no longer tasted her meal, but continued to eat.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Post said. “In the three years I’ve known Lt. Colton, I’ve never once seen him look at a woman the ways he’s looking at you.”
Despite Sydney’s determination to be indifferent, Niecy’s compliment caused an embarrassing heat to rush up her neck and burn her cheeks. What could she say? What should she say?
“So what are you going to do about it?” Trenese probed, taking another bite of her meal.