Laughter rippled through his team. Gavin was fiercely protective of his men. They’d been together over here nearly a year, and they were tighter than a set of fleas on a mangy Afghan dog. He wanted to bring all of them back off this tour alive so they could go home to their families. He had visited the base barber this morning, got a wonderful hot shower, a trim, clean clothes and joined his men at the canteen tent. Although they were in the U.S. Army, their clothes were decidedly Afghani. With their beards, wearing their wool pakols, or caps, they melted into the mountainous area less a target as a result of their wardrobe. They all wore the traditional turban. The loose, comfortable-fitting top with long sleeves had pajamalike trousers of the same color, and the traditional wool vests were worn over it.
“Naw, she doesn’t look like she’s a man-eater like the last one you tangled with,” Robles said. The table broke out in collective laughter once again. More beer was poured. A bartender came over and delivered another pitcher of cold beer, the froth foaming up and over of the top.
Gavin couldn’t disagree and his gaze wandered to the woman leaning up against the makeshift bar and ordering a cup of coffee, not beer. She was probably on duty, Gavin assumed. He watched her hands. They were long, narrow and beautiful-looking. No wedding ring. But then, what did that mean? Nothing, because military combatants were forbidden to wear jewelry of any kind. So, she could be married. Frowning, Gavin felt his assistant CO, Dave Hansen, give his right shoulder a nudge.
“Go on, Gavin,” he said in his slow Texas drawl, “she looks pretty docile. Invite her over. We’d all like the company of a good-lookin’ woman to remind us of what’s waiting for us at home. We’re harmless. Just tell her we’re voyeurs.”
Gavin scowled at his team. “Since when are you willing to throw me to the lions? Don’t I treat you right out there?”
Guffaws broke out and Gavin couldn’t help grinning. They all desperately needed a little fun. The border country was violent and lethal. They’d spent thirty days in the mountains hunting out pockets of Taliban in caves. Not that the local villages along the border ever cooperated. Most of them were terrorized by the Taliban. And the tribal people had been forgotten by the government in Kabul decades ago. Out there, Gavin knew, no fiercely independent Afghan could be trusted once your back was turned on them. They’d just as soon put a bullet between your shoulder blades as look at you because of what the Taliban had done to them. Gavin’s team had had several firefights with the Taliban on their last mission. If not for the Apache helo drivers coming in with heavy fire support, they wouldn’t be here enjoying this beer with one another.
Gavin sat up and sighed. He knew his men needed a reprieve from their deadly work. They all had PTSD symptoms. Why not waltz up to this gal and ask her to join them? “Okay,” he growled at them, “I’ll go throw myself on her mercy for the likes of all of you and see what she says.”
The men clapped and cheered as Gavin stood up. He smoothed down his vest and adjusted the thick leather belt around his waist that carried a dagger and a pistol. Out in the field, he’d have body armor on, but not now. He adjusted the dark brown wool pakol on his head. To anyone seeing these men riding up on their tough mountain-bred ponies, they looked like a group of Afghan men. Of course, here in the canteen tent, they were out of place, but everyone on base knew Special Forces A teams dressed like Afghans.
Giving his group a wink, Gavin said, “Okay, men, keep it down while I work some magic.” They all nodded solemnly, lifted their glasses of beer and beamed excitedly like little children waiting for Christmas to arrive. Gavin shook his head and walked across the creaking plywood floor toward the bar. He noticed that although men were hanging around the bar, all of them gave the woman pilot some room to breathe. Not that they weren’t looking at her. But none made a move on her. Why? They were support and logistics men and worked in the camp, so they might know something about this woman pilot he didn’t.
Coming to the bar, Gavin stood about two feet away from her. The scalding look she gave him with those lion-gold eyes surprised him. He was clean, for once. He didn’t smell of sweat and fear. His black hair and beard were neatly trimmed and combed. Maybe she didn’t like A teams or Afghans, Gavin decided. The way her full mouth thinned, her hands tense around the white ceramic mug of coffee, told him everything. She really didn’t want this intrusion into her space.
“I’m Captain Gavin Jackson,” he said, pushing aside his fear of rejection. He looked at the upper arm of her green flight suit. “We’ve never seen a patch with a black cat on it. I was wondering what squadron you’re with.” That was a safe icebreaker, Gavin thought.
Nike Alexander, at twenty-six, did not want any male attention. Just a year ago, she’d lost Antonio, an officer in the Peruvian Army who had died in a vicious firefight with cocaine dealers. She glared icily at the man, who was decidedly handsome despite his rugged appearance. “I’m with the Black Jaguar Squadron 60,” she snapped.
“I’ve been out here on the front nearly a year. I’ve never seen this patch. Is this a new squadron?” Gavin opted for something simpler than trying to get this good-looking woman to come over to their table for a beer. He was frantically searching for ways to defuse her tension.
Shrugging, Nike lifted the coffee to her lips, took a sip and then said, “We’re basically Apache pilots in an all-women flight program. We got here three weeks ago.”
“Oh.” Gavin didn’t know what to think about that. “All women?”
Nike’s mouth twitched. “We’re black ops.” His thick, straight brows rose with surprise. While it was true there were women pilots in combat, no women-only squadrons existed. “We’re top secret to the rest of the world. Here at camp, they know what we do,” she added to ward off questions she saw in his large blue eyes.
Under other circumstances, Nike would be interested in this warrior. Clearly, he was an A-team leader. She knew these brave and hardy Special Forces teams were on the front lines, finding Taliban and stopping their incursion into Afghanistan’s space. His hands were large, square and roughened by work and the forces of the weather.
“Ah, black ops,” Gavin murmured. He saw the wariness in her gold eyes. “You’re new?”
“I arrived a week ago.”
“Welcome aboard,” he said, holding out his hand toward her. This time, he was sincere. Anyone who flew the border risked their lives every time they lifted off from this secret base.
Looking at his proffered hand and then up at him, Nike couldn’t help herself and slid her hand into his. He grinned like a little boy given a Christmas gift. Despite the neatly trimmed beard that gave his square face a dangerous look, he seemed happy to meet her. Well, they were both in the army and that meant something. Her flesh tingled as his fingers wrapped gently around hers. She admired his deeply sunburned face, laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. A wild, unexpected surge of excitement coursed through Nike. What was that all about? Why was her heart pounding? She broke the contact and pulled her hand away.
Oh, he was eye candy, there was no doubt. The boyish, crooked grin made him even more devastatingly handsome, Nike decided.
“What’s your name?” Gavin asked. He forced his hands off the bar, unexpectedly touching her olive-tone skin. The brief contact sent crazy tingles up and down his arm. The close proximity to this woman intoxicated him in quite another way. Gavin fully realized he was more than a little tipsy from the beer he and his team had been guzzling. But he was still alert, still fixated on this new person of interest.
“I’m Captain Nike Alexander,” she informed him in a clipped and wary tone. She’d just arrived with her squadron from the USA and wanted to focus only on the mission before them. As an all-women squadron they had a lot to prove—again. They’d done it in Peru, now it would be here. She didn’t want to tangle with some sex-hungry A-team leader who hadn’t seen a woman in God