Sunny laughed softly as she reached into a cookie jar and passed the cookies to—the dogs? “The major got a little wasted at a beach picnic we threw right after they all got back from the Bahamas. He talked a lot about you before he passed out on the sofa.”
Forget wondering about the dog treats. She wanted to ask what he’d said. Desperately. But that would sound… desperate? Exactly.
Sunny took her chair at the table again, sitting cross-legged. “You don’t have to ask. I’m happy to spill all the deets. You made quite an impression on him in those three weeks you two spent together. He talked about how tough you were finding survivors. How tireless. He said if the air force ever let females into the pararescue field, you would make the cut.”
Hearing how he’d thought of her every bit as much as she’d been unable to forget him was exciting and unsettling. Although was she even the same woman he’d been taken with back in the Bahamas? The loss of that identity hit her all over again, surprising her with the new ways it could hurt her. “Yet I burned out and stepped away from search and rescue. Guess he was wrong about me.”
“I don’t know if I agree with you on that, but hey, no matter.” She leaned closer, her voice low. “He didn’t just talk about work. He said how you didn’t take crap off anyone, how you stood up to him. And he thought you were smart for giving him his walking papers, since he sucks at marriage.”
An obstacle she still wasn’t sure how to overcome. “That whole three divorce thing is tough to overlook.”
“This is a rough career field for relationships, no question.” Shadows chased through her eyes before she looked down into her coffee.
“If you don’t mind my asking, doesn’t that worry you?”
She looked up, eyes resolute. “Not being with Wade worries me more.”
Her stomach clenched. She knew too well how much it hurt to lose a man she loved. This conversation was definitely veering too close to painful territory.>“If someone comes asking for you?”
“I’m hoping things will be chill.” If Sylvia had been straight up in saying she had his back covered. He hadn’t discounted that she could be following some other agenda. Although he couldn’t fathom what she had to gain in making herself look bad by losing the people she’d been assigned to watch.
Liam dropped onto the black leather sofa. “If all’s well, then I’ve already been cleared off the schedule for the next couple of days and you won’t need to answer jack.”
“Does this have anything to do with the OSI interview earlier?” Wade sat in the office chair across from him.
Since Wade and Cuervo had been called in, giving them some of the lowdown wouldn’t compromise them as long as he stuck with what they could have overheard while standing in the hall with him.
“There’s a loose cannon out there, a lieutenant named Brandon Harris. He’s wrestling with PTSD and making some wild accusations. He says he’s got proof of a conspiracy set to play out at the satellite summit. His ramblings have stirred up a firestorm, and Rachel got sucked in when she tried to help.”
Wade whistled lowly. “Damn, brother, that’s serious stuff. No wonder the OSI is involved. And I assume you got pulled in helping her?”
“Turning away from Rachel is not an option.”
“Which begs the question… What are you doing here?”
“Don’t know who to trust on base. Until I do, I need Rachel tucked away safely.”
“Okay.” Wade nodded slowly. “I can buy into that. What do you need me to do?”
“Make sure the team stays on track with training for the security at the summit. I’m guessing they’ll loan the team a captain from one of the reserve PJ units until I’m back, but I need you to keep the guys unified, solid. Stay under the radar. Do not call attention to yourselves. My leaving is going to cause enough unseen ripples. We don’t need that coming to the surface.”
“What do I tell people about why you’re missing?”
“I’ve decided to take some time off with my new girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Wade’s black eyebrow slashed upward. “Are we back in high school or what?”
“All right, all right… You can make the wording sound cooler.”
“Shouldn’t be too tough, since everyone’s met her.” Wade grinned. “She’s a serious dime.”
“Dime?”
“She’s a ten. A dime, a ten piece. Like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kesha…” He leaned back in the office chair. “You are getting old.”
“Thanks.” Great. Just what he needed to remember right now.
“No disrespect meant, given your senior status.”