Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) by Heather Ashby

see her storm out of the gym.
    He chased after her. “Hey, Doc. I’m sorry, but you started that.”
    She wheeled on him. “I wasn’t the one calling people names, little boy .” Daisy turned on her heel and marched to her car.
    Sky laughed, hot on her tail. “Little boy?”
    Daisy opened her car door, turned back to him before climbing in. “Now do you see how ridiculous it sounds when you use those belittling names?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” It was all he could do to keep from smiling. He was still enjoying the look on her face when she’d called him little boy. “Listen, I have duty tomorrow so you can count on me not bothering you. Okay, Doc?”
    “Good.” Daisy climbed into her car and slammed the door. Her dogs leaned over the seat to greet her. She turned on the ignition and opened the windows all the way. “Was there something else, Lieutenant?”
    “Yeah. Should I pick you up Saturday or do you want to meet somewhere?”
    Daisy’s mouth dropped open. “You expect me to go on a date after what just happened in there?” She pointed to the YMCA building.
    “Um…yup.” He grinned and reached for the zipper on a flight suit pocket. “I got a contract here that says—”
    “I know what it says. And you’re going to hold me to it?”
    Several children called to him as they walked to their cars. He waved at them. “Aw, now you don’t want to disappoint those children, do you? They want to see my helicopter.”
    “And you’re really going to do that?”
    “I said I would, didn’t I?” Actually he had no idea if he could get permission to do a fly-in or not, but he’d do his damndest if it meant she’d live up to her half of the bargain.
    Daisy huffed out a breath. Seemed to resign herself to the deal. “Okay, go to the kayak pier on Little Talbot Island Saturday morning. If you’re not there at ten sharp, I’m not waiting around.”
    “Sounds like a plan. Should I bring solo or tandem? I’ve got both.”
    “Bring your solo and I’ll bring mine. There’s no way I’m going tandem with you. I haven’t gone tandem in…” Her gaze drifted away from him. She looked out the windshield as if seeing something that wasn’t really there. A gust of wind caught a lock of her hair. She mindlessly reached up and tucked it behind her ear.
    “Daisy?”
    She turned back and seemed surprised to find him still standing there. “What?”
    All the fight had gone out of her. It was as if her defenses had simply dissipated. He saw vulnerability and downright sadness in her eyes. He ached for her in that moment. Wanted to take her in his arms and hold her.
    What had the son of a bitch ex-husband done to her?
    Sky asked as gently as he could, “How long has it been since you went tandem?”
    She blinked herself back into the conversation. “Couple of years.”
    A child called to them, breaking the spell .   “Good bye, Dr. Daisy and Lieutenant Sky!” Sky saluted the kid, then turned back and met Daisy’s eyes. “I’ll see you Saturday at ten.”
    Then he strolled to his truck, singing under his breath, “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do. I’m half crazy over the likes of you.”
    And didn’t that just scare the crap out of him.
    Chapter 6

    Hector Morales heard the unmistakable high-pitched whine of a helicopter in the distance as he dipped his paddle into the water, guiding the boat through the narrow channel. The air had thickened since sunrise and he swatted at the occasional mosquito as he sliced his way past gnarled tree trunks, twisted by years of hurricane force winds, and slick mud flats left bereft by the receding tide. Gliding under a canopy of cliffs worn away by the elements, he knew it was only a matter of time before the dangling trees—their roots exposed by too much wind and water—would fall to their deaths on the rocks below. The aircraft would most likely beat him to the rendezvous point, but the cocalero did not worry. They would simply have to wait. For he carried the