Touch the Heavens by Lindsay McKenna Page B

the couch. Chris sat on the floor near her textbooks, her arm resting against the sofa. She looked like a graceful cat curled up, her long legs drawn up beneath her body.
    “You think I’m going to attack you if you sit up here with me?” Dan teased.
    “Yes.” Chris smiled and took a sip of the tea.
    “You’re probably right,” he responded, grinning.
    Chris liked his honesty. “I was just kidding. I’m a floor person by nature.” She became more serious. “You look beat.”
    “It’s common the first month of school,” he explained, balancing the mug on his right knee. “You’re holding up well under the circumstances,” he noted with satisfaction.
    “I don’t know, Dan. After that run-in with Brodie today....”
    “You hit him right between the running lights,” he said, trying not to smile.
    Her violet eyes darkened. “He’s an eighteen-year-old kid instead of a mature man in his early thirties!”
    “Brodie never grew up in some ways, Chris.”
    She tilted her head, studying him in the softened light. “You sound as if you’ve known him for a while.”
    “He was in my F-4 squadron a number of years ago.”
    “And did he go around telling people to watch their six?” she asked, anger lowering her voice.
    Dan studied her for a moment. “He said that to you?”
    “Yes, in front of the whole class.”
    “He must have said it in jest.”
    To Dan, that particular phrase carried plenty of weight and feeling behind it. It was reserved for a confrontation that would set up a demarcation line never to be crossed by the other person.
    Chris grimaced. “If we were living in the Middle Ages, it would have been akin to Brodie throwing his gauntlet and challenging me to a duel.”
    After talking at length with Brodie, Dan had been convinced that the pilot was going to continue trying to get to Chris. This extra bit of information confirmed his original impression. Dan held the mug in both hands, looking down at her upturned face. Right now all he wanted to do was take Chris into his arms, to hold and kiss her. His body tightened with desire. How could she look so vulnerable and trusting now, and so professional and unreadable at the school? Would her background as an orphan have forced her to take on this chameleon-like quality? Dan pushed aside his personal feelings for a moment. “Look,” he began heavily, leaning forward, “I’ve dressed Brodie down for his actions, and he’s given his word it won’t happen again.”
    Chris gave him a stare of disbelief. “You actually believe him?”
    “More importantly, will you?” he asked tensely.
    She gave him a silent look, narrowing her violet yes. Then she bowed her head for a moment. “Is that why you came over here? To get my reaction to his promise?”
    “Yes.” That was part truth, part lie. He had been feeling lonely after the harrowing day’s events and needed her nearness. But she couldn’t know that. Not yet. Dan didn’t want to be impatient, however. He could see that because he had backed off and given Chris room to accept him, she was responding more openly and trustingly. The look she gave him made his heartbeat quicken. So she did care about him after all. That piece of knowledge made Dan breathe an inner sigh of relief. He softened his stance slightly. “You know me. I’ll use any excuse to come over and spend a few minutes off duty with you.”
    Chris was torn between Brodie’s threat and Dan’s sincerity. “Business before pleasure, though.”
    “In this case, yes,” Dan responded. “How do you feel about Brodie?”
    “That I’d better watch my six.”
    “You don’t trust his promise?”
    “Would you?”
    Dan pursed his lips, staring down into the contents of the mug he held. “Look, I need one of the two of you to behave responsibly in this situation.”
    Chris was on her feet in seconds. “Then why does it have to be me? I didn’t start this thing! Brodie has a twisted attitude about all women, not just