Page 10 of Keeping Zita

“I radioed Chaos and Edge, and told them they were going to have to be our guide. We flew right on their six…their ass…swerving to miss all the missiles being shot at us from the ground while navigating the tricky terrain.

“It was the most harrowing twenty minutes of my life. Buck’s too. Somehow, we made it back to the ship…and after we landed, I puked. Buck wasn’t doing very well either. We both knew that we’d cheated death. And we frequently cheat death when we fly missions, but this was a whole different level. I honestly think the fact that we had so many men in the back of our chopper was the motivation we needed to keep calm and do what had to be done to get the hell out of there.”

Zita was riveted on Sage’s every word. She could almost smell the smoke, hear the missiles whistling through the air. Goose bumps covered her arms by the time he finished. “Tell me you both—all of you—received commendations for that mission.”

Sage grinned, shaking his head. “All part of the job.”

“That’s kind of bullshit.”

He chuckled. It was low and rumbly, and sparks shot down her body at the sound.

He shrugged. “The AAR—after-action review—was interesting, to say the least. Laryn was pissed that we’d lost our eyes, so to speak, and she took it upon herself to research how to make the covering over our navigation systems more secure.”

“Laryn?”

“She’s the head mechanic who works on our choppers. She’s a genius with anything mechanical. She’s also dating Casper. Although, ‘dating’ seems like a tame word. They’ll eventually get married, but neither is in a big hurry to tie the knot.”

Zita liked this. Learning about his personal life. “Is it frowned on for two people who work together to date?”

“Nope. Laryn is a contract employee. She doesn’t work for the Army.”

“Oh, cool. Are any of your other friends in a relationship?” She wasn’t sure why she was asking, only that she was curious.

“Yeah, one. Buck met Mandy on a recent mission in South America. They spent two weeks in the jungle, evading rebels who’d kidnapped a school full of orphans, and they’re closer than two peas in a pod now.”

Zita had so many questions, but she simply said, “That’s good.”

“It is.”

So it wasn’t that he and his friends couldn’t or wouldn’t date. It was either Sage hadn’t found anyone he wanted a long-term relationship with…

Or, as he’d told Carmen, he really wasn’t interested in dating.

“And they make it work?” she blurted.

“Make it work?” Sage asked, looking her in the eyes.

Zita wished she could take the question back. Since she couldn’t, she soldiered on. “Yeah. I imagine your schedule is pretty unpredictable. With missions and stuff.”

“Oh. Well, that’s definitely true. But I think if you love and respect someone, you find a way to make things work, regardless of what’s happening with work or family or anything else.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“True.”

“Being a set medic can’t be an easy schedule either,” he mused.

“It’s not,” she agreed, shrugging. “Most men just aren’t willing to deal with me being gone so much.”

“Hmph.”

It was less a word than a breath of sound that escaped his mouth.

Zita was busy wondering what that meant when a shout came from across the set. She whipped her head around instinctively, trying to see where it came from and what was happening.

A split-second later, someone yelled, “Medic!” in a frantic tone.

Zita was moving before her brain could catch up. She grabbed her medical bag that was always by her side and ran behind the camera operators—she’d learned the hard way to never, ever cross in front of the cameras, in case a scene was still in play—toward a woman lying on the ground, with two men hovering over her.