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Giselle’s heart fluttered wildly in her chest as her nose suddenly burned and throat ached with emotion. This was so wonderfully sweet – and romantic. Could this actually be happening? Could something so crazy unfold into something so beautiful?
Hitting reply, her fingers trembled as she typed.
Austin,
That was an incredibly beautiful run-on sentence, and your harshest critic approves heartily. Now, it’s my turn.
Once upon a time…
Long, long ago…
There was a HANDSOME knight…
And a frustrated but BREATHTAKING paladin with infinite patience…
Who put up with the devilish rascal, because it made them both incredibly happy to take five minutes a day to see each other, share brief messages, and snack on unexpected delights in the moonlight…
But what that knight didn’t know was the paladin yearned for what she could not have, searching the world over for a treasure few would discover…
I adore this idea you had – Sweet dreams, my friend.
Giselle
CHAPTER9
SPARKY
“Ten minutes,men… then line up at the outside near the airstrip,” Reaper ordered and glanced over them. “In uniform, too. We’ll have company.”
He shut the door and Austin turned to look at the other men, who were already moving into action. They’d been given the morning off due to meetings that didn’t involve them – and had been sitting around, playing cards, listening to music, and some of them were still in their underwear or running shorts, just like they woke up this morning.
Austin was one that was in running shorts… he moved swiftly, dressing quickly, and bolting out the door to see that he wasn’t the last to line up.Thank goodness,he thought wildly, moving into a parade rest position just like the others. Colonel Bradford was there and waved Reaper aside, causing the airmen to look at each other warily.
Were they about to meet their new commander… instead of Reaper?
He looked in the distance, beyond the Falcons lined up along the runway to see a few people milling around on the Army base next door… and wondered if Giselle had written him.
She had him hooked… and he knew it.
His eyes scanned over each form, looking for his girl… and then skipping to the next as he hoped he would get a glimpse of her. Just a hand raised in the air, a pause in her step, anything at all to let him know that she was looking for him – as much as he was looking for her.
… And there it was!
He swallowed, staring at the figure in the distance that stopped along the sidewalk between buildings… and saw a hand near her waist wave briefly, just before adjusting her camouflage cap, and continuing on her way.
Austin almost kicked up his heels in happiness and felt a smile touch his lips… only to realize someone was talking. He snapped up tautly as he realized Colonel Bradford was addressing Reaper – and pinning a new rank on the man.
“With pleasure, sir,” Reaper said… and Austin heard Paradox curse under his breath. Yeah, it would be really hard to get away with some of the stuff he did behind the scenes. The man pulled pranks and some of them weren’t exactly funny – especially if you were on the receiving end.
Reaper had always followed rules closely – and would expect them to, which wasn’t a bad thing in his book.
“Men, I hope that you know I stand before you, excited to take on the task and relieved that we can have one of our own representing us. I take pride in what we do, who we are, and have always believed that our squadron is our family… and none of that will change – although your wingman will, as of today.”
“What?”
There was a ripple among the team – and Austin swallowed. He was just getting used to his wingman, Paradox… and now they were changing things up?
“People come and go,” Reaper continued quietly, his voice commanding respect. “And we’ve been through so many changes over the years that I believe it’s been healthy to shake things up a bit. With change – comes growth… and my job is not only to make sure you come home after each flight, but to prepare the next leaders of tomorrow – you.”
