He squeezed her fingers, drawing her attention to them. From the furrow in her forehead, she didn’t remember almost bruising him. He scooted out of the booth, pulling her with him until she stood next to him. With his free hand, he rubbed the back of his fingers against the still-pale skin of her jaw.
He leaned toward her to be heard over the din of the tourists. “That it means I get to stay close to you, makes it even better.”
She let out a shaky breath that blew against his neck. Her eyes darted back and forth as if she searched for something in his expression. He hoped she found it. He gave her a one-sided smile, let go of her hand, and slid into the booth. Rearranging the maps she’d brought, he watched her out of his peripheral as she stared at her fingers as they clenched and unclenched. She unnerved him, but it looked like the feeling was mutual. Hopefully, she saw it as a positive thing, like he did.
She pulled at her sleeves and slid in next to him. His muscles relaxed into the vinyl seat as his tension leached out of him. He motioned with his hand at the maps.
“Ready for mission planning?” He reached across the table and grabbed his water. “Do you have a COA yet?”
“COA?” She looked at him with a slight smile and one eyebrow raised.
“Course of Action for our MDMP.” He pushed his lips together to keep from laughing.
She shook her head as giggles bubbled out. “MDMP?”
He sighed in feigned exasperation. “Military decision-making process, like that wasn’t obvious.”
“Oh.” Her smile widened and her cheeks pinked. “Right. MDMP. I’m guessing it involves lists.”
“Very detailed ones.” He bumped his shoulder against hers. “Now you’re catching on.”
She scooted closer, so her heat radiated toward him. Bjørn wanted to pump his hand in success. Playing it cool seemed the better option. He didn’t want her jumping away.
“Rowdy did so well today, I think we could try taking off.” She leaned her elbow on the table, resting her cheek on her hand as she looked at him. “We’d have to play it by ear, see how he reacted. If he doesn’t get overly stressed, we could find a close place to go and play. If he looks like he’s not ready, we can touch right back down and do more acclimating at the airport.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” He nodded and sifted through the maps to find the one he needed. “My brother Gunnar has a house out on the highway. It has a nice open meadow behind it. It’d only be a five-minute flight.”
She leaned closer, looking at the location. She then followed the terrain behind Gunnar’s and tapped a location on the map. Her shoulder pressed against his, making it hard to think.
“That would be perfect, actually.” She grabbed her ponytail that had fallen over her shoulder and pulled on it as she thought. “I could go out there earlier and lay a trail for Rowdy to follow just in case he’s adapting to flying fine. If he’s not, then I’ll just hike out later, maybe take Reggie, my friend’s dog I’m training, out by car for a training session.”
“I could go with you when you set up the trail, if you want.” His pulse roared in his ears, drowning out the restaurant.
Her hand stilled in her ponytail while her leg, a mere inch from his, started bouncing. She didn’t need his help with that. Was he coming on too strong? He hadn’t been this unsure about what to do since he joined the army. Maybe he should take some time to lay out a MDMP for how to proceed with Sadie.
“I—”
“Glad to know my daughter follows my advice.” Will Wilde’s stern voice interrupted Sadie.
Her eyes widened, then narrowed as she turned to her dad. “How do you know I’m not?”
Will looked pointedly at Bjørn, then back to his daughter. Bjørn’s spine snapped straight as a prickling sensation lifted the hairs on his scalp. Being stuck in the booth suddenly felt like the wrong move to make. He relaxed back against the seat and rested his arm on the table. He could at least pretend his heart wasn’t threatening to pound out of his chest.
Why would Will have a problem with him? It wasn’t like he and Sadie had done anything wrong. Shoot, from the way Sadie’s leg had about bounced a hole in the floor a moment before, she most likely wasn’t interested.
“I talked to my cousin in SOAR.” Will turned his penetrating gaze to Bjørn, and his hands slicked with sweat.
“Dad.” Sadie elongated the vowel in warning.
Will ignored her. “Said there was concern surrounding one of your missions.”
That was one way to put it.
“Yeah?” Bjørn had explained the mission so many times, he could rattle it off in his sleep. Didn’t mean he owed Will anything, especially if his cousin was just repeating the rumors that had spread like wildfire.
Will’s eyes narrowed. “He said your insubordination cost men their lives.”
“Hmm.” Bjørn ground his teeth as white-hot anger flushed his body. The problem with rumors was that no one cared when the truth came out. People latched on to the first wave of scathing info, only to not care when it was retracted, most likely because there was new and juicier gossip to listen to. If Will’s cousin had looked into the official reports before running his mouth, he’d have seen the army had cleared Bjørn of any wrongdoing.