“Are you sure there’s nothing in your contract forbidding this?” she whispered. “I checked mine again, so I’m good. I think.”
His hands continued their soothing motion on her arms, and he bent his knees to bring their eyes level. “There is nothing in my contract about dating a colleague. There’s also nothing in the base manuals. And I checked the relevant sections thoroughly.”
“Okay. Okay. Then we should be fine.” Nodding, she added, “We will be fine.”
“Yes, we will. In more ways than one.”
She didn’t get a chance to ask him what he meant by that because their boss called them in. Rylan indicated she should go in ahead of him, and she took a moment to pull in another deep breath.There is nothing to worry about. Everything will be okay.
“What can I do for you two?” Cochran didn’t look away from his computer. “I’ve got to work out what to do about this training session Kent can no longer attend.”
“I can do it. If it doesn’t affect a shift,” Rylan said beside her.
Cochran looked up. “Really?” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and leaned back in his chair. “Normally, everyone tries to get out of these things, and here you are volunteering.”
Rylan straightened. “Yes, sir.” Mazey expected him to salute next.
She bit her cheek to keep from smiling. He was probably trying to get on Cochran’s good side, so what they had to tell him would be a little easier to swallow.
“Okay, you’re it. Thursday, here on base. Your partner is Grayson. He’s on shift though, so if there’s a call, you’ll be on your own. I’ll let Gray fill you in on what’s needed in the morning when he gets in. Now”—he eyed them both—“what can I do for you two?”
“Sir, we wanted to make you aware that Maz and I are in a relationship outside of work.”
Cochran dropped his hands and sat forward. “Okay.”
“We’ve both checked our contracts and the base manuals and can find nothing prohibiting such a relationship, but we felt it best to disclose this information to you anyway.”
“You’re right. There isn’t anything about fraternizing in any of those. I trust I’m not going to walk around here and find the two of you doing something inappropriate?”
“No, sir.”
Mazey wasn’t sure why she was leaving all the talking to Rylan. Maybe because he looked so serious, so official, standing tall with his hands behind his back. The only thing missing was an army uniform. Although the Mercy-Life one he wore didn’t hurt.
“Okay. I do have one question though, and I’ll need you to leave the room and close the door behind you, Ry, before I ask it.”
Mazey’s gaze whipped to her boss. He watched her intently, but she didn’t have a clue why though.
“Ah . . . okay.”
She glanced at Rylan and smiled. Whatever Cochran had to ask couldn’t be bad. He hadn’t fired either of them, he’d confirmed their own research that being together wasn’t against company policy, so she wasn’t worried. Not really.
Rylan gave her a wink then addressed their boss, “I’ll contact Grayson to see what he needs me to do to prepare for tomorrow.”
Cochran waited until Rylan had closed the door behind him to speak. “Take a seat for second, Mazey.” There must have been something in her expression because he waved his hand at her and added, “You’re not in trouble, he’s not in trouble, I just need to be sure about one thing.”
“All right.” She perched on the edge of a seat. “What is it?”
“Did Ry pressure you into a relationship?”
“What?” she gasped, almost bouncing back to her feet. “No! Why would you ask that?”
“Don’t get all defensive. In a way, he’s your boss. All team members are equals, and each of you is your own boss, but he’s the lead pilot of your team, which comes with certain responsibilities.”
“Oh, right. No. No pressure. From either of us.” She shrugged. “It just happened recently.” She wasn’t sure how much she should reveal. They were already keeping one thing a secret.
“Good. Good. Okay, well, that’s it.”
Mazey sat staring at him.
