Cockpit

by Joanna Blake

  I might have to contend with a big brother or a daddy, whoever the unlucky bastard was. I tried to imagine having a daughter that looked like Jenny. It would be hell. Especially since she did not seem to know her effect on men.

  And she was innocent enough to work in a place like this and think she wouldn't be dealing with a hard dick or twelve every damn minute. I started getting upset just thinking about it. This was no place for a sweet girl like her. It wasn't safe.

  I was going to have to protect her. I'd see her home each night, starting tonight. Hopefully, back to my place.

  To my bed.

  And that's all there was to it.

  I watched as she 'accidentally' spilled a glass of water on a customer. I grinned. He must've said something cheeky to her. So, maybe she could take care of herself.

  Didn't mean she didn't need backup.

  And I was just the man for the job.

  She went behind the bar and picked up a huge box of empties. I was across the room in a flash. I was grinning as I tried to take the box from her.

  "I got this sweetheart."

  "Let go!"

  "What? Why? No need to trouble your pretty little arms."

  "My what?"

  Oh boy. Her eyes were green fire as she wrenched the box out of my hands and flounced into the back. I followed her, a little less confident than I'd been a few minutes ago.

  "What's wrong, sweetheart? What got you so riled up?"

  She spun around and hissed at me. Like a pissed off kitty cat. I leaned against the door and grinned. I liked kitties. Especially gorgeous ones like her.

  "I need this job, Jagger! Don't ruin it for me like you-"

  I straightened up. This was not regular grade anger. This was a bonafide grudge.

  "Like I what?"

  She scowled at me mutinously.

  "Nothing."

  I smiled again.

  "Well, if it reall is nothing, when are you going to let me take you out again?"

  "How about never?"

  "Oh come on sweetheart, we had a good time together, didn't we?"

  She looked like she was about to cough. Or choke. Her eyes were wide, practically bulging, as she seemed to struggle for air. I was about to get her a glass of water when she burst out laughing.

  And kept laughing.

  She laughed so hard she had to bend forward and rest her hands on her knees.

  I stopped smiling.

  "What's so damn funny?"

  "You are Jagger. I'm surprised you even remember me with all your floozies."

  "I don't have any floozies."

  I glanced at the heavens, expecting lightning to strike.

  "Well, not anymore."

  She just looked at me. I could see I'd hurt her somehow. I didn't like that.

  Not one bit.

  "Come on sweetheart, let's talk."

  "I can't. And don't call me that."

  I raised an eyebrow at her.

  "You can't talk? You're doing just fine."

  "No, I mean not here. I'm not supposed to... fraternize."

  "Says who?"

  She sighed.

  "My boss, that's who."

  Jenny

  ✈

  I sighed, staring at the gorgeous, stubborn, sexy as hell man giving me his best puppy dog eyes.

  "Fine, Jagger. I can take my break now I guess. We can talk out back."

  I was being soft. I knew it. But Jagger had looked so crestfallen. And I knew he wouldn't give up.

  Besides, I was sort of exaggerating the fraternizing part. No one had mentioned that. But I didn't want to get in trouble. I'd just started the damn job and I needed it.

  The owner, Gary, had been reluctant to hire me to begin with. I wasn't even twenty-one. But the night manager Margery had persuaded him that I would be good for business. She may have used the phrase 'eye candy.'

  I just couldn't drink in the place.

  Which was fine. I couldn't drink anyway. If I did I would have to pump and dump.

  No way Hallie was getting boozy breast milk!

  I leaned out and signaled to Margery. She nodded and I glanced at Jagger. He was watching me with a dark intensity that gave me chills.

  All the way to my lady parts.

  "Okay, let's go."

  "After you, sweetheart."

  Jagger followed me through the stock room to the door that we got deliveries through. It was also the garbage loading area. So it stank.

  Even though we hosed it down twice a day.

  I walked out and kept going. In the far back was a picnic table for the staff to take lunch if the weather was nice. It was out of sight behind a freestanding concrete wall.

  Apparently, lots of people screwed back here.

  But I didn't really want to talk about that.

  I turned and crossed my arms.

  "Go ahead. Talk."

  He started to sit on the picnic table.

  "I wouldn't do that. Not until it's been hosed down."

  "Why?"

  "I heard it gets more use than a motel mattress."

  He grinned at me.

  "It's still early. I doubt anyone has used it tonight."

  I shrugged. He had a point. I noticed he still didn't take a seat. He just looked at me, really taking me in. I looked away. It's not that he made me uncomfortable exactly. But he was so intense. I wasn't used to that sort of scrutiny.

  Well, except on my ass.

  "You aren't like I remember you."

  I tossed my hair. He was getting to me already and he knew it. I was being pulled in by his gravitational force. And I hated him for it.

  "Easy? Gullible? Stupid?"

  He shook his head, his eyes studying me.

  "No, you seemed determined to be bad that night. I was more than happy to help."

  I sighed. I might as well tell him. For some reason I found myself telling him the truth.

  "I was going through a phase. After my mother died, I spent a lot of time rebelling. I drank and snuck out at night. I even dyed my hair purple."

  "Purple?"

  "Yep. A few months before you met me. It... wasn't a very long phase. Not that it matters."

  He looked at me, listening. He was more present than anyone I'd ever talked to before. Maybe that was his appeal.

  Or his dimples.

  Or his broad shoulders and thick arms.

  Or his ass.

  I looked away, trying to ignore the rush of desire I felt. The attraction was still there. Unfortunately.

  "I'm sorry. I lost my family too."

  I swallowed, feeling something all too familiar well up behind my eyes. Tears. Jagger was going to make me cry.

  Damn him. He wasn't playing fair. He wasn't supposed to have his own sad story.

  He wasn't supposed to be nice.

  But my mother had raised me to use good manners. So I wasn't going to be rude. Besides, I had a sudden feeling he was telling the truth.

  "I'm sorry, too."

  He looked at the ground, then at the sky, then back at me.

  "So, you are out of your wild phase?"

  I nodded. He grinned and reached for me.

  "Me too."

  I gasped as he pulled me against him. His body felt good. The heat of him felt good.

  He felt good.

  "But I'd love to get wild with you."

  His lips came crashing down on mine. I made a sound that was half protest, half surrender. I was frozen as his lips angled over mine, encouraging them to open.

  With a moan, I gave in and opened my lips. Instantly, the kiss went wild. We were all over each other, practically inhaling each other as our tongues tangled. It was not a gentle kiss. It was not a sweet kiss.

  It was a Jagger kiss.

  Then I felt his hands close over my ass cheeks and squeeze. I remembered what he really wanted. What he was after. One thing and one thing only. I remembered the manwhore he was.

  I remembered how he'd knocked me up.

  I
loved my baby girl with all my heart, but I did not need to be a single mother with TWO mini-Jaggers running amuck.

  I reared back and slapped him with everything I had. His head swung to the side and then back. He stared at me, clearly shocked. He probably didn't believe that there was a woman on Earth that could resist him.

  I lifted my finger, pointing it in his face.

  "Don't you ever, ever kiss me again!"

  I pushed away from him and stalked to the back door of the bar. My heart was racing. My lips were tingling. My hand stung from smacking his surprisingly smooth and soft skinned face. Halfway across the parking lot I turned and shouted.

  "And don't call me sweetheart!"

  Chapter Four

  Jagger

  ✈

  I rubbed my cheek where she'd slapped it, admiring the way she looked in those tight jeans of hers as she stomped off. She was a redhead alright. Only a russet haired woman would slap a man after kissing the hell out of him.

  And Jenny was one hell of a kisser.

  I took my time coming back in. Not because I was worried she'd slap me again. I was just deep in thought.

  Mostly thinking about gettin' deep in her.

  I sat down and ordered a watered down pitcher of beer. I had a long night ahead of me. I had someone to walk home.

  Jenny scowled at me while she took my order, and scowled when she watched the other bartender bring it back. She scowled when she brought me a basket of fries.

  The woman basically scowled up and down the whole night.

  I sat back and waited for her shift to end, enjoying the memory of the way her luscious body had melted against me. It was getting close to time when she asked me if I wanted anything else. I took my time, staring up and down her body.

  "Oh yeah honey, I can think of a lot of things."

  "I'm not a piece of meat, Jagger!"

  "No, you're definitely not a piece of meat. But you do look tender."

  Jenny threw my check at me and turned tail to see to her other tables. I made my last beer count, sipping it slow as molasses until I was the last guy in the place. She started getting ready to close up. She 'accidentally' mopped right over my boots.

  I smiled and stood up, throwing a fifty-dollar tip on the table. Her eyes widened. She stared at me as I walked out of the bar.

  'Course I was waiting out front for her when she came out fifteen minutes later.

  She stared at me. I stared at her. Then she walked up to me and tossed that fifty-dollar bill in my face.

  "I'm not for sale you sonofabitch!"

  I looked right at her. She was angry. But she had mistaken my meaning.

  "I didn't say you were."

  "Then what are you doing tipping like that?"

  "I took up a seat in your section all night. Seemed fair."

  She stared at me belligerently.

  "Well, I'm not taking it."

  "How about a twenty?"

  "What are you, a cash machine?"

  She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her glorious, perfect, mind-bending chest. I pulled out a ten and a five.

  "Fifteen?"

  She yanked the money out of my hand so fast I got rug burn. Then she stomped off. The woman had a pair of legs on her. And she made good use of them.

  I was whistling as I followed her back towards the base.

  Jenny

  ✈

  I was enjoying the memory of Jagger's face after I'd slapped it when I stopped in the middle of the road. Someone was behind me. I knew who it was before I even turned around.

  Yep, Jagger was trailing me. I shooed him away. He just smiled at me, like the daft man that he was. I stomped my foot in frustration, kicking up dust on the gravel road.

  "Are you a stray dog?"

  "No."

  "Then stop following me!"

  "I'm not following you. I'm escorting you."

  "Ha!"

  I kept walking. He kept following. I stopped again, pointing my finger at him.

  "You are either the dumbest or the bravest man alive."

  He grinned.

  "Shoot, honey. Why can't I be both?"

  I scowled at him, suspicion dawning. I pointed at him again, wagging my finger.

  "You just want to know where I live!"

  He shrugged.

  "I sure would like to sweetheart but that's not what this is about."

  "Then what?"

  "Look around, cupcake. There is no one around for miles. It's not a safe walk to take alone at one in the morning."

  "Oh, so you are going to protect me?"

  He nodded smugly.

  "That's right, buttercup."

  "I'm not a fucking buttercup. Or your honey. Or a cupcake!"

  He whistled.

  "You sure have a mouth on you. I'd like to sweeten that up for you."

  I made a sound of pure aggravation and turned to continue walking. He was right though. I wasn't super psyched to be out here all by myself. I wished I had my old ten-speed. Maybe it was still in the garage...

  I rode it all over the last base we lived on. Before I got knocked up by you-know-who. That reminded me that he was still behind me. If he followed me the whole way home, he might accidentally meet my dad or worse yet, get a good look at Hallie.

  I had to distract him. Shake him somehow. He could not find out where I lived on the base.

  I waited until we were just inside the base and stopped. I looked over my shoulder and gave him a come-hither look. It wasn't all that hard to pretend I wanted him to kiss me.

  Especially since part of me did want him to kiss me.

  The sad, pathetic, lonely part.

  The part that was susceptible to wavy haired hunks who followed them home.

  And hormones. I had a lot of hormones. And pretty much all of them were in favor of making out with Jagger.

  He raised an eyebrow as I crooked my finger, sauntering off towards one of the less populated areas of the base. I leaned against the side of an empty house and waited. I figured he might assume I lived near here when I took off in a couple of minutes.

  After I'd scratched the itch.

  Jagger was right behind me, almost touching me when I turned. Well, he certainly didn't waste time. I guess you had to give him credit for that.

  He stared at me hungrily as I tilted my head, looking at him.

  "What changed your mind sweetheart?"

  I grit my teeth at the endearment, forcing a sickly sweet smile.

  "You did, Jagger. You're a true gentleman, did you know that?"

  He looked like he was blushing as he stepped closer. He was inches away. Suddenly I felt breathless and lightheaded. then I peered at him in the darkness.

  He was blushing!

  Derek Jagger, blushing. Who would have thought it?

  I reached out and grabbed one of his belt loops, tugging him against me. His eyes flared, locked onto my lips. I licked mine and he moaned.

  Whatever else he was, he was not faking his attraction to me. Even if he was a manwhore, this was real. His reputation was for loving them and leaving them, not following girls home and blushing when they pulled him into an alleyway.

  I felt strange suddenly.

  Guilty almost.

  I revised my earlier plan to tase or pepper spray him. I was always protected, and carried a taser and hot spray. I had since I was 13 years old. Daddy dearest had seen to that.

  No, Jagger did not deserve the taser.

  I would just trick him instead.

  There. My conscience was clear. I would kiss him and then run off on him. That seemed fair, all things considered.

  That's the last thing I thought for a while, because Jagger was kissing me. I couldn't help the soft moan of pleasure as he pressed himself against me. His hands were all over me, sneaking around my waist and hips, tugging me hard against his chest.

  Our lips and tongues seemed to know exactly what to do and when. How hard and how fast... or slow. We were in perfect synchronic
ity as our heads twisted and turned, trying to get deeper... closer... more intimate.

  Speaking of intimacy...

  Jagger was hard. Really hard and really big. I'd remembered the size of him just fine, despite the heavy drinking we'd done that night. But maybe I had blocked out the size of his unit.

  I'd remembered big. Huge even.

  This was... bigger.

  I whimpered as he started to push his hips against me. He lifted my thigh and lowered himself slightly so he could grind into me from below. My head fell back and he started kissing my neck.

  I wanted more. I wanted a bed. I wanted him inside me.

  No, Jenny! Bad! No, no, no!

  I pushed against his shoulder breathlessly. If we didn't stop, he was going to fuck me right out here. Up against this house. Or on the ground. Outside, where anyone could see us.

  Hell, I had a feeling I might be the one fucking him.

  For some reason, I was just easy when Jagger was involved. All the more reason for me to stay away from him. Permanently.

  "Jagger- ohhh... hmmfff... I, um, I... I have to pee!"

  He lifted his head from my throat. I had the distinct impression he'd been aiming for my boobs. If he'd started doing his crazy tongue work on my bare flesh, I would not have been able to stop.

  So, in the nick of time, basically.

  "Now?"

  "Yes. Sorry. Now. I'll just pee over there."

  "We could go back to my place instead..."

  "Can't. No time. It's an emergency."

  He cursed and ran his hand through his hair. Then he stepped back. I smiled at him and he grabbed me, kissing me hard.

  "Hurry back, sweet Jenny."

  I nodded, practically stumbling away. I hurried through the buildings, zigzagging my way to the other side of the base where my father's house was. I felt oddly guilty as I ran away from him.

  My dad was watching TV and didn't notice my dishelleved appearance as I walked through the living room to shower. I closed my eyes as the hot water ran over my body. But nothing could take away the feeling of his hands on me.

  I could still see the look on Jagger's face as I promised him I'd be right back as I snuck into Hallie's room and gave her a soft kiss.

  Chapter Five

  Jagger

  ✈

  I stood there, not believing this was happening. One minute Jenny was putty in my hands and then poof. She'd run off on me.