by Kim Law
“I’ll still worry,” Bobby corrected. He kissed the top of Jewel’s head, and she snuggled in tighter. Harper’s smile seemed to stiffen.
“That’s awfully sweet of you,” Nick said. His words brought Harper’s gaze back to his.
“I’m a sweet person.” Her tone was right: teasing and cheerful. And she even tugged up the corners of her mouth another notch. Yet her eyes seemed suddenly flat.
And she looked a little green.
“Are you—”
“Thrilled for my sister?” she interjected before he could ask if she was okay. She nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely.” With a blink of her lashes, what Nick thought he’d seen disappeared. “I can’t wait to help her out.” Then she turned her back to Nick and addressed her sister and brother-in-law. “Anything else I can do before heading to the hotel?”
“You all aren’t leaving tonight?” Nick asked before Jewel could respond.
Jewel peeked around her sister’s side. “Bobby and I aren’t going home for a couple of days,” she explained. She sent a swooning look her husband’s way. “We’re boarding the bulls with a local rancher, then heading down to Big Sky for a romantic getaway before Bobby leaves town.”
And there went Nick’s hope of catching a ride.
“Did you need us to take something for you when we go?” Bobby asked.
“Yeah.” Nick shot them both a wry look. “Me.”
“Oh.” Jewel blinked. “Wait . . . you’re going home? I figured you’d go back to Butte.”
He lived in a furnished one-bedroom apartment three hours from his hometown. “Dad and Gloria are heading out on a belated honeymoon tomorrow morning,” he explained. His father had gotten married over the holidays the year before. “I promised to watch the farm while they’re gone, but my truck broke down today.”
Jewel’s brow scrunched as if the problem was suddenly hers.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. Along with a two-story, six-bedroom log home, his family owned one of the larger cherry orchards on the east shore of Flathead Lake. It was still early in the growing season, and though the crops would need regular maintenance during his father’s month-long absence, Nick didn’t actually need to see his dad beforehand to know what had to be done. Very little had changed since he’d performed the same chores as a kid. “I’ll hang around here until a car-rental place opens in the morning. I’ll still get home tomorrow, and I’ll see Dad when he gets back.”
“But I wish we could help out . . .” Jewel’s words trailed off as she shifted her attention to Harper. Then a light began to take root in her eyes. Harper’s shoulders stiffened slightly at the change, before she slowly turned to face Nick.
She gave him a small smile. “I’ll be glad to take you.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” he replied automatically. He and Harper hadn’t exactly been close in the past—the extent of their relationship had been his lusting and her barely suppressed laughter. He wouldn’t want to put her out for that long of a trip. “I’ll have to drive back in a few days to pick up my truck, anyway,” he added. “It would be best to rent a car.”
“But that’s the thing,” Jewel said. “She could bring you back, too. She could fly you back.”
The shock that sprang to Nick’s eyes stirred a hot thrill inside Harper. She loved knocking people off balance. “Helicopter,” she said in answer to his unspoken question.
“You have a helicopter?” The darker blue circling his pupils spread outward.
“My very own.” She’d seen that kind of look from men before. Plenty of times. The idea of knowing someone who owned their own helicopter was exciting enough, but knowing a woman who owned one? And knew how to fly it? It was a turn-on—unless they assumed she was joking. “I flew in the army,” she explained.
He stared at her, unspeaking, as if weighing his options. Catch a flight home with a woman he hadn’t seen in years—or drive the four-plus hours in a rental? A woman, who may or may not be a good pilot.
And possibly he tossed her widow status into the mix, too—not that the fact should matter in the decision to fly with her or not. But Thomas’s death had made statewide news, so she didn’t doubt that Nick was aware. Plus, Harper had seen the sympathy flash through his eyes after she’d corrected him on her name.
Finally, he spoke. “You’re leaving tonight?”
“First thing in the morning.” She could fly in the dark. The helicopter was equipped for it, but she preferred not to. “And Jewel is right. I’d be glad to bring you back, as well.”
She remembered Nick with fondness, and would never refuse a favor she could easily provide. Plus, it wouldn’t be a hardship to be around him. The man looked fine in a pair of leather-trimmed chaps.
She pulled her gaze back up to his, realizing with embarrassment that it’d momentarily drifted down to those particular chaps. While he’d been waiting for his score earlier, she’d noticed how well they fit. Her recognition of his physical attributes had caught her off guard, as well as the heat her thoughts had evoked.
She glanced at her sister, mostly to break the connection with Nick. He was far too attractive. And it had been a long time since her senses had done anything more than make a note of such.
“Call me when you get back,” she said to Jewel. “Let me know what time you want to leave on Friday.” They had to be in Great Falls for a two-day event the next weekend. She nodded at Bobby. “Have a good trip, Bob. I’ll take good care of her.”
Bobby reached out and gave Harper a tight hug. “Thank you,” he whispered into her ear. And that simple, soft-spoken phrase—weighted heavily with his love and concern for his wife—nearly sucked Harper back into her own past. Her husband had loved her just as fiercely.
She shoved her feelings out of the way when her brother-in-law released her, and she once again faced Nick. “I leave at first light.” She gave him the name of the hotel where she’d be spending the night. They had a small landing pad in the field out back. “Be there or I go without you.”
Not waiting to see if he planned to show up, she did a one-eighty and walked away. As she left, she heard Nick’s voice behind her. “She has a helicopter?”
She grinned at his incredulity.
Yes, she did. And she even knew how to fly it.
Chapter Two
They’d been in the air for an hour so far, and they’d chatted about the weather, a handful of the locations where Harper had been stationed during her deployments, and about the ranches spread out below them. And all the while, Nick had been slowly driving Harper insane.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t been a perfect gentleman. He had. He’d been polite, conversational, and he’d done nothing to get in her way.
But he was also far too easy on the eyes. And dang it, but he smelled good.
She wasn’t used to having someone take up space in her aircraft who not only smelled like heaven in a tightly wrapped package but was also hot enough to touch. Nor was she used to wanting to touch. But she was a changed woman today, and she found herself wanting her hands on that man.
It had been eighteen months since Thomas had died, and in all that time she’d gone through a gamut of emotions. Most days, alone, she went through the entire gamut. But in all those months, she hadn’t once been lit up inside over another man. In fact, since the day she’d met Thomas, no one had so much as turned her head. Or, at least, no one had turned it and made her pulse pound faster at the same time. Because with Thomas, it had been love at first sight. She’d lost her heart to that man the instant they’d met.
Yet Nick . . . scrawny Nick, who’d been her little sister’s best friend—and who had remained a solid two inches shorter than Harper until after she’d gone away and joined the army—had sat in her passenger’s seat for the last sixty minutes, his jaw scratchy with day-old whiskers and his eyes seeming to see everything they landed on far too well . . . while she’d sat over here silently wanting him to turn those eyes on her. What was wrong with her?
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First, she had a helicopter to concentrate on flying. She had no time to get lost in a man’s blue eyes. And second . . . she was still in mourning.
Last, she really didn’t want Nick looking too closely at her, anyway. Because he’d done that very thing the night before, and she was aware that he’d already seen way too much.
While Jewel and Bobby had been telling Nick about their pregnancy, Harper had quietly slipped into her past. She hadn’t meant to, but the past was a bitch, and it rarely cared about timing. Instead, it showed up, snatched her breath away when she least expected it, and tried to smother her with pain.
Her sister was pregnant. The first grandchild. Harper was thrilled for her.
But she’d once expected to be the one providing the first grandchild.
Deciding that additional conversation with Nick would be preferable to thinking about things that would never be, she turned her focus to something fun. Specifically, setting the precedent for her and Nick’s adult relationship. Same as she’d set the tone over a decade ago, when he’d been nothing more than a boy with a crush.
As a teen, Nick Wilde had sported some serious puppy love for her. And, right or not, Harper had been ruthless in her taunting him about it.
Of course, he’d never actually admitted to the infatuation. But she’d known. Girls always knew these things. And she’d made sure he’d known that she’d known. Which had made teasing him all the more fun. But it hadn’t been cute clothes and saucy winks that had done it for this boy. At least not for the most part. It had been walking the line between safe and death defying. And simply daring him to watch.
“So,” she began, and Nick finally swung his gaze her way. She smiled to cover the sudden flurry of her pulse. “Did you ever outgrow that crush you had on me?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Who said I had a crush?”
“No one had to say it, little boy. You had a steady stream of drool lining a path to your chin.”
At the term “little boy,” Nick’s brows shot up. He looked her over then, before bringing his gaze back to hers. Then he graced her with a smile. It was the same naughty curve of his lips he’d directed her way the night before. And like last night, she heated up from the suggestions implied within. The man was a hell of a charmer. Without having to utter a single word.
“Little boy?” His voice was like hot buttered rum, spreading slowly throughout her body.
“Not as little as you used to be, maybe.” She shrugged, going for casual, but her gaze flickered over him. The fact was, the man wasn’t little at all. She was above average herself, coming in at five eight, and Nick had a good four inches on her. Maybe more. He was lean, and had a powerful build. Taller than most bull riders, but it didn’t seem to affect his abilities any. “The crush was cute.” She had to keep this light. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“And you were a tease.”
“I was the friend’s big sister. It was my job to tease.”
His laugh sounded through her headphones then, coming at her an octave deeper than his words, and it somehow managed to ping off of every single nerve ending in her body.
“Should I apologize?” She forced the words out. “I will if you’re still crushed over it, but honestly, I don’t remember doing anything worth apologizing for.”
He shifted on his seat, bringing his body into better alignment with hers. “You kissed me on my thirteenth birthday.”
“On the cheek!” She’d forgotten about that until now.
The corners of Nick’s mouth twitched. “You kissed me,” he repeated. “And I about peed in my pants.”
“Or worse,” she mumbled.
He chuckled again, and when his gaze darkened, she got the distinct impression that he might have truly gone home and given her a bit more thought alone in his room that night. And she really should feel bad about that. He’d practically been a baby!
“Can I make it up to you?” She heard the flirtation in her voice. She hadn’t meant for it to come out that way.
“I suppose I could think of something.”
He winked at her then, and went quiet, turning his gaze to the windshield and stroking the stubble covering his chin as if in serious contemplation of how she might possibly repay him for making his teen years more painful. Harper grew tight with anticipation. She returned to concentrating on flying, yet kept a watchful eye on the man at her side.
When he finally had his answer, he once again looked her way. “You can tell me about the bull you rode.”
She kept the smile off her face. She’d known her claim had riled him the night before. “What about it?”
“How long did you last?”
“How long did you last on your first ride?” Not that she’d admit the length of time or the pain induced from her first ride. It had taken more than a few tries to even stay on for more than two seconds.
“My first ride was on a sheep,” he told her wryly. His right thumb tapped softly against his jean-covered leg. “And I was seven.”
She glanced at him. “Did you go eight seconds on the sheep?”
“Not even close.”
“And your first time on a bull?” she asked again, but he slowly shook his head.
“I asked you first. And anyway, this is supposed to be your way of making up for your years of cruelty. Not me telling you my secrets.”
“And your first attempt at a bull is a secret?”
He didn’t answer. He merely eyed her steadily. She said nothing else immediately, her nerves itching under his scrutiny, and returned to focusing on flying. She’d gone bull riding with Thomas the summer they’d spent in San Antonio. It’d been one of the many adventures they’d taken together.
And probably one of the many things they shouldn’t have done.
“Come on.” Nick pleaded playfully. He leaned into her space then, his presence suddenly seeming to suck the air out of the cockpit. “Tell me what happened?” he taunted. “Did he toss you and hurt your precious ego?”
She snorted, but kept her eyes straight ahead. “My ego is just fine, thankyouverymuch.”
“You lasted only a second, then?” He tsked, as if understanding that she couldn’t possibly have stayed on for eight seconds, and she couldn’t help the ghost of a smile that touched her mouth. He was seriously cute.
“Less than one second?” This time he added horror to his voice. Then he held one finger up and announced, “I’ve got it.”
She finally looked at him, anxious to hear his next guess. And found him way too close. Her pulse pounded in her throat.
He nodded, as if having complete confidence in his final answer. But she didn’t trust the twinkle in his eyes. “It scared away that big set of balls you once had,” he announced. “The ones that used to impress me so much.”
At his insulting suggestion, Harper immediately tilted the helicopter on its side. She fully enjoyed the sight of Nick’s jaw dropping open and him clutching at the ceiling with both hands, and she was pretty sure he bit back more than one expletive as he fumbled to make purchase with anything. Meanwhile, she easily kept them tilted at such a pitch that she hoped the urge to pee himself resurrected.
About the time Nick seemed to come to grips with the new norm, she righted them, and before giving him time to catch his breath, she dipped them to the other side. Which left him hanging toward her by his seat belt. She was smiling now. She was having a fantastic time.
Nick’s fingers landed on her shoulder, and she turned her head and met his gaze. But that was no longer fear she saw in his eyes. It was heat. As well as . . . understanding?
She blinked, clearing the notion from her head. What would he be understanding?
What she’d seen was appreciation for her skills as a pilot, plain and simple. Which he should be feeling. In fact, the man ought to be grateful that he hadn’t been stupid enough to ask if she was sure she could fly this thing. If he’d made that statement, she would have turned him green the moment they’d gotten
in the air.
She finally righted the helicopter, and when he muttered, “So your balls are intact, then?” she burst out laughing.
The laughter eventually faded, but her smile remained. This had turned out to be a very nice morning. She didn’t normally fly anyone except family or paid fares, and had wondered if bringing Nick along would be awkward. They’d never had an actual relationship of any sort, so she’d had no real idea what he was like. But she’d found the time with him to be comfortable.
She peered down at the ground below them as she flew, taking in the green lands and the protruding buttes. It was late May and they were just coming out of their wet season. Everything was lush with growth. The thought made her wonder when—or if—she’d ever come out of her hibernative season. She’d felt as if she’d been walking around in a coma for most of the last year and a half. And though she had no idea how to shake it, she was quickly growing weary of it.
“I’m sorry about your husband,” Nick said softly at her side.
What was left of her smile disappeared. “Thank you.” She didn’t look at him.
“I heard about the accident when it first happened. I wondered how you were hanging in.”
“I’m hanging in fine.” Just fine. It’s what she’d said to her family for over a year now.
“And you were okay? You didn’t get hurt?”
She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Nothing that wouldn’t heal.”
There was a beat of silence before Nick continued. “It’s good to see you’re doing well. I’m sure it’s been rough.”
She wouldn’t acknowledge details, but she did appreciate the sentiment. She glanced at him, the opening of her windpipe having grown tight. “Thank you. I know you understand the pain of loss.”
He’d lost his mother as a kid. She couldn’t remember how old he’d been, but it had been sometime before he’d hit the age of crushes and noticing girls. Since Jewel and Nick had been friends, and since Harper had gone to school with one of the older Wilde siblings, the Jacksons had attended the funeral.
