by Sandra Owens
“Kid’s play,” Ryan said as she came out of the turn.
Ha! See what you think of this one, Hot Guy. She applied forward pressure so that she was accelerating downward to gain speed, then went straight into a barrel roll.
“Yee-haw!”
Charlie laughed. He sounded like a kid on an amusement park ride. “That was nothing,” she said. “Tighten your harness, Hot Guy.”
“Yee-haw!” they yelled in unison as the plane dived toward earth.
An hour later, she touched the wheels down on the runway, the exhilaration of the stunts she had performed still strumming through her veins. Because Ryan had told her he hated planes, she’d expected to do nothing more than take him for an easy ride, wasting what little time she had left to prepare for the air show. But her boyfriend had surprised her. She could picture herself taking him up for a lifetime of flying just to hear his yee-haw over and over.
They rolled to a stop, and she turned, peering around the back of her seat to see him grinning at her as if he’d just had the best time of his life. Her stupid heart liked seeing that grin way too much.
“When can we do that again?” he said.
We. She liked the sound of that. “Whenever you want, Hot Guy.”
“I want.”
The look he gave her was so full of heat that it sent a fire burning through her, one so out of control that if she combusted on the spot it wouldn’t surprise her. “I want, too.”
The orange streaks in his eyes flared. “If we weren’t in a plane that doesn’t even have seats side by side, and if we weren’t buttoned up in our flight suits like a swaddled baby, and if we didn’t have parachutes on our backs, and if your airport manger wasn’t standing next to your plane, bouncing up and down because he has something to tell you, and if I wasn’t harnessed down to the point where I need you and at least one other to get me out of this seat, I would bury myself so deep inside you right now, Charlene, and love you so hard, you wouldn’t know what day it was. That’s how much of a turn-on that was. Seeing you in your element, I mean.”
Charlie tried to remember how to breathe. “That was a really long sentence, but I have to admit, I really liked it,” she finally managed. Her hot guy did like to talk when he was turned on.
“You were amazing up there, pilot girl. I hadn’t a clue.”
Okay, that did it. She was halfway in love with him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
All Ryan wanted to do was lay Charlie down somewhere in her plane and have his way with her, but the thought of the airport manager watching them nixed that idea. Who knew flying with her, watching her handle her plane as if she had been born at the controls, would make him hard and wanting?
It was all that power she harnessed in such a small body, the way the plane became a part of her. It was her peals of laughter that followed the end of a stunt, as if she were the happiest person in the world. He wanted to wrap his body around her and draw all that joy inside her into the pores of his skin and the air he breathed.
Unsnapping his harness, he followed Charlie out of the plane and stepped beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders, tucking her next to him.
“What the hell were you thinking, Charlie?” David said without preamble.
“About what?” Charlie slipped out from under Ryan’s arm and faced him. “Help me out of this thing.”
Ryan began to work on the straps of her parachute.
“About buzzing that family on the beach. They said you scared the hell out of them, and now there’s a complaint filed against you.” David swiped a hand through his hair. “Are you even listening to me?”
“What’re you talking about?” She turned back to David. “I didn’t buzz anyone.”
“Nope, she didn’t,” Ryan said, as he began working on his own straps.
“Well, they had your tail number. Said you came so close to them, they had to duck.”
“That’s bullshit. Who’s saying that?”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re grounded until this gets straightened out.”
By the fire flashing in her eyes, Ryan figured she was seconds away from losing her cool, and he stepped back to enjoy the show. The urge to take charge and fight her battle for her surprised him, though.
Not disappointing him, she got in David’s face. “You. Can. Not. Ground. Me.” Each word accompanied by a poke to his chest the way Ryan had seen her do before. “I own this plane, and you’re not the FAA. If someone’s telling lies about me, I want to know who.”
“I can damn well ground you from the flight school plane and I am. If you’re smart, you’ll lie low for a while and let me get to the bottom of this.”
“Screw this,” she said over her shoulder as she stomped away.
“She didn’t buzz anyone,” Ryan said. “I was with her, and I’m a witness that she didn’t do it. Why would someone even claim something like that?”
“Trust me, O’Connor, I know her, and it’s the kind of thing she would do. She’s just lucky you’re backing up her story. Of course, you could be covering for her.”
Ryan was close to losing his cool with the man and was tempted to mimic Charlie and poke him in the chest. If he did, though, it would be with a lot more strength than Charlie had, and someone was going to end up on his ass. And it wasn’t going to be Ryan.
“Are you calling me a liar? Because if you are, I take exception to that.” He also took exception to the way the man’s gaze seemed to be on Charlie’s ass as she headed for the hangar. Stepping in front of the airport manager to block his view of her, Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “Something doesn’t smell right about all this. I want to see the report.”
“I’m handling it,” David said, then walked around Ryan.
Ryan turned and watched him head back to the airport office. Something was definitely off, and he made a mental note to ask Maria to run a check on the man.
“I don’t know why I can’t just go home and sulk.”
Ryan grinned at the woman pacing the confines of his office like an agitated tiger. She was cute when she was mad. Sexy, too. “Because then I’d have to spend the rest of the day worrying about you. As long as you’re with me, you’re safe.”
She stopped midstride and turned to him. “That’s really sweet. The last time anyone cared enough to worry about me was before my mom met my stepdad.”
“You’re killing me with confessions like that, Charlie.” She was. If his mom was ever in the position of being single and met a man she fell in love with, he and his siblings would still always come first for her. He knew that to the bottom of his heart.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that. I don’t want your pity.”
Silly girl. He stood and went to her, twirling around his finger a strand of the hair that had fascinated him from the night he’d met her. “I don’t pity you, Charlene Morgan. I’m not even close to that. Do I like you? Yes. Do I fantasize about all the things I want to do with you? Yes. Do I want to keep you safe? Yes. But if you think I’m keeping you with me today because I pity you, you’re wrong.”
“Sheesh, Hot Guy, you really do like to talk.”
“You keep saying that,” he said, then kissed her. Because he had to. Because he couldn’t get enough of the taste of her.
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Ryan laughed when Charlie squealed and backpedaled until she hit the wall. “Come on in, Maria. I was just kissing my girlfriend, but you just saw that, so I’m stating the obvious. Charlie, this is Maria Buchanan, second in charge here at K2 Special Services. Maria, Charlene Morgan, pilot extraordinaire.”
After the two women exchanged pleasantries, Ryan asked, “What you got for us?”
Maria handed him the folder she held, then sat in a chair across from his desk, patting the seat next to her. “Come sit, Charlene.”
Giving Ryan a wary glance, Charlie sat next to Maria. “It’s Charlie. I mean my real name’s Charlene, but everyone calls me Charlie.”
She gave a little snort. “Except for him. He has all kinds of names for me.”
Maria laughed. “Do tell.”
“They’re all good ones,” Ryan said. Half listening to the two women chat, he opened the folder and began to read. Silently thanking Maria for turning the conversation to Charlie being a stunt plane pilot, giving him time to finish the report on their suspects, he quickly scanned through the contents.
Frowning, he glanced up at Charlie. “Did you know your ex-boyfriend was married?”
She stopped midsentence in what she was telling Maria and turned to him, her eyes narrowing. “Aaron?”
“Yes. Did you know?”
“I’ve got some things to finish up if I’m going to take the afternoon off,” Maria said, standing. “I’ll be back in a little while to kidnap you, Charlie. We’re going to have a girl’s afternoon with Dani and Sugar while the boys get some work done.”
Charlie’s head swiveled from him to Maria. “Who’re Dani and Sugar?”
“Along with me, your soon-to-be new friends. Right now, I think Ryan has some things to tell you, so I’ll just be on my way.”
“I don’t understand anything,” Charlie said.
Maria chuckled. “Welcome to my world.”
After she left, Ryan glanced down at the report. Stupid. He should have told her he was looking into the backgrounds of the people on her list. Doubtful she would have refused, but he should have included her in the decision to do so.
“Aaron wasn’t married. He said he had once been engaged, but they called it off by mutual agreement.”
Lifting his gaze to hers, he saw hurt and confusion on her face. Was that look because of learning her ex had been a lying bastard, or because her current boyfriend was interfering in her life without her permission?
“Maria’s a whizz on the computer. If it’s there to be found, she can find it. I asked her to run background checks on your list of possible suspects.” He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry if I overstepped here. I guess I’m just used to doing things that need to be done, and I didn’t think about how you’d feel about it.” As an excuse, it was a true one, but he was still an idiot.
“He was married?”
Okay, maybe her upset wasn’t with him. Relieved, he moved around the desk and took the seat next to her. “Not was, is,” he said, taking her small hand in his. “Married Lindy Norwood four years ago.” If she was hurt by that, the next thing he had to tell her was going to really upset her. “They have a five-year-old daughter.” He waited for Charlie to do the math.
“So he got her pregnant, then waited until after the baby was born to marry her?”
“Appears so. That’s not the worst of it, love. The whole time he was seeing you, he was going home to his wife and daughter.” Her face paled. Jesus, he hated telling her that.
“He said his mother was sick, and that was why he had to make so many trips to South Carolina.”
Ryan reached over and picked up the folder, and skimmed through Maria’s report until he found what he was looking for. “His mother died ten years ago. His wife and daughter live in Columbia, South Carolina.”
“Rat bastard.” She pulled her hand away and stood. “He made me a home wrecker.”
“Where you going?” he asked as she headed for the door.
“To kill him.”
He caught up with her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and practically had to carry her back to his office. He kicked the door shut, then deposited her back onto the chair.
Kneeling in front of her, he put his hands on her knees. “Charlie, do you still have feelings for him?” He hadn’t meant to ask that, but the question was out before he could stop it.
“Aaron?”
He nodded. That couldn’t be jealousy causing his heart to pound as he waited for her answer.
“God no!” She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands. “I liked him at first, but the longer I was around him, the more I was . . .” she lifted her head and shrugged, “disappointed in him, you could say. I was surprised when he ended things, and I guess my feelings were hurt, but it only took a day or two before I realized I was relieved. When I looked back on everything, I saw that he had been using me.”
Ryan moved to the seat next to her. “How so?”
“To teach him how to be as good an aerobatic pilot as me. As soon as he thought he was, he was done with me.” She gave him a cocky grin. “He’s not though.”
“That I can believe.” The spark had returned to her eyes, and he wished he could make all this crap go away so that cute grin stayed on her face. Although her ex-boyfriend was a sorry excuse for a man, Ryan couldn’t see any reason for him to go after her. He’d gotten what he wanted from her, and she hadn’t tried to cause him any trouble. Still, his name would remain on the list.
“I need to call Mark Everson.”
“Who?” Another name for her list?
“He’s an aviation attorney. If the FAA pulls my license, I’m screwed. He’ll find out who filed the false report on me.”
“We already know who. I called Maria from the airport and asked her to find out.”
The leg Charlie had been vigorously bouncing stilled. “Who?”
“Someone by the name of Travis Emery Parriman. That name mean anything to you?”
“Never heard of him. I’ve been thinking. What if someone else buzzed that family and they just got the tail number of the plane wrong?”
Although his gut told him that wasn’t the case, it was one possibility. “Maybe. Thing is, there’s no record of a resident of Escambia County by that name. Could be a tourist. Maria’s working on finding the man.”
She rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “Something just doesn’t feel right about all this.”
That he agreed with. “I think you need to call that attorney and bring him up to speed with what we know so far. I have to get busy with some other stuff, so use my phone. Maria will come get you shortly.” He hadn’t planned to tell her where he was going, but changed his mind. After dinner, he would tell her as much as he could. The thought of leaving her when someone was obviously out to hurt her didn’t sit well. It was the same feeling he’d always had when leaving Kathleen, and look what had happened.
Don’t even go there, O’Connor.
Standing, he pulled her up with him. “Maria’s taking you over to Dani’s house. I’ll pick you up there.”
“I still don’t know who Dani is.”
“The boss’s wife and Maria’s sister-in-law. You’ll like her, I promise.” Spreading his fingers over the back of her neck, he lowered his mouth to hers. She tasted so good, too good. He could get used to having her in his life. Inwardly swearing, he pulled away. “Forget about all this shit for this afternoon, cherub. Just have fun, okay?”
“I’ll try,” she said and licked her wet lips.
His gaze followed the path of her tongue. He left before he was tempted to find the broom closet and sink so deep into her that nothing else mattered.
Sheesh, Hot Guy sure knew how to kiss. Shaking off the daze he’d put her into, Charlie called David to get Mark Everson’s phone number.
“Why are you calling him?” David asked.
“Because someone wants to see me lose my pilot’s license. I need him to start looking into that complaint.”
“I told you I’d take care of it. You don’t need to involve him.”
What was his problem? “I’m counting on you, David, but it would be stupid of me not to cover all my bases. Just give me his number.”
“I’m in the hangar right now. I’ll call you back with it later.”
She frowned when she recognized the sound of the flight school phone ringing. “Okay, but call me soon.”
Weird. Why would David lie about being in the hangar? She dialed information and after getting the number, called the attorney. His secretary said he was with a client, so Charlie left a message for him to call her. Still disturbed about David lying to her, she eyed the phone,
debating whether to ring him back and call him on the lie. The only reason she could think of was that he didn’t want her calling the attorney. Why would that be?
“Ready to go?” Maria asked from the doorway.
“Sure.” Charlie grabbed her purse and followed Maria to her car. Girly afternoons weren’t her thing, but she didn’t see she had a choice. Ever since her best friend committed suicide, Charlie had avoided having girlfriends. Shannon’s death had devastated her, and she didn’t want to go through anything like that again.
Instead of being in the air where it was only her and her plane, she was grounded from instructing, and if she couldn’t teach, she couldn’t earn money for fuel, and with no fuel, she couldn’t fly. It was enough to make her want to cry. The last time she’d cried was after her mother had blamed her for destroying their family. After the tears had dried, she’d sworn never again would she give anyone or anything the power to break her heart.
Life had been perfect when her daddy had still been alive, and even though it wasn’t the same after her mom had married Roger, it hadn’t been terrible either. Roger had been nice to her, and her mother was happy again. Charlie had at first been delighted to have a new sister, but that hadn’t lasted long. Ashley soon made it clear that she found Charlie lacking, and where Charlie had hoped to have a new friend, she ended up instead being ridiculed and having dirty tricks played on her by a supposed family member.
Not wanting to mar her mother’s newfound happiness, Charlie had never complained about Ashley. Besides, her stepsister was devious, and covered her tracks. She would have denied everything, and Charlie knew in her heart that Ashley would be believed over her. Everyone thought Ashley was perfect, even Charlie’s mother, who often encouraged Charlie to be more like her stepsister. Charlie wasn’t so perfect, as she proved by tearing her family apart.
