by Jill Shalvis
“That’s what I said to you. Daily. You never listened, not once.”
She let out a half laugh, half sob and then annoyed at herself, swiped at a tear. “I have to do this without you.”
“How about Brody?”
Oh, God. “I have to do this without him, too.”
“Does he know that?”
“He knows we’re not going to go anywhere with our . . .”
Noah arched a brow, waiting.
“Attraction,” she said carefully.
“Are you sure about that?”
No. God, no. “Yes.”
Looking unhappy but not arguing with her, he turned her toward her desk, the one she hadn’t sat at for six long weeks.
The last time she’d been in that chair, she’d been shot, and she stared at it for a long moment.
“It’s a new chair,” Noah said quietly.
Behind her desk stood a man she’d never seen before. He wore a Sky High pilot’s uniform on his tall, rangy body, and he was leaning over a petite, harassed-looking woman pecking away at the keyboard.
Maddie’s keyboard.
“Jason and Kim,” Noah told her. “Jason’s the new pilot, the one who you almost took with you instead of Brody, and Kim’s your temp.”
“I don’t get it,” Kim was saying. “I don’t get how I managed to schedule you for two flights at once. I’m sure I didn’t do that. The computer must have made a mistake.”
Jason shook his head. “Computers don’t make mistakes. And yet now we have a Hollywood director who needs to get to San Francisco pronto and some Wall Street exec pacing a hole on the tarmac wanting his flight to New York, and both are expecting me.”
“I know!” Kim’s fingers hunted and pecked and hunted some more, but she looked miserable. “Maybe one of them will wait?”
“Sky High isn’t a place that they come to wait.”
“I agree,” Noah said, dragging Maddie closer. “I’ll take the San Francisco flight. Jason, you take New York.”
Jason nodded and with one last frustrated look at Kim, headed toward the tarmac door.
Noah glanced at Maddie and gestured with his chin at the computer, a question in his eyes.
She sighed, knowing she wasn’t getting out of here before Brody got back anyway. “Maybe I can help,” she said.
Kim blinked at her. “Who are you?”
“Your miracle for the day.”
“Seriously?” With a relieved laugh, Kim all too gratefully relinquished the chair.
Noah, Maddie noted, didn’t leave her side. “You don’t have to babysit me, I’ve got this.”
“Uh-huh. And until Brody gets back, I’ve got you.”
Maddie’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “You have a flight is what you’ve got.”
“If I know Brody, and trust me, I do, he’ll be here in oh . . .”—he glanced at his watch—“four minutes, to make sure I haven’t fucked up and let you out of my sight.”
Maddie rolled her eyes, then tuned him out, loving the feel of her computer, which she’d missed like she might have missed a limb if she’d lost one. She had to stop herself from opening every file, from checking every piece of equipment right this very minute to assure herself she was really back in her chair, in her place.
Where she belonged.
The phone rang, and it was for Noah. She handed it over, ignoring how absolutely right it felt to be back in charge, even if only for a moment, and then felt her cell phone vibrate with an incoming text. With Noah still on the landline, she carefully turned so that he couldn’t see her phone or the text from Leena.
Don’t come. Go with The Plan.
Leena didn’t want Maddie to come. She probably was terrified about what Rick would do to them. Just the thought of all Leena wasn’t saying was enough to make Maddie’s heart pound with a sick sense of impending doom and dread, not to mention anxiety. She put a hand to her chest over her thudding heart as if she could ease the ache while the fear ping-ponged back and forth in her belly.
No way was she going to vanish on Leena. Not in a million years. She was going to go back to Stone Cay.
Again, she glanced at Noah, who was still on the phone and fully engrossed in his conversation. Perfect. She brought the schedule screen up on her computer and scanned for available planes.
There were plenty.
What they didn’t have was a pilot. Each of them was booked. Brody was right about one thing—Sky High’s business had doubled in the time that she’d been gone. The guys were flying themselves into an early grave. No wonder they’d hired an extra pilot. They could use two or three more.
And if she came back to work here, she’d see to it. No one was going to get overworked and exhausted on her watch.
Except she wasn’t coming back to work. Not letting herself go there, she pulled up the evening’s schedule. They didn’t usually schedule at night, unless specifically requested by a client. She could probably try again for Jason after hours, under an assumed name, staying hidden until they were in the air. Once upon a time, Bailey had done just that to Noah, and she’d gotten away with it for long enough to get to where she needed to go.
Except they were on to her now. She could fly commercial or . . .
Or she could tell Brody.
Yeah. Even she knew that was the right answer, and wasn’t that just the crux. She rubbed her temples and breathed for a few moments while trying to talk herself out of the insanity of that.
But he’d asked to be a part of this. He wanted to be a part of this, and she’d promised him that they were a unit until it was over. Just because he didn’t know it wasn’t over didn’t release her from that promise.
A small voice, a very small voice, whispered that it would be nice to not be alone in this . . . to trust . . .
Brody didn’t trust easily. She knew that. He’d grown up rough, with no one to count on but himself until Noah and Shayne had come into his life. And still, he kept a part of himself back.
Except he hadn’t with her.
He trusted her, and all he’d asked for in return was her trust back. “Goddamn him.” She stood up, intending to tell Noah not to worry—she wasn’t going anywhere without talking to Brody, but when she turned around, Noah was gone. In his place, leaning back against the wall, arms and legs crossed as he studied her, stood Brody.
He pushed away from the wall. “I have to tell you, it feels damn good to have you back in that chair.”
“Yeah. See, that’s the thing.” She drew a deep breath. “I’m not back.”
His eyes went flat. “Tell me.”
She let him listen to Leena’s voice mail, then showed him the text. His head bent over hers to read it, his jaw dark with a couple of days’ worth of growth, his mouth tight, his body protectively close.
“Damn,” he breathed.
Yeah. Damn. As in damn, he smelled good. Damn, he looked even more amazing.
And damn, just being this close to him made her ache deep down in her chest cavity as if her heart was rolling over and exposing its underbelly.
But she needed to get over herself because any second now, he was going to realize what she planned to do, and that would be the end of her just standing so close to him, absorbing his heat, his strength, his innate masculinity that had her in a state of constant awareness.
At her involuntary little sigh, he lifted his head and searched her eyes for a long moment. “You should know,” he said, “I like her don’t come idea. That’s all I’m going to say on that.”
She felt her surprise cross her face.
“What?”
“I expected you to go all caveman and beat your fists against your chest, demanding I stay here.”
He raised a brow. “Beat my fists against my chest?”
“Yeah. Maybe even drag me off by my hair to your cave to keep me with you.”
He let out a low laugh. “Drag you off by the hair?”
“Oh, like you’ve never done the Neanderthal thing.”
“I have definitely not dragged you off by your hair to my cave.” Watching her speculatively, he rubbed a hand over his chin, the five o’clock shadow rasping. “Although it’s a very interesting fantasy.”
She choked out a laugh at the sudden heat in his eyes. “You really do surprise me,” she admitted.
“And you me. Constantly. You want to go back.”
“Yeah.”
But she intended to do it alone.
Chapter 26
Brody knew exactly what Maddie wanted to do. She wanted to go back to Stone Cay alone. Short of pulling that whole knuckle-dragger thing she’d accused him of, he wasn’t sure how to proceed. “I need to talk to Noah. Give me a minute,” he said and pointed at her. “And you should know, I’m keeping my eyes on you.”
She rolled hers but didn’t move when he walked to Noah, who was in the center of the lobby. From where Brody stood, he could still see Maddie. She was glaring at him, and he didn’t care. “I need a few more days off,” he said to Noah. “And I need a plane tonight.”
His partner didn’t blink at the scheduling nightmare, but they both knew it was going to hurt. Their clients wouldn’t be happy. And for the first time in memory, Brody didn’t give a shit.
This was more important. Maddie was more important. She intended to vanish on him again, and this time, he couldn’t be so sure he’d get lucky enough to catch up with her.
“Which plane?” Noah asked.
“Something fast. The Lear, if it’s available.”
“I think it is. Is she okay?”
“Fuck. I don’t think so, no.”
“You’re on it?”
“As much as she’ll let me be,” Brody admitted.
“She’s a tough cookie, she’ll—”
Maddie walked up to them, and they both stared at her. “So. Do I need a magic handshake to join this club?”
“We weren’t talking about you,” Noah said quickly.
Brody looked at him.
“We weren’t,” Noah said, sounding like a guilty kid.
“Uh-huh.” Maddie gave them both a long look, but especially Brody, who wanted to squirm.
He never squirmed.
“I’m going home,” she said. “I want to get a change of clothes.”
“I’ll take you.” Brody put a hand to the small of her back and turned her away from Noah, who he shot a dirty look.
Noah lifted his hands innocently.
Brody nudged Maddie to the front doors. That she was letting him take her home didn’t ease his mind. She’d ditch him at the first opportunity, and he knew it.
They drove to her condo complex in silence. “Thanks,” she said before he could turn off the engine of his car, leaving him to park and catch up with her, which he managed to do at her front door.
When she found she couldn’t shut it without taking off his foot, she sighed. “I promised I wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
“Yes, but I believe we have different definitions of stupid.” And though she had a hand on his chest to hold him off, he simply pushed and stepped inside.
Which earned him another sigh. “I’m a big girl, Brody. I’m just going to shower, eat, catch a quick catnap, and then . . .”
“Yeah. It’s that ‘and then’ that I’m worried about.” He tried a smile. “Besides, a shower sounds nice. So does eating, and I especially like the nap part.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
“No problem. We can find something else to do in your bed.”
She stared at him, clearly at a loss for words, which he could honestly say he hadn’t seen happen to her very often.
“Do you really think sex is appropriate right now?” she finally asked.
He shut the front door behind him, just in case she had ideas about pushing him out. “Sex is always appropriate.”
“Brody.” She let out a low laugh. “Even setting aside the ridiculous amount of ways I’m attracted to you and you to me . . .”
Setting it aside? He wasn’t sure he could do that.
“You’re not here for sex. I know it, and you know it. You’re here to watch over me.”
Guilty as charged. “We could have sex while I’m watching over you, if that makes you feel better.”
She didn’t laugh, but she did shoot him a half-bemused look. “How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t need a babysitter?”
He stepped close, at the moment honestly wanting nothing more than to just hold her. “How about a friend then?”
She hesitated.
And he took another step. “Or just someone who cares about you.” He leaned in so that his mouth brushed against her temple. “Someone who wants to make sure you’re okay.”
Her eyes drifted shut, and she didn’t move away. In fact, her body swayed toward his. “This is just some misguided hero complex,” she murmured.
Letting out a low laugh, he lifted his hands and slid them along her jaw, letting his fingers sink into her hair as he tilted her head up to his. “No. It’s not. It’s me caring about you.”
“I . . . I honestly didn’t know you cared this much.”
“Then you’ve not been paying attention.”
Her eyes filled with a mix of uncertainty and the urge to turn away and pretend this wasn’t happening between them. He himself was not sure what this was, but he did know ignoring it was the easy thing to do.
He never took the easy route.
“Before these past two days, we spent a lot of time ignoring each other,” she said.
“You ignored me. I never ignored you. You are one unignorable woman.”
“That isn’t even a word, unignorable.”
“Trying to tell a story here.”
“Sorry.”
“Then we spent two incredibly intense days together—”
She lifted her head. “Actually, that doesn’t count because adrenaline sort of magnifies—”
“Maddie.”
“Right.” She mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key.
As if that would work. “And now you’re going to take off.” He drew in a breath, but it didn’t help. Shaken, he dropped his head, pressing his forehead to hers, and took a breath. “Just take off. And I could lose you.”
She turned away.
And he tried not to panic. “So that’s still the plan.”
“Yes.”
Jesus. He tightened his grip on her. “What about our plan? To be a unit?”
“Don’t worry. That wasn’t the real world. I won’t hold you to anything.”
