Lost in Her (5 page)

“I’m not fond of airplanes. In my experience, they tend to get shot at.”

So, it had been fear she had seen in his eyes, and he was or had been military. Something inside her melted a little at knowing this man, who seemed as if he should be afraid of nothing, was, in fact, human.

Not sure where her boldness came from, she slipped her arm through his and tugged him to the side of the plane. “I can almost promise you no one’s going to shoot at us. You don’t really want a lesson, do you?” She almost fell on her face when he jerked her to a stop.

“I don’t, but I’ll go up with you if you promise not to yell ‘go, go, go,’ and then smack me on the back of my thigh.”

“And if I do?”

“Then I’ll likely jump.”

Lord, that grin of his curled her toes. “Then I best put a parachute on you.” She didn’t want to like him so much, but was finding it hard not to.

After she harnessed both of them into their seats and put their headsets on, she taxied to the end of the runway to prepare for takeoff. If he didn’t want flyin
g lessons, just what was he up to? Had he thought about their kiss as often as she had? Maybe, but she seriously doubted he’d doodled her name along the margins of a romance novel, as she had. The only time she’d been able to put him out of her mind was when she was flying, and that irritated her.

The last thing she expected was to have him next to her in a plane. As she gained altitude, it occurred to her that she should have taken him up in her Citabria, turned the plane upside down, then refused to right them until he confessed his reasons for tracking her down.

“You never said how you found me,” she said into her headset’s mike.

He’d been looking out the window, and at her question, he turned those amazing eyes on her. “Saw you on the news the other night.”

So he hadn’t even needed to put any effort into finding her. Just saw her and poof, here he was. He probably hadn’t even thought about her between the night he’d given her the most amazing kiss ever and seeing her interview on the news. Did he think he could still get in her panties? She’d certainly given him the impression that was possible at their first meeting—and it would have been if he hadn’t vanished like a wisp of smoke—but she was over it.

He smiled, and her body parts called her a liar. Okay, apparently, she wasn’t over him, but he didn’t need to know that. Turning her attention back to piloting the plane, she flew them out over the gulf, her favorite aerial view. Would he appreciate the beauty below him?

“Look, dolphins,” she said, and banked the plane so he could see them better.

“Cool.” He pressed his face to the window, watching them until they disappeared, then his attention returned to her. “It’s entirely possible you could teach me to like flying. Will you take me up again sometime?”

And there went that killer smile again. Sheesh, how was a girl supposed to resist that? They probably didn’t, meaning he probably had a stable full of women’s phone numbers stored in his contact list. So why was he seeking her out? That was the big question. All her old insecurities reared their ugly heads, laughing at her for even thinking he could want Charlene Morgan.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She forced herself to look away and turned the plane toward home, doing her best to convince herself that wasn’t disappointment she saw in his eyes. There was no way a man like him would give much thought to a refusal from someone like her. He probably had seen her as an easy conquest, one quickly forgotten as soon as he got in his car and drove away.

So why not, Charlie? Bet the man would be crazypants fan . . . tas . . . tic in bed.

Charlie ignored—or did her best to—the voice in her head. She would have argued with it if she’d had a leg to stand on, but as she could only agree with it, she got mad.

When she taxied up to the FBO, David came out and hand signaled the Cessna into its parking space. He gave a careless wave and disappeared back inside when she cut the ignition. Charlie turned to tell Ryan good-bye, fully intending to send him on his way.

Their eyes locked, and before she could say a word, he leaned over and kissed her.

CHAPTER FIVE

A
s her mouth softened against his, Ryan closed his eyes, savoring the taste of her. He hadn’t meant to kiss her. Not after she’d given every sign that she wanted nothing to do with him. But she’d turned to him, and he’d been sure she intended to send him away without ever seeing him again.

There had been such joy in her eyes when they’d been in the air. He hadn’t seen that before they’d flown, so he could only chalk it up to how piloting a plane affected her. She’d looked at him with those damn blue-gray eyes and he hadn’t been able to resist.

A part of him that he’d thought dead the past year had stirred, seen her passion, and wanted to take it into himself. The kiss surprised him as much as it seemed to surprise her. But he couldn’t find it in him to care, especially when she kissed him back. She hadn’t at first. Her lips had been firm and unyielding, but then . . . Christ, then, her mouth had softened and she’d leaned into him. Her fingers tentatively touched his cheek, feeling like a caress as gentle as a summer breeze.

The way she responded was almost as if she had tender feelings for him. That wasn’t what he wanted, or hadn’t thought he wanted. All he’d sought from her was a few good times. Something that would relieve the need to be with a woman. Any woman.

He supposed the joke was on him because with this kiss, only Charlie would do. Not forever, but for as long as it suited them both. Breaking away, he leaned his forehead against hers and listened for a moment to her breathing, heavier than usual. But then, so was his.

“Have dinner with me tonight.”

She pulled away and turned to stare out the pilot’s side window. “I don’t know if that’s wise.”

“Since when are we going for wise, Charlie?” He grabbed her clipboard and pen. After writing his cell number at the top of the sheet, he handed it back to her. “If you change your mind, call me.”

Walking away without knowing if he’d ever hear from her was the hardest thing he had done in a while. But he managed it. As he drove home to change for work, he tried to figure out what it was about Charlene Morgan that called to something deep inside him. Yes, she was pretty, but not the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Yes, he loved the way her pale blonde hair curled itself around her head, and yes, he loved those opal-colored eyes of hers. None of those things were why, though.

As hard as he tried to identify what it was about her that had kept her in his mind since the night they’d met, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. Whatever it was that attracted him to her was elusive, but it was there. That much he did know.

Ryan pulled into his parking space, parked his car, then jogged up the sidewalk. Entering his apartment, Mr. Bunny hopped up to him as if happy he was home. He leaned down and scratched the fuzzball under his chin. What did it say about him that he was beginning to like having a silly rabbit for company?

Two days had passed with no word from his favorite pilot. Ryan hung up the phone after talking to his contact in Helsinki and jotted down some notes from the conversation. After getting the important points on paper, his mind veered right back to Charlie. He didn’t like that a tiny cherub who obviously never intended to call kept invading his thoughts. Other than her name, two kisses that had rocked his world, and that she was a pilot, he knew nothing about her.

Actually, he did know one other thing. She was as different from Kathleen as night was from day. Where his wife had been tall, Charlie was a tiny thing. Their hair was different; one had long auburn hair, the other a blonde cap of curls. Kathleen had been sweet and soft. He wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by soft, but he did know whatever it was, Charlie wasn’t it. Strangely, that turned him on.

Comparing the two was a ridiculous exercise, though, and he gave a grunt of annoyance. Thinking of his wife only caused pain, and thinking of Charlie only served to irritate him since she had obviously dismissed him from her life.

When Jake Buchanan and Jamie Turner appeared at his door, each attempting to enter first, playing a game of who could push the other out of the way, Ryan welcomed the intrusion. He sat back and watched them, trying not to laugh.

“Dumb shits,” he said. It wasn’t lost on him that his friends were intentionally acting like buffoons in an attempt to amuse him. He knew they were worried about him, and knew he wasn’t the happy Doc they remembered.

Both thought it was the death of Kathleen that had changed him, and of course it had been. How could it not, when one lost the love of his life? The part that he didn’t seem to be able to get over, though, he would never tell them. But he did his best to act like the man he used to be, or as much as he could remember of that man anyway.

“You two should take your act on the road,” he said, giving a real laugh when Jamie did that special little trick of his and wrapped a leg around Jake’s, putting him stomach down on the floor.

“Son of a bitch,” Jake grumbled. “You’ll pay for that.” Seconds later, the two were wrestling on the floor of Ryan’s office. When the boss appeared and leaned against the doorframe, Ryan wondered how he would react to the ruckus. He only knew Kincaid as a SEAL commander; he hadn’t worked at K2 long enough to know what the man was like away from the rules and regulations of the military.

Kincaid looked at Ryan and rolled his eyes. “Fucking kindergarteners. When those two clowns finish their playtime, drag their asses to the war room. We just got some new intel.”

Interesting, Ryan thought. Unless he missed his guess, Kincaid would have liked nothing more than to join in the fun. Maybe working at K2 might end up being like old times. One of the team’s favorite pastimes to burn off tension had been to beat the shit out of each other. They had set up a ring with mats, and whenever they were at their base camp, they would have matches. Their commander had always pretended not to notice, and once, after a particularly frustrating op, Kincaid had even stepped into the ring and taken on two of them at once, coming out on top.

“Children, you heard the boss—time to go to work.” Somewhat cheered by being back with his teammates, Ryan walked with his friends to the war room.

“You’re set to go a week from today,” Kincaid said without preamble when they entered.

Ryan nodded and took a seat across from the boss. “Things are getting dicey in that neck of the woods, so the sooner the better.”

“That’s why we moved up the date. No telling what Putin might get up to. Best we get the family out ASAP.”

Kincaid slid a glossy photo across the table, and Ryan gave a low whistle. “You get us one of these?” The picture was of a boat, one of the latest toys in the SEALs’ arsenal. The
Sealion
was a stealth watercraft, low slung, gunmetal gray, and sexy as hell. He glanced up at the boss. “How did you get your hands on it?”

“Let’s just say that I’d have to kill you if I told you.”

Jake grabbed the photo. “I can’t believe we get to play with one of these.”

“You’ll have one more member added to your team,” Kincaid said. “He comes with the boat.”

“He got a name?” Ryan asked. An active SEAL on their mission, along with a watercraft that had only been whispered about? The higher-ups wanted their target bad.

“Doesn’t everyone?”

There was amusement in Kincaid’s eyes, which immediately put Ryan on alert. Was it someone they already knew? He tried to think of who it could be but came up blank. The
Sealion
had only been a rumor, and there hadn’t been a hint of a name or names associated with it.

Jake looked up at the boss. “Would you care to share that name?”

“Nope.”

“I hate surprises,” Jake muttered.

“I’m aware of that.” Kincaid met Ryan’s gaze and smirked.

The boss was toying with them and loving every minute.

They spent another hour ironing out details, deciding where off the Finnish coast they’d put the
Sealion
into the water, and then where they would enter Russia.

Ryan was glad to get back to doing what he knew best. The past year, he had felt as if he’d been on some kind of autopilot, barely showing up for each day. The adrenaline of something to look forward to was welcome. As he brought the others up to speed with what their Helsinki contact had said, he realized his right leg was bouncing, something it hadn’t done since he had learned Kathleen had died.

He was back.

Charlie pressed the last key of Ryan’s phone number on her cell, then hit Cancel. He was heartbreak personified, and if she were smart, she would scrub him from her mind. The problem was that her efficiency apartment was closing in on her, and she really, really needed to get out, but she couldn’t think of anyone else to call.

She’d dedicated all her time and resources to learning to be an aerobatic pilot, and had relegated herself to a life of doing without. No nice place to live, no friends, no nothing. Well, except for her Corvette, and because it was a bank repo, she’d practically stolen it. Also, she’d bought it right after Aaron had broken up with her, and she considered the rash decision to buy the flashy car akin to eating a five-gallon container of salted caramel chocolate ice cream when depressed. Just a more expensive pity party, that was all.

To hell with it, she would call him
.
She needed to get out and start having some kind of life outside of flying. Snatching up the phone from where she’d tossed it on the counter, she dialed Ryan’s number again and refused to let her finger hit the Cancel button.

“O’Connor,” he answered, sounding wary.

Well, she’d let two days pass since he’d given her his number, nor would she be in his caller ID. Guess he had reason to think she was a telemarketer or whatever. She wasn’t sure what to say. Why hadn’t she practiced something? Honestly, she wasn’t even sure why she was calling him. The last thing she needed was a super-duper hot guy complicating her life.

“Hello? If this is a breather, you should know you aren’t breathing heavily enough to turn me on. You have three seconds to change my mind. One, two, three. Okay, time’s up. Bye.”

The man was funny, and she laughed.

“Cherub?”

Sheesh, he knew her laugh? “Yeah.” That was all she could think to say.

“Give me an address, and I’ll come pick you up and take you to dinner,” he said.

Wow, maybe she didn’t need to talk. She kind of liked that. “No, I’ll meet you. How does Dockside sound? Say in an hour?”

That way, she could leave whenever she wanted. He sounded disappointed but agreed. Hanging up, she raced to her small closet and tore through it, looking for something that wasn’t a flight suit, jeans, or a T-shirt. She should’ve gone shopping before calling him. Would he remember the dress she’d worn the night they met? Probably not, but what if he was observant?

At the very back of her closet, she found a pair of white slacks and a blue silk blouse she had forgotten about, still with the tags on them. She had bought the outfit in anticipation of a celebratory one-year anniversary dinner with Aaron, but since that little event hadn’t occurred, she’d never worn the clothes.

“Perfect,” she said, and laid the slacks and blouse on the bed. Since the pants were white, that meant she’d have to wear nude panties. One quirk she owned up to was her love of sexy underwear. So what if no one saw what she had on under her clothes, she knew what was there. As soon as she’d lost weight, she had bought a supply of matching lacy panties and bras. Not that Ryan was going to see them anytime soon. At least, she didn’t think so. The one night she’d been willing, he had walked away. He had some work to do to get her out of her sexy panties this time around.