“Bryan…”
“Hmm?”
Do it! Kiss me!
“Yes, Katie?”
“Aren’t you going to…?”
“Don’t want to rush you,” he murmured.
“You’re not!”
“Because you’re still shaking,” he pointed out.
“I’m just ready,” she said. “Really ready.”
“Sure?”
“Yes!”
He came a fraction closer, so close she could feel the heat of his firm yet so soft lips, and she let out a little helpless sound of desire before she could stop herself.
“It’s just me,” he assured her, mistaking the sound for distress. “And you know me now, Katie, or you’re starting to. You know it’ll be good.”
Yes, she knew that. And yes, she knew she wanted this kiss.
But what she didn’t know was if she could trust him, really trust him, with her heart, with her needs, with her tender, new, burgeoning emotions.
His hands slid around her, then up and down her spine while, unable to keep herself entirely still as he’d done, her own hands moved over his shoulders to his neck,.
In the end, she lifted her mouth and met him halfway. The kiss started off slow and deep, and her toes curled as desire heated her from the inside out. She welcomed his tongue, and thrilled to his low moan when she opened to him. His grip on her tightened pleasurably, as if he couldn’t help himself, and the kiss exploded with sudden urgency.
Again her senses swamped her, this time with the heady scent of an aroused man, the almost overwhelming feel of being sandwiched between Bryan’s muscled weight and the even harder wall.
He lifted his head and stared down at her, his chest moving with each ragged breath, his eyes dark and so opaque she could see herself reflected there in the deep, heated depths. “There,” he said thickly.
“There…?”
A whisper of a smile crossed his face. “Yeah, there. I know I was trying to prove something, but damned if I can remember what it was. You’ve scrambled my brain.”
“I…really?”
“Most definitely.”
“Well then…maybe we could do it again. You know, just until we remember why we’re doing this.”
“Sounds good.” He bent his head.
She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders, sank her fingers into his dark hair and hugged him even tighter to her, needing to be as close as she could possibly get. Incapable of holding still, she slid her hips to his. It embarrassed her how they undulated of their own free will, but she couldn’t seem to control herself.
At her movement, he made a low sound in the back of his throat and pressed her back against the wall, pinning her there with his body, freeing his hands so that he could slip open the buttons on her blouse. When the silky material parted, he looked down as he slowly slid his hands over her shoulders, taking the material with him. Her breasts were covered by a very plain white bra, but it was thin and her nipples had long ago hardened into tight, hard peaks, thrusting out, begging to be freed, to be touched, kissed.
At the sight of her he made that sound again, then again when he brought his face forward, nuzzling her bra aside. His mouth slid across the soft curve of her breast to a beaded nipple, and he sucked her hard into his mouth.
A buzzing sounded in her ears. Her head fell back against the wall with a loud thud and she gripped fistfuls of his hair to hold him to her. Pleasure was a hot wave that crashed over her from her still tingly lips to her curling toes to the aching spot between her legs.
Then he shifted to the other side and she nearly melted to the floor, would have if he hadn’t supported her with his arms. “Bryan,” she managed to gasp desperately. “I need…”
“I know.” He settled himself in the notch of her thighs, pressing a knee between them. The friction of his hard, powerful leg against the spot that was so hot and needy brought her one step closer to the edge, and she opened her eyes, shocked at how close to orgasm she was when he’d only kissed her, had barely yet touched her.
The buzzing she’d heard increased and from a haze of desire she saw Bryan jerk, then heard his soft, frustrated oath. “A plane. Katie, there’s a plane coming in.”
It wasn’t unheard of. Many mornings they’d open Wells Aviation to find one or more planes had landed after hours. Usually the pilots would call a taxi from the payphone and find a hotel for the night.
But sometimes they would sleep in their aircraft.
An aircraft which would be landing right outside this hangar any second, if the sudden roar of the touchdown was any indication.
Bryan shoved his fingers into his hair, then let out a growl. “Look at you.” His thumb slid over her mouth, which was still wet. His gaze took in her rumpled state, her obvious confusion, and his frustration dimmed, to be replaced by a tenderness that had her blinking. “Come on, sweetheart.” And he reached out to fix her bra, which had the backs of his fingers brushing over her still aching nipples.
Another whimper escaped her before she could stop it and Bryan groaned. “Cover up,” he whispered, brushing a kiss over her damp temple.
Cover up? But her hips were still moving, her legs tight and shaking, and she needed-
“Katie,” he breathed softly, and he reached for her hands, putting them on her own opened blouse. “Why are you making me be the grown-up?” he asked with a sexy grimace. “Button up, I’ll go stall whoever it is.”
Button up. Yes, she could do that. But be grown up about it? She didn’t know. Fumbling with the chore, she drew a deep breath and wondered at the insanity of what had just happened.
It was supposed to have been just one kiss. Simple, right?
Only it’d been anything but, and she had no doubt, if that plane hadn’t just interrupted them, they might have made love.
What had come over her? Unable to believe it, she made her way out of the dim hangar. Actually, staggered was more like it, as if she’d just polished off a glass of wine. Drunk on lust, she thought, and let out a laugh that sounded hysterical to her sensitive ears.
At the door, she realized the night had grown cold, icy cold, which she hadn’t noticed since she’d been steaming up the air with that kiss.
Kisses, she corrected. Definitely plural kisses.
Bryan was talking to someone. She stepped closer, then was very sorry. Standing in front of her were two of their staff members, both part-time mechanics. With them was Holly, who grinned when Katie showed herself.
“Well, well,” she said, her grin widening. “I suppose you were just…what, maybe catching up on some work?”
“Um…” Katie’s brain was still fogged with passion. “Yes. Work.”
She heard Bryan groan, saw him move toward her, blocking her from view, but she didn’t understand why until she heard Holly say, “Work. Yes, that explains why you’re buttoned wrong.”
Katie looked down at herself.
She’d mismatched not one, not two, but three buttons. “Oh, boy,” she whispered.
Holly just laughed. “Yeah. Oh, boy.”
9
ONE DAY LATER Katie found herself craning her neck for a better view of Bryan.
He flew by.
Then again.
And again.
In the long, torturous moments between those appearances, Katie knew exactly what he was doing, even if she couldn’t see him.
Stunts.
Dangerous ones.
Upside down, sideways, a roll, he would do them all. And even though she told herself he was free to do as he wanted, that she had no hold on him, and he no hold on her, she still felt like grabbing him right out of the sky and locking him in a safe dungeon somewhere.