“Oh yeah.” He stroked her jaw. “But it was just a phone call, Kylie.” He stepped back just as she let out the genuine smile he’d wanted to see, and the photographer snapped the shutter.
Wade leaned in one more time. “And all you have to do for me in return? Smile like that. At me.”
Then he wisely vanished before she could smack him.
TWO NIGHTS LATER Kylie was alone, once again buried in engine work on a customer’s plane. She stood on a ladder, stretched out, trying to reach a particularly unreachable bolt.
Behind her, the radio was turned up as high as it could go so she couldn’t think for a change.
Normally this would fulfill her, as she loved nothing more than a late night by herself buried in an airplane.
But normal no longer applied to her life. She’d had to charge the fuel for their tanks this morning, because she hadn’t had enough money in the accounts to cover the purchase. The new client had never materialized, and though she had a lead on two more, if they didn’t call soon, it might be too late.
It was entirely possible she was going to have to sell the airport. That burned. But she finally had to admit her love for the place wasn’t enough. It needed more than she could give.
Wade could give it. She’d read his proposal, she knew what he planned. With his marketing savvy and fancy connections, he’d have this place hopping in no time.
Damn him.
She didn’t begrudge him his success, she just wanted it for herself, too. Did that make her a bad person? Probably.
He hadn’t kissed her again.
Her fault. She didn’t want more kisses. Hell, she could hardly concentrate now with the power of the last one still messing with her head.
Damn it, she couldn’t reach the bolt. Wriggling just to the point of no return on the ladder, she realized she had the wrong size wrench. Of course she did.
Suddenly the right size appeared at her hip, extended to her by no other than the tall, dark, enigmatic man she’d been thinking about.
“Hey.” He shot her a crooked grin that destroyed her from the inside out. “Need any help?”
Oh, boy. Loaded question. Yes, she needed help easing the tension strung tight inside her. Yes, he could ease that tension with just a touch, a kiss. And no, she wouldn’t let him. “I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you make everything so damn difficult. Why can’t you admit, just once in a while, it’s okay to lean on someone?”
“I don’t need-”
“I know.” He tossed up his hands, then shoved his hands through his short, spiky hair. “You don’t need anyone. Well, I think that’s stupid.”
She blinked. “Are you calling me stupid?”
He stared at her. “How can you be so smart, driven and beautiful, and yet so absolutely pig-headed at the same time?”
“I- You think I’m smart and driven?”
“Maybe,” he said, eyes still flashing. “And maybe I also think you’re sexy as hell, too.”
She just stared at him, because he’d done what few had-stunned her.
“If you’d only take a single solitary breath from the whirlwind that is your life,” he said, knocking the air from her lungs by hauling her off the ladder. “You’d see that not everything is about work, or about taking care of someone.” Squeezing her hips, he held her still before him. “It’s about relationships. Like ours.”
While she gaped at that, he stepped back and pointed at her. “And I don’t need taking care of, so you can drop that excuse right now. I’m not one of the needy you collect. Hell, I’m even downright easy. I put the toilet seat down, the cap back on the toothpaste and believe it or not, I can even dress myself.” He lifted his arms out to exhibit that fact.
She could only stare at him. “There’s no us.”
“You don’t think so?”
She let out a long breath. “Even if there was…what does it mean?”
“Why don’t you come to my place and find out? Tomorrow night.”
“That’s a really bad idea. What would we do?”
“Tell you what, babe.” He ran a finger over the grease spot on her cheek, and her heart fluttered. “You can decide when you get there.”
WADE SET UP KYLIE’S seduction carefully. Food was key, Kylie loved food, the junkier the better. He’d ordered an extra large, extra loaded pizza, and put on a loud rock CD to go alongside the food. He had candles, too, lots of them. Probably not her style, but he needed something to keep her off balance. Off balance, she was uncertain and adorable.
Plus, he figured he had a better shot that way.
He hadn’t even been sure she’d come, so when he heard her arrive, he took a deep breath and moved to the window to be certain it was her. Who else could it be? She drove an ancient old Jeep that she’d rebuilt herself, and far before it appeared in front of his house, he heard it clunking up the street.
Looking harassed, a bit tired and more than a little ready to rumble, she stalked up the driveway, holding a folded newspaper like a weapon.
He opened the door just as she leaned forward to knock, and for whatever reason, his quick appearance seemed to have startled her into a tumble.
Right into his arms.
“Well, hello,” he said, enjoying the feel of her in his hands. “That step’s a doozy, huh?”
In his arms she never failed to do a very ego-satisfying melt, which he could unequivocally say went both ways. He’d been around the block a few times in his life, and no one had ever created this combustive sexual tension within him. Sex with Kylie would be mind-blowing, toe-curling, heart-pounding. He just knew it.
“Back off,” she told him. “You’re going to get dirty.” Pulling away, she tugged at the straps of her overalls. She wasn’t kidding about getting dirty, with the smudges all down the front of her and on the tip of her nose, she’d obviously been working on an airplane. She wore her favorite cap over her mop of hair, and the usual scowl.
But beneath it was a touching amount of nerves and an unsureness that broke his heart. “Come inside.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not dressed for that.”
“Then why are you here?”
She lifted the newspaper. “Because of this.”
“Well, come in if you’re going to hit me with it.”
“Fine.” She stepped inside. “Nice place,” she said in such a begrudging way he had to laugh.
“Thanks. I think.”
She looked around at the cabin-style house with the high vaulted wood-beam ceilings, at the wood-planked floors covered here and there with throw rugs, at the large but comfortable furniture, and then narrowed in on the music and candles. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re always up to something, and we both know it.”
She walked away from him, to the far side of the living room. She opened his French doors and stepped out into his backyard. He followed her to the edge of his pool.
Coming up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders. Tense as usual. “What’s the matter, Kylie?”
With another sigh, she spread out the newspaper, then pointed to the article on her mother. “You’re in here.”
“Am I?”
“You said, and I quote, you think Daisy did a superior job raising ‘the amazing’ Kylie. That ‘they balance each other out and complete each other.”’ She looked at him. “I know those reporters are pulling words out of a hat, but-”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I said what they said I did.”
“You…said it? You talked to the reporters?
About me?”
“Yes.”
“But you knew that would bug me.”
“What I knew was, you weren’t telling them anything, and they were going to make it up. And you are balanced by your family.”
“I don’t need you to protect me. I told you, I take care of myself.”