Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(29)

Maybe he ought to see if he could pay Jan to keep him in some fresh food as well as walk Bella, because if his mother could see this, she’d just sigh.

She’d done a lot of sighing over the years for Shayne. There’d been his inability to deal with his older brothers and his father’s constant ribbing and roughhousing. There’d been his trouble in school, not grade-wise, but attitude-wise. Mostly his father had beaten that out of him too, but it’d been a long haul because he’d been pretty attitude-ridden.

By the time he’d hooked up with Brody and Noah in seventh grade, he’d been pretty damn tired of being picked on. Then two things had happened simultaneously; he’d grown ten inches in four months, and he’d bonded with two boys who were also misfits, also different, and better yet, they got him. Over their mutual love of planes, they’d made promises—that someday they’d run their own private airline for the rich and famous, flying all over the world on someone else’s dime.

A fantasy, nothing more.

But they believed in that fantasy, and they’d made it happen.

It hadn’t been easy. It had nearly sent them each spinning into bankruptcy, several times, and no one had as far to spin as Shayne. Several times through college, and in the years since, they’d lived together because there hadn’t been a spare dime, but that had worked too.

And in the end, the three of them had pulled it off.

And this year they’d paid off their last big creditor, celebrating their first month solidly in the black. A few months later, he’d bought this house for himself.

“Nice to know you didn’t completely blow your trust fund,” his father had said when he’d gotten his first look at the house. His mother had seconded that with “because we weren’t going to replace it.”

They meant well, he knew that. He also knew that he hadn’t been easy on them. But all he’d ever asked of them was to believe in him, and they hadn’t been able to do that, not once, not ever. So he’d gotten over it. He had Sky High. He had Brody and Noah, and now by extension, Bailey and Maddie. And he was good.

His life was full.

Very full.

With a sigh, he moved back into the living room and nudged Bella.

She cracked open one eye.

He nudged her again.

She closed her eye.

“Damn it.” Snagging the blanket off the back of the couch, he sprawled out on the carpet, turning over a few times before he could get even quasi-comfortable.

Just as he drifted off, Bella jumped off the couch and stretched out at his side with a groan. She had his back and would keep him warm. She might be a bed hog with some really bad breath, but she’d never judge him, that was for sure. She’d always be there.

No man needed more than that…



The phone rang, jarring Shayne awake. The machine on the other side of the room clicked on, telling him he must have been sleeping pretty damn hard if the phone had rung four times, which is what it took for the machine to come on. Because he was so exhausted, he lay there, content to let whoever it was calling him at six in the morning to leave a message.

“Shayne?” Michelle’s voice filled the room. “Wish you’d come by last night. I was looking forward to one of our late-night trysts…”

They’d had exactly one late-night tryst, one that she’d instigated, promising him that she wasn’t looking for anything more…

“Call me,” she said with promise thick in her admittedly sexy voice. “Maybe we can hook up tonight instead.”

The machine clicked off, but there was another sound in the room, a light rustling that had Bella lifting her head and snuffling, but Shayne already knew who stood over him wearing—ah, man, look at her—wearing only his T-shirt, which fell to her thighs.

He’d fallen asleep with the kitchen light on behind her, which allowed him to see right through the material. God bless that light.

And as a bonus, from his vantage on the floor he caught a peek-a-boo hint of peach panties. Cotton? Silk?

“Hey,” she said, hugging herself. She took a step closer and tripped over the shoes he’d carelessly kicked off. With a gasp, she fell.

Right on top of him.

Not so good for his supposed distance, but pretty damn great for his temporary bout of loneliness, having that hot curvy body all over the top of him. And she was all over him, her hair in his mouth, one soft thigh between his, her breasts smashed against his chest.

“I’m sorry.” She tried to push off him but her hand sank into his gut, making him let out an “oof,” and then she overcorrected by shifting her hand lower, and this time when she pushed up she had a handful of his package.

“Careful,” he warned, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.

“Oh, God.” She went utterly still, shock on her face. “I’m so sorry.”

But she didn’t take her hand off him.

“Dani?”

“Yeah?”

Her fingers were warm, and definitely…Christ…outlining him. “What are you doing?”

Groaning, she buried her face in his chest. “He has to ask me what I’m doing. That’s bad. Very bad.” Fumbling for balance, she rolled to her back on the floor, thankfully managing not to un-man him in the process.

Lifting up, he eyed her. Her hair covered her face but his T-shirt had risen up high enough on her thighs to reveal a close-up and personal view of those peach panties.