Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(35)

Unconcerned, Bella turned around in circles on the mat and plopped down with a contented sigh.

He rinsed off, trying to get his mind wrapped around the fact that it’d happened. He’d lost his touch with women. Even the crazy ones didn’t want him. Getting out of the shower, he grabbed a towel and his phone, and called his brother.

“Yo,” Patrick answered. “I was just going to call you. The gun Dani allegedly found?”

“She did find it, in her pocket.”

“Whatever, dude. It’s not registered.”

“Which means?”

“Illegal purchase. We’re trying to trace the bullets now. Still no leads on who shot at you last night.”

“They were shooting at Dani.”

“Yeah, well, I’d stay away from her.”

“Wow.”

“Wow what?”

“You’re a cop, telling me to stay away from someone who’s obviously in danger?”

“I’m a big brother telling my little brother to watch his back. Look, she was just a girl at a party, Shayne. Let her be someone else’s concern. Let her be my concern.”

Which made complete sense, given who Shayne had always been and how he’d lived his life. He steered clear of attachments and all that entailed, always, so of course Patrick would suggest he do the same now.

Except he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t walk away this time, not while he knew she was in danger.

“Shayne? You’re going to leave this in the hands of the police, right? In my hands?”

That wasn’t the cop talking, that was the older brother, the one who’d bullied him and pushed him around most of his childhood, only to grow up and still think of him as the screwup.

“Shayne?”

“We’re friends. I’m not walking away from her.”

“Friends?” Patrick laughed. “Come on. You just met her. Besides, you don’t do friends, not with women, not unless you’re planning on having sex with her.”

“Jesus, Patrick.”

“What? Are you telling me you don’t want to have sex with her?”

Shayne just rubbed his eyes.

“So you’ve already done the deed.” Patrick laughed again. “Well, damn, that was fast. Even for you.”

“Go to hell.”

“Sorry. I’m too busy. I’ll call you if I get anything else. Be smart, Shayne.”

Shayne hung up. Be smart? Well no doubt, the smart thing to do was exactly as Patrick had suggested.

Walk away.

Hell, Dani had even helped him out in that area, by walking away first.

But damn, he’d been the black sheep of his family too long to listen to reason now. So he picked the phone back up. Yeah, he was going to call her, which was crazy all by itself, never mind the implications of wanting to call her. By doing this, he was sending far more than a “how are you after all the amazing sex” signal, he’d be sending a “I want to do you yet again” signal.

Which he didn’t need.

Never needed.

But somehow he’d dialed her cell and the phone was ringing in his ear, and then her voice was asking him in that sweet, slightly halting tone to please leave her a message and she’d get back to him as soon as possible.

“Hey, Dani,” he said, his mouth apparently having completely disconnected from his brain. “Missed you in the shower this morning.” Christ, was that him? Telling her he missed her? He cleared his throat and found his balls. “Anyway, just wanted to make sure you made it to work okay. Have a good day.”

Have a good day? What was he, a f*cking Girl Scout? Jesus. To make sure he didn’t repeat that shockingly needy mistake, he deleted her number from the memory in his cell.

Better.

By the time he got into Sky High Air, things were hustling and bustling. Maddie met him with a stack of phone messages, files, reports, and a blessed mug of caffeine. “Hey.” She studied his face. “You look like crap.”

“Gee, thanks. Any of these messages from Dani?”

“The damsel in distress? Nope, you’re in luck, boss. No calls from her.”

He lifted his head from the messages and looked into her eyes, and her smile faded. “Oh,” she said, clearly taken aback. “You…wanted to hear from her.”

Instead of answering, he turned away.

“Wow, that’s new,” she murmured.

He looked back. “What?”

“You, looking for the whole morning-after thing.” She grinned, the smart-ass. “And it’s so cute. What happened, she pull a Shayne and sneak out on you?”

“You do realize I sign your paycheck.”

“I’m not afraid of you. You want me to get her on the line?”

“No.”

“You want me to reschedule your flight so you can pull the whole stay-in-your-office-and-pout thing, like Brody does?”

“No. Brody’s a woman.” He headed toward his office.

“Shayne?”

With a sigh, he stopped. “What?”

“You’re pretty cute when you’re being the woman too.”





Chapter 13




D ani got out of the cab and looked up at her second-floor apartment. At her front window. Was she scared to go in? Hell, yes. But she could do this. All she needed were panties. So she took the stairs.