Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(59)
“The list is not a plan.”
“Talking to everyone on it is.”
“Talking? Is that what you were doing when you lifted Alan by the scruff of his shirt?”
He’d never been much of a fighter. Brody had always taken that roll. Noah too, when it’d been required. Shayne had always been like the middle brother, the peacemaker, the pacifist. But he didn’t feel much like a pacifist at the moment. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
She stared at him, then let out a disgusted breath of air. “You are being such a guy.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing someone with a penis would understand.” But she sighed. “You really think I should talk to my stepsiblings?”
“Hell yes, we should.”
She just looked at him, not missing the shift from “I” to “we,” but clearly deciding to pick her battles. “You have a flight today?”
“Just to Vegas and back. We could leave right after that.”
She sighed. “I’ll meet you at Sky High later, then.”
“After you go into work?”
“Yes.”
He felt a vein pulsing in his forehead. “Dani—”
“Look, I’m not letting this bastard, whoever he is, take my life away from me. I’m not going to lose my promotion because I’m afraid to go to work.”
“This is asinine. You’re putting yourself in danger.”
“No. Trust me, I’m not going to be the stupid chick in the horror movies. But I am going to live my life.”
“On your own.”
“I think that’s my only option at the moment.”
“Are you kidding me? I’m here, right here, Dani, and I have been, but it’s like you have built this wall between us.”
“No. I let you in.”
“Only after I knock it down every time. I’m tired of knocking, Dani.”
She went still. “It’s a habit,” she finally admitted. “Being on my own. It’s what always worked best for me.”
“Really? Because from where I’m standing, it’s not working for you, not at all.”
“You want to go with me to Tahoe? You really want to do this.”
“Yes. Hell, yes.”
“Even though we’re practically strangers.”
Okay, that pissed him off, but he managed a smile, tight as it might be. “Actually, I think we know each other pretty damn well.”
She blushed. “Our bodies, maybe.”
“Yes. I know your body. I know all sorts of things about your body. I know, for instance, that you like it when I breathe in your ear, that you like it when I nibble my way to your breasts and—”
“Shayne—”
“I also know how to make you tremble and sigh my name in that little whispery pant that tells me you’re close to coming. I know exactly…” Leaning in, he put his mouth to her ear, finding little satisfaction in the way her breath hitched. “Exactly how to make you fall apart for me, all over me.”
“Shayne—”
“And my favorite part? It’s that, Dani, it’s you saying my name in that way you do. Makes me hard every single time.”
She let out a shuddering breath.
“But I know more about you than that. I know you care about people with huge capacity. I know you are fiercely proud and live frugally to keep a job you love rather than ask your wealthy family for help. I know you have a secret lingerie habit that I am grateful for.”
She blushed. “I don’t have a secret lingerie habit.”
Laughing softly, he hooked a finger in her top and pulled it out so he could peek in and see her purple and black lace demi-bra. “Oh yeah,” he murmured. “Extremely grateful.”
She shoved his hand aside, but her eyes were filled with things, things that made him ache.
“I know you, Dani. I know you love ice cream and sappy movies. I know that you hate airplanes, but that you just might like a certain pilot.”
She turned away. “I’ve got to go.”
“I didn’t think you’d be the one running.”
Whipping around, she pointed a finger at him. “I told you. I told you I don’t want to do this. No dating.”
“Just sex.”
“That’s right.”
He shook his head, but had to laugh. “Do you have any idea how ironic it is that you’re the one pulling away?” He rubbed his head. “God. Brody would so have a field day over this.”
“Shayne—”
“No, it’s okay, it’s all good. I get it.”
She let out a slow breath and nodded, grabbing her purse. Then she came up to him. With a hand on his chest, she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Bye.”
As she whirled away, he caught her hand and tugged her back, where he proceeded to capture her mouth and kiss her a whole lot deeper, hotter, wetter than her kiss had been, and only when she was thoroughly breathless and making those sexy little panting murmurs in her throat, her fingers fisted into his shirt, did he pull back.
“That.” He nodded. “That’s a good-bye, Dani.”
Touching her lips, she stared at him, all glazed and dreamy, which would have made his day if she didn’t drive him absolutely f*cking insane.