Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(61)

Brody stared at Maddie, then slowly shook his head. “Not if they know what’s good for them.”





Chapter 21




L ate that afternoon, Dani entered Sky High’s building. The place was nothing like the last time she’d been there. There were no festive decorations, no drunken revelers, no gorgeous man in the closet, and most importantly, no dead bodies.

No dead bodies.

She repeated it to herself so it would sink in. She was fine, she was good, she was—

Nervous as hell. How had she let this happen? Flying? She hated to fly, she really did. Why had she let him talk her into this? He was just a fling, a great fling, yes, but any second now he would fly right out of her life and—

“Hi. Dani Peterson, right?”

Dani looked at the gorgeous young woman who’d come out from behind the huge front desk and immediately felt like tucking in her own wild hair, not to mention tugging down the hem of her shirt to straighten out the wrinkles, but that might only emphasize the dollop of ketchup she had below one breast from the fries she’d not been able to resist at lunch. “Um, yes. I’m Dani Peterson.”

“Nice to meet you,” said the vision in black leggings and boots, with a silvery curve-hugging sweater that screamed cover model. “I’m Maddie. The concierge here. I saw you at the party the other night.”

“Oh.” Dani tried to remember seeing Maddie, but the evening was pretty much a blur, what with the mistletoe situation and then the dead body.

“With Shayne,” Maddie clarified, perfectly evenly, without a single inflection, but somehow Dani knew that Maddie knew she’d spent most of her time in the closet.

But hell, Shayne probably spent lots of time with lots of different women in lots of different places. Maddie was probably completely used to it.

Proving it, the woman smiled easily, as if it was no big deal at all.

Because it wasn’t, Dani reminded herself.

“He mentioned you’d be coming by. You’re taking a flight this afternoon. To Tahoe. We’re lucky the storm moved on. Weather’s all clear.”

“Oh.” Goodie. “Great.”

Maddie cocked her head to one side. “That was a loaded great.”

“Yes. It was. Sorry.”

Maddie had her dark brown hair artfully disheveled, the kind of disheveled that said she’d probably put a small fortune of hair product into it to make it look that way. The kind of disheveled that looked amazing—unlike Dani’s own special brand of disheveledness, which came from genuine…well, disheveledness. Maddie’s clothes were glitzy and wow, and because she had a body also straight from a magazine, she seemed glossy and perfect. Way too perfect for Dani to admit her fear of flying to.

“Are you okay?” Maddie asked.

Perceptive too. And most likely not afraid of anything, especially not of flying. “I’m…” Terrified. Out of my element. Pick one. “Fine. Terrific, really.”

“Afraid of flying, aren’t you?”

Dani sighed and gave up the pretense. “Unbelievably terrified.”

Maddie smiled in sympathy just as the phone at her hip vibrated. She looked down, hit a button as she held up a finger to Dani. “Sky High Air, how can I help you?” She glanced out onto the tarmac, and Dani followed her gaze.

Shayne and another tall, good-looking man stood together. The wind was blowing, and they’d bent their heads close, clearly talking about the airplane they both stood next to.

Maddie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Michelle. Shayne’s booked for a different flight right now, but Noah’s free. We’ll get you where you need to go. Yes, I’ll tell Shayne you called.” She clicked off. “Or not.” Catching Dani’s expression, she smiled grimly. “Don’t worry. I only lie to people with crushes on one of my bosses. Where were we? Oh, yes. Your terror of flying. If you’d like, I have a cure for that.”

“You do?”

“Oh, yes.” She led Dani through the lobby, at the end of which was a small lounge and bar area, just as elegant and sophisticated as the rest of the place, complete with a large flat-screen TV showing a basketball game. Maddie moved behind the bar and pulled out a decanter and two shot glasses. “Would it help to hear that Shayne is an excellent pilot?”

“He’s excellent at a lot of things,” Dani muttered.

“Yes, he is. It was his influence with the investors that got Sky High up and running. And then there’s his way with the clients. You’ve seen him. He could charm a tightwad out of his last penny.”

Or the panties off a woman who’d told herself sex was overrated. “He’s not quite as easygoing and laid-back as he seems, is he.”

“Good for you.” Maddie smiled. “He fools most people with that one. I’m glad you see past that ridiculous good-old-boy thing he puts out there to protect himself.”

“Protect himself from what?”

“From getting hurt, of course.”

Of course. Only…only she’d been the one protecting herself. Right? Because he didn’t need to protect himself, not when he hadn’t invested anything.

Or so she tried to convince herself.



“Sit,” Maddie said to Dani, and pushed one of the glasses in front of her. “This whole place is really nice.” Dani took a slow spin on the bar stool beneath her, taking in the atmosphere. “Ritzy but somehow cozy.”