Superb and Sexy (Sky High Air #3)(3)

But apparently unable to read her mind, he headed straight for the front door, his long-limbed stride filled with a casual ease that said even if he’d known about any potential danger, it wouldn’t have stopped him.

God, she loved that about him.

Beside her, Leena made a sound of distress and wrung her hands together.

Maddie’s reaction wasn’t much different. Her heart took another hard knock against her ribs. She had no idea what it was about Brody’s attitude that went straight to her gut—and several other good spots as well—but with that scowl on his face, he looked every inch the wild, bad boy rebel pilot that she knew him to be.

And from deep within her came a new emotion, one she hadn’t thought still existed inside her.

Hope.

It made absolutely no sense, no sense at all, and she quickly squashed it flat because that particular emotion, or anything close to it, had no place here, and she’d do well to remember it.

That was the hard part. Remembering it.

“Maddie,” Leena whispered.

“I know.”

For all of their sakes, she had to get rid of him.

Fast.





Chapter 2


B rody knocked on the door of the cabin as if he was Avon calling, but in truth, he felt much more like the big, bad wolf standing outside Maddie’s house of straw.

Or at least a big oaf.

He had no idea why, but around her, he felt clumsy and off kilter. Oh, wait. He knew exactly why. She was smart and amazing and hot and funny and hot, and so far out of his league he couldn’t even see the league.

He knocked again, glancing at Maddie’s Jeep in the driveway and the car next to it, wondering if she was alone, wondering why she was here, in the mountains, miles from the nearest high-end clothing store. Maddie was a sophisticated, elegant, big city lover who considered anything less than a four-star hotel roughing it.

She wasn’t exactly roughing it, not in this big, beautiful rustic cabin, built with a rather staggering view of majestic mountains and valleys as far as the eye could see. The front yard was a homage to The Ponderosa era, with a wagon wheel on either side of the walkway and railroad ties lining the path, all of it rather beautiful really, in a very Wild West sort of way.

But this was definitely a distant world for Maddie. So what the hell was she doing out here, far from the work she loved, apparently unconcerned about earning money?

The thought was alien to him.

Give him the stability of work, and the money earned for that work, and he was good. Not worrying about the roof over his head or his next meal was pretty much all he required from life.

And flying.

Flying was a close second to eating. Flying made him whole, flying made him happy. Flying was everything.

Maddie was an enigma because she didn’t seem to need any one thing, or anyone, for that matter. Maybe that’s what made her so good at her job. She was a freak of nature who could work a keyboard, a cell phone, and a scheduling board and run Sky High Air at the same time, all without seeming to care what anyone thought.

She was his employee. His responsibility, and she drove him batshit crazy. He’d told himself it was her persona. She looked like a punk rocker superhero. Her hair could be spiky platinum one day, straight jet black with magenta streaks the next. She had several visible body piercings, and wondering about the ones not visible had kept him up on more than one long night. She wore leather and silk with equal élan, and her exotic footwear alone had given him more fantasies than he cared to admit.

He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted a woman. Hell, more than he’d ever wanted a plane, and that was saying something.

She walked as if she’d been born the Queen of the Free World, which only further confused him because usually, he was drawn to sweet and easy. And, okay, maybe just a little bit naughty.

There was nothing sweet or easy about Maddie, and he doubted that she was only a little bit naughty. Everything about her, from her baby blues to the tip of her manicured toes, everything screamed look-but-don’t-touch, and in her presence, he was always swamped with conflicting emotions—the urge to rumple her up and the need to put his hands in his pockets to keep them off her.

Yeah. She really got to him. It was the equal mix of quick wit and trouble in her eyes. It was the sharp humor she revealed in her smile, which was so damn contagious he often found himself smiling back with or without being in on the joke. It was how she cared so deeply about the people around her, people like Noah and Shayne, and also him.

Especially when it was him.

Once he’d fallen off a ladder and landed on his ass, and she’d been the first one to get to him. She’d thrown herself at him, fear in her voice, and for that moment before she’d figured out he wasn’t hurt, before she’d smacked him and yelled at him never to scare her like that again, he’d really enjoyed the feel of her curves hugging up all over him. Another time, he’d heard her on the phone telling a client about his piloting skills, bragging about how he was the best of the best, and he’d actually felt his chest puff up.

Yeah, he really liked it when she revealed how much she cared.

But this wasn’t about him or how she seriously screwed with his head on a daily basis. This was about work. About Sky High Air.

He handled the majority of the flights himself. Noah specialized in personalized adventures, finding and fine-tuning them for their clients. Shayne, the people person of the group, brought in their rich clients. Together, they made the whole package, whether that meant flying a turbo prop or a jet on a moment’s notice, taking a charter flight to Santa Barbara or a business group to Alaska, it got handled efficiently, discreetly, and luxuriously.