Superb and Sexy (Sky High Air #3)(78)

Once on Nassau, they called the authorities. Brody wasn’t thrilled to find out that they were all going to be held in custody for questioning. It took a while for the police to sort everything out, but eventually, the estate on Stone Cay was siezed and held as well.

And then, after a very long day of waiting, Rosaline, Ben, and Brody were released on bail. Thanks to Noah flying in and hiring the best attorney on Nassau, a guy who turned out to be worth every penny of his outrageous fees, Maddie was released the next day as well.

The longest day of Brody’s life.

Leena wasn’t released until the third day when her laptop was finally accessed. In exchange for her promise to help gather further evidence against Rick, she was given her freedom. Ben had waited for her, and it was clear to everyone they wouldn’t be separated again any time soon.

Rick and Tiny Tim and the others weren’t released at all.

By the time Brody flew Maddie back to Los Angeles, four days had gone by. They dropped Leena and Ben in New Orleans, where Leena had decided to “stay for a while,” something that had both her and Ben glowing with happiness.

Yeah, Leena was going to be just fine. But Brody didn’t know if he could say the same about Maddie. She was quiet, withdrawn, saying only that she needed some time to think.

He wasn’t sure what that meant.

Back at Sky High, life seemed shockingly ordinary. Except that Maddie didn’t come back to work. He knew she was home, that she hadn’t flown off somewhere, because he drove by her place every night to check.

She had asked for time, though, which sucked because it turned out to be the hardest thing to give.

What the hell did she need time for?

He tried to keep himself busy, tried to find the same simple joy in planes as he always had. And one morning, a week later, he stood in hangar three in front of one of their newest purchases, a sweet honey of a 1977 Grumman AA5A. The Cheetah needed some work, and he was the man to do it. Just six months ago, he’d have been all over it, filled with satisfaction and pride at his life. After all, he had a roof over his head. The books were firmly in the black. And he had a new plane to boot.

Yeah, with money finally in his pocket, he would have said life was as complete as he could have imagined it ever being.

He’d have been wrong.

He needed one thing that money couldn’t buy: Maddie. He wanted her in his life, and he wanted her to love him. He’d never seen himself wanting such a thing, especially with a woman who’d grown up so different from himself. But he now knew that didn’t matter. Money, background, none of it mattered.

The only thing that did matter was what the heart wanted. He knew what his wanted. What he didn’t know was what Maddie’s wanted. And though that hurt, he couldn’t say he regretted the experience. If nothing else, he better understood Noah and Shayne, how they’d put their lives on the line for love.

He’d now been there.

The door to the hangar opened, and to his shock, the woman he’d just been thinking about stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the sun behind her. His heart gave a painful lurch.

Then she walked in like she owned the place, and hell, she could have. He knew it, Shayne and Noah knew it, and she sure as hell knew it.

She looked amazing. Her hair was shorter, cut to her shoulders but her own natural fiery auburn. She wore a halter baby doll tank top over skinny jeans and mind-boggling heels. But no smile.

Ah, hell. “If you need a pilot—”

“How about a job?”

“Or that.” But he sure as hell didn’t want to go back to boss and employee. Or even friends.

Hell, he didn’t even want to go back to only getting along in the sack, although that had its merits…

No, what he wanted was something far more permanent than that, and the fear nutting him up deep inside was that he was alone in that wanting.

She came to a stand next to the Cheetah, looking on top of her world and so far out of his league that if he didn’t still have her nail indentations in his ass from that last time they’d been together, he might have believed he’d dreamed it all up.

In that damn workshop, she’d told him she loved him. And then she hadn’t really spoken to him since. Now they were in the “real” world, whatever the f*ck that meant, so—

“Nice plane,” she said quietly, staring up at the Cheetah.

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember what I said to you on Stone Cay?”

“You said a lot of things. You said, for instance, that I have an ego.”

“I said ridiculous ego.”

“Right,” he said dryly. “Thank you for the clarification.”

“I also said that you’re big, bad, and so damn sexy that you make me melt.”

He stared at her profile. “No, you never said that. I most definitely would have remembered that.”

“Well, I thought it. I also thought that you make me smile. You make me laugh, too, and you make me think.” She turned her head and looked at him. “You make me feel whole, Brody, when I’ve never felt whole before. But that’s not what I was referring to.” Her baby blues softened with things that made his heart pick up speed. “I meant it when I said I love you.”

“You said it under extreme duress.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I said it while thinking we were going to die, or when you were buried deep inside me, or now, when we’re just standing here…I mean it.”