She knew it was a pathetic attempt at self-preservation, but at the moment it worked for her.
A trip to Paris would have worked better.
CHAPTER TWO
WADE MCKINNON’S alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., startling him into near cardiac arrest and bringing back flashes of the military life he didn’t feel like facing at such an ungodly hour. Groaning, bleary-eyed, he knocked the clock to the floor and put his pillow over his head.
But before sleep could claim him again, he remembered.
He had to get up. He was no longer a wild, irresponsible nobody. Shocking as it was, he’d pulled himself out of the gutter. He now actually had a reason to get up in the morning. The Air Force had had a big hand in knocking sense into him, and as a result, he’d managed to put his experiences from it to good use by starting his own charter company. He was even—and he was just getting used to this after five years—successful. Hugely so. Unbelievably, he could actually do whatever he wanted, when he wanted, the only irony being that he was often too busy now to do just that.
Surging out of bed, he got into the shower, drank a gallon of coffee straight up, and went to work.
Walking through the private airport never failed to make him smile. God, he loved it here, in this dinky, falling apart, old place. A year ago he’d moved his charter business from Oregon to Southern California because he’d gotten tired of the rain, and he’d never been sorry.
Of course that might have something to do with Kylie, the lean, mean fighting machine who owned the airport. Man, he loved a kick-ass woman, and there was no doubt, Kylie was kick-ass. She was rough and tough and battle-ready, and in sharp contrast to her curmudgeonly nature, was so hauntingly beautiful, he could never take his eyes off her.
She did her best to hide that beauty, with her dark hair in its ragged cut he suspected she did herself, little to no makeup, and coveralls over the taut body he wanted beneath his. But to Wade, it was all in the eyes, and hers, deep jade ones, gripped him every time she laid them on him.
It wasn’t often a woman got under his skin, but she’d crawled in there at first sight and had never left. She’d laugh hysterically if she knew. Then she’d go back to work and forget about him. All she did was work, and it drove him as crazy as the memory of kissing her did.
The hangars were filled with airplanes, new and old. The smell of fuel and warm summer morning filled the air, and he inhaled deeply. With both the east and west doors open, the wind whipped through at a good enough clip to nearly rip his donut right out of his hand. Couldn’t have that, so he popped the rest in his mouth and dusted off his fingers.
He had an early flight taking some movie star to Moro Bay for a photo shoot. Which meant he’d get to sit around on the bluffs and kick back for a few hours before flying her home.
Oh yeah, life was good.
Moving toward the lobby, he figured he’d just check in with Daisy and see if his client had arrived yet. He wondered if the photo shoot was a bikini one….
“But, Kylie, he’s such a nice boy,” he heard Daisy say.
“Oh, please.” Kylie’s voice was strong and determined, just like every other part of her, and Wade grinned. She and her mother were behind the reception desk, their backs to him as they put up the schedule for the day.
“Honestly, Kylie,” Daisy tsked. “The least you could do is go out with him once!”
“No,” Kylie said firmly. “I am not going out on any blind dates, especially one you set me up on. No offense, Mom, but I don’t have the same taste you do.”
Daisy put her hands on her hips and jabbed her dry-erase marker in her daughter’s face. “I always set you up with nice boys. Keith. Justin. Steve. You should have married Steve.”
“Seth,” Kylie corrected. “And I couldn’t have married him even if I’d wanted to. Grandma chased him off, remember?”
“Well, who would have guessed he’d be afraid of one little old lady?”
“She told him I was desperate for a husband and that he fit the bill!”
“She was just kidding. He had no sense of humor.”
“Mom.” Kylie rubbed her temples. “I’m not going to get married, okay? It’s not for me.”
“Just because a few relationships didn’t work out?”
“Because none of them ever work out. Let’s face it.” She lifted her arms, exhibiting her coveralls and favorite baseball cap, not an ounce of femininity anywhere, and beautiful in spite of it. “I’m not exactly marriage material.”
“Nothing a brush and some makeup wouldn’t fix,” Daisy sniffed.
“Mom.” With a little laugh, Kylie shook her head. “Why should I bother? Look at you, you’re the epitome of a woman….”
Daisy smiled and preened, patting her perfect hair, her pretty sundress. “Why, thank you.”
“And you can’t keep a man, either. You’ve had how many boyfriends since Daddy died?”
“Well, who’s counting?” Daisy muttered.
“Three. And each broke your heart. Grandma’s been married five times. Five! And each time nearly destroyed her.”
“That’s because she wasn’t smart enough to marry someone with money the first time.”
“Well, I’m not interested, with or without money. Even you and Daddy had issues.”
“Because he thought he had to pamper me, and take care of every little thing.”
“He did have to.”
“Only because, sweet as he was, he was also…” Daisy winced apologetically. “Look, he was anal, okay? Completely and totally anal.”
And so was Kylie. That fact was written all over her mother’s face. Well, she’d rather be anal than the opposite. “All I’m saying is, for all I’ve seen, love is a pain in the a—”
“Kylie Ann Birmingham! Watch your language.”
“Love doesn’t really exist, Mom. Admit it.”
Daisy threw up her hands. “I give up trying to convince you. But at least try to have fun once in a while. Anything, Kylie, but try something.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Really? What if it was Wade asking?”
Wade’s ears perked at that. The conversation had been hugely interesting so far, but was getting even better now.
“First of all,” Kylie said. “He dates anything in a skirt, so he’s certainly not going to give me a second glance, and second…”
“Yes?” Wade pushed away from the wall and moved toward the front desk, smiling when Kylie whipped around, her eyes wide. “Second?” he asked sweetly.
Daisy grinned. “Well, hello, Wade.”
“Hello, Daisy.” He cocked his head at Kylie. “Oh, and your ‘first of all’ isn’t quite accurate. I’ve dated women in pants before. Not in coveralls, though…” He ran a finger down her arm, grinning when she glared at him. “And you never finished. Second of all…?”
“You had a client.” Deliciously flustered, she shoved some paperwork at him and changed the conversation.
“Had?”
“She cancelled because the wind scared her.”
He glanced out the wall of windows. “It’s hardly blowing.”
“Yeah, well, she cancelled. Probably was worried the wind would disturb her hair. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go test that plane I worked on last night, the owner will be here soon.”
When she brushed past him, he took her elbow, smiling when she whipped around, practically growling in his face.
What was it about him that put her so on edge? The same thing that made him want to keep touching her? He’d learned a lot about her in this very fascinating conversation. “Who’s riding shotgun?”
“No one.”
“I will.”
“I don’t need—”
“I will,” he repeated. He had no idea what the hell he was doing, he now had the morning free. He could go into his office, shut the door, open the windows, kick up his feet and take a nice snooze.
Instead he wanted to be up in the air. With Kylie. He figured it had
nothing to do with those big, expressive jade eyes and everything to do with how she’d tasted. It had been nearly six months since their one and only kiss and he couldn’t quite get the memory out of his head.
Maybe she’d give him another taste, and then they could each go on their own merry way.
Yeah. That’s what he wanted. To go on his merry way. Alone.
KYLIE PILOTED. Wade watched. It was a first for him, sitting passenger side with a woman in charge. And she was in charge. She flew the same way she did everything else, with utter intensity, a serious expression, sure and firm hands, her dark glasses hiding her every thought.
The sky loomed large in front of them, brilliant blue with lazily floating puffy white clouds. Incredible. Being up in the air, as always, exhilarated him as nothing ever had.
“So.” Wade leaned back to enjoy himself. “Do you make love with the same abandon when you fly?”
Her hands jerked, and so did the plane. Craning her neck, she stared at him. “What?”
“I bet you do.”
For another long heartbeat she was silent, then she shook her head and turned forward again. “You’re insane. That explains everything.”
“We had such a connection that night. Do you remember?”
“No.”
“Christmas Eve.”
“New Year’s Eve,” she corrected, then rolled her eyes when he laughed.
“You do remember, and you’ve ignored it ever since.”
An interesting blush crept up her face. “I don’t remember anything.”
He shook his head. “Coy, Kylie? After you’ve practically crawled up my body?”
“I most definitely did not crawl up your body.”
“Don’t tell me I need to remind you who kissed who.”
She hissed out a breath. “Okay, so I kissed you. I was wondering what it would be like, that’s all.”
“And?”
“And nothing. Wondering gone.”
“Are you telling me that kiss quenched your thirst?”
She shifted in her seat and broke eye contact.
“See?” he said. “You want more, too.”
“Giving in to simple urges isn’t always the answer,” she said primly.
“Baby,” he said on a laugh. “There’s nothing simple about my urge for you.”
“Stop it.”
“I can’t. I’m still curious. You’re so tough on the outside.”
“I’m tough all the way through.”
“Nah.” He grinned when she glared at him again. “Know what I think?”
“If I say yes will you shut up?”
“I think that your toughness is a shield. That you’re really soft and sweet, with a heart of gold.”
That made a laugh tumble from her lips. “Right. And you know me so well.”
“Otherwise why would you let Daisy destroy the office on a daily basis? Or let Lou near your books?”
“Because I’m clearly mentally incompetent. Watch out, it could be contagious.”
His mouth quirked. “You care about your family very much.”
“They’re family,” she said simply.
“Some would just let them make their own way.”
“Their own way?” She shook her head. “My mom and grandma would get lost on their way there.”
“Exactly. I’ve been watching you for a year now. Even more so in the past six months.”
“Should I be concerned you’re stalking me?”
“Look, just admit it. You’re really one big softie who collects people to take care of so you don’t have to take care of yourself.”
She stared at him, then laughed. “I do not collect the needy.”
“See? I didn’t say needy. You did.”
She sighed. “How about we just don’t talk period.”
“Sure, soon as you tell me why you’d rather bury yourself in work and raise your mother and grandmother than live your own life.”
“Shut up. I have to check out the plane, and that requires listening. To the plane, not you.”
“The plane is perfect.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you worked on it.”
Startled, she blinked her huge green eyes at him.
Oh yeah, he had her attention now. “You might run the airport,” he said, “but you’re the best mechanic out there. You’re also not a bad pilot. So…now that we have all business out of the way, and you don’t want to discuss kissing or making love, how about—”
She turned back to her flying. “I don’t want to sell you the airport.”
“I wasn’t going to bring that up, but now that you have…you’re out of money.”
Her jaw went tight. “Not quite.”
“I’m not greedy, sell me half. We’ll be partners.”
“I’m not that desperate.”
He shrugged and leaned back. “Fine. We’ll talk about something else.” Glancing behind them at the roomy cabin, which was luxurious and empty, he smiled. “Ever heard of the mile-high club?”
Having just taken an unfortunate sip of soda, she choked.
“Guess you have,” he said innocently, while his insides churned and tightened at the adorably flustered expression on her face and unwilling speculation in her eyes that his question caused. “Want to join it together?”
“Does ‘not in your lifetime’ mean anything to you?”
He laughed. “So you’re not ready for that.”
“No!”
“Maybe next time then. Just think of how good it’d be, you and me, more of those mind-blowing kisses, added with—”
“Stop!”
He could see the pulse at her throat beating like a desperate little chick. She was trying so hard not to let him see he was getting to her, and for some reason, that softened him.
“I mean it,” she said, eyes dark, lips wet from where she’d nervously licked them. “Stop.”
Whether she admitted it or not—and he was far closer to the not—she wanted him. For now, that was enough. For now. “Stopping,” he said, and smiled.
“UH, KYLIE?”
She was in her office, swamped with paperwork and getting none of it done due to a particularly naughty daydream that involved, damn it, the mile-high club. With a sigh, she picked up the radio. “Go ahead, dispatch.”
“Have you looked at the phone lines lately?”
Kylie glanced over and saw all phone lines flashing wildly.
Ah, hell. Her mother had sneaked out again. “Thank you,” she said, feeling a headache coming on as she made her way to the lobby and the front desk.
“Kylie, Kylie!” Oddly enough, Daisy was there, waving at her, beaming from ear to ear, apparently utterly unconcerned about the phones. “You’ll never guess! I did it!”
Oh God. “You did…what exactly?”
“I got the call saying I did it. I mean, of course I did it, who wouldn’t think so?”
“Mom…what are you talking about?”
“I’m a nominee for Mother Of The Year! I sent in that essay, and the magazine picked their finalists from across the country, and I’m one of them!”
This was difficult to wrap her mind around. Her mother—whom Kylie took care of—was up for Mother Of The Year.
“Get ready, honey, because I’m going to win us that trip to Paris yet!”
“The phones, Mom. You can’t just—” With a sound of exasperation, she picked up the receiver and pushed line one. “Birmingham Airport.”
“Orange County Post. We’d like a quote from a Kylie Birmingham.”
Kylie looked at her mother as a bad feeling came over her. “About?”
“About the front-page article we printed on her mother being a national nominee for Mother Of The Year.”
With a wide smile, Daisy held up the newspaper. “See?” she whispered.
Yep, there it was, right on the front page for the whole world to see.
Our Own Daisy Birmingham!
National Moth
er Of The Year?
You Bet!
Kylie didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. “Hold on.” She hit line two. “Birmingham Airport.”
“This is Flora’s Florist. We have a delivery for a Daisy Birmingham.”
“What?”
“They’re from the retirement center where she volunteers as bingo manager. We just want to make sure someone is there to receive before we bring the arrangement over.”
Kylie sank to her mother’s chair and set her head down on the desk.
Daisy just smiled.
Kylie groaned.
“Hello?” said the florist. “Hello? Hello?”
CHAPTER THREE
WHEN KYLIE GOT UP the next morning, she’d convinced herself the publicity had died down. After all, her mother wasn’t a celebrity, Kylie wasn’t a celebrity and where they lived was little more than a one-horse town.
Why would anyone care about a silly little contest? Yes, today would be just fine. And indeed, when she got to work, the place was blessedly quiet.
Perfect.
Relieved, she went to her office and shut the door, determined to do something about the mountain of paperwork threatening to overtake her desk.
She worked through lunch, and was well on her way to having a deliriously good day due to lack of interruptions when Lou ambled in.
“You need money in the checking account,” her grandma announced. “Quite a bit of it.”
“A new lease is supposed to come through today. Some guy wants to park his two Learjets here for six months, and I’m just waiting for his call. Once that’s finalized, we’ll get a hefty deposit. Oh, and we sold a lot of fuel this week, so—”
“None of that is going to help you.”
Kylie frowned. “Why not?”
“Well, because I’m mailing the bills.” Lou lifted a shoulder. “So you’ll need to do something today. Okay, then, luvie…” She clapped her hands together. “Gotta run.”
It boggled the mind how quickly one old lady could destroy Kylie’s brain cells. “Maybe you can wait until next week to go to the post office.”
Paris or Bust! Page 20