by Trish Wylie
She breathed deep and practically sighed with contentment as she exhaled.
He was staring at her.
And he continued studying her with silent intensity, leaving Roane floundering. ‘Okay, well, erm…left is left and right is right. Basically…’
The smile started in his eyes. ‘Said that too…’
Well, how was she supposed to concentrate with him sitting as close as he was, looking the way he did and smelling as good as he was? Letting go of his hands, she sat back in her seat.
‘Don’t move the stick a minute.’
The change was so smooth it would have taken an expert to notice it. Then Roane was in control again. If Adam was seeking control by asking for the impromptu flying lesson, then she could understand that, she supposed. Having control of her plane again immediately made her feel better. He might be able to take possession of her body’s reactions simply by breathing in and out. But by distracting herself with the everyday business of flying Roane could focus her mind elsewhere. She could.
‘Just relax and feel my movements through the stick. That’s it. Smoothly…’
Suddenly the control she had took on sexual undertones for her. She’d never been in a relationship with a man where she’d had the courage to be one of those women who took control. She’d never asked to be touched a particular way or in a certain place; nothing that might have made the experience better for her. Nope, Roane’s method had always been more along the lines of making approving mumbles and hoping he got the message. But in her plane, where she was totally in control of her environment, even giving instructions to a man like Adam Bryant seemed like the most natural thing in the world to her.
Unfortunately the fact it was a man like Adam made her think about what it would be like to give him a different set of instructions. Like a breathless, Kiss me, Adam. Or, Touch me, Adam…
Since when had she been so obsessed with sex?
Feeling the vibration of the engine through the stick Roane stifled a moan, squirming on her seat in an attempt to ease the unfamiliar tension she felt between her legs. Thankfully when she glanced at Adam he seemed engrossed enough with flying not to have noticed so she damped her lips and told him, ‘Okay. Now you try.’
His fingers flexed around the stick while Adam took a breath and tried to ignore the move she’d just made—he’d seen that shimmy of her hips on the seat. She was more distracting than the flying lesson.
Of all the things he’d mentally prepared for there had never once been the scenario of being instantly viscerally attracted to his little brother’s woman. And woman she was, no matter how much the ‘little girl’ tag he’d given her as a kid still seemed appropriate. Everything about her was little: little fine-boned hands, little wrists he could circle comfortably with his thumb and forefinger, little waist he could probably have spanned with both hands, little breasts that would easily fill his palms…
Yet everything she did and said belied any air of fragility her body intimated. Not that she came across as tough—quite the opposite. She had an air of vulnerability to her that Adam found compellingly fascinating. Not a bad thing considering where he was.
Adam hated small planes.
Her softly feminine voice filled his ears. ‘There you go. You’re flying.’
While Adam focused on the combination of what he was doing and his physical awareness of the woman sitting beside him Roane took the silence to mean she could try making conversation again.
‘Is it weird being back?’
‘At the Vineyard?’
‘Yes.’
‘No.’
‘How can it not be? You’ve been gone a long time.’
Adam didn’t take kindly to being called a liar, even subtextually, frowning as he spoke. ‘“My witness is the empty sky.”’
There was a brief silence.
‘Voltaire?’
‘Kerouac.’
When he looked sideways at her she was staring at him and Adam liked that she couldn’t figure him out. It could stay that way as far as he was concerned.
‘You have dozens of these, don’t you?’
Adam felt his mouth twitch. ‘A few.’
‘As a way to avoid making conversation?’
Nope, he could make conversation when he wanted to. ‘You’re not good with silence, then, I take it.’
‘I’m fine with silence.’ Said the woman who had babbled nervously at him all the way through the airport concourse. ‘It’s rudeness that bothers me—I’m just trying to figure out if that’s what you’re doing.’
‘So short sentences make me an idiot—the lack of idle conversation makes me rude.’ Adam took a breath. ‘Anything else?’
There was another moment of silence and then a mumbled, ‘You really couldn’t be any different from Jake if you tried…’
She might not have meant it with quite the same level of contempt his father had any time he’d used similar words, but they had the same effect. Adam felt the echo of adolescent anger roll in on him like a tsunami—destroying any sense of reason or tolerance in its wake the same way it always had. He’d heard the words a million times; said with impatience or frustration or resentment or in disappointment. But the result was always the same. Jake had been the son their father wanted. Adam had fallen short of the mark.
Well, not any more. Maybe Roane Elliott should be the first of them to understand that.
Adam turned his head, dropping his gaze to look her over at his leisure. He heard her sharp intake of breath when he watched the rise and fall of her breasts long enough to see two distinct beads appear against the soft material of her blouse. Then he smiled a slow smile as he looked up at her parted lips, at the flush on her cheeks and finally into the darkened blue of her eyes. Only then did he quirk his brows, his voice a low rumble in the headsets.
‘Ready to find out just how different, little girl?’ He angled his head a little and studied the way her honey-blonde hair curled against her cheek. ‘I saw how you looked at me on the beach last night. Manners and IQ weren’t high on the list of things you were interested in then, were they?’
When she stared at him with widened eyes he leaned a little closer, deliberately looking down the ‘V’ of her blouse at the rapid rise and fall of creamy half-circle breasts above the lace of her bra. He watched the beating pulse on one side of her elegant neck, the way she damped her parted lips before sucking in a shaky breath. Then his gaze locked firmly with hers again. ‘You’re right. It is about control with me. But you want to lose it, don’t you? In a way you obviously don’t with my brother or you wouldn’t react to me the way you do. You know I’d take you the way you want to be taken. Hard. And slow. For hours on end…’
There was a brief narrowing of her eyes before he continued, ‘Maybe you should make sure you chose the right Bryant, little girl…’
Roane’s breath caught, she swallowed hard and then her eyes sparkled with a mixture of outrage and desire. ‘I’m not some little girl you can intimidate.’ Her chin lifted defiantly, the husky edge of her voice giving away her physical reaction to his words as much as her body already had. ‘Let go of the stick. Please.’
Adam frowned. ‘Wh—?’
Without warning her knee jerked, and the plane veered violently to the left, throwing Adam away from her. He released the stick as if he’d been burned, his stomach lurching and a violent expletive leaving his mouth. When the plane eased smoothly onto an even keel again he glared angrily at her.
‘What did you do?’
Roane was facing forwards, both hands on the stick and her fine-boned jaw-line set with determination. ‘I’m sorry. My foot must have slipped.’
Meaning she’d kicked the rudder, right? Adam would have laughed at her audacity if she hadn’t just taken a year off his life. His brother had gone and got himself quite the little firecracker.
‘Clever.’
The compliment didn’t earn him any brownie points. ‘Feel free to take your lack of conversational s
kills to the extreme from here to New York. Or I can give you a demonstration of just what this plane is capable of if you’d prefer…’
Adam knew she wasn’t just referring to the plane. She’d clearly told him not to mess with her. It was a nice try, he’d give her that. It would have worked better if she’d denied anything he’d said about wanting to be taken hard and slow and for hours on end…
The knowledge did several things to Adam.
But what it did most was bring out the primal strand to his DNA code. One that now felt a deep seated need to tame her…
Adam had never backed down from a battle of wills. It had been half his problem for most of his life. So she might have got the upper hand on him this time, but she wouldn’t do it again. She should understand who she was dealing with. All of them should.
She’d just get a more pleasurable version of the lesson…
CHAPTER THREE
‘DO I HAVE TO?’
Jake’s brows rose, ‘You don’t like him much, do you? I thought you liked everyone.’
Under normal circumstances she did. Roane was a glass-half-full kinda gal. Not till Adam had she met anyone who made her believe irredeemable people existed. Feeling that way and being so physically attracted to him at the same time only made her dislike him more than she already did…
But he’d basically called her a gold-digger!
More than that—she was an unfaithful gold-digger who would stoop to having hot, sweaty, emotionless sex with her supposed boyfriend’s brother! He was slime. No. He was lower than that. She scowled harder. ‘He’s not nice.’
Jake stifled a smile, but not convincingly. ‘Okay. You got me. What happened on the way down here?’
Ooh…now where to start with that one…?
Idly swinging the office chair back and forth, she searched the air for something safe to say. ‘He thought I thought he was an idiot…’
Yes, she was pretty sure it started there. No—hang on—maybe sooner. He hadn’t been happy with her knowing he was afraid of flying. ‘By the way—did you know he’s not good with planes?’
Jake shrugged, flicking through a file on his desk. ‘It’s not surprising. Hitting the ground harder than normal when you’re in one would do it.’
Roane’s jaw dropped. ‘What?’
‘Charter flight, if I remember it right; Adam and his mother were flying in from a week in the Hamptons when Adam was three or four—Dad had visitation rights. It was a rough landing.’ He shrugged. ‘No one got hurt but it was edge-of-the-seat stuff.’
To a child it must have been a nightmare. No wonder he wasn’t a good flier. Would it have killed Adam to possibly mention that? ‘Jake, it didn’t occur to you he mightn’t be that good a flier when you suggested he fly down here?’
‘He should’ve said if it was such a big problem.’
‘Does he strike you as the kind of man who would confess to a weakness like that in front of a brother he hasn’t seen in twelve years? Between the two of you there was enough testosterone in that kitchen this morning to sink a schooner.’ There was no way she was getting caught in the middle of that battle of wills so if Jake thought—
He looked up at her. ‘Now you’re defending him? Thought you didn’t like him.’
‘I don’t.’ She fought the need to pout.
‘Well, calling him an idiot wasn’t one of your better moves. What did he say to that?’
‘I didn’t call him an idiot. He assumed I thought he was. And he was—surly…’
Jake chuckled. ‘Yeah, I’ll bet he was.’ He checked his heavy wristwatch and closed the file before pushing his chair back. ‘You know he’s got a genius level IQ? One fifty or sixty; something close to the highest level they measure it at. Bugged the hell out of me when I was a kid; made me feel real dumb in comparison.’
‘You’re kidding me, right?’
‘Nope.’ He lifted his jacket off the back of his chair and pushed his arms into the dark sleeves. ‘Dad reckoned it was part of his restlessness. No matter how many grades he skipped he was still bored. He didn’t want to be groomed as a child prodigy, so he rebelled. I think Dad blamed himself for never being able to keep his mind actively interested in anything long enough to stay out of trouble.’
When Jake chuckled at her expression a realization hit her. So Roane dropped her face into her hands, her voice muffled. ‘Oh, God.’
‘What did you do?’
She peeked over the tips of her fingers, opening them a little so Jake could hear her. ‘He quoted Voltaire and Kerouac at me.’
‘And you said?’
Dropping her hands, she sighed heavily. ‘I asked if they were quote of the day.’
Jake snorted with laughter, then saw her woeful expression and controlled it, his dark eyes still sparkling with amusement as he reached for a hand to draw her out of her chair. ‘I can’t believe he’s here less than twenty-four hours and you’ve already had a fight with him. You’re s’posed to be the friendlier one of the two of us. I have more to argue about with him than you do and I’ve managed to stay calm.’
Yeah, but he didn’t have the same issues with Adam she did. Not that she could tell him that.
‘Just promise you’ll be nice until he signs the papers. Then you can say whatever you want to him. I know I intend to.’
She let Jake guide her to the door. ‘Do I have to?’
‘You do. For me. If I didn’t have you to be nice to guests and clients while I’m up to my eyes in work I’d have to go out and find myself a wife, wouldn’t I?’
Roane rolled her eyes. ‘Poor you.’
‘Exactly.’ He held open the door and stepped back to let her through. ‘You’re as near to an actual Bryant as be damned, Ro, and you know it. That makes it your duty.’
When he nodded wisely Roane chuckled, lightly punching his upper arm as he fell into step beside her in the corridor. ‘I hate you.’
Jake swatted the back of her head with his file. ‘No, you don’t. You love me. You know you do. I’m adorable.’
Her smile faded when they rounded a corner and found Adam standing by the doors to the boardroom, his hands pushed deep into the pockets of his dark trousers.
His dark gaze crashed into hers. Immediately she felt a flush rising in her cheeks. Damn him. She really didn’t like him one little bit. Regardless of the new information she now had to explain a very small portion of his behaviour.
Feeding the façade, she turned on her heel and stood on tiptoes to press a kiss to Jake’s cheek, smiling at the surprise in his eyes. ‘I do love you. But you owe me for this one. Big time.’
Jake blinked at her. ‘O-kay.’
With a deep breath she turned and walked towards Adam, her chin held high despite the sparkling of silent amusement in his stunning eyes. ‘I’ll be back after the meeting. Jake tells me you’re staying at the penthouse.’
‘Will you be acting as tour guide?’ He smiled lazily, his deep voice lowering. ‘Or making sure I don’t skip town again?’
Roane blinked innocently, unable to resist baiting him with a small pout. ‘Babysitter possibly?’
Adam’s gaze rose to watch the people filtering into the boardroom. Then he took a step closer, invading her personal space to within inches and surrounding her with his enticing scent while he lowered his head.
‘Nice to see there’s as much fire in your relationship with Jake as there is in ours.’ He turned his head closer to her ear so she felt the movement of his lips against her hair. ‘Let me know when you’re ready to upgrade…’
Roane took a deep breath, ignoring her dancing pulse while she turned her face towards his. ‘I’m not so sure it would be an upgrade.’
When a smile threatened the corners of his tempting mouth she took another breath, reminding herself that she’d told Jake she would be nice to his brute of a brother. ‘Have fun at your board meeting.’
When she impulsively patted his arm, Adam’s chin dropped, disbelief lifting his brows and furrowing
his forehead when he looked back up at her. It was a very, very small victory, but somehow it was enough for Roane.
His eyes narrowed when she smiled a little brighter, but then Jake interrupted, ‘You ready, Adam?’
‘Yeah.’ He glanced down at Roane. ‘Later.’
Roane scrunched up her nose with feigned glee. ‘Can’t wait.’
Adam had to grit his teeth through the majority of the board meeting. They’d dumbed it down for him. Assuming he wouldn’t have a clue about anything they were talking about was a serious mistake on their part. But he remained silent throughout.
Let them think what they wanted.
‘So you see the problem.’ Jake waited for the room to clear before he turned towards him.
‘I do.’
Adam looked at his sibling with new-found respect. The kid knew his stuff. He’d led the meeting with a firm hand and was savvy about every aspect of the company’s businesses. Where someone had to open a file to quote figures, Jake was able to correct their mistakes off the top of his head. He gave credit where credit was due for good work, was able to hand out recrimination with a glare. There was no doubt who was the captain of the good ship Bryant. Good for him. Just a shame so many members of his crew were useless.
‘And you hire this lot or are they inherited?’
‘Some are inherited.’
Adam bet he could name them without Jake’s help. ‘So cut the dead weight.’
‘It’s not that simple.’
‘Never is.’
‘Some of them are shareholders.’
Well that explained that, then. Losing the majority hold on shares was Jake’s biggest threat. It was the reason Adam was there. He doubted Jake would have bothered looking for him otherwise. Especially if he knew the truth.
Jake stared calmly at him while Adam moved his head from shoulder to shoulder to ease imaginary tension in his neck. ‘What do you want to do, Adam?’
‘Are you going to give me options?’ Adam stopped what he was doing and looked his brother in the eye. ‘See me here with a nice little corner office, do you?’