Flight

by Colmer, Siena

  “Ryle!” She gasped, flushing as she quickly looked around to make sure no one heard them.

  He laughed, amused.

  She threw him a coolly disapproving look, but ruined it by lingering on his mouth and remembering everything he did to her last night.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here and I’ll show you my plans.” He said, putting some money down on the table, and urging her out.

  They didn’t get anywhere for a long time. When they got to Ryle’s place, he pulled her into his arms before the front door was even closed properly behind them. They made it as far as the sofa, where they made love until she was too sated to move.

  The bungalow Ryle lived in was at the end of the street, just a few doors from Jeff’s. It had the same layout, only smaller. Whereas Jeff’s was a two bedroom bungalow, Ryle’s was a one bedroom.

  Charlie was dressed again and walked around the bungalow while Ryle went to change. She noted that unlike Jeff’s place, this house seemed empty, devoid of all personal items. It didn’t feel like a home. It was temporary. She frowned, unable to control the void she felt at that realization. This was exactly what it was to Ryle: just a temporary place. He didn’t even bother to make it feel more like a home. The only personal touch was the plants. And even that wasn’t his doing.

  She touched the soil in one of the potted plants, automatically checking its moisture level. The soil was bone-dried. She took a cup from the kitchen and started watering the plants. Who was the blond who bought these plants? She wondered. Was she Ryle’s girlfriend? Or just one of many?

  “Think they’ll live?” Ryle asked from the doorway.

  At the sound of his voice, she jerked her hand away as if she was guilty. He had moved so quietly she didn’t hear him approach. She felt strangely vulnerable; she wondered how long he was watching her.

  “Mandy recommended the ones with the easiest care.” She said lightly. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

  “Unfortunately I only ever water them when I remember.” He said ruefully.

  “The soil is dry, but the leaves are still green and firm. I’m no expert, but I think you’re doing an okay job.”

  “Jessie would be amused to hear that. She was betting me that the plants would die within a month.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Jessie. Was that the blond? “Um…Jessie?”

  “Jessica, my cousin; the one who bought the plants.” He said softly, watching her.

  “Oh,” Charlie shrugged, pretending a nonchalance she didn’t feel. But she couldn’t help feeling relieved that at least the blond was not a girlfriend. Stop it. She told herself. It shouldn’t matter to her.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time they got to PAL.

  “How did you do that?” Charlie asked, watching as Ryle used his security badge to get them into the building. She only realized she had forgotten her security pass after they got there. She was turning away when Ryle used his card to try the doors.

  “Open the door?” He asked.

  “Yes.” She said, serious. “Only people with high level clearance are able to use their cards on off hours.”

  “Like you.” He murmured.

  “Yes.”

  The security around the plant was always very tight. Other than the implementations of several highly sophisticated security systems; security guards were posted at the plant 24/7 year round.

  Ryle shrugged, “It’s the first time I’ve been here on a weekend.”

  “Hmm.” She murmured, puzzled.

  The security camera overhead clearly showed who was opening the doors. And they would have a scanned computer image with their employee profile up on the screen even as Ryle was running his card through. Security would know by now if Ryle had clearance or not, even if there was a malfunction with his card.

  They walked through security without any problems, stopping at the security desk to sign in.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Brison.” The security guards knew her well. “Did you forget you card today?”

  “Yes.” She said, pressing her hand against the digital scanner.

  “I’m with her.” Ryle said after he signed in and scanned his hand.

  “Of course, Mr. Sullivan.” The security guard said politely.

  Charlie was frowning at Ryle as they walked towards her office. “What exactly is on your employee profile?” She asked.

  “VIP?” He teased.

  “Ryle, I’m serious.”

  He shrugged. “I imagine whatever HR put on it.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Don’t you trust me?”

  She looked at him. Strangely she did. She didn’t know anything about his background and what he did before he came to PAL, and yet she looked into his eyes and knew she could trust him. With everything. Except with her heart, she wasn’t so sure.

  “I’ll see you later. I have my cell on; call me if you’re ready to go.” He told her.

  “You know you don’t have to wait around for me.” She said, even though she secretly wanted him to.

  “I don’t mind.” He told her.

  Leo was in the office when she walked in.

  “Hey Charlie,” Leo said, smiling when he saw her.

  “Hey Leo, what are you doing here?” Leo was dedicated, but he rarely came into the office on weekends because he has a family of his own.

  “Hiding.”

  “Hiding?”

  “And trying to get some work done.”

  “Who or what are you hiding from?”

  “The in-laws.” Leo said with a wide grin.

  “Oh.” She laughed softly. “I’ll see you later.” She said, going into her own office.

  Ryle found a comfortable area to sit down, and took out his iPad. He last checked his email a day ago and the inbox was already filled with a few dozen new messages. He spent some time answering all the emails and looking over some sketches and plans that were sent to him for approval.

  After a couple of hours, he took a break and went to Charlie’s office.

  She seemed engrossed in her work. He stopped at the open doorway of her office and took several minutes to study her. He liked looking at her; watching her every expression. At the moment, she was reading something on her computer, and she was so focused that she wasn’t even aware of his presence.

  Deciding not to interrupt her, he was turning to go when she called him.

  “Hey, did you want to get going?” She asked.

  “No, take your time.” He turned back to answer her.

  “Actually, I’m done. I just have to send it and we can go.”

  “All right.” He came into her office to sit down on the leather sofa beside the door; patiently waiting for her to finish.

  “There. Done.” She murmured, shutting down her computer and standing up. “I’m ready to leave if you are.”

  “Hey, what’s your hurry?” He caught hold of her hand as she walked by him. With a gentle tug, he pulled her down onto his lap.

  “Ryle!” She gasped softly. “People will see.”

  “Who?”

  “Other people.”

  Ryle didn’t know why he felt such an urge to claim her as his. It was almost like a primal instinct. He wanted people to know she belonged to him; he wanted people to know she was not available. But he also respected her independence. She was highly respected at PAL, and he didn’t want to upset the balance she had set for herself at work. Yet at the same time, he didn’t want to stand back and pretend there was nothing going on.

  “There’s no one here.” He murmured, kissing the side of her neck.

  “Leo is here.”

  “Who?”

  “Leo Moretti, one of the engineers on my team.” She elaborated.

  “Yeah?” He said uninterestedly, still kissing her.

  “Ryle,” She protested half-heartedly.

  “Kiss me and I’ll let you go.”

  She did it eagerly, putting her arm around his neck and kissing him. She tasted sweet, and he nudged h
er mouth open for a deeper taste. He ran his hands up her arms, her skin felt silky smooth under his hands and he wanted more. Much more. He was seriously tempted to push her down on the sofa and take her right there, glass office and security cameras be damned.

  “Damn,” He muttered, breathing heavily as he held her away from him. His pants were uncomfortably tight. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.”

  “Hmm?” Charlie murmured, her eyes slightly glazed.

  Ryle had to look away from her before he was tempted to continue where they left off.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  They made it back to his car without an incident. But once inside, he wanted to grab her and kiss her again. It took all of his self-control to stop himself. He was disgusted with himself; when Charlie was around he had to rein in his self-control. He wasn’t exactly teasing when he told her he couldn’t think of anything else other than to screw her senseless whenever she was near him.

  “Why don’t we go back to my place and spend the evening there?” He suggested as they left the parking lot.

  “I can’t.” Charlie said regretfully.

  He looked at her.

  “I’m having dinner with my parents.”

  “Is this a weekly thing?”

  “Yes. Sundays are our standing family dinner.” She looked at him. “You’re welcome to join us.” She added, looking at him almost hopefully.

  He was tempted. “Thanks, but I don’t want to intrude on your family time.”

  “Not at all. My friends usually come to these dinners. And my parents always have some friends over too. My mom always makes enough food to feed an army.”

  He looked her. “Do you want me to come?”

  “Yes.” She said, then added, “That is, if you want to. It’s casual and um…”

  He stopped at a red light and leaned over to kiss her. “Thanks for inviting me.”

  She smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  Charlie didn’t know why she was so nervous. It was not the first time she invited someone from work to these family dinners. In the past, she had brought home several out-of-town co-workers. Her mom was always warm and gracious. But although she told her mom she was bringing someone from work, she knew this time it was different. Very different.

  A couple of her parents’ friends also joined them for dinner. Charlie had simply introduced Ryle as her friend from work; she could hardly introduce him as anything else. After all, they haven’t even gone on a date yet. And as far as her parents knew, she was still dating Jeff.

  “So, Ryle, what do you do at PAL?” Her dad asked interestedly.

  “I work with the cleanup crew.” Ryle said.

  “Charlotte’s boyfriend also works at the plant.” Her mom said, telling her friends proudly. “He’s an engineer there. Jeff Hathaway, maybe you know him too?” Her mom added.

  “Yes. I’ve worked for his team.” Ryle said.

  Charlie knew her mom meant well, but she wished her mom didn’t mention Jeff.

  “My dad used to work at PAL too.” She told Ryle, hoping to direct the conversation away from the subject of Jeff. “He was a flight test pilot.”

  “That’s must be an exciting job.” Ryle commented,

  “Yes.” John Brison said and started describing it in detail.

  “Oh, John, I’m sure our guests are not interested in all that technology talk.” Eva said lightly.

  “Not at all, Eva; John’s flight test stories are always interesting.” Mr. Holton reassured her.

  “I used to take Charlie into work with me.”

  “Is that how Charlotte got interested in aviation?” Mrs. Holton asked.

  “Yes.” John said and continued with his flying stories.

  Charlie looked toward Ryle and found him listening to her dad.

  After dinner, Charlie helped her mother clear the table and stacked the dishes into the dishwasher.

  It was still early when she and Ryle left to go back to her apartment.

  “I’m sorry.” She told Ryle as they walked towards the garage. “I hope dinner wasn’t too boring.”

  “It wasn’t boring; I enjoyed your dad’s stories.” He grinned. “Especially that one about him teaching you how to fly.”

  She smiled. “I’m glad you find it so amusing.”

  “Yeah. It was a good dinner, except for one thing.” He added.

  She grimaced, having an idea what he meant.

  “Your parents still think you’re dating Hathaway?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  He seemed to understand her evasive answer and didn’t try to press her.

  She murmured as they stopped in front of her door. She unlocked the door and turned to him. “Would you like to come in?”

  “You know the answer to that.” Ryle said. “And I would, except your parents are watching.”

  She didn’t have to turn to see that her mom and dad were still standing by the porch where they had said goodnight to their guests.

  “I know.” She murmured, trying to temp down her disappointment.

  “I should get going, and give you a chance to rest; I didn’t let you sleep much last night.” He said lightly.

  She had to suppress a flush of pleasure. “Er…yeah.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Yes.”

  He looked down at her mouth for a long moment. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.” She whispered, feeling as if he had kissed her.

  Charlie woke up before dawn and couldn’t get back to sleep. For some time she laid in bed, remembering yesterday morning and the contentment she felt waking up in Ryle’s arms. This morning, the bed seemed cold without his hard body there. With a sigh, she got up, showered and dressed.

  “Good morning, Mom, Dad,”

  “Good morning darling, you’re very early today.”

  “Yes, I thought I’ll go to work earlier.” She answered, helping herself to a cup of coffee.

  “Breakfast is coming up in a few minutes.”

  “Thanks, Mom, but I’ll grab something from the cafeteria after my workout.”

  “Oh, okay, darling.”

  It was still very early when she arrived at work. Parking her motorcycle, she glanced at Ryle’s parking spot, noting that it was still empty. She suppressed a sigh of disappointment and went inside.

  She was on her third lap when Ryle arrived at the running tracks. Today, he wore a white T-shirt and steel grey shorts. Despite the excess of Saturday night, she felt desire spiraled in her lower stomach just at the sight of him. He smiled at her in greeting, his eyes frankly caressing as they ran over her.

  Charlie gave him a small smile and continued on without stopping as she jogged past him. He fell into steps beside her, matching her shorter gait. They jogged together for several laps until many more people arrived. Without becoming obvious that they were jogging together, it was harder to keep together in the crowd. After a couple of more laps, Charlie left and went to get some water.

  At the water cooler, she took off her earbuds and chatted with several others as they got water. She filled her water bottle and drank slowly, keeping her eyes surreptitiously on Ryle.

  “See you later, Charlie.” Several of the joggers said as they left the water cooler.

  “Later, guys.” She refilled her water bottle and with one last look toward Ryle, she made her way towards the change rooms.

  She was almost at the bottom of the metal stairs when she heard footsteps on the level above. She glanced up and saw Ryle coming towards her.

  “Ryle!” She gasped softly when he reached her and immediately backed her against the nook underneath the staircase. “Someone’s going to see us.” Her protest was lost against his mouth.

  His body pressed her against the cold hard metal as he kissed her hungrily. She could feel the heat of his body, and the faintly musky scent of his sweat mixed with clean soap. It reminded her of their night at her apartment, and it aroused her senses to a
fever pitch. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to tear his clothes off and make love with him right there. She made no protest as his hand slipped inside her T-shirt to cup her breasts through her bra.

  The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs drew her from her desire induced haze. She had to mentally shake herself and pushed Ryle away. He sighed and let her go. She scrambled out of the nook and straightened her T-shirt.

  Charlie and Ryle were standing a couple of yards away from each other when the people reached the bottom of the stairs. They walked by on their way to the change rooms. She turned and followed them without waiting for Ryle.

  “Hey,” Ryle’s long stride easily caught up with her, “Did you have breakfast?”

  “No.” She answered without breaking stride.

  “I’ll meet you at the cafeteria?” He suggested.

  “Okay, fine.” She murmured, stopping in front of the women’s change room.

  “Later.” He said and walked on towards the men’s change room.

  She showered and changed before heading to the cafeteria. Her hair was still damp, but she didn’t want to keep Ryle waiting too long. She pulled it back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

  Ryle was waiting for her when she went into the cafeteria. He had showered too, but his hair was almost dry. He had changed into his work uniform, but he was still too sexy for her piece of mind. The way his dark hair curled just that little bit over the collar of his overalls made her want to run her fingers through it.

  She selected an omelet and a croissant, with a container of yogurt. Ryle ordered a plate of fried eggs, sausages, potato hash and toast. When she went to pay for her breakfast, he came up behind her and coolly handed a twenty to the cashier before she could take her wallet out.

  “I can pay for my own breakfast, thanks.” She glanced at him with a slight frown before turning to the cashier and trying to hand her the money.

  “Don’t worry about it; my treat.” He said casually, more for the benefit of the cashier, she was sure.

  Before she could argue about it, the cashier was handing him change and giving Charlie a smile and a shrug.

  “I wish you hadn’t done that.” Charlie muttered with annoyance as they walked away from the cash register.