Turbulent Waters (Billionaire Aviators Book 3)

by Melody Anne

  Though she didn’t make a sound, Nick knew the moment Chloe was inside the warm room. He could practically feel her as the water lapped around him and she entered the pool. He desperately wanted to turn and see what she was wearing, but he had all afternoon to take in her appearance. The anticipation was half the fun.

  “You shouldn’t get in here without someone in the room. Your muscles are weak and you could get a cramp,” Chloe scolded him as she waded through the waist-high water to where he floated.

  Only then did Nick turn. She was wearing a one-piece suit that hugged her curvaceous breasts. He couldn’t see her lower half well. The water distorted it. He would enjoy that pleasure when she got out of the pool―or when he lifted her to the side so he could trail his lips down her legs.

  “I’m a Coast Guard pilot, doc, I think I know how to handle the water,” he said, while gazing at her chest.

  “My eyes are up here, Nick,” she said with warning.

  He really loved when she got that proper edge to her voice. It was a turn-on unlike anything else. He couldn’t wait until he had the doctor unraveling in his arms. She was so tightly wound, it was likely she’d go up in flames the minute she let go.

  “I know where everything on you is located,” he said, but he lifted his head and met the heat of her gaze.

  “Does this attitude of yours ever get you where you want to be?” she asked, startling him.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, being careful now. She had a look in her eyes that he didn’t at all trust.

  “All the innuendoes and flirting? Do women actually respond to it?” She was keeping a good five feet of distance between them that he desperately wanted to close.

  “Yeah,” he admitted.

  “Well, let me assure you that it doesn’t work on me. I’m here to do a job, not to sleep with you, not to flirt with you, and not to pretend to swoon over you. Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself and your . . .” She paused and looked at the water lapping at his waist. “And keep your other parts in your pants.”

  He smiled as he gazed at her. Even though her swimsuit was what most would consider modest, he found it even more sexy because of what it was hiding. He wanted to peel it away and see what she didn’t want him to notice.

  “Can’t say the word, doc?” he mocked her.

  Her eyes flared as she gazed at him. “I can say all sorts of words. I’m actually educated, unlike most of the women you date, I’m sure.”

  “So we’re dating now?” he asked, only choosing to focus on the end of her sentence.

  All of a sudden her arm lifted, and a surge of water hit him in the face. When he wiped it away, the shocked expression she wore was priceless. The doc had lost her temper and had acted without thinking. That was progress.

  “I don’t think that was too professional, doc,” he told her as he took a step nearer.

  She immediately began backing up. “I’m sorry about that. It was a reaction,” she said, the warning clear in her eyes.

  “Too late for apologies. Just remember you started this.” He moved closer, closing the distance between them.

  “I don’t want to play,” she warned. She turned to flee, and that’s when he propelled himself.

  Nick grabbed the back of her suit and tugged, then wrapped his arms around her. With his good leg, he kicked himself off the floor of the pool and launched them both into the air.

  Chloe screamed as they began going back down, but the momentum was too much. She couldn’t get away. Her cry was drowned out when they both went underwater. Nick didn’t release his hold on her as they rose above the surface for air.

  She was spluttering as he spun her around so she was facing him. Her nipples were hard, poking through the material of her black bathing suit, and he relished the feel of them pressing against his naked chest.

  Without thinking twice, one hand wound in her wet hair and he held her in place as he closed the distance between them, taking a taste of her sweet pink lips. It was even better than he’d imagined it would be.

  This therapy stuff wasn’t bad at all, he thought again as he began losing control, tugging on her hair to get better access to her mouth. She struggled against him for a moment and then melted as her lips responded to his touch.

  He was thick and hard and wanted their clothes out of the way. Nick reached into the water and grabbed her leg, wrapping it around his back as he felt the soft curve of her ass. He grew even harder as he pulled her center tightly to him and pressed up so she could feel exactly how turned on he was.

  Moving them through the water, he reached the wall and pressed her against it as he devoured her mouth. There was no resistance as he swept his tongue inside and explored the velvet of her tongue.

  She moaned against him, and he felt the small circle of her hips as she tried to seek relief for herself. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. She was just a hell of a lot more resistant to admitting that.

  “I want you so damn bad,” Nick said as he wrenched his lips from hers and trailed his mouth along her jaw to her soft neck, where he sucked the skin.

  Her fingers moved to his hair as she held him in place. Nick slipped his fingers beneath the band of her swimsuit and touched the soft skin of her ass, groaning at how good it felt.

  “Let’s go to my room.” Though Nick wasn’t opposed to making love in the pool, it wasn’t his favorite place.

  His words made her stiffen, and he groaned inwardly. He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have just pulled her swimsuit away and given her what she was too afraid to admit she wanted.

  She began struggling against him, and this time he released her. Nick was more than willing to seduce her, but he would never force a woman. She took several steps away from him, her cheeks flushed, her body trembling.

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting each other,” he told her as he moved back toward her.

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” she said as her fingers lifted and traced her very kissed lips.

  “Yes, it should have. We want each other,” he said.

  Each step he took forward, she took two back until she reached the stairs of the pool, which she quickly ascended, giving him a spectacular view of her glorious body. She had curves in all the right places, her breasts full and firm, her hips wide and graspable, her legs lean with muscles running through them.

  “Therapy is over for the day,” she said as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her, closing off his view.

  “We didn’t even get started,” he told her as he reached the stairs.

  She practically ran to the door before she turned back around.

  “If that happens again, I’m leaving,” she warned. There was a bit of panic in her eyes at the thought, and Nick knew then she needed this job. It was the leverage he desperately had to have.

  “I’m a patient man, Chloe, but trust me, it will happen again, and it will be because you can’t keep your hands off me,” he told her.

  She scoffed at him before running out the door. Nick smiled as he jumped back into the water and began swimming, hoping his arousal would eventually die. She wasn’t going far . . . he could let her escape for now.

  In one day, this woman had swept into his home and brought him back to life. He wasn’t willing to let her run away until he explored what he was feeling a hell of a lot more. He liked Chloe Reynolds―he really liked her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Chloe knew she had to pull it together. She couldn’t allow what had happened with Nick in the pool the day before to happen again. Not only was Chloe a professional, but she couldn’t forget Nick was also the enemy.

  It had only been a couple days of her being around the man, and already the lines of right and wrong had blurred so badly she wasn’t sure they could be repainted. When her father had demanded she be on his side, she’d hesitated―a first for her. Fear of her father had always made her do his bidding without pause.

  So what was different now? Though she didn�
��t want to say aloud the answer, the difference was Nick. From the second she’d looked into the man’s eyes―and then fallen into his lap―she’d felt a connection she hadn’t felt with another man.

  How could he be the devil if he inspired loyalty within her? She couldn’t help but to remember how her father had always told her about people in angel’s clothing while the devil resided within their souls. Was she such a fool that she didn’t know the difference? Maybe.

  As Chloe turned a corner while jogging, she saw a magnificent view of the bay. She went down a trail that led her to a dock. Immediately Chloe was enchanted. Her feet slowed as she stepped onto the dock, finding a beautiful gazebo on the end.

  Shedding her shoes, she hung her legs over the edge, the icy water giving sweet relief to her feet. She was sure the water was only this cold because the day had yet to heat it up.

  Leaning back, she closed her eyes and felt peace wash over her. That was, until her phone rang. This wasn’t a welcome tone. There weren’t a whole lot of contacts on her Android, and each one had its own ringtone.

  Her eyes snapped back open, and she thought about ignoring the call, but she knew that would only lead to worse repercussions. She either took the call and faced her father now, or he would bully her until she did.

  Pressing the button on her ear set, she said a meek hello.

  “Why haven’t you given me an update?” her father’s voice snapped into her abused eardrum.

  “I just arrived a couple days ago, sir,” she said. He wasn’t dad, daddy, or even father. He was sir, and if she was stupid enough to forget that, she would certainly pay for it when she next saw him.

  “I expect nightly reports,” he snapped as if speaking to a soldier who was showing disrespect for an officer.

  “I can’t risk calling you daily. If Nick overhears, I will be kicked out of the house,” she said.

  Though Chloe did fear exactly that happening, it wasn’t the biggest reason she didn’t want to speak to her father nightly. She dreaded each time they spoke, hated it even more when it was in person.

  Her father kept tabs on her because she was his property. He reminded her, and had reminded her brother often, that they wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for him. Because she knew that was the truth, she did feel loyalty to him—but felt no love.

  “You will do what you’re told.” There wasn’t an or in that sentence. He had no doubt she would fall into line.

  “Yes, sir,” she said. Her resentment was building by the moment. It was a new feeling for Chloe, one she didn’t quite comprehend.

  “What have you found out so far?” he asked.

  “I’ve only been here for two days,” she said again.

  “Don’t you talk back to me,” he snapped. “Two days is plenty of time to find evidence.”

  “I was just getting settled in and working on therapy. I haven’t found anything yet,” she told him.

  “What?” he yelled, making her wince as she turned her phone volume down a couple more clicks. “You are doing therapy on the man?”

  “That’s why I’m here, sir. If I don’t do the therapy, he certainly won’t allow me to stay in the home,” she pointed out.

  “I don’t like this. You better not help him,” her father pointed out.

  “I can’t purposely try to impede his therapy,” she said, the exasperation coming through in her voice, though she was trying to tamp it down.

  “I might need to pay you a visit. It seems you are forgetting where your loyalty belongs,” he threatened.

  A shudder passed through Chloe. The last thing she wanted was another lesson from her father about respect. Those sessions normally ended with bruises she had to work hard to cover up. If people truly knew what a monster he was, she feared he would have nothing else to lose and therefore wouldn’t need to hold back.

  “I will keep you updated, sir. I’m sorry I haven’t been doing that,” she said, hoping the panic in her voice wasn’t coming through as loudly as she felt it was.

  He was silent for several heartbeats, and Chloe could practically feel the smug satisfaction coming through the line.

  “Very well. I expect to hear from you tomorrow,” he told her.

  “Yes, sir,” she said. She just wanted the call to end.

  Finally, it did. He didn’t bother saying good-bye. He just hung up. She wasn’t worth the time for him to waste words on. Chloe didn’t care.

  With a heavy heart, she pulled her feet out of the water and dried them as best she could before slipping her shoes and socks back on. She was too worn out to begin jogging again, so she simply made her way back up to the house.

  It was a new day, and she wasn’t going to let her father ruin it for her. She had enough stress to deal with―and a patient she had to keep at arm’s length. At least she couldn’t say her life was dull.

  CHAPTER SIX

  When a person was flying over the ocean with sixty-knot winds and raging seas, time stopped having any meaning. You weren’t going to rescue anyone if your helicopter had no chance of making it back to land because you’d been foolish enough to run out of fuel.

  But when a person was held up at home due to an injury, time began to have a whole other meaning. Nick had never been one to glance frequently at a clock, not even in his downtime. But since the wreck, as a day turned into two, and then a week, and then a month and longer, Nick found that time seemed to be the one constant he was aware of.

  He was still confident in his ability to get Chloe into his bed―and very soon—but he must not be making the smoothest of moves on her. After the fiasco in the pool, she hadn’t come out of her room, not even when he’d knocked on the door. He hadn’t exactly known what he was going to say, but he wasn’t too worried about it. Nick had never had problems before with knowing exactly what to say.

  She couldn’t avoid him for long. When she did emerge, he would be sure to give her his full brigade of flirting, attention, and focus. If she could still avoid him, then he’d have to figure out something new. His moves had always been legendary, but if she could resist, the world would have something seriously wrong within its sphere.

  Patience wasn’t a virtue Nick possessed, so as he waited for her to show up for their morning session, he found himself glancing at the clock, wanting to know exactly what she was doing and how soon they would be together.

  All this obsessing over a woman was strange and a bit disturbing. He knew this, but he couldn’t seem to do anything about it. He also knew he wouldn’t be stopping it anytime soon. His brothers would have a heyday at how he was behaving if they could see it. Luckily, they weren’t around.

  But the one definitive was that Nick wasn’t going to lose this mission. He wasn’t the type of guy who accepted defeat, even when all the cards were in favor of the opponent. And right now, Chloe was most certainly his opponent―he was the predator and he would strike.

  Nick had to admit, if only to himself, that he sort of liked the effort he was having to put into this one-sided relationship. It was a challenge, and he was a sucker for a woman he couldn’t obtain. Of course, that hadn’t been the case for him with that one girl in basic training. No matter how hard he’d chased after her, he hadn’t gotten her to give him the time of day. He still wouldn’t have accepted defeat then if she hadn’t been sent to another country. Even then, he’d been tempted to chase her down, show up at her base with roses, and see if it made a difference. Eventually, with the distance, he’d simply lost interest. He wondered if that would be the case with Chloe. He somehow doubted it.

  He refused to accept the same results from her. She was attracted to him, as her kiss the night before had clearly shown him. She was just hella good at containing how she felt. He simply had to get her to let down her guard long enough for him to sneak past her defenses. Nick had every confidence he’d be able to do just that.

  The smooth steps of Chloe walking on his tile floor alerted him she was drawing near. Much to his surprise, his heart rate picked up
as he leaned against the kitchen counter and waited for her to turn the corner. When she did and looked up, their eyes connected and he felt it all the way to the soles of his feet. That kind of connection wasn’t often felt by two people, and to ignore it would be foolish. Nick so badly wanted to push himself from the counter and walk to her, pull her into his arms, and take her pink lips, which were open the slightest bit as she gazed back at him.

  Soon. He was now determined even more than before to heal as quickly as possible. He didn’t enjoy his limitations. They didn’t allow him to do what he wanted as soon as an idea popped into his mind.

  “Good morning,” he said, his voice a low drawl. He enjoyed the flash of heat that instantly sparked in her eyes. Nick wondered why she was fighting this so badly.

  “Morning,” she answered after a long pause. Her voice was crisp, and it looked almost as if her feet were weighted down as she took her first step closer to him. She picked up her pace and passed right on by as she moved to the coffeepot and poured herself a hot cup.

  Nick watched her slip a bagel into the toaster, all while avoiding looking at him. Her stubbornness made him smile. Maybe he had to rethink his entire philosophy on who he was attracted to. Stubborn, smart, and prickly was looking pretty damn good to him since meeting Chloe.

  “What’s on the agenda today, doc?” he asked her.

  “Stretching, then a few hours in the pool,” she told him.

  “Mmmm.” He didn’t add more, and only then did she look up with narrowed eyes. She set her cup down, ignoring the bagel when it popped up. Placing her hands on her hips, she gave him a stern gaze.

  “I’m going to make this perfectly clear. You stepped so far over the line yesterday, if it had been a cliff, you’d be crushed on the rocks below. I am used to men trying to prove their manliness after an injury, flirting and coming on to me. If you think I’m impressed, you’re very much mistaken. What would impress me would be you admitting you’ve been injured, and then allowing me to help you without all the macho posturing. Do we understand each other?”