by Jen Talty
Her back was to him as she picked at the food on her plate and sipped her wine.
Could he be a bigger moron?
He maneuvered to the other side of the counter, brining his plate with him so he could finish the last few bites before starting on the dishes. If he let her near the sink, his mother would not only yank at his ear, she’d probably smack him upside the head.
“Do you know the guy who flew your equipment out here?” Ramey asked, trying to dial things back a bit.
“Yeah. Kyle Ludwig. Ex-Air Force Pilot.”
“Did you know him in the military?”
She glanced up from her plate. No smile. Just that wide-eyed confused look he’d put there with his stupid confession that couldn’t possibly be true.
“I’m just asking.”
“Yeah. I knew him.” She nodded. “Kyle doesn’t talk much. He more like grunts. He’s new to the Omega Team, as in the last month. I helped recruit him. He’s a good man.” Her tone had changed from playful, to a monotone rendition of a professor giving a lecture on organic chemistry as he read from his own index cards.
“Logan said he’d be fine sleeping in my spare quarters.”
“Why do you have a room out there anyway?”
Ramey shrugged. “It was there when I bought the place.”
The front door flew open, crashing against the stopper on the wall. “The least you could have done was meet us inside the hangar and help with our luggage.” Logan stepped into the family room, tossing a duffle bag on the sofa before taking another bag from a man whose shoulder girth had to be the size of the state of Texas. His thick neck was thick and lined with a black tattoo of a crow.
Ramey set his plate next to the sink and pointed to Tequila. “Don’t even think about doing the dishes.”
She tossed her hands up as she swiveled on the stool, rotating to in the other direction. “Hey Logan. Hey Kyle. How was the flight?”
“Safe and uneventful, unlike flying with my little brother.”
She laughed. “I’m not sure I want to get in an aircraft with him ever again.”
He poked her shoulder as he walked by. “And to think I might have let you fly one.”
“Promises, promises,” she said.
Ramey took his brother’s hand, noting the arched brow and the curve of a slight smile before yanking him in for a brotherly hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“Mia sends her best. I’ve got pictures of Abigail in my bag for you.” Logan stepped back, resting both hands on Ramey’s shoulders.
Logan wasn’t the tallest of the Sarich brothers, but he did have a good three and a half inches on Ramey, making him, the runt of the litter.
“You’re looking old there, little brother,” Logan said.
“You wish, old man.”
“The insults could go on forever.” Logan slapped Ramey’s back. “Kyle, this is Ramey and blah blah blah.”
Ramey shook Kyle’s hand and tried not to wince as he squeezed so hard Ramey thought a bone might crack. Normally, Ramey would take this as an alpha male squaring off against another alpha, marking their territory.
But the slight shift in Kyle’s body and a twitch of his mouth, let Ramey know something else.
Tequila had moved and now stood next to him. He watched…no he gawked as Kyle took her hand with delicate care as if he were picking up a precious piece of art and leaned in, kissing her cheek.
He flexed his fingers, trying to rid himself of the painful shake Kyle had given him, but more importantly he bit back a smile. Straight men could learn a lot about how to treat a lady from their gay counterpart.
“We brought your equipment in. Shall we go set it up?” Kyle asked.
“That would be great. I’d like to run some non-flight tests tonight.” She turned to Ramey, placing her hand on his biceps, making his head spin. “If that’s okay?”
“Go right ahead. I’ll be out in a minute.” He locked gazes with her for a long moment. He felt his brother’s stare.
God, Ramey wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her hard, claiming her as his, but he didn’t think that would go over too well. Besides, she wasn’t his and he shouldn’t even be thinking like that. He raked a hand through his hair and watched as she and Kyle left his home, shutting the door behind them.
About five seconds later, Logan burst out in laughter.
“I don’t see what the hell is so funny.”
Logan slapped Ramey’s back. “I knew the two of you would have the hots for one another. But I never expected to see you fall for her so hard and fast.”
“I haven’t fallen for her,” Ramey muttered as he shuffled off into the kitchen, hearing his mother’s voice screaming at him to pick up his feet. “I just didn’t expect to have you and that goon as house guests along with her.”
“She’s sleeping here?” Logan helped himself to a glass of wine as he leaned against the counter.
Ramey took his glass, and raised it. The brothers clinked and then Ramey chugged half of it. “She’s been instructed by someone…” Ramey pointed a finger at his brother. “…to be on me twenty-four-seven.”
“With you. Not on you.” Logan smiled wide. “We all thought you’d make her sleep at that dive hotel at the edge of town.”
“Now that would be silly, considering she needs to look at the planes and I have a perfectly good spare room in the hangar.” Ramey set his glass down, turning his back. He focused on the dishes, not the amused stare his brother gave him. He and his brothers shared a bond that went far beyond having the same parents.
Beyond being brothers in arms.
They shared almost everything.
Right now, he’d wished he’d told Logan about Denise years ago.
“You seriously didn’t make her sleep out there, did you?”
Ramey laughed. “She’s ex-military. I’m sure it wouldn’t have creeped her out too badly.”
“Operative words there are wouldn’t have. So, where is she sleeping?”
Ramey wiped his hands on the dishtowel before topping off his glass. He swirled the red liquid, raising it to his nose, inhaling the full-bodied scent. “Last night, she slept in my room, I slept on the sofa.”
Logan lowered his chin. “Mom would be proud?”
“Not really,” Ramey admitted. “What do you know about Tequila?”
“Jesus, you have fallen.” Logan set his wine on the counter. “I was just busting on you since I knew you’d like her, but you more than like her.”
“Shut up and tell me what you know. Like why she’d leave the military? Any recent break ups? Family?”
“I need to sit down for this.”
Ramey followed his brother into the family room.
Logan paused in front of the broken chair. “Do I want to know how that happened?” He pointed to the recliner sprawled out in three different pieces. He shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” He sat on the sofa, pushing the bags to the floor. “I don’t know much other than she’s one hell of a pilot with a huge personality. I’ve been told by others, not her, that she left the military because of a death in her family and she’s got a nephew at the Air Force Academy.”
Ramey positioned himself in the wingback chair kitty-corner from his brother, looking out the window into the hangar. An odd thing to have, but currently it gave him comfort to see Tequila hooking up instruments to his planes and examining them more closely than they had yesterday.
“She says she’s like me. Restless. Not wanting to settle down. But I don’t see a reason behind it.”
Logan let out a long breath. “Not everyone needs to have some traumatic event in their life to bring them to that conclusion. I mean, before Mia came back into my life, I had no reason for not wanting a serious relationship.”
Through the window, Tequila caught Ramey’s gaze. She smiled, then ducked her head back into Roxi. Normally, anyone touching his Roxi without him present would make his skin crawl.
But all she did was warm his
body like a mug of hot buttered rum.
“Your reason was you had always been in love with Mia, but after dad died, and what that did to mom, and then you hurt your shoulder, you just got scared and you ran. And fast. You just didn’t know what you were running from. Neither does Dylan, though I think he’s afraid of leaving someone behind if he were to die. But Nick? He knew the pain of love and loss better than anyone.”
“Yes, he did. But he’s so happy with Leandra and excited, though nervous as all shit, for the baby and he goes gaga over Abigail so much it makes me look like a bad father.”
Ramey looked at his brother. “You’re a great father and you know it.”
Logan nodded. “I know you got hurt bad at West Point. But hearts, they do heal, if you let them.”
Ramey sucked in a deep breath. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t know her name, or anything about her, or what she did to you. We all respected your wish for privacy, but come on, man. Do you think we didn’t know?”
“Did mom tell you?” Ramey pushed the air out of his lungs.
“Mom knows?” Logan tilted his head, arching a brow. “Wow. I had no idea. And she still never eased up on trying to marry you off.”
“That’s because she was always at her happiest with dad.” Ramey scratched the stubble on his cheek.
“And with raising us,” Logan said.
“We were a handful, weren’t we?”
Both men rubbed their ears and laughed.
Logan leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, his face turning serious. “Whatever you’re feeling right now for Tequila and all the fear that goes with it, don’t push it away. Give yourself a chance to fall in love again. Trust me when I say, it’s a life changer.”
Ramey dropped his head back and closed his eyes. He’d loved once. And he’d lost once. The old cliché hounded him like a swarm of bees after a pre-pubescent little shit kicked their next. Ever since his two older brothers had gotten married, he had to admit he thought about what it would be like to share his life with someone.
Someone who understood his restlessness and his career.
Mostly someone who was like him.
It begged the question: could two people who didn’t think they wanted to be in a committed relationship be in one with each other? Would that work?
***
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Tequila cringed at Kyle’s question. She’d first met him during training exercise her second week in flight school. He reminded her of a cross between the grim reaper and lost puppy. Rough round the edges, but sweet as pie.
And so gay.
“Not sure what you are referring to?”
He wiped his greasy hands on a bright orange towel before snapping it at her pant leg. “If he weren’t as straight as straight could be, I’d be hitting on him.”
“You really do like coming off as a psychopathic murderer to straight men, don’t you?”
“It’s even more fun when they find out I bat for the other team, only that one in there picked up on it right away. He’s not just hot, he’s smart, and I give him a ‘thumbs up’ because he’s definitely not homophobic. But you’re changing the subject, sweetheart.”
Flipping over a large, sturdy bucket, she sat down and let out a long sigh. “I hate to admit it, but I really like him. I mean the kind of like that makes someone think about those forever kind of things.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“I just got Grant into college and while he’s doing well, I still need to focus on him.”
“Grant is a grown man.”
“He’s barely eighteen and lost both his parents in a two-year span. I can’t go off and—”
Kyle put his strong hand on her shoulder. “Grant is in Colorado. In school. You can date if you want.”
“I know that. But hello. The man lives in the middle of the desert, isolated from the world and you know I’m never leaving Tampa. So, what the fuck am I doing letting myself have feelings for a man who is a bit of recluse with a wild streak in the air that could get him killed?”
“Wow.” Kyle pulled up a bucket. “You’ve already slept with him.”
She blinked a few times. Kyle was the closest thing she had to a best girlfriend. Hell, he even took her shopping. A necessary evil she hated.
“I even initiated it, though he would have eventually.” She looked up at the ceiling. She couldn’t ask for anyone more perfect than Ramey. It wasn’t about his looks, though they did help. But she could see into his soul, something she suspected no one had ever cared to do before. He had a bravado stance and acted like nothing got to him, but in the short time she’d known him, she saw what made him tick. “A long-distance romance would be disastrous.”
“It wouldn’t be easy, that’s for sure. But there’s more. Spill it, girl.”
She locked gazes with Kyle. His eyes conveying genuine kindness and unconditional friendship.
“He mentioned something about that I was the kind of woman he could fall in love with.”
“Before or after you jumped his bones.”
She cocked her head. “After. Like fully clothed, day after, at the dinner table, conversation with eyes locked. Then you assholes showed up.”
“Oh my. That is something to ponder now, isn’t it?”
She didn’t get to respond because Ramey and Logan strolled into the hangar.
“Find anything?” Ramey asked.
“Actually, we did,” Kyle said as he stood. “And you’re not going to like it.”
“Lay it on me,” Ramey said, offering his hand to Tequila.
When her skin touched his, a warmth glided across her body. It felt like a he’d wrapped her in a fuzzy blanket where she could curl up in his arms and be protected from all that was bad in the world. His fingers curled around hers as they followed Kyle.
“We found metal shavings in the oil system of the helicopter, and you’ve got a slow leak in the plane you named Roxi,” Kyle said as he stopped in front of the aircraft she and Ramey had crash landed yesterday.
“I’m meticulous about maintenance,” Ramey said.
“More like anal retentive.” Logan climbed inside the bird.
“You’re one to talk. You probably have an SOP for changing your daughter’s diaper.”
“You would not believe what comes out of a baby,” Logan said as he tapped one of the controls. “Was this glass cracked before the accident?”
With her hand still entwined with Ramey’s, Tequila peeked her head in. “I remember it being cracked when I got in.”
“Seriously?” Ramey leaned over her shoulder. “I thought that happened when we landed.”
She looked at him, shaking her head.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“I’ll spend tomorrow doing a full service run on all the planes,” Kyle said.
“Aren’t you and Logan going back to Tampa?” Ramey asked.
“Nope. We’re here for as long as we’re useful.” Logan smacked his brother on the back. “And before you say anything, Mia would make me sleep on the sofa if I didn’t stay and help your sorry ass out. Which reminds me.” He pointed to Kyle. “You’ve got the room at the top of the stairs over there. I’m still stuck on the sofa. And these two love birds get a nice big, comfy king size bed.”
“At least I won’t be able to hear them,” Kyle said with a hearty laugh. “But I feel sorry for you in the room right next to them. I mean my girl here, when she gets excited in a plane she—”
“Shut up, Kyle.” Tequila took her free hand and punched his arm.
“Ramey howls when he’s—”
“Screw you both,” Ramey said under his breath.
“I think fuck you both is more like it,” Tequila said, squeezing his hand with her might. She didn’t want to hurt him, but instead sought his comfort and he seemed to understand as his thumb ran a soft circle on her skin.
“Oh, God. You two are perfect for each other. I can’t wait to tell
mom.” Logan waltzed in front of them, looping his arm around Kyle’s shoulder, both of them glancing back with stupid ass smiles on their face.
Tequila swallowed. The last thing she needed was to be the topic of conversation with anyone and Ramey’s mother.
Chapter 9
RAMEY STOOD AT THE end of his bed in his boxers, contemplating on if he should follow routine and drop his shorts before climbing into bed. Or leave them on.
He glanced toward the door, Tequila still in the bathroom. Talk about bizarre situations. Not only was he going to sleep in his own bed with a woman for the first time, but he had his brother and a stranger as houseguests to boot.
He blinked as she padded into his bedroom wearing his shorts and T-shirt. Her hair damp from a shower. He took in a deep breath, inhaling the fresh sent of peach mixed with the fresh smell of spring. Her nipples puckered under the fabric of his shirt.
“Do you have a side preference?” he asked, still gawking at her.
“I don’t know. I kind of generally sleep alone and in the middle.” She stood next to him. The heat from her body filtering through the air, landing on his skin with a splash.
“Well, we both can’t sleep in the middle.”
“I’ll take the side closest to the bathroom.” She stepped around the mattress and pulled back the comforter. “This has to go down as one of the weirdest things in my life.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things, but no woman has ever described sleeping with me as weird.”
“That you know of.” She fluffed the pillows and leaned against them, smiling like princess with devil horns that you couldn’t see.
God, he loved that look.
“Point taken.” He practically flung himself on the bed like a toddler, crawling up to the headboard and kicking back the sheets. “Sorry about my asshole brother.”
“Sorry about my dipshit friend.”
Ramey slid his leg over, catching her foot with his. This was uncharted territory and the hardest part was that it didn’t bother him.
Scared him? Well, hell yes.
“So, do you want to know about the woman who made me never want to have a long-term relationship?”