by Vella, Wendy
“I-I don’t think I can.” She was totally undone, fear making her pathetic, and it was because of her weakness that he was able to lean over and lay a soft kiss on her lips before she could react.
“Hey!” She swung at him as he released her hands, but he was out of her reach.
“That’ll give you something else to think about.”
It did, for about 2.5 seconds. The feel of his lips pressed to hers had produced an instant flare of heat, but now it was gone and the panic was back. Clenching her eyes shut, she pressed her hands over them and prayed that the inside of her eyelids was not the last thing she would ever see. She should have caught the bus, but no, she’d allowed Ethan to provoke her into flying with him.
In minutes, she heard the whomp-whomp of the blades and they were rising.
“Mother of God, I’m going to die.”
He laughed softly into her headset. “Open your eyes for me, honey. Come on, you have to see this.”
Annabelle felt his hand touch hers.
“Pl-please keep your hands on the wheel.”
“Collective pitch lever,” he corrected her.
“I’m about to die and you’re correcting me on the correct labels for your instruments?”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were talking about my instruments,” he said, laughter in his voice. “I have other names for them.”
“You’re such a dickhead,” she muttered as she opened her fingers and looked through them, then slowly dropped them to her lap as he started talking, pointing out landmarks.
“Wow!” she said as they flew over the stunning landscape. Her heart was still thumping in her chest and her palms were sweaty where they now gripped the edges of the seat, but she couldn’t take her eyes off what was before her.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
Annabelle couldn’t take it all in. She saw sparkling expanses of water and huge towering trees. Land rolled into hills and dipped into valleys. It was spectacular, amazing, and she could feel her smile getting wider with each new sight.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, Ethan. It’s amazing.”
“Maybe now when I tell you to trust me you should give it a shot.”
“Is that Tillerby Lodge?” Annabelle saw a long, low building to her left. It sat close to a lake, surrounded by trees, with a mountain at its back.
“It is, and I think you can relax your fingers now before you lose the circulation.”
“Ooooh!” Annabelle squealed like a small child as he circled lower for her to take a closer look. She saw horses running across the pastures, and then she found a person. Whoever it was raised their hands high, and she waved back.
“It’s like…like—”
“Flying,” Ethan inserted.
“Like nothing I can explain,” Annabelle corrected, pressing a hand to her chest again. She still felt the fear, but she wouldn’t have missed this for anything. “The perspective is so different from up here, seeing it all at once, the water, trees, hills and valleys—it’s like being in a painting instead of looking at one. That probably sounds weird, but I can’t explain it any other way.”
“No, it sounds about right to me.”
She looked across at him and he smiled, the smile of a boy who was showing off his favorite toy, not a man who was trying to charm her. If possible, it made him look sexier.
God, she was hot.
Ethan sucked in a breath as she looked away from him. Her smile had reached all the way to her eyes and her giggle had been sweet and so different from anything he’d ever heard from her before, light and carefree. She was like a small child seeing something for the first time. Ethan loved being up here, because it stepped him away from life for a brief break. His troubles always fell away when he flew, all the shit with his family left on the ground, his thoughts focused totally on the beauty of flying. He wanted that for the woman beside him, wanted to give her a few minutes of peace from whatever was riding her.
Annabelle kept talking. Even her voice was different, lighter somehow.
“Look at those redwoods! They look huge even from up here.” She rattled on and Ethan let her. “How long have you been flying?”
“I was eighteen when I started.”
“Does anyone else in your family fly?”
“Just the uncle who taught me. He’s my father’s brother and had no kids of his own, so he took me under his wing.”
She smiled at him again, another genuine one that made his stomach clench.
“You were a lucky boy.”
He had been, but not because he had loving, supportive parents. No, he’d been lucky because he had lots of money and plenty of food and a house many would envy. But more importantly, he’d had his Uncle Mitch to keep him on the rails, even though he’d continually tried to step off.
They flew over tall stands of trees, then long ribbons of water, and Annabelle made plenty of noises as she encountered each new sight. Small humming sounds, gasps, a little squeal, and Ethan wondered what sounds she would make in bed. The image of her naked, straddling his thighs, made his eyes cross with lust.
“Is that my lake?” She was pointing a long finger.
“Sure is. By air it’s a short trip.”
She watched Lake Howling grow bigger before her eyes. “Where will we land?”
“That cleared space out back of Jake’s place.”
“No way is that big enough.” The smile dropped from her face. “Tell me you’re not for real?”
“I’ve landed there on and off for two years, Annabelle. Remember what I said about trusting me.”
He swooped over the lake and there was Jake’s house. Branna’s van was out front, beside the pickup. Smiling at the cars, he thought about the people who owned them.
“Why do you have that goofy smile on your face?”
“I was thinking about Jake and Branna.”
She looked down at the fast-approaching house and her smile became soft too. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool to see, isn’t it? Two messed-up souls finding each other and coming out the other side normal.”
“Normal?” Ethan snorted. “Neither of those two is normal.”
“What do you think that says about us?”
He shrugged.
“That we’re probably messed up too.” She spoke the words softly and he heard her sadness return. He didn’t say anything else, just brought the bird in to land.
“I’m not watching.” Once again her hands were over her eyes.
“Have a little faith, woman,” he said, going through the motions. After he’d landed the bird gently, he undid his harness and turned to look at her, leaning forward to bring them closer.
“So, I’m ready for that apology now.”
He could see the emotions flicker across her face as she looked at him. Her brown eyes were lighter here in this small space; he saw a touch of gold in their depths.
“What do I need to apologize for?”
“Abusing me.”
“Which time?”
“The last time, when you refused my kind and generous offer of this trip.”
“Do I have to?”
“It’s the right thing to do, Annabelle, after you went off at me.”
“Sorry.” She leaned in too.
“I forgive you.” He smiled.
“That was easy.”
“What can I say?” Ethan moved closer so his breath brushed her lips. “I’m an easy kind of guy.”
“I-I believe the term is loose.” Her breath whispered across his lips.
“Harsh, honey.” Closing the last few inches, he kissed her soft lips. It was a touch, nothing more, a brush of his mouth on hers, and Ethan felt as if an electric current had traveled through his entire body.
“Why did you do that?” She didn’t pull away; her eyes were still inches from his.
He couldn’t answer that so he kissed her again, harder this time, his lips fully taking hers. She responded in kind, her lips taking his right back. Lifting a hand to h
er neck, he cupped it and held her close. His heart hammered in his chest, the breath left his body—never had he felt such an intense reaction just from a kiss. He’d brushed her lips before and his body had stirred, but this… this was an explosion.
She pulled back suddenly and he heard the sound of feet. Looking up, he saw Jake approaching.
“Annabelle—”
“That was a mistake, Ethan, and one that will never be repeated.” She was flustered; color flooded her cheeks as her hands fumbled with the straps of her harness.
“You sure about that?” His voice was hoarse, the smooth Texan drawl nowhere in sight.
“Yes, it can’t happen again.”
“Why?”
She spun to face him again, eyes now lit with fire. “Because I won’t be another notch in your belt, Gelderman, do you hear me? That kiss may have proved I want you, but I’ll be damned if I ever let you near me again.”
“Because I’ve supposedly slept with loads of women?”
“Yes!” She hissed out the word and that just pissed him off more.
“And you’re just such a pure, sweet gal that you could never sully yourself by letting me lay my hands on you?”
“Fuck you!”
“Well, now, haven’t you just told me I can’t?” Ethan said to annoy her and because he was unsettled himself. By insulting her, he was giving himself time. Hardly a gentlemanly thing to do, but it was all he had at that moment, especially since a furnace was still raging in his body. “You’ve just told me to keep my hands to myself and then you go and say something like that.”
He’d seen her temper. It was a wild and wonderful thing, quick to ignite, but as she lifted her hand to take a shot at him, he gave her a look that stopped it from moving. “I would advise against it, honey.”
“Just stay away from me.” The words were whispered as Jake McBride ran under the blades to her side of the helicopter.
“No fun in that.”
CHAPTER THREE
“I didn’t know you were flying back with Ethan, Annabelle. I thought you took your car into Brook,” Jake said, reaching for her harness.
“I did, but Ethan offered me a lift back so I took it.”
Annabelle watched Jake McBride frown. They’d been friends since taking their first steps, and he might have been messed up for a while after his time in the Army Medical Corps but that was no longer the case. One of the smartest people she knew, Jake would keep digging until he found out why she hadn’t driven her car back to Howling.
“Did it break down? You want me to arrange to have it brought back?”
Tall and well built, Jake was a heartthrob, like the man who had just kissed her. However, he was more like a brother to her, plus he was engaged to Annabelle’s best friend, another person with a sharp mind who’d also want to know the reason why she no longer had her car.
“I sold my car, Jake. Didn’t need it anymore, and Ethan knew someone who needed one and that’s pretty much that.” She found a smile, a wide one that usually made men blink. Jake, however, was immune; he simply folded his arms and braced his legs and stood before her, waiting.
“Is Branna home?” She looked over his shoulder to the low house squatting on the land behind him. Surround by big redwoods, it was built to blend in with the elements.
“Why’d you sell your car, Annabelle?”
Annabelle felt her smile drop as she looked into the dark eyes of her friend. This was the problem with growing up in a town where everyone knew you: they also knew your business. Well, most of it; she’d kept Cooper’s problems to herself.
“It was old, Jake. You were always telling me that, so I sold it before it broke down. Ethan got a good price for it, too.”
“Not sure about good, but it was fair.” He said the words from behind her as he fiddled with the switches on his control panel.
She watched Jake’s eyes go from her to Ethan and then back again.
“Okay, well, if you need the use of one anytime, we have a few.”
Annabelle couldn’t be sure, but the fact that Jake McBride had given up the interrogation told her that he and the Texan had shared a look that she had missed. She didn’t like that, didn’t like to think of anyone silently communicating about her.
“Go on in, Belle. Branna and her father are inside.”
She couldn’t do anything else. She had to go, even though she knew that they would talk about her as soon as she’d left.
“Thanks again, Gelderman number 5.” Annabelle forced herself to say the words with a flirty smile, then made herself look at the handsome bastard.
“No problem. Thanks for the company.” He didn’t smile, just nodded and handed her her bag, and she felt two sets of eyes on her as she walked the short distance to the house.
Inhaling the earthy scent of the redwoods that made Howling smell like home, Annabelle kept her back straight and her stride unhurried. Nature calmed her; the feel of it around her made the tightness in her chest ease. Here she was safe; here she would always find home, no matter how battered her emotions were.
Oh my God, he’d kissed her.
She’d often wondered what it would be like to have the Texan’s mouth on hers and now she knew and wished she didn’t. It had been brief, and the heat and passion those few seconds of contact had stirred up inside her scared her spitless. She’d always fought her attraction to him by treating him with indifference, pushing him away with insults and taunts, and now she knew why. The man spelled danger to her.
His reputation with women was well known. Both Buster and Jake had told her the stories, and there was no way in hell that she wanted to ever be just another number in the Texan Tomcat’s little black book.
She rounded the house, walked up the steps and straight inside. The interior had once been masculine, with no flowers or pretty things, but Branna had changed that since moving in. There was a bookshelf now along one wall, and a large ceramic statue in earth tones of two people entwined that Jake had been coerced into buying for his girl. Annabelle also saw colorful pillows and a few houseplants. Jake and Branna had combined their lives and it was all on display here in this house, the haven they had set up as their home.
“Coffee, stat, and if you have something baked I wouldn’t turn it down.”
“Oh look, Dad, it’s my sweet-natured best friend.”
Branna Rose O’Donnell was sitting at the table with her father, Declan. Both pale with bright green eyes and dark hair, their Irish origins were never more apparent than when they were together.
“Hey there, Declan.”
He got to his feet as she approached, forever the gentleman, and kissed her cheek.
“Hello, Miss Annabelle. What a grand sight you are.”
“Flatterer.” Annabelle fell into the chair opposite him as Branna climbed out of hers to go and get the coffee.
“Are you well, Annabelle?”
“I just had my first flight in Ethan’s metal insect, so it’s fair to say I’m a little rattled, Declan.”
“Ah, well, that would explain the tension I see in your eyes, then.”
She’d had enough tension in her already after Cooper had pulled his stunt and stolen her money, but now, after Ethan had kissed her, she was strung tighter than high-tensile wire. They were a perceptive bunch, her friends, and if she was going to get through this situation without any of them knowing what her brother had done, she was going to have to be clever. For all anyone in this town knew, Cooper Smith was making it big in Vegas as an IT genius. Whenever anyone asked her about him, she kept her lies as brief as she could, because Annabelle loved her friends and lying to them went against everything she believed in.
“And how was your first flight?”
“Amazing, but I’ll thank you not to tell the Texan that. He told me I’d enjoy it, and you know how I hate being agreeable around him.”
“Ethan is a good man for all the bravado.”
And Ethan is a good kisser.
Recently recon
nected with his daughter, Declan O’Donnell had not been in Annabelle’s life that long. She’d known him eleven years ago when he and Branna had moved to Howling after the death of his wife, but grief had made him a cold and silent man back then. But all that had changed now, and because he believed that Annabelle had intervened in his daughter’s life at a time when he could not, and in doing so had saved it, he treated her like one of his children too.
“Are those chocolate cupcakes?”
“With chocolate frosting,” Branna added as she lowered the plate of cupcakes to the table along with a mug of steaming coffee.
“You know I love you, right?”
“Ha, you’re like Jake, only loves me when I place food in front of him.”
“That’s harsh, considering you’re wearing my ring,” Jake said, coming in through the front door and moving to his girl’s side. “There must be one or two other things that I can tolerate, surely? I mean, there’s that thing you do with the vacuum,” Jake added.
Annabelle laughed as Branna punched Jake in the arm. He of course just grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her tightly, then placed a loud, smacking kiss on her lips.
Theirs had not been an easy journey. Both had had troubles in their past, but their two wounded souls were healing under the warmth of their love, which was a beautiful thing for their friends and family to watch. It was wrong of her to feel jealous of what they now had together, and probably jealousy wasn’t the right word, but the longing she felt inside her when she saw them share looks or touches was a physical thing for Annabelle.
She felt as if she’d been alone her entire life. Yes, she had brothers who loved her—had loved her, she corrected—but she had always been in charge, and no one had shared her burdens when she’d desperately wanted someone to. Of course there was also the fact that she rarely let anyone close. It was hard to share when you kept everyone a good arm’s length or two away.
Annabelle picked up her coffee and sipped as Ethan walked in. He had young Mikey Tucker draped upside down over one muscled shoulder. The boy was laughing as the Texan tickled him.
“Look what we found skulking around outside.” Ethan flipped the boy upright and lowered him gently to his feet. Mikey shot across the room to hug his favorite person, Branna.