“Enter.”
I stepped inside.
“Sit, Byers.”
Doing as he asked, I watched him finish what he was doing before he leaned back in his chair.
For at least a full minute, he didn’t move. As he studied me, I noted his graying hair cut short into a military buzz cut and the muscles under his uniform. I’d seen him out running plenty of times and knew the man kept in shape. He would often tell us he needed to be able to go up against any of the younger pilots should the need arise. He also cared about the men he led, and it showed in more ways than one.
Finally, he cleared his throat. “I know I never talk about this with you, but I flew with your father, Nolan. He was a damn good man, and he would be proud of the pilot you’ve become, the man you’ve become.”
I swallowed hard and adjusted in my seat. “Thank you, sir.”
“When he first introduced me to your mother, I could see why he was willing to walk away from his career in the Air Force.”
With a smile, I said, “She was an amazing woman.”
He nodded. “That she was. Let me ask you something, Byers. What made you become a test pilot?”
I stared at him. “I’m sure you read my psych evals, sir. If anyone can guess as to why, you’d be the person.”
Another nod. “I did. And I’ve never said it because you’ve never brought it up, but I am sorry for your loss, Nolan.”
I swallowed hard. “Thank you, sir.”
He lifted a brow, and the corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. “Same girl?”
I closed my eyes and inwardly cursed. Fucking Jack. I looked back at him and gave one nod. “Yes, sir.”
“Is your head clear, son?”
“Yes, sir.”
He cleared his throat. “You have leave, you know. You can put in for it. Spend some time with her.”
“I was going to put in for leave, sir.”
“Good, do it and take some damn time off.”
I laughed. “I do take time off, sir. I just came back from leave.”
His looked up and our eyes met. “I was thinking something that didn’t involve jumping out of something or climbing up the sides of mountains. Or rolling down a hill like a fucking gerbil.”
I fought to hold back my smile. Clearly he had spoken to Pete.
“Yes, I heard about it,” he said.
“I’ll most likely head back home to Texas, sir.”
He nodded. “Good. Go be a goddamn cowboy for a couple of weeks and learn to relax, Byers.”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
“Get the hell out of here and go enjoy your evening.”
I stood. “Thank you, sir. May I ask, was it Jack who told you about Linnzi?”
He simply nodded. “He’s worse than a woman with the way he likes to talk.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Yes, sir, he certainly is.”
Linnzi
“DO YOU THINK he’s going to like it?”
When I didn’t get a response, I glanced down at the two dogs laying at my feet. Duke looked up at me with pleading eyes, while Belle was out like a light.
“Would you like to give it a sample test?” I asked Duke.
He gave me a sort of quiet bark, almost as if he was afraid to wake up Belle for round five hundred of play time. Duke needed the break as much as I did.
Smiling, I took one of the pieces of a pasta and bent down to give it to him. He swallowed without even chewing it.
With a frown, I asked, “How are you supposed to know if it’s good when you don’t chew it, Duke?”
“He never chews.”
Glancing up, I felt my entire body heat with desire.
“Dear God,” I whispered.
Nolan gave me that crooked smile of his, and I had to grab hold of the counter to keep from tumbling right over.
“You okay?” he asked, still giving me a sexy-as-hell grin.
“I am. I think.”
He tilted his head as he watched me. “Do you need me to help hold you up?”
“If you touched me right now, I’m pretty sure we’d have to have sex here in the kitchen.”
That made his brows raise, and the way he looked at me made my insides melt on the spot. “I’m totally down for that. Was it the flyover?”
“Flyover?” I asked in a confused voice.
“Yeah, I flew over the house. I told you I would.”
I somehow managed to stand. “Oh, that was pretty darn cool. But you standing there in your flight clothes? Yeah, that’s hot.” I brought my hand up to fan my suddenly overheated body.
Nolan looked down and then back up at me. “Dinner?” he asked.
“Can wait,” I whispered as my lower stomach throbbed with anticipation.
A low laugh came from him. “But you worked hard on it—at least it sounds like you did.”
“We can heat it back up.”
He dropped his keys on the table and then set his bag down. “I’m certainly not going to say no to that plan.”
And before I knew what was happening, Nolan was in front of me, his hands cradling my face and his mouth pressed to mine. A kiss so searing it left me breathless. How had it only been four days since he came back into my life? How had I fallen so hard for a man I only had a few memories of? Of course, we were engaged, so obviously those feelings were always there, but still.
I didn’t care. All I cared about was that he made me feel whole. He filled that missing part of me.
“Nolan, please,” I said as I worked at getting his clothes off, and he quickly went to work on mine. Before long, we were naked in his kitchen, and he had me on the island, a wide smile on his face as he spread my legs apart.
“I want you inside me.”
He lifted a brow. “This time I’m not going to let you boss me around, sweetheart.”
Nodding, I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer to me. Then Nolan looked down at the two dogs. Belle was still fast asleep, Duke was tilting his head this way and that.
“In front of the dogs?” he asked.
I was positive my eyes widened in shock. “Seriously? You’re worried about having sex in front of the dogs?”
Nolan looked back at me. “I plan on fucking you, fast and hard. It might be…scarring…for them.”
My mouth fell open, and his words instantly made me feel like I was on the verge of an orgasm.
He stared at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Do what you just said.”
Nolan shook his head and gave me a befuddled expression. “What?”
“What you said, Nolan! I need that. Please.”
An evil smirk spread across his handsome face, and those blue eyes of his hooded over in a lustful daze. They reminded me of the ocean during a storm. “What did I say, Linz?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Don’t make me say it.”
He leaned over and flicked my nipple with his tongue. “Say it.”
My fingers curled into his hair, and I moaned when he slipped his finger inside of me. “Nolan.” His name came out more like a plea than a demand.
“Say. It.”
His mouth moved up my chest and to my neck, up across my jaw and to my ear. He softly whispered, “Say it, Linz.”
“I want you to…to…”
“To do what?” he asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Fuck me. Hard and fast.” I gasped as he pushed another finger inside me.
“Here? On the kitchen island?”
I nodded.
“Say it.”
“Damn it, Nolan!” I cried out. But when his thumb rolled gently over my clit, I cried out, “I want you to fuck me, hard and fast, on the kitchen island!”
He wasted no time pushing inside me.
“Oh God!” I cried out as he buried his face in my neck and moved fast and hard while holding my legs up.
“Linnzi,” Nolan panted. He moved his mouth up and pressed it to mine.
I lift
ed my hands to his shoulders, and I held on as he gave me exactly what I asked for. “Nolan, I’m going to come!” I cried out as I felt him move faster.
“I can’t…I’m going to… Linnzi, now! Now!”
And like that, I was lost in an orgasm that felt like a free-fall. The room spun as I squeezed my eyes shut and saw bursts of light explode. Good God. Had sex always been like this with Nolan? I almost laughed. Of course it had, if my dreams had been any indication.
Nolan slowed and finally came to a stop. “Christ Almighty, I nearly threw my damn back out!”
I couldn’t help but giggle as I wrapped my legs around him, not wanting him to leave my body yet. “That was amazing,” I whispered, twirling my fingers in his hair.
“Yes, it was. I think I could come home from work and be greeted like this every day.”
I smiled and then drew back some. “How often will you be able to come home to Texas?”
He winked. “Often. Now that I have a reason to go back.”
I felt my smile grow larger. “Good. Now, I should clean this island and get you fed.”
Nolan reached around and picked me up. He was still inside me as he walked through the kitchen toward his bedroom. “Not until after we take a shower.”
“I like the sound of that!”
After showering, getting dressed, and cleaning the island…twice…we sat down on the back porch and ate while Duke and Belle played in the backyard.
“I put in for leave starting next week.”
“You did?” I asked, feeling a bubble of happiness spring up inside of me. “How long will you be off?”
“Two weeks.”
“That’s wonderful, Nolan!”
He chewed and looked away. He had something on his mind, and I knew he was trying to find a way to bring it up.
“What is it you’re struggling to say?”
Turning back to me, he let out a soft laugh and shook his head. “You always did know when I was debating something internally.”
My only reply was a soft smile.
“You mentioned about looking for a house. It’s just, you actually lived at the ranch house when we had the accident.”
“I did?”
He nodded. “Yes. You were originally going to move in with me after we got married, but you moved into the ranch house and lived there after we got engaged.”
I felt myself frown. “I can’t believe being in the house didn’t bring back any memories.”
A pained expression washed over his face, but he didn’t say anything.
“How long were we engaged?”
“I asked you to marry me when we turned twenty.”
My eyes widened. “That long?”
Nolan looked like he was about to say something when my cell phone rang with a number from Boerne I didn’t recognize. “I should get this.”
I slid my finger across the phone and answered. “Hello?”
“Yes, is this Ms. Cunningham?”
I sat up straight. “Yes.”
“Hello, this is Katherine Boone.”
Oh. My. Word.
“Ms. Boone, yes, it’s a pleasure.”
Nolan looked over at me.
“I received your email the other day, and I know you said you would be traveling from France back to Texas, so I wanted to give you some time.”
“Yes. Thank you, I’m back in the States now.”
“Wonderful. Well, as you know, I own my own company and employ four art brokers. We’ve got a rather large client base, and I’m looking to bring in another art broker. You come highly recommended, and I must say, you’ve gathered a rather impressive resume.”
I looked at Nolan who smiled at me, unsure who was on the other end of the call. “Thank you, I appreciate your kind words.”
“All true. Now, I’m looking to bring another person on part time, and you would mostly be working from home. Although, twice a month I do require that the team all get together in Austin and we meet and plan things out. There is some travel involved, obviously. Some of my clients are rather…private…so there will need to be discretion, as well. Especially when we’re attempting to track down pieces in certain collections.”
“Of course.”
“I would really love to have you come in for an interview, but let me be frank, Ms. Cunningham, it would really be more of a meet the team because of your past work history.”
My mouth fell open. “Oh, um, does that mean…well…” I let out a small, disbelieving laugh. “Ms. Boone, are you offering me the job without even meeting me?”
“I met your resume, Ms. Cunningham. I want you before someone else decides they have to have you. And yes, that means I am offering you the job. I’m currently in London for the next two weeks, so it would be at least two-and-a-half weeks before we could get you into the office and get everything rolling.”
“That’s perfect, I’m actually out of town right now myself.”
“Good. I’ll have my assistant email you a day and time, and if it works for you, then we shall put it on the calendar.”
“Wonderful!” I said with a little bit too much excitement. “I look forward to meeting you, Ms. Boone.”
“As do I, Ms. Cunningham. As do I.”
The line went dead, and I sat there, stunned into silence.
“Linz? What was that all about? What job?”
I slowly shook my head. “Um…when I put in my notice at the museum in Paris, my boss told me about a friend of his who owned an art consulting firm in Austin. She was looking for an art broker. That was her.”
“I take it she wants to hire you?”
I lifted my eyes and met his gaze. He wore such a warm, sweet smile. I still couldn’t fathom that my mind would ever allow me to forget this man.
“Yes! Nolan, she just offered me the job. Part time; I’d be working from home, some travel. Oh my gosh. This is my dream job. This is…this is…”
He stood and grabbed my hands, pulling me up to stand in front of him. “This is amazing. Let’s go celebrate after dinner.”
I nodded and then threw my arms around him. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life!”
Even though I knew Nolan didn’t mean to do it, I felt him stiffen for only the briefest moment before he held onto me a bit tighter. I somehow knew I’d said those very same words to him many years ago.
I simply couldn’t remember why.
Nolan
THE MOMENT THE plane touched down, I felt myself inhale sharply. Linnzi was talking on and on to Belle about how it was her first airplane ride and how exciting it had all been. How she was going to love Texas and the ranch. I, on the other hand, felt like a fucking basketcase for some reason. The flight out to California hadn’t bothered me, but this one, this one had. Thoughts of that day flooded my memory. Every single time Linnzi talked to Belle, I thought of her holding our daughter after the accident. It took everything I had to keep my hands from shaking as I landed the plane.
As I taxied to the hangar, I reflected on the last two weeks I had spent with Linnzi in California. I’d taken her onto base, showed her where I worked, even let her sit in one of the planes—which she then begged me to take her up in. She got to meet Jack and his girlfriend, and we even went out to dinner. Dancing. It had felt like old times, yet completely different. Linnzi was the same exact woman I had fallen in love with at the age of fourteen. A little older and wiser now, but she was the exact same. A part of me felt angry that she was blocking out our past. Blocking out our history. Another part of me was jealous that she didn’t have the nightmares I had. I’d already woken up twice in the last two weeks with the same fucking nightmare. The sounds of Linnzi screaming. My daughter looking like she was simply asleep, when in reality she had died from the impact of the wreck. It was devastating. And when Linnzi had asked me what was wrong that night, I’d pushed her away, which I knew bothered her.
I parked the plane and helped Linnzi get the dogs and everything out to my truck. Duke was beyond ha
ppy. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been up in my plane before. He had. I’d never taken him to Texas, though. Hell, I had hardly been back myself.
“Do you think Duke will like the ranch?” Linnzi asked.
“Yes, he’ll love it. He’s going to be depressed as hell when we head back to California.”
Linnzi pouted.
“Don’t even go there, Linz. He’s my dog, and I’m taking him back with me.”
She sighed and snuggled her face into Belle before reaching back and putting her on the seat next to Duke.
“Have you told your folks about moving into my place?”
She looked out the passenger window and replied, “I did.”
“What’s wrong? Did they not want you to?”
Linnzi glanced back at me with a forced smile. “Oh, they’re fine. I’m sure they’re just a bit sad because they finally got me back and then I jetted off to California with you before I informed them I was moving out.”
I nodded. “You don’t have to move in right away. You’ll have access to the house whenever you want, so just come and go as you please.”
The feel of her eyes was almost burning into me. I looked at her quickly. “Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes. You said you had something to take care of today. Is everything okay?”
I gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter than I meant to. “Yeah, just visiting an old friend I haven’t seen in a number of years.”
“Good, you seemed a bit stressed earlier when you mentioned it.”
With a quick shake of my head, I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Nope. All is good.”
She settled back in her seat and let out a contented sigh. “It feels good to be back in Texas. I’m so glad you’re going to be here for a couple of weeks. I’m not ready to be separated yet.”
I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. “Neither am I.”
A female voice cleared her throat, and I glanced up. “Mr. Byers, Dr. Moore and Dr. Brooks will see you now.”
I stood and followed her down the hall and into a meeting room. A table with six chairs sat in the middle with Western décor lining the walls. A large, leather chair was in one corner, and there was a small table next to it. I shook away the memory of the last time I sat in this room.
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