Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Vincent loved being in a helicopter again. It was something he’d missed, no longer being in the military. But his greatest joy today came from watching Lace’s face as Obi-Wan put his craft through its paces.
She was eating it up.
Obi-Wan had grinned when Lace hadn’t balked as he’d asked if she wanted to get a little more…adventurous.
When she’d agreed wholeheartedly, he’d sent them into a series of turns and spins that had even Vince’s stomach doing flips.
In a good way.
What Obi-Wan hadn’t done, were any of the more complex things Vince knew the man was capable of.
Vince was thankful there were no rolling rainbows, which were some dizzying, continuous rolls, no pirouetting flips, no traveling corkscrews.
Not that Vince hadn’t experienced and enjoyed them before, but being a Navy SEAL, he’d take forty-foot ocean swells over those kinds of aerial acrobatics, any day.
Still, he’d found himself laughing out loud more than once as they’d swooped through the sky.
By the time they touched down, Lace was giddy.
“That was so freaking amazing,” she gushed, practically jumping up and down. “I’ve never felt anything like that in my life.”
Obi-Wan and Zita were grinning at her so hard they could barely speak, but Obi-Wan finally managed. “If you want to go up again, all you have to do is say the word. I love an appreciative audience. I might even put you up front next time and let you fly.”
“Really?” Lace’s eyes went wide.
Excited, she grabbed Vince’s sleeve. “Did you hear that? Obi-Wan’s going to let me fly.”
“I heard,” he answered with a chuckle. “Before you know it, you’ll be wanting to get your license.”
Lace’s eyes glazed over.
Vince recognized the look by now; the minute Lace got sucked down into one of her fantasies. He also knew from experience that she’d be lost for a while, so to give her time, Vince turned and thanked Obi-Wan. He then asked questions about the couple’s sightseeing plans for the week.
“What kind of things are you looking to do while you’re here?” he asked.
“We don’t have anything definitive on the agenda, yet. Your mother mentioned a few nice hikes, some museums…and, oh, Zita is a huge Stephen King fan, so we have to go snap a picture in front of those iconic gates.”
Vince nodded. “Yeah. I totally get that,” he responded sagely, then glanced at his watch.
It was three in the afternoon. “I know my mom is going to want to feed you tonight, but you have time to take that short trip before you eat. As for anything else,” he added, “why don’t you stop by Diver Downeast tomorrow, and we’ll make a plan. ”
Vince thought of something that would probably appeal.
“Tabitha, my brother Spence’s wife, will easily be talked into giving you two a tour of the harbor in her submarine if you’re interested.”
Zita’s mouth dropped open. “A sub? A real sub? I’ve never been in one,” she gushed excitedly.
“That makes two of us,” Obi-Wan admitted, also lighting up. “An oversight I’ve always wanted to correct.”
“Then it’s a plan,” Vince told them. “Stop by the shop around ten and I’ll make sure Tabitha has a heads up so the sub is ready for all of you.
” He pondered thoughtfully. “Then, if it’s not overstepping, after your underwater excursion, my brothers and sisters-in-law can take shifts bringing you around to other various sights. ”
Obi-Wan laughed and nodded with enthusiasm. “You know, my whole team is going to want to come visit once I tell them about the V.I.P. treatment we’re receiving.”
“Bring it on. We’d love to have them,” Vince agreed easily.
“Have them what?” Lace blinked, finally coming out of her reveries.
Obi-Wan and Zita didn’t look rattled by that, in the least. They must have noticed Lace doing it a time or two, albeit briefly, during their flight.
“Have them and their friends come back for another stay,” Vince filled her in.
Putting an arm around her waist, he brought her the rest of the way up to speed. “They’re going to do a few things on their own today, then come hang out at Diver Downeast tomorrow morning where they’ll get some submarine time. After that, we’ll work up an interesting agenda going forward.”
Lace pouted. “Damn. It figures I’ll miss out. I have to work,” she told them, clearly not happy to be left behind.
“Oh? What do you do?” Zita asked. “I just figured you worked with this guy.” She hooked a thumb toward Vince.
“Nope. We actually live together,” Lace responded with a lilt in her voice. “It’s new, but we’re really enjoying each other’s company.”
She gave Vince a not-so-innocent side-eye, and he wanted to groan.
If things worked out the way Lace had suggested, they’d be enjoying more than a little “company” once they got home.
Lace continued as if she hadn’t just rattled Vince’s cage. “I work for NOAA. I’m assigned to a different fishing vessel each summer where I count and measure the catch, making sure everything the captain does, follows our rules.”
“Is rule breaking something that happens often?” Zita asked.
Vince knew Lace was thinking of Captain Nasty as her mouth tightened.
“Not very,” she told Zita. “But when it does, I’m not the one to break the bad news, thank god. My bosses are.”
“What happens if there’s bad weather?” Obi-Wan asked on a completely different tack.
Lace shrugged. “Just like you in your helicopter, we go out in almost anything that isn’t deemed dangerous,” Lace informed. “Which means half the time I bake in the sun, and the other half I’m as wet as a used dish rag coming in.”
Vince listened to the conversation going on around him, but dish rag visuals or not, he couldn’t get his mind off what would most likely be happening between him and this amazing woman a little later.
His cock stirred, but quickly subsided when his phone rang with the special tone he had for the dive shop.
He cleared his throat and pulled his device from his big-old clown pocket.
“I’ve got to take this,” he said, walking away for a little privacy.
Vince was on alert and curious. He hadn’t been called during his time off yet, unless it had been important.
“Vince here,” he clipped.
“You need to come in,” Sheila stated outright, without greeting.
Sheila was Tabitha’s sister who was somewhere on the spectrum, but also brilliant with the way she kept Diver Downeast’s office running like a well-oiled machine.
“What’s going on, Sheila?” Vince asked, already calculating his time table.
“A job. A job Spence was supposed take, but he’s sick. He started getting sick two hours ago and we sent him home. But he had a job scheduled, and nobody else can do it.”
So. Not an emergency. But Vince was always game to don his diving gear and get in the water.
“No problem. I can be there in ten minutes, twenty if you don’t want me dressed like a clown.”
“No clown,” Sheila stated, but didn’t extrapolate.
Vince chuckled, then thought of something else. “Hey, is it okay if Lace comes along on this job?” he asked. Even though Sheila had yet to meet Lace, he’d been singing her praises all over the shop to anyone who’d listen.
“Sure. Lace is okay. Sure. Come into the office.”
Click.
Yup. That was Sheila.
Direct. Succinct. No wasted words.
Vince put his phone away, then walked over to rejoin the group.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That was our office manager, Sheila,” he told them. “My brother Spence was supposed to do a job this afternoon, but he went home sick, so, tag, I’m it,” he quipped.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it, then.” Obi-Wan reached out a hand and they shook. “If you need my services for anything while I’m here, all you have to do is let me know.”
“Thanks, man.” Vince appreciated it, but didn’t think they’d have a need for the pilot’s assistance. With Tabitha’s submarine, the office Zodiac, and Jett’s Cessna all available, they pretty much had everything covered.
Vince didn’t know exactly what he was headed for, but he seriously doubted they’d need a helicopter for this job that had been planned and on the books.
He turned to Lace. “Sheila says you can come with me,” he told her, and her face lit up again.
Vince could tell she was having a stellar day.
“But let’s go back to my parents’ house first,” he said. “I have to clean up and put on some normal clothes.”
“You mean you can’t show up at a job dressed like a clown?” Zita teased. “I don’t know. It might go over well. I’m getting kind of used to you being in that outfit. I’m not even sure I’d recognize you in civvies.”
“Oh, that shouldn’t be tough.” Vince bantered right back. “I’ll be the handsomest man in the room.”
He winked.
Obi-Wan laughed. “Nice try, but Zita knows I’m the prettiest face around.”
Zita tipped her head, speculatively. “Hmm. You are, Sweetums, but maybe we should liven things up and try adding some clown attributes… A big red…” She glanced at her husband’s crotch.
Vince immediately though of beeping appendages.
No. Just no.
“La-la-la,” Vince said, clapping his hands over his ears. “You guys do you, but I don’t want to hear about it. Right now, we need to head back to the house.”
Ten minutes later, his face wiped clean of make-up and clad in jeans and a t-shirt he’d left behind as a just-in case, Vince came out to the living room and gave a bicep pump, He-Man posing for the ladies.
That got all kinds of very, over-the-top cat-calls and whistles before, with his ego stroked, Vince gave a jaunty salute to his adoring audience, then he and Lace headed out the door.
“You are handsome either way, you know,” Lace told him as soon as they were in his truck. “With or without any…accoutrements,” she sassed.
“I might have been told that a time or two in the past,” he admitted, grinning. “But hearing it from you is what really counts.”
“Thanks,” Lace responded, patting his leg, then her fingers twitched in the direction of his zipper, “So… How long do you think this job is going to take?”