CHAPTER 6
Jannie
“So, what was that back there?” Nick took a sip of Pellegrino and regarded her over the rim of his glass.
Jannie grimaced. “A train wreck I’m trying to walk away from.”
“I see. But didn’t you say that train left the station a year ago?”
“I did. It keeps returning.”
“More than happy to help you chase it away.”
“Thank you for that.”
“No need to thank me. I enjoyed it.” He leaned forward, a little smile curving his lips. “Did you?”
She had. But she wasn’t about to admit it. “Hmm.”
Something in his dark eyes gleamed as she pretended to consider.
“It was pleasurable,” she said.
He looked a little disappointed. “That’s all?”
“I guess you’ll have to try harder next time.”
Was she flirting? Yeah, she definitely was.
Nick chuckled. He picked up his menu, and she followed suit, happy to change the subject to the food selection, which he seemed to appreciate. Adam would be pleased; Nick wanted to try everything.
His scrutiny of her resumed with full intensity after they placed their orders. “So, Jannie Larssen. Care to tell me where you’ve been for half my life?”
“You first.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I have pressing questions you have to answer.”
His grin was so wide that she felt compelled to ask.
“What’s that grin for?”
He shook his head, amusement all over his face. “Just marveling at how little you’ve changed.”
“And that’s a good thing, of course.”
“Of course!”
“So, are you going to tell me why you disappeared right before graduation? You were the talk of the entire school, you know.”
He looked surprised. “Oh, really?”
“Really.”
Nick shrugged. “I didn’t think anyone would notice.”
“Literally everyone noticed you, Nick.”
“That’s hard to believe.”
“Believe it. You were always the subject of discussions.”
“What kind of discussions?”
“People were afraid of you.”
“Afraid. Of me.”
She nodded.
“Explain.”
“Well, maybe not exactly afraid. More like intimidated.”
“You weren’t intimidated.”
“I wasn’t. But most of the kids were.” Which was why they had avoided and isolated him, but Jannie omitted that part.
He shook his head. “Of all the ways I can think of to describe seventeen-year-old me, ‘intimidating’ is the last thing that comes to mind.”
Jannie smiled. “You were taller than everyone and had a monster brain. You ran intellectual circles around all of them, including some teachers, if I recall correctly. That’s quite a combination for students who struggled with basic algebra.”
“Well …”
She didn’t miss the self-satisfied little smile he tried to hide behind a sip of Pellegrino, and for a moment, she glimpsed the shy, quiet teen he’d been.
“They felt like they were trudging along the ground barefoot while you were in the stratosphere, zooming in a jet.”
He flashed those perfect white teeth. “Still am.”
His eyes shone with pride, and in them, she glimpsed the same excitement she always saw in the eyes of her dad and two brothers when anything aviation-related became the topic of discussion.
He has the flying bug. Once bitten, always obsessed. Jannie should know; she came from a family of generational pilots—speaking of which, Adam was always in need of pilots and could use him.
“Do you intend to stay with this company you work for?” she asked.
“The only thing that would get me to move would be something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“And that is?”
“Air ambulance.”
“Oh.” She swallowed back her disappointment. Adam’s airline was strictly passenger transport. “Medevac? You want to fly helicopters?”
“No.”
“My brother says if it doesn’t have wings, he won’t fly it.”
“Your brother is smart.”
“So, air ambulance.” She never would have guessed that one. Most pilots wanted to fly for major airlines.
“Yes. There’s a market for interstate transport. I plan to buy a plane and start a company.”
Wow. “You keep the surprises coming, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes, I keep them comin’.” His mouth curved into a sexy half-smile.
His low tone and the way he looked at her with such hunger caused giant butterflies to crash as they burst into flight through her core.
An unbidden vision appeared, of him at the controls in a cockpit, his long fingers maneuvering the yoke. She looked down at his hands. He was rhythmically tapping his middle finger again. And then, for some reason, she imagined that long middle finger pushing inside her.
Jannie shuddered. She wrenched her gaze from his hands, only to view his muscled forearms tensing.
Damn.
If she thought he wouldn’t notice, she was mistaken. She looked at him to see a fiery spark ignite in his gaze, so primal that she felt a pulse between her thighs.
“Word has it you fly too,” he said.
She did have a private pilot license but never used it. She kept it current because of family expectations. “Who told you that?”
“I may have heard it through the grapevine.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who were the grapes?”
He grinned. “They looked a lot like you.”
She swallowed back a groan. “Where did this conversation take place?”
“At the Mile High.”
She might have known. The Mile High, a private Vegas club whose membership was restricted to pilots, was a hangout for flyers, and Adam often went there to have dinner and scout recruits.
“They’re quite persuasive,” he said. “I wish I had their people skills. They almost convinced me to fly for Lars.”
“Not something you’d consider?”
“Not at the moment.”
If Adam and Ian couldn’t convince him, no one could.
The food arrived, and over the course of the meal, Jannie found Nick to be an engaging conversationalist, discussing everything from the upcoming lunar eclipse to speculation about the ingredients in the salad dressing.
She was enjoying him very much, and she had to admit, the man was quite the eye candy.
Her gaze kept returning to his jaw; she wondered what it would look like sans beard. His neck was well-muscled and sinewy, and her mouth watered thinking about how that would feel under her lips.
He cleared his throat.
She looked up, and her gaze locked with his. For a few moments, they stared at each other.
“It’s good to see you again, Jannie,” he finally said.
“It’s good to see you, too. This has been fun.”
He caught her gaze and held it. “The best is yet to come.”