CHAPTER 30
Claire
“So, what did you think?” Ian lifted Claire’s hand to press a lingering kiss to her knuckles. Soft music played from hidden speakers, and a slight breeze ruffled the sheer curtains around the open sliding doors.
“Mind blown,” Claire truthfully replied. She picked up a grape. “Open.”
Ian opened his mouth, and Claire slipped it in.
“I didn’t expect the wedding exit to involve aerobatics,” she said. “Not even Sylvia knew. She texted me when they landed.”
He swallowed, selected a strawberry from the fruit plate they’d ordered with breakfast, and fed it to her. “Only a few of us were in on it. Jon kept it under wraps.”
She snuggled closer, resting her head on his shoulder.
Weddings usually put her off and made her anxious, even angry.
But for some reason, this one was different.
Maybe it was because this time, it was Sylvia who’d gotten married, Sylvia, the poster child for depravity and refusal to commit.
That she would stop at one man still blew Claire’s mind, and if she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes, she might have refused to believe it.
But she had watched her friend climb into a little taildragger plane and take off at sunset with her new husband. It was a definitive and fitting goodbye to all of Sylvia’s years of promiscuity, Claire thought.
“Adam wasn’t too keen on the idea. He wants nothing to do with aerobatics. Jon had to fight for it and rent that plane himself. But it all turned out pretty good.”
“It was phenomenal. The crowd was blown away. I have to say, though, that the inverted flyby was a bit much. That looked scary.”
“Not to Jon. He thrives on speed and aerobatics, and it looks as if Sylvia is the adventurous type.” Ian’s mouth curved into a sly smile. “Not that we don’t know that already.” He took a chunk of cantaloupe and slid it between Claire’s lips.
“Jon says I owe him big time. He was the one who insisted we go to the bar the night we met. He was determined to get wasted.”
“Tell him he owes me. I came to visit Sylvia in Vegas to run away from a cheating jerk.”
Ian grinned. “Give me the cheating jerk’s address. I want to send him a bottle of bourbon.”
He kissed her neck. She tilted her head to give him better access, exhaling a shuddering breath as his lips swept across her skin.
“I wanted to do things to you yesterday afternoon,” he murmured. “I briefly considered the maintenance office.”
She nuzzled his jaw. “What stopped you?”
He grimaced. “Dance rehearsal.”
She laughed. “Totally worth it. You were great.”
“Yeah, I guess we ended up doing a decent job and didn’t embarrass ourselves too much.”
“I said you were great. I wasn’t looking at the other guys.”
“You liked my sexy Michael Jackson moves?” Ian looked very pleased with himself.
Claire made a face. “Michael Jackson and sexy do not belong in the same sentence.”
He laughed. “You liked it, and that’s all that matters. Jon had a Russian choreographer who does one of the shows come in to coach us, but the jackass refused to participate himself. He claimed the groom’s job was to supervise.”
Claire shook her head. “I must admit, I’m still shocked. You don’t know what Sylvia was like before she met Jonathan.”
“I was there, remember? She was an apex predator. I saw her preying on those two, though most of my attention was focused on you. You know he kicked Devon out, though. That threesome never happened.”
“So she told me. I guess it took a fighter pilot to finally cuff her. I never thought I’d live to see it.” She fed him a pineapple triangle. “I thought they were honeymooning in Vegas, though.”
“They are. The exit flight was just around the pattern. Adam got them a suite at the Wynn and told Jon if he shows up to work before next Monday, he’d can him.”
Claire laughed. “He’s indispensable!”
“Not anymore. We got lucky. There’s been a rush of guys getting out of the Air Force lately, and Adam was like a kid at Christmas with all the applications on his desk.
We brought in Mac just last week. Even cockier than Jon.
We’re talking Iceman-in-Top-Gun-level cocky.
The guy could’ve been the template for that character. ”
“That doesn’t sound like someone who would make a good airline pilot.”
Ian fed her a chunk of honeydew. “The cocky ones are the best aviators. Quite a few of those guys go to the airlines when they retire. They get it out of their system in the fighter jets and go on to make some of the best pilots in commercial aviation. Now, imagine an airline having a supersonic jet like the 2024. Best of both worlds for someone like that. And only they can fly it, so Adam really lucked out.”
“You can’t fly the 2024?”
Ian laughed. “Hell, no. It’s like asking a bus driver to get into the cockpit of a Formula One beast.” He shook his head, smiling. “The first time Mac walked into our office, he got in Jon’s face and said he needed to watch his six because they both knew who was the better pilot.”
Claire’s eyes widened. From the little she knew about Jonathan, that couldn’t have gone over well. “And what did Jon say?”
“He informed him he was a naval aviator, not a dime-a-dozen pilot, and the rest, I can’t repeat.”
He looked out the window at the lavender sky, which would soon be turning blue. Too soon. She was loath to leave, and Ian couldn’t even fly her back because he had a previously scheduled flight he couldn’t change.
She turned her face, burrowing at the crook of his neck, feeling her throat tighten.
Ian glanced down. “What is it?”
“This has been wonderful.”
“It has. That’s a good thing, right?”
She swallowed the lump that had risen out of nowhere. “I don’t know. I tried everything I could not to get drawn in by your ...” She hesitated.
He grinned. “My irresistible charisma?”
She let her hand trail down his abdomen. “Nah. I’m just here for the hot sex.”
He chuckled. “I’m not complaining.” He looked at her a moment longer, his expression turning serious. “I’m not going to push you, Penny. I promised you we’ll take it slow, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
“How can we make this work? You live here; I’m stuck in Orlando. I’ve seen how long-distance relationships end up.”
“You’ve seen people come to you who are irreparably broken. You can’t judge by what you’ve observed professionally. Couples in good relationships don’t end up in your office.”
He was right. Of course he was right. She would have to find a way to stop throwing obstacles at something that could be very good.
Claire tipped her head. “So, we …?”
“We talk, we text, we visit. Maybe we have some hot FaceTime sessions.”
“I never pegged you as the phone sex type.”
“I’m not. I also wasn’t a lot of other things until I met you.”
What did he mean? Before she could ask, he bent his head to kiss her softly. “It’s time to get ready to go.”
She rolled on top of him and gripped his shoulders, holding tight. “I don’t want to.”
“Believe me, neither do I. If it were up to me, I’d convince you to stay a few more days. But isn’t your mom’s procedure later this week?”
Back to ugly reality.
Claire frowned. When had she told him?
She nodded. “Yes. Thursday.”
“OK, then. I guess we have no choice.” He glanced at the bedside clock. “I have a plane to fly this afternoon, and you are scheduled to take off in a little over two hours. Time to get up.”
“OK.” With a mischievous smile, she reached for the near-empty fruit plate and fisted the lone leftover banana.
His eyes narrowed.
Slowly, she peeled it, then slid the fruit into her mouth and wrapped her lips around it.
Ian groaned.
·
Ian
“Congratulations, Eve. Well done.” Ian smiled down at his petite sister-in-law.
Today, she positively glowed. With her bright eyes, flawless skin, and wavy chestnut hair, she looked like a high school graduate in her black cap and gown, a tad oversized for her small frame.
“Thank you.” Surrounded by well-wishers and clutching her brand-new diploma, she grinned ear to ear as she accepted his kiss on her rosy cheek. “This is surreal.”
He tweaked the gold tassel dangling from her cap. “See you at the hangar.”
This was a big day for her. She’d come a long way from working as an escort to pay her way through college to graduating with honors with a scholarship to start on her doctorate in physical therapy.
Knowing her, she’d finish early and end up owning the place where she currently worked as a medical assistant.
Beside her, Adam loomed large, beaming with so much love and pride, it did something to Ian’s insides to see it.
He looked away. Oh, he was happy for his brother; God knew the guy deserved the love of a good woman after the hell his first wife had put him through. Observing them in their happy marriage, Ian had come to wish the same thing for himself.
And things were looking up, he thought. Donning his helmet, he mounted his bike. He started the engine, and the Harley roared to life with a satisfying growl.
After Claire’s visit, he had a sliver of newfound hope. Arriving on the tarmac, she had refused to let go of his waist, and when she’d finally removed her helmet and dismounted, she clung to him and buried her face in his neck.
She confessed to having an ominous feeling that things would go badly with her mom’s procedure, and it had taken everything he had to talk her down and send her to the waiting jet after murmured reassurances and more than one lingering kiss.
He’d jumped on the Harley and ridden off, unable to look back, his heart in shreds.
He smiled. At least one part of it was well under control. Everything was a go at the clinic. All he had to do was show up.
The ride to the hangar was too short. So many had come to attend Eve’s graduation that Adam had had to park the planes outside and use it as a party space again.
Ian wished he could go without the helmet, but his parents already disapproved, and he valued his life: his mother would kill him if she saw him riding unprotected, and they were here for a few days.