3. Solid Rocket Booster Ignition
THREE
SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER IGNITION
Luke
“Why didn’t you tell me you get motion sickness?” I ask for what must be the umpteenth time, hands tight on the steering wheel of my truck.
“Why did you insist on spinning around in a billion-dollar piece of equipment like the tea cups at Disneyland?” Her mutinous expression not once wavering since I insisted on driving her home.
“I did not?—"
“Turn here.” She points to the right.
I pull into a driveway lined with garden gnomes. Garden gnomes that have all been spray-painted gold.
I can’t make this shit up.
Em throws me a dark look. “Not a word about my gnomes.”
My nostrils flare, but I manage to hold in my laughter. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Her eyes narrow for a beat before she hops out.
I follow, watching her small hips sway back and forth under her skirt.
Hips clad in white panties with silver hearts.
I know that because before she threw up all over me, Em managed some impressive summersaults in her leap from the rover that exposed more than I’m sure she’d like to know.
Unlocking the door with quick, aggressive movements, Em leaves it open, but doesn’t look back to see if I follow. “I’m taking a shower.” She points to the couch on her way across the room. “Stay here. We need to talk.” She disappears around the corner.
I sit, because I couldn’t agree more. In the past two years all my flirting attempts ever got me were a bunch of frowns, a kiss she regrets, and a pile of vomit.
I mean, who would’ve thought that picking up a girl in a NASA rover could fail so spectacularly?
Thankfully, I was wearing my jumpsuit when Em hurled all over me. I was able to simply shuck it off right before slowly driving Em back to Building 9 in my boxers and undershirt before changing back into my civilian clothes.
“All clean.” Em walks in, hair still damp from her shower. She’s wearing a pale pink robe, a matching top, and shorts with an outer space pattern.
Are those... ? I squint trying to make out the pattern.
“Okay, Bisbee,” she walks closer, stopping a foot away. “We need to tal?—”
I lift her right off the ground and settle her on my lap.
“Cats.” I spread her robe wide. “You have cats-in-outer-space pajamas.”
“What?” She looks down, her cheeks flushing. “Well… so what?” She tries to sound indignant, but she’s breathless, her struggle to get off my lap useless.
“You’re so cute.”
She rolls her eyes.
I skim my hands up her back. “I want you, Em.”
She stills. “We work together.”
“I don’t care.” My fingertips circle her shoulders.
She shivers.
“You kissed me.”
“I was?—”
“And don’t say it doesn’t count ’cause you were drunk. You may have been buzzed, but that kiss was long past due. If it wasn’t for all the craziness lately with our jobs we would?—.”
“Exactly!” She shifts on my lap, the friction causing a different sort of problem to rise.
“All that craziness stems from personal life astronaut drama I’ve had to deal with.
And in case you forgot, you’re an astronaut.
What kind of public relations manager would I be if I let my personal feelings for you cause more drama? ”
He doesn’t smile. The dang man smirks. “So you’re saying you have feelings for me?”
Emily
Well shit.
“I…” Damn it, why are my damage control powers failing me now .
“Em.” Luke cradles my face in his hands.
The touch calming my flustered heart. “Your past PR issues involved oil billionaires, International Space Station failures, pro-athletes, and stalkers. I’m thinking a microbiologist astronaut with a desk job and a public relations manager is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. ”
I bite my lip, trying to quell the hope rising in my chest. I’ve told myself a lot of things to squash my attraction for this man. Finding out he feels the same makes all my rationalizations seem silly.
He draws me closer, his perpetual grin replaced with sincerity. He touches his forehead to mine. “Em. Be with me, will you?”
I want to say yes. But I can’t help the doom and gloom side of myself from leaping forward. “Isn’t this a bit fast? We haven’t even dated. You might not like me.”
“Not possible.” His smile returns, melting my reserve.
“I mean,” I shift on his lap, surprisingly comfortable in this position. “I guess we could, um, date.”
He grunts and pulls back, his hands falling to my hips.
“In secret, of course,” I rush to reassure him. “See if this is something you want to pursue.” I draw my robe closed, feeling too exposed. “And then maybe, if… if it is, we could?—"
“Not a chance.”
My eyes snap to his, confused. “But I thought?—”
“What is going to happen, is I’m going to spend the night.”
My mouth drops open while my downtown perks up at the implication.
“Then I’m going to drive you to work in the morning.” He loosens my grip on my robe, pushing it open again, his fingers trailing over the swell of my breasts.
My heart speeds up, but I try to focus on what he’s saying.
“After which,” his hands sliding down to my waist, “I’m going to hold your hand while I walk you into the office.”
“Luke.” But there’s no fight in my voice. The picture he’s painting is something I’ve been too afraid to want. Something I worried I’d never have.
He dips his head, brushing his lips across my collar bone. “Then I’ll kiss you good-bye in front of all our co-workers.”
“Kiss?” My head falls back of its own volition as his lips make their way up my neck.
“Mmhmm.” He cradles the back of my head, tilting it up again. “Yes. Like this.”
His mouth covers mine. The kiss is hot and heavy and wholly inappropriate for a good-bye work kiss.
I couldn’t care less.
Because when his tongue slides across mine and his large hands creep up under my cutesy pajama top to tweak my nipples, I’m helpless to do anything but kiss him back.
A minute. An hour. Sometime later, we stop. Both our chests heaving from breathing hard.
“What do you say, Em? Be with me. Be mine.” He kisses me once, lightly, then searches my face for answers.
“I’m going to spend the rest of our lives making it impossible for you to frown at me.
I’ll buy you space-related pins for your blouses, make sure you’re always well-stocked in glitter pens, and even spend my Saturdays spray painting poor, unsuspecting garden gnomes gold if I have to. ”
I’m lightheaded. Whether because I’m about to hyperventilate from pent-up lust or because his words are breaking me apart in the most delightful way, I’m not sure. What I am sure about is that I’m straddling a handsome, single, and from what I can feel between my legs, well-hung astronaut.
“Okay, Luke Bisbee. You got yourself a girl.”
He smiles his most dazzling smile yet, and I can’t help but return it. And then I kiss the holy hell out of him again.
Actually, I do a lot more than kiss him.
I mean, he is bought and paid for.
And if any other ho, ho, ho tries to steal my Jolly Green Giant, I will shank them with my glitter pen.