Superb And Sexy

Chapter 29

Maddie had never known panic like she knew now. Rick had gotten a shot off, but who had it hit? Beyond reason, nearly hysterical, ears still ringing, she slipped out from beneath Brody. “You okay?” she demanded, slapping her hands down his body.

“Yes.” His hands grabbed hers, his gaze filled with the same panic she felt. “You?”

Heart in her throat, she nodded, her gaze going straight to Leena next, who was now standing over a very unconscious, and if she wasn’t mistaken, drooling Rick.

“Hope you heard that, you SOB!” Leena sounded so cocky she might have been Maddie.

Maddie sagged in unbelievable relief as Brody surged to his feet, grabbing a roll of twine from Leena’s shelf. Ben met him, and together, the two of them hauled Rick to a chair and tied him to it.

None of them had been hit. It was a miracle. And a sign. Or so Maddie hoped. A sign that this was going to go their way.

Moving close to a hog-tied Rick, she held the radio toward his mouth as his eyes slowly opened. “When I push this button,” she instructed, “you’re going to tell your men out there that we need the boat ready for a little ride to Nassau. You tell them that, and-”

“-And we’ll let you live,” Leena finished for her.

Rick snorted.

“We’ll let you live,” Leena repeated. “Unlike Manny.”

Looking only slightly less cocky, he shut his mouth. Uncooperative.

Brody crouched in front of him. “And one other thing. Once we’re out of here, you won’t contact either of the sisters ever again.”

Over Rick’s head, Maddie met Brody’s gaze and felt her heart catch. God. How had she gotten so lucky to have him in her life? She pushed the button on the radio and waited for Rick to talk.

“Tiny Tim,” Rick said through his teeth, but said nothing else.

“Do it,” Maddie said. “Tell him.”

Rick nodded, but instead, he yelled, “Tiny Tim, get your ass in here-”

Before he’d even finished the sentence, there came a thud from outside in the hall, and then another, and then a single person stood in the doorway.

Rosaline.

“Where are my men?” Rick demanded from his chair, fighting his bonds.

Rosaline shrugged. “Sporting twin concussions from the brass vase I just hit them with.”

Looking comically taken back by the fact that everyone had turned on him, Rick shook his head. “Rosaline-”

“Save it. I quit, too.”

With a smile, Leena tossed aside the tool she still held and dusted off her hands. “Feels good, doesn’t it?” She gasped in surprise when Ben yanked her into his arms. “What-”

But he just cupped her head in his big hand and shook his head. “Shut up a minute.” He tightened his grip on her. “Just shut up a minute, and let a guy catch his breath.”

Brody checked the knots on Rick’s rope and then turned to haul Maddie into his arms, too. “Too close,” he murmured, his voice thick. “Too damn close.”

She gripped him tight. “It was you I was worried about.”

“I’m hard to hurt.”

Pulling back, she looked into his eyes, feeling her heart swell painfully. “But not impossible.”

He slowly shook his head, and she opened her mouth to say something-she wasn’t sure what-but Rosaline interrupted. “Come,” she said. “I’ll take us to the boat.”

Once on Nassau, they called the authorities. Brody wasn’t thrilled to find out that they were all going to be held in custody for questioning. It took a while for the police to sort everything out, but eventually, the estate on Stone Cay was siezed and held as well.

And then, after a very long day of waiting, Rosaline, Ben, and Brody were released on bail. Thanks to Noah flying in and hiring the best attorney on Nassau, a guy who turned out to be worth every penny of his outrageous fees, Maddie was released the next day as well.

The longest day of Brody’s life.

Leena wasn’t released until the third day when her laptop was finally accessed. In exchange for her promise to help gather further evidence against Rick, she was given her freedom. Ben had waited for her, and it was clear to everyone they wouldn’t be separated again any time soon.

Rick and Tiny Tim and the others weren’t released at all.

By the time Brody flew Maddie back to Los Angeles, four days had gone by. They dropped Leena and Ben in New Orleans, where Leena had decided to “stay for a while,” something that had both her and Ben glowing with happiness.

Yeah, Leena was going to be just fine. But Brody didn’t know if he could say the same about Maddie. She was quiet, withdrawn, saying only that she needed some time to think.

He wasn’t sure what that meant.

Back at Sky High, life seemed shockingly ordinary. Except that Maddie didn’t come back to work. He knew she was home, that she hadn’t flown off somewhere, because he drove by her place every night to check.

She had asked for time, though, which sucked because it turned out to be the hardest thing to give.

What the hell did she need time for?

He tried to keep himself busy, tried to find the same simple joy in planes as he always had. And one morning, a week later, he stood in hangar three in front of one of their newest purchases, a sweet honey of a 1977 Grumman AA5A. The Cheetah needed some work, and he was the man to do it. Just six months ago, he’d have been all over it, filled with satisfaction and pride at his life. After all, he had a roof over his head. The books were firmly in the black. And he had a new plane to boot.

Yeah, with money finally in his pocket, he would have said life was as complete as he could have imagined it ever being.

He’d have been wrong.

He needed one thing that money couldn’t buy: Maddie. He wanted her in his life, and he wanted her to love him. He’d never seen himself wanting such a thing, especially with a woman who’d grown up so different from himself. But he now knew that didn’t matter. Money, background, none of it mattered.

The only thing that did matter was what the heart wanted. He knew what his wanted. What he didn’t know was what Maddie’s wanted. And though that hurt, he couldn’t say he regretted the experience. If nothing else, he better understood Noah and Shayne, how they’d put their lives on the line for love.

He’d now been there.

The door to the hangar opened, and to his shock, the woman he’d just been thinking about stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the sun behind her. His heart gave a painful lurch.

Then she walked in like she owned the place, and hell, she could have. He knew it, Shayne and Noah knew it, and she sure as hell knew it.

She looked amazing. Her hair was shorter, cut to her shoulders but her own natural fiery auburn. She wore a halter baby doll tank top over skinny jeans and mind-boggling heels. But no smile.

Ah, hell. “If you need a pilot-”

“How about a job?”

“Or that.” But he sure as hell didn’t want to go back to boss and employee. Or even friends.

Hell, he didn’t even want to go back to only getting along in the sack, although that had its merits…

No, what he wanted was something far more permanent than that, and the fear nutting him up deep inside was that he was alone in that wanting.

She came to a stand next to the Cheetah, looking on top of her world and so far out of his league that if he didn’t still have her nail indentations in his ass from that last time they’d been together, he might have believed he’d dreamed it all up.

In that damn workshop, she’d told him she loved him. And then she hadn’t really spoken to him since. Now they were in the “real” world, whatever the fuck that meant, so-

“Nice plane,” she said quietly, staring up at the Cheetah.

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember what I said to you on Stone Cay?”

“You said a lot of things. You said, for instance, that I have an ego.”

“I said ridiculous ego.”

“Right,” he said dryly. “Thank you for the clarification.”

“I also said that you’re big, bad, and so damn sexy that you make me melt.”

He stared at her profile. “No, you never said that. I most definitely would have remembered that.”

“Well, I thought it. I also thought that you make me smile. You make me laugh, too, and you make me think.” She turned her head and looked at him. “You make me feel whole, Brody, when I’ve never felt whole before. But that’s not what I was referring to.” Her baby blues softened with things that made his heart pick up speed. “I meant it when I said I love you.”

“You said it under extreme duress.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I said it while thinking we were going to die, or when you were buried deep inside me, or now, when we’re just standing here…I mean it.”

“You never said it when I was buried inside you.”

“Which I plan to rectify ASAP.” She let out a breath, suddenly looking touchingly nervous. “What I’m trying to say is that we are a unit. And that I do love you. So much. And…”

Jesus, there was an and? He didn’t think he could take an and.

“And like you once said to me, I can’t keep walking away from anyone and everyone who cares about me. I always thought I had to be alone to feel safe and secure, but that plan has a fatal flaw, one I never saw coming.”

“Which is?”

“Alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Which means it’s time for a new plan, Brody.”

“And that is?” he barely managed when she paused.

“Staying.” She gnawed on her lower lip. “I thought maybe we could make this thing official. I don’t really know what your plans are regarding us and this whole unit thing, if you wanted us to date or something more…”

He found his voice. “Something more. Way more.”

“Me, too.” She nodded and still looking off center, swallowed hard. “More like…I do more.”

“Hang on.” He grabbed her. “Are you proposing?”

“Trying.” She gripped him tight. “Brody West, will you-”

“Yes.” He tugged her close. “Christ, yes.”

“I didn’t finish even asking you yet.”

“Yes to anything,” he vowed. “Everything. As long as it’s with you.”