Strong and Sexy Read online

  It was still pouring buckets outside, but she no longer cared. Escape was more important than comfort. Pulling open the doors, getting slapped in the face by the icy wind and rain, she stepped into the night, where there were no recriminating stares from stepsiblings, no couples kissing beneath the mistletoe.

  No sexy pilots.

  God. She’d wanted a diversion, she’d wanted to feel something, wanted to need, to yearn and burn, and man, oh man had she needed, wanted, yearned and burned for him . . .

  The kiss had been amazing. So had their second one.

  It’d been more than amazing, it’d created a souldeep longing for things she knew she couldn’t really get in a closet with a stranger, but there for a second, for one single tiny mindless second, she’d been so willing to try—

  Nearly plowing into a figure standing there in a dark cloak, the hood up, she staggered to a surprised halt. “Sorry,” she said, pushing her wet hair from her face. “I’m—”

  There wasn’t one person standing there, but two. And one of them was slowly slipping to the sidewalk, just as something flashed from beneath the first person’s cloak.

  A gun.

  Chapter 4

  Shayne closed his cell phone on Maddie and eyed the mistletoe still lying on the floor. It made him smile, for no real good reason other than Dani had been right. Insane or not, those kisses had been every bit as wow as she’d said.

  For the second time in as many minutes, his cell vibrated, making him sigh. This time it was Brody. “What?”

  “Maddie says you’re abusing yourself in there. Dude, the porn is in the mechanic’s bathroom, not the closet.”

  “Funny.” Brody was more than a partner, he was his best friend, and had been since that fateful day in middle school when the three of them had landed in detention. Noah had been fighting, Brody had been caught with a girl four years his senior, and Shayne? Cheating in chemistry. “What do you want?” he asked, crouching down to clean up the things that had fallen from the shelves.

  “Maddie said you gave her a raise. Tell me that’s not true.”

  News always traveled fast at Sky High Air, mostly due to the fact that they were all apparently still in high school. “She signed the Clarks’ three Lears for six months.”

  “Thought that was your job. Maybe we should switch your job descriptions. You’d look good in that pink miniskirt Maddie wears.”

  “Shut up.” They were all equals at Sky High, him, Brody, and Noah. And all pilots, though Brody handled the majority of their flights. Noah specialized in personalized adventures, finding and fine-tuning them for their clients. And though Shayne loved to fly and did plenty of it, as the people person of the group, he handled the business end of things; bringing in new clients, acquiring new planes, leasing said planes, etc. Together, they made the whole package, and whether that meant flying a turboprop or a jet on a moment’s notice, taking a charter flight to Santa Barbara, or a business group to Alaska, it got handled, efficiently, discreetly, and luxuriously.

  Not a bad gig, especially for Shayne, the black sheep of an affluent family who’d always seen him as the youngest, the daydreamer.

  The weak link.

  His family would be surprised to know that every single one of Sky High’s clients had been brought in by him. Because of him.

  But now Maddie had brought in a client, a big one, and Shayne was nothing but grateful. For the first time, he wasn’t the sole provider, and damn, that was a relief. “She deserves a raise, Brody.”

  “We already pay her a fortune.”

  “So now we’ll pay her a fortune and a half.”

  “Can’t bleed a turnip.”

  Brody had been born poor, had grown up poor, and starting Sky High Air had nearly gutted him. He couldn’t stand the thought of debt, couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact that they were on their way to making it, and making it big.

  They were going to do it, shocking as that seemed for three fucked-up kids once headed directly for juvy without passing go.

  But it was more than money on the line and they both knew it. Brody, the ultimate guy’s guy—and commitment-phobe to boot—had allowed Maddie to get beneath his skin.

  Not that the big guy would ever admit it. Hell, no. Show a weakness? Brody? He’d rather gnaw off his own arm. “She’s saved our ass time and time again,” Shayne reminded him.

  As he knew this to be true, Brody fell silent. Maddie had been a godsend. At twenty-six, she was a few years younger than them, and probably a helluva lot more mature, even with her current choice of magenta hair. She’d been going through a biker stage lately, and with that came a lot of black leather, which he had to admit had been fun to look at. She was more than their concierge and assistant, she was an all-around miracle worker. The woman could get her fingers on anything and have it delivered before the client even knew it was needed. “We can vote on this,” he said. “But I know Noah will agree with me.”

  “Shit. Noah’s so pussy-whipped he can’t even see straight. They’re still in his office, you know. Him and Bailey. Someone’s going to have to send food in there to sustain them.”

  “Jealous?”

  That made Brody laugh. “Of having a wife? Are you kidding me?”

  “How about for having sex whenever you want it?”

  “You don’t need a wife for that, so why should I? And who are you in there with anyway? Not Maddie, not Michelle. Kathleen?”

  “Left the country.”

  “Dude.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That’s what a girl says when she dumps you.”

  “I did not get dumped.” He’d so been dumped.

  “So you’re in there with someone new, then,” Brody decided. “Big surprise.”

  “Hey.” Shayne might have the reputation for going through women like some went through fine wine, but he’d always used discretion and was careful to be only with women looking for the same thing he was—a good time.

  Dani had certainly seemed to fit that bill. She’d come on to him, always a fun bonus, and had seemed lucid enough at the time, but now that he knew who she was and that the world in general considered her to be crazy, he felt uncomfortable, as if he’d taken advantage of her somehow. “I thought you said I was in here alone.”

  “Well if you are, self-gratify on your own time. You’ve got at least fifty socialites out here, drinking and being merry, all way too close to million-dollar planes.” Brody was extremely protective of the planes. “People are all over them, carrying flutes of champagne and tiny plates of fancy shit masquerading as food. So please, get your ass out here and flash that poster-boy smile as you tell everyone to watch the damn planes. Ah, shit—”

  “What?”

  “Maddie, three o’clock,” he hissed. “Heading right for me.” The big, badass Brody sounded terrified. “She’s got that look in her eye too. The gonna chew me up and spit me out look.”

  Shayne had to laugh. “She’s a whole foot and a hundred pounds lighter than you. Suck it up, you chicken shit.”

  “You have no idea—Fuck. Gotta go.”

  Shayne slipped his phone back in his pocket and had no sooner reached for the closet door to go out and rescue the planes when it opened and someone slipped inside.

  Dani.

  “Oh, thank God you’re still in here.” She gulped. “Houston, we have a problem.” She was drenched, shaking, and sobbing for breath as she turned and slammed the door before whipping back around, eyes so wide there was nothing but white all around her dark irises. If he thought she’d looked like a mess before, it was nothing to now, with water streaming down her face, her hair plastered to her head, her dress sucked up against her like a second skin. “Ohmigod, Shayne—”

  “Dani.” Jesus, what had happened? With no other choice, he put his hands on her, drawing her close even though she was wet as hell, and making him the same. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, but”—she gulped again, pointed to the door—“out th