Coffee and Cockpits (17 page)

W
as it possible for a heart to launch itself out of a chest and splat against the floor? I swear mine was no longer operational.

Trying to resemble cool and collected, rather than a floundering moron, I said lazily, “Wow, Nina. You’re—” My voice sure didn’t sound lazy. I sounded strung out and stressed. Ever since my encounter with Nikolai, it felt as if a huge clock hung around my neck. Tick-tocking my time to win Nina quickly before impending doom.

Every second counted, and I’d make sure to use every one wisely while Nik was stuck at the hanger working. Sucker.

The moment I left the airport, I tried to find her. And now I had.

She stepped back, eyes darting everywhere but at me. I wanted to crush her in a hug. It wasn’t my intention to make her flustered. I wished I had a projector screen and could entertain her with a private showing of my feelings. Show her the true me. The Liam I’d hidden under swagger and pomp for too long.

Was it wrong to want her to like me as much as I liked her? When she was around I forgot my own occupation, and yet I knew if she liked Coke over Pepsi—she didn’t like either. What she did on her days off—went for a run around the Waimak River. I knew so many little things that would come across as freaky if I ever made a mistake and slipped. I couldn’t help it after being regaled by stories from Joslyn. She told me a lot about her friend, shared things that made Nina seem so real.

“Um… Liam. Hi. You’re not meant to—ah.”

I fought the urge to rush and kiss her cheek. To steal the heat in her face into my lips and transfer it to somewhere else in her body. I wanted to hold her hand, to tell her how incredible she was. Not just looks wise, but for being the woman who made me fall without even talking to me.

The sales lady flashed us both a smile. I swear she enjoyed my discomfort and false attempts at being cool. She cocked her head, winking at me. “Doesn’t she look great? Such a delicious looking woman.”

Nina coughed under her breath, cheeks flaming even more.

She wouldn’t catch me arguing. However, delicious didn’t do justice to Nina. Exquisite perhaps?

She laughed nervously, wrapping the end of her ponytail around her finger. Raising her eyes, she floored me with the hot look in their blue depths. My heart sat up in hope. She was interested. Every male part of me agreed she finally acknowledged me as more than just an arrogant pilot. Her façade cracked a little; I was determined to smash it to bits and invade.

Nina stopped fidgeting, straightening to place hands on her gorgeously feminine hips.

A tsunami of blood raced into my boxer shorts, leaving my brain gasping. Her chest was full but small, a perfect handful. Her petite frame was muscular with shadows of abs under her flawless skin.

She spun in place, asking, “What do you think?”

Oh God. I desperately wanted to close my eyes. If I looked anymore, I’d sport a North Face-sized tent in my trousers. Did she not know the affect she had on me? One look in the general direction of my shorts and she’d know.

“I think you know what I think,” I answered thickly. “You’re stunning and if you were mine, there’s no way I’d let you out of my sight dressed in that.” No way in hell. Just the thought of Nikolai seeing her in that bikini made my mouth water with the urge to knock his block off. When did I become so mountain gruff?

She sucked in a breath, and the air that had steadily turned from frigid air conditioning to sharp and poignant sexual energy, crackled with undisguised lust.

My heart thudded faster, sending more blood where I didn’t need it to go. How the hell was I supposed to walk out of here with this raging hard-on?

She bit her lip, then blurted. “Oh, did you drop off Anderson and Samantha?” She frowned. “How exactly did you know where I was?”

Shit. I didn’t come armed with an excuse of how I found her. Of course she’d ask that. I took the easy option and answered the first question only. “They’re on their way back home as we speak.”

I ran a hand through my hair, wincing as I brushed the wicked bump in my hairline. What I didn’t add was I found Jos by the pool and harassed her until she told me where Nina had gone, then I coerced the receptionist to tell me which direction she’d left in. Minor details. Things that made me sound like a lunatic and best left unsaid.

I stepped toward her; my mouth watered at her soft scent of coconut and lilacs. I completely forgot about the shopkeeper as I stopped within caressing distance.

Her chest rose and fell quickly.

Do not look at her boobs
. I didn’t succeed, and my eyes dropped before I had the strength to pull them back to her sapphire eyes.

I wanted to get her on her own. To a space where we wouldn’t be interrupted; where I could fess up to my underhanded knowledge of her, and see if there was hope for me. I needed to know if there was a small chance I might interest her, before Nikolai swooped in with his twinkle feet and cast a spell I couldn’t break.

Pulling a whopping lie out of my memory bank of facts, I asked, “I wanted to find you. I’ve read there’s an amazing waterfall inland, and I’m heading over. I wondered if you wanted to join me?”

Don’t come on too strong
.

I thought I handled that well. I could’ve just as easily grabbed her around the waist and thrown her over my shoulder. Giving her no choice but to come with me.

Shit, what was I, a caveman?

She paused, eyeing me with her lip bruised between her teeth. “Okay.”

My body tried to imitate an earthquake—quivering with a mess of excitement and nerves.  

Needing to show her I was chivalrous and gentlemanly, I scooped her bags from the counter. I didn’t want to give her any excuse not to go with me, and I figured if I held her shopping, she had to follow.

I also wanted to do something nice for her. A small island present that would set the stage for whatever sprung between us. “Will you let me buy that bikini for you?” I pulled some local currency from my pocket.

Nina hurried forward, brushing my bare arm with her scantily clad breast. I stifled my groan.

“No, I can’t let you do that.”

I liked the idea of buying her something. If I owned it then technically something of mine was touching her in intimate places. Admittedly it might be going a step too far, but I wanted to buy her a gift she loved; something she’d look at and remember today and recall the waterfall that I hoped wasn’t full of moss and algae, or running a-muck with Giardia. 

“Please,” I murmured, placing a hand on her warm forearm. It was as if the sun radiated off her skin. “I want to.”

“Um, sure,” she squeaked. “Why not? Seeing as you crash-landed, you owe me.”

I chuckled, loving the amusement etching her face. She probably couldn’t figure me out. Not after all the innuendos and cockpit jokes she’d been subjected to in the training course. Joslyn told me some of them, and they were downright crude. And totally false. About me at least, I couldn’t speak for other pilots. “Alright, if that’s the way you see it. I owe you
big
time.” I accented the word big, I have no idea why. Maybe she’d take the hint and ask what was big about it.

Her mouth opened a little, as I paid for her swimsuit. “Come on. Let’s head back to the hotel and hire a scooter.” I held my elbow out in invitation, and a thrill of satisfaction raced from her touch when she looped her arm with mine.

The bell above the shop door jingled goodbye as we exited. The sun scorched from above, and the longer we walked, the more the idea of a crashing cool waterfall sounded like a stroke of genius.

Nina padded beside me in her sarong and bikini. If she was self-conscious, she didn’t act it. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent.

“Did you buy sunscreen?” I asked as we arrived back at the hotel.

Her voice was a little breathless, which made me want to punch the air. She was affected by me. Phase one complete. I just hoped I interested her on a relationship level rather than a purely physical one. As much as I found her stunning, I found the woman inside more so. I wanted more than sex. I wanted her. Complete with banter, conversations, arguments—all of it.

“Yes. I’m too pasty not to. I’d burn in a nano-second.” Her eyes were deep pools of blue with conflicting emotions.                      

Trying to keep it light, I grinned. “Good. I don’t want you turning into a lobster on me.” I couldn’t stop the heat blazing in my voice. “I won’t be able to touch you then.”

She stumbled just as we stepped down from the lobby and entered the gardens. Fales danced with shadow-stencils from banana leaves and palm trees. Guests lounged on their balconies, paying us no heed. What did others see when they saw Nina and I together? Did they see a couple who’d been together for years on a romantic getaway, or was the tension of newness visible? Was it noticeable—the skirting around each other, learning, testing? I doubted anyone would guess we were island-wrecked by mangled plane, and I had six days to earn Nina’s affection.  If Nikolai didn’t get involved, of course. The moment I thought about him, all the pain from the past reared, choking my happiness.

We stopped, and I had trouble chasing away the bad memories. Needing a few minutes to regroup, I handed Nina her bags. “Meet you here in ten minutes?”

S
afe behind my door, I dumped the chocolate and snacks in the mini-bar, then  smothered myself in coconut delight sunscreen.

Who was this man who paid for my shopping and carried my bags home? Where was the ego? The underhanded pilot tactics to get into my bikini briefs? Liam enthralled me, which both pleased and annoyed. I didn’t want to be infatuated by a male. I wasn’t governed by lust or attraction.

Lying to yourself again, Nina?

I couldn’t deny he seemed different. Deeper. More approachable out of his stark pilot uniform. It was as if his personality underwent a persona switch the moment his blazer rested on his shoulders. As much as I wanted to deny it, I liked the shorts and t-shirt wearing Liam. Something resided in his gaze—a flicker of something that urged me to let myself go and get carried away by the icy blueness.

I didn’t know how I kept walking beside him as my legs turned to the consistency of melted chocolate when he said he wanted to touch me. My arm looped through his was normal, sweet, and smashed all my preconceptions to microscopic motes.

The thought of seeing him half-naked and wet in a waterfall had moths budding in my stomach. Their delicate, powdery wings dusted my insides with new sensations and urges
.

Get it together.

I straightened my shoulders and headed out into the brightness. I put my sunglasses on. The lenses muted the island brightness, and my eyeballs sighed in relief.

Liam was waiting. He should be illegal standing there in red board shorts and a white t-shirt. The clingy material gave a preview to the taut muscles hidden beneath, and his naked feet in flip-flops looked sinfully masculine.

“You got everything?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. What should I be bringing?”

“Nothing really. Yourself and your glasses. You won’t need money, and the water is supposedly pure enough to drink, so that isn’t an issue.”

Tearing my eyes from his lips, I shrugged. “Well, I guess I’m ready then.” All I could focus on was Liam. Wet Liam under a waterfall. I’d peel those broad shorts off and…

Oh God. I was sunk already.

Should I mention I might need a leash for my thoughts? They were quickly running out of control.

“Awesome.” His face broke into a smile, and he reached for my hand. “Do you mind?”

His fingers eased through mine, and my skin broke into a rain of awareness. I looked at our interlocked fingers.

Did I mind?

The previous Nina would’ve untangled herself with the excuse of ‘no’ on her lips. He was a colleague. A pilot. A risk to my career and professional dreams. But the post-crash Nina wanted to rub against him like a possessive cat. To never let him have his hand back, and to demand to know everything about him. 

“I don’t mind,” I murmured.

“I’m glad,” he whispered back. Both of us afraid to speak louder for whatever reason. His eyes weighed full of things I couldn’t decipher, as we ambled silently to the hotel car park.

Liam stopped in front of a row of brightly jewelled scooters. Blues, greens, reds, and the occasional orange, all glinted like a gemstone display in the sunlight.

“I came here after the airport to arrange the hire. I hoped you’d say yes, so I got two helmets, but only one bike. I’ll drive.” He unlocked a helmet dangling from the handle bars of a green Honda. Stepping close, he gently lowered it onto my head.

His fingers swept my hair behind my ears, to cinch the strap beneath my chin. My lungs stuck together with how close his mouth was. His eyes were tight, focused on being gentle, jaw clenched as the snap of the buckle locked into place against my throat.

I was mesmerized by the shape of his lips, the faint five o’clock shadow. What would he do if I leaned in and kissed him? Licked his neck and nuzzled?