Jacqueline Diamond - Paris or Bust!

Her hands jerked, and so did the plane. Craning her neck, she stared at him. “What?”

“I bet you do.”

For another long heartbeat she was silent, then she shook her head and turned forward again. “You’re insane. That explains everything.”

“We had such a connection that night. Do you remember?”

“No.”

“Christmas Eve.”

“New Year’s Eve,” she corrected, then rolled her eyes when he laughed.

“You do remember, and you’ve ignored it ever since.”

An interesting blush crept up her face. “I don’t remember anything.”

He shook his head. “Coy, Kylie? After you’ve practically crawled up my body?”

“I most definitely did not crawl up your body.”

“Don’t tell me I need to remind you who kissed who.”

She hissed out a breath. “Okay, so I kissed you. I was wondering what it would be like, that’s all.”

“And?”

“And nothing. Wondering gone.”

“Are you telling me that kiss quenched your thirst?”

She shifted in her seat and broke eye contact.

“See?” he said. “You want more, too.”

“Giving in to simple urges isn’t always the answer,” she said primly.

“Baby,” he said on a laugh. “There’s nothing simple about my urge for you.”

“Stop it.”

“I can’t. I’m still curious. You’re so tough on the outside.”

“I’m tough all the way through.”

“Nah.” He grinned when she glared at him again. “Know what I think?”

“If I say yes will you shut up?”

“I think that your toughness is a shield. That you’re really soft and sweet, with a heart of gold.”

That made a laugh tumble from her lips. “Right. And you know me so well.”

“Otherwise why would you let Daisy destroy the office on a daily basis? Or let Lou near your books?”

“Because I’m clearly mentally incompetent. Watch out, it could be contagious.”

His mouth quirked. “You care about your family very much.”

“They’re family,” she said simply.

“Some would just let them make their own way.”

“Their own way?” She shook her head. “My mom and grandma would get lost on their way there.”

“Exactly. I’ve been watching you for a year now. Even more so in the past six months.”

“Should I be concerned you’re stalking me?”

“Look, just admit it. You’re really one big softie who collects people to take care of so you don’t have to take care of yourself.”

She stared at him, then laughed. “I do not collect the needy.”

“See? I didn’t say needy. You did.”

She sighed. “How about we just don’t talk period.”

“Sure, soon as you tell me why you’d rather bury yourself in work and raise your mother and grandmother than live your own life.”

“Shut up. I have to check out the plane, and that requires listening. To the plane, not you.”

“The plane is perfect.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you worked on it.”

Startled, she blinked her huge green eyes at him.

Oh yeah, he had her attention now. “You might run the airport,” he said, “but you’re the best mechanic out there. You’re also not a bad pilot. So…now that we have all business out of the way, and you don’t want to discuss kissing or making love, how about-”

She turned back to her flying. “I don’t want to sell you the airport.”

“I wasn’t going to bring that up, but now that you have…you’re out of money.”

Her jaw went tight. “Not quite.”

“I’m not greedy, sell me half. We’ll be partners.”

“I’m not that desperate.”

He shrugged and leaned back. “Fine. We’ll talk about something else.” Glancing behind them at the roomy cabin, which was luxurious and empty, he smiled. “Ever heard of the mile-high club?”

Having just taken an unfortunate sip of soda, she choked.

“Guess you have,” he said innocently, while his insides churned and tightened at the adorably flustered expression on her face and unwilling speculation in her eyes that his question caused. “Want to join it together?”

“Does ‘not in your lifetime’ mean anything to you?”

He laughed. “So you’re not ready for that.”

“No!”

“Maybe next time then. Just think of how good it’d be, you and me, more of those mind-blowing kisses, added with-”

“Stop!”

He could see the pulse at her throat beating like a desperate little chick. She was trying so hard not to let him see he was getting to her, and for some reason, that softened him.

“I mean it,” she said, eyes dark, lips wet from where she’d nervously licked them. “Stop.”

Whether she admitted it or not-and he was far closer to the not-she wanted him. For now, that was enough. For now. “Stopping,” he said, and smiled.

“UH, KYLIE?”

She was in her office, swamped with paperwork and getting none of it done due to a particularly naughty daydream that involved, damn it, the mile-high club. With a sigh, she picked up the radio. “Go ahead, dispatch.”

“Have you looked at the phone lines lately?”

Kylie glanced over and saw all phone lines flashing wildly.

Ah, hell. Her mother had sneaked out again. “Thank you,” she said, feeling a headache coming on as she made her way to the lobby and the front desk.

“Kylie, Kylie!” Oddly enough, Daisy was there, waving at her, beaming from ear to ear, apparently utterly unconcerned about the phones. “You’ll never guess! I did it!”

Oh God. “You did…what exactly?”

“I got the call saying I did it. I mean, of course I did it, who wouldn’t think so?”

“Mom…what are you talking about?”

“I’m a nominee for Mother Of The Year! I sent in that essay, and the magazine picked their finalists from across the country, and I’m one of them!”

This was difficult to wrap her mind around. Her mother-whom Kylie took care of-was up for Mother Of The Year.

“Get ready, honey, because I’m going to win us that trip to Paris yet!”

“The phones, Mom. You can’t just-” With a sound of exasperation, she picked up the receiver and pushed line one. “Birmingham Airport.”

“Orange County Post. We’d like a quote from a Kylie Birmingham.”

Kylie looked at her mother as a bad feeling came over her. “About?”

“About the front-page article we printed on her mother being a national nominee for Mother Of The Year.”

With a wide smile, Daisy held up the newspaper. “See?” she whispered.

Yep, there it was, right on the front page for the whole world to see.

Our Own Daisy Birmingham!

National Mother Of The Year?

You Bet!

Kylie didn’t know whether to laugh or scream. “Hold on.” She hit line two. “Birmingham Airport.”

“This is Flora’s Florist. We have a delivery for a Daisy Birmingham.”

“What?”

“They’re from the retirement center where she volunteers as bingo manager. We just want to make sure someone is there to receive before we bring the arrangement over.”

Kylie sank to her mother’s chair and set her head down on the desk.

Daisy just smiled.

Kylie groaned.

“Hello?” said the florist. “Hello? Hello?”

WHEN KYLIE GOT UP the next morning, she’d convinced herself the publicity had died down. After all, her mother wasn’t a celebrity, Kylie wasn’t a celebrity and where they lived was little more than a one-horse town.

Why would anyone care about a silly little contest? Yes, today would be just fine. And indeed, when she got to work, the place was blessedly quiet.

Perfect.

Relieved, she went to her office and shut the door, determined to do something about the mountain of paperwork threatening to overtake her desk.

She worked through lunch, and was well on her way to having a deliriously good day due to lack of interruptions when Lou ambled in.

“You need money in the checking account,” her grandma announced. “Quite a bit of it.”

“A new lease is supposed to come through today. Some guy wants to park his two Learjets here for six months, and I’m just waiting for his call. Once that’s finalized, we’ll get a hefty deposit. Oh, and we sold a lot of fuel this week, so-”

“None of that is going to help you.”

Kylie frowned. “Why not?”

“Well, because I’m mailing the bills.” Lou lifted a shoulder. “So you’ll need to do something today. Okay, then, luvie…” She clapped her hands together. “Gotta run.”

It boggled the mind how quickly one old lady could destroy Kylie’s brain cells. “Maybe you can wait until next week to go to the post office.”

“Okay, dear. You’re the boss.”

Oh yeah, she had a headache now. A huge one. She watched Lou dance toward the door.

Suddenly Kylie realized the phones were flashing like crazy again. Damn it. With a sigh, she made her way to her mother’s desk. “Mom, I’ve told you, you can’t just tie up the phone like that!”

“Oh, I’m not the one doing it.” Daisy smiled sweetly. She leaned close. “The press is here,” she whispered. “They want to talk about what a great mom I am. Oh! And in an hour, the local television news is coming as well.”

“But the phones-”

“I know, isn’t it awful?” Daisy hit a few of the buttons, then shook her head. “Definitely, there’s something amiss. I tried to take care of it a while ago, but I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong…”

“A while ago…” Kylie let out a breath. She was going to blow up. Just poof, blow up. “Are you saying the phones are down, and have been for…a while?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Goodbye new client.

“So are you ready to talk to the press?” Daisy asked. “Maybe get your pic taken?”

“No!” Kylie pressed her fingers to her temples and turned in a slow circle, going still when she saw Wade standing there, smiling at her.

“Good afternoon,” he said. “Need some help?”

“Yeah, I need someone to shoot me and put me out of my misery.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and ignored the flutter in her tummy at just the sight of the man she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since their plane ride. Nothing an antacid wouldn’t cure.

“What are you doing?” her mother asked.

“Calling the phone service, which you might notice I have on auto dial.” She rolled her eyes when her mother just sniffed in irritation.

“I am not messing up the phones,” Daisy said. “The repair man told me the problem is on your roof.”

Or under it, Kylie thought crossly. Why was it so hard to be her? All she wanted was the airport running smoothly and good help to ensure that. She wanted to take care of Daisy and Lou. Simple. She’d be completely happy, just as her father had been. But somehow, it’d seemed easier when he’d done it.

“He said to check for a bird’s nest on the roof.”

That had been last week’s problem.

“Or a squirrel chewing the line.”

Which had happened the week before, but the line to the repair department was busy, which meant Kylie was on her own. “I’ll be on the roof,” she said, her mood not improving when Wade followed her outside. He looked good today, though she’d bite her tongue before admitting it. Having just come back from flying a charter, he had his aviator sunglasses shoved up on his head, a leather jacket tucked beneath his arm and a soda in his hand. He wore his pilot’s uniform-dark blue trousers and a stark white shirt with his logo over the breast that inexplicably made him look tall, dark and official.

Everything about him made her heart beat fast, and all she could think about was doing what he’d so brazenly suggested the other day-getting some. With him. In the air.

She had the feeling he would know exactly how to make her feel good, too. She’d probably, if her breathing problems from just looking at him were any indication, even have an actual orgasm. “Why are you following me?”

“I worked for the phone company one summer. Maybe I can help.”

She came to the back wall of hangar number one, where high above her was the phone box. There was already a ladder there, due to the problems she’d been having over the past few weeks, problems she now knew were directly related to her mother’s “help.” With a testing shake of the ladder, she started to climb.

“Why don’t you let me-”

“I’ve got it,” she said over her shoulder, and promptly forgot about Wade as she got to the top of the ladder and surveyed the phone equipment. Nothing obvious, no bird’s nest, no chewed wires from the squirrels. Climbing onto the roof, she sat and contemplated the situation. Basically, she had a phone system that didn’t work, she had a grandma who didn’t care about work and a secretary/mom who’d rather be in the paper and go to Paris than secure her future.