Jacqueline Diamond - Paris or Bust!

When she pulled back, she smiled. “Duty complete.”

“Duty?” He laughed. “You afraid of a simple kiss, Kylie?”

She looked away. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, fine!” She yanked her hands back. “But kissing you is never simple. It makes me…”

“What?” He put his hands on her hips, squeezing gently. “It makes you what?”

“It makes me…” The expression on her face assured him she was holding back.

Big surprise there.

But then the radio at her hip squawked. Daisy’s voice broke the mood. “Kylie Birmingham, you’re behind schedule. Get your tush up here and get dressed and spritzed up for the photo shoot.”

Kylie leaned her head back and studied the ceiling. “You know everyone at the airport can hear her talk to me like that,” she said to Wade.

“There’s nothing wrong with her loving you.”

“Yeah.” With the sigh of someone holding the weight of the world on her shoulders, she moved away.

“Going to get dressed and spritzed up?”

“Suppose so.”

He eyed her baseball cap and coveralls. “Do you even know how to do that?”

“Shut up, McKinnon. What?” she said when he surged to his feet and stopped her with a hand to her wrist.

“For the record?” he said quietly. “You scare me, too.”

KYLIE WENT to her office, and everyone waiting there had a bomb to drop. Daisy held up a fitted, flowery sundress. Lou held up a piece of mail and looked guilty and since the dress gave Kylie hives, she addressed her grandma first. “What have you done now?”

Lou smiled a bit guiltily. “Uh…maybe you’re too busy to go over this.”

“Spill.”

“You’re being audited.”

“Because?”

“Because your number was up? I don’t know.”

Kylie closed her eyes, but her mother shook her, then shoved the dress in her hands. “Get this on. We’ll deal with the audit after the photo shoot.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Lou said. “Wade said he’d take care of it.”

“Wade?” Kylie asked.

“Turns out he’s got an ex-girlfriend who works high up in the IRS. In fact, he’s probably talking to her right now.”

Why did that make her more grumpy? With a sigh, she started to strip. “Come near me with that thing,” she warned her mother as she hefted a curling iron, “and I’ll have to get mean.”

Daisy just shook her head, then came after her anyway.

Lou unzipped her makeup case, which was the size of a bowling ball bag.

“Oh, no,” Kylie said with a laugh, backing up. “No way.”

“Yes, way. You look like death warmed over. At least use blush.” Lou pulled out a bright red blush powder with a brush the size of Kylie’s head.

“Mom,” Kylie said, panicked.

Daisy sighed again. “Oh, leave the girl alone,” and then it was Lou’s turn to sigh.

“Fine. But don’t complain to me when you look horrid in the photos.” She proceeded to put two big red circles on her own cheeks. Then she pulled out a siren-red lipstick, carefully and thoroughly lining her lips before kissing the air and smiling proudly. “See? I look great. You should really let me help you.”

“No, thanks.”

Lou sniffed.

Kylie could deal with Lou’s attitude, and she’d deal with Daisy’s, too. She could deal with shoving herself into a long, thin, spaghetti-strapped sundress, and even with applying a little mascara. She could deal with being overworked and underpaid, and she could deal with an audit.

But when she was all done dolling herself up, when she’d walked out of her office, when Wade had turned toward her, dropping his jaw and the file he held, she realized the one thing she couldn’t deal with.

The way he looked at her as though she was pretty. As though she was hot.

Her knees wobbled, infuriating her. Yep, she could deal with just about anything…except him.

WADE STOOD in the lobby, stunned into silence by the vision heading toward him. She wore a long, flowery sundress that hugged her curves and a tough-girl grimace on her lips. Attitude screamed with every swing of her hips. Her eyes blared irritation and impatience, and when they landed on him, uncertainty was added to the mix. Her lips shined with some light glossy color he wanted to eat right off, her hair lay gently around her face, framing the bite-me expression he’d come to count on.

And that body…he’d never really realized how mouthwatering it was.

He wanted to devour her.

An equally made-up Daisy followed Kylie toward where the magazine photographers had set up at the far end of the lobby. Being a slow business day, with no scheduled incoming flights, every employee in the place stood around, ogling their boss.

Wade understood, because he stood there, too, his own news completely forgotten, watching the photographer try to coax a natural smile out of Kylie. She was as stiff as a board, and though he doubted anyone else saw past her orneriness, he did. She felt uncomfortable in the limelight, and probably would have given her last penny to get out of it.

Feeling an unexpected surge of sympathy, he moved in close. “Excuse me,” he said, pushing his way through. “Got a message for Kylie. Excuse me.”

She visibly braced herself, most likely waiting for a comment on her looks, but she was going to be disappointed. He didn’t need the makeup and fancy clothes to see that she was the sexiest, most hauntingly beautiful, most amazing woman he’d ever met. Undoubtedly, he could see the real Kylie far better in her everyday clothes, but this was a nice change. Real nice. “I have something that just might put a genuine smile on your face,” he said in her ear.

“Today nothing could put a real smile on my face.”

He let his lips brush the sensitive skin beneath her ear, his entire body tightening when she shivered. “Really?” he wondered. “How about the audit is indefinitely postponed?”

Pulling back, she narrowed her eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Where’s my smile?”

“You probably agreed to sleep with her.”

He lifted a brow. “Would that bother you?”

“Not in the least.”

He just looked at her, and she let out a snort. “Okay, yes, it’d bother me. Happy?”

“Oh yeah.” He stroked her jaw. “But it was just a phone call, Kylie.” He stepped back just as she let out the genuine smile he’d wanted to see, and the photographer snapped the shutter.

Wade leaned in one more time. “And all you have to do for me in return? Smile like that. At me.”

Then he wisely vanished before she could smack him.

TWO NIGHTS LATER Kylie was alone, once again buried in engine work on a customer’s plane. She stood on a ladder, stretched out, trying to reach a particularly unreachable bolt.

Behind her, the radio was turned up as high as it could go so she couldn’t think for a change.

Normally this would fulfill her, as she loved nothing more than a late night by herself buried in an airplane.

But normal no longer applied to her life. She’d had to charge the fuel for their tanks this morning, because she hadn’t had enough money in the accounts to cover the purchase. The new client had never materialized, and though she had a lead on two more, if they didn’t call soon, it might be too late.

It was entirely possible she was going to have to sell the airport. That burned. But she finally had to admit her love for the place wasn’t enough. It needed more than she could give.

Wade could give it. She’d read his proposal, she knew what he planned. With his marketing savvy and fancy connections, he’d have this place hopping in no time.

Damn him.

She didn’t begrudge him his success, she just wanted it for herself, too. Did that make her a bad person? Probably.

He hadn’t kissed her again.

Her fault. She didn’t want more kisses. Hell, she could hardly concentrate now with the power of the last one still messing with her head.

Damn it, she couldn’t reach the bolt. Wriggling just to the point of no return on the ladder, she realized she had the wrong size wrench. Of course she did.

Suddenly the right size appeared at her hip, extended to her by no other than the tall, dark, enigmatic man she’d been thinking about.

“Hey.” He shot her a crooked grin that destroyed her from the inside out. “Need any help?”

Oh, boy. Loaded question. Yes, she needed help easing the tension strung tight inside her. Yes, he could ease that tension with just a touch, a kiss. And no, she wouldn’t let him. “I’m fine.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you make everything so damn difficult. Why can’t you admit, just once in a while, it’s okay to lean on someone?”

“I don’t need-”

“I know.” He tossed up his hands, then shoved his hands through his short, spiky hair. “You don’t need anyone. Well, I think that’s stupid.”

She blinked. “Are you calling me stupid?”

He stared at her. “How can you be so smart, driven and beautiful, and yet so absolutely pig-headed at the same time?”

“I- You think I’m smart and driven?”

“Maybe,” he said, eyes still flashing. “And maybe I also think you’re sexy as hell, too.”

She just stared at him, because he’d done what few had-stunned her.

“If you’d only take a single solitary breath from the whirlwind that is your life,” he said, knocking the air from her lungs by hauling her off the ladder. “You’d see that not everything is about work, or about taking care of someone.” Squeezing her hips, he held her still before him. “It’s about relationships. Like ours.”

While she gaped at that, he stepped back and pointed at her. “And I don’t need taking care of, so you can drop that excuse right now. I’m not one of the needy you collect. Hell, I’m even downright easy. I put the toilet seat down, the cap back on the toothpaste and believe it or not, I can even dress myself.” He lifted his arms out to exhibit that fact.

She could only stare at him. “There’s no us.”

“You don’t think so?”

She let out a long breath. “Even if there was…what does it mean?”

“Why don’t you come to my place and find out? Tomorrow night.”

“That’s a really bad idea. What would we do?”

“Tell you what, babe.” He ran a finger over the grease spot on her cheek, and her heart fluttered. “You can decide when you get there.”

WADE SET UP KYLIE’S seduction carefully. Food was key, Kylie loved food, the junkier the better. He’d ordered an extra large, extra loaded pizza, and put on a loud rock CD to go alongside the food. He had candles, too, lots of them. Probably not her style, but he needed something to keep her off balance. Off balance, she was uncertain and adorable.

Plus, he figured he had a better shot that way.

He hadn’t even been sure she’d come, so when he heard her arrive, he took a deep breath and moved to the window to be certain it was her. Who else could it be? She drove an ancient old Jeep that she’d rebuilt herself, and far before it appeared in front of his house, he heard it clunking up the street.

Looking harassed, a bit tired and more than a little ready to rumble, she stalked up the driveway, holding a folded newspaper like a weapon.

He opened the door just as she leaned forward to knock, and for whatever reason, his quick appearance seemed to have startled her into a tumble.

Right into his arms.

“Well, hello,” he said, enjoying the feel of her in his hands. “That step’s a doozy, huh?”

In his arms she never failed to do a very ego-satisfying melt, which he could unequivocally say went both ways. He’d been around the block a few times in his life, and no one had ever created this combustive sexual tension within him. Sex with Kylie would be mind-blowing, toe-curling, heart-pounding. He just knew it.

“Back off,” she told him. “You’re going to get dirty.” Pulling away, she tugged at the straps of her overalls. She wasn’t kidding about getting dirty, with the smudges all down the front of her and on the tip of her nose, she’d obviously been working on an airplane. She wore her favorite cap over her mop of hair, and the usual scowl.

But beneath it was a touching amount of nerves and an unsureness that broke his heart. “Come inside.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not dressed for that.”

“Then why are you here?”

She lifted the newspaper. “Because of this.”

“Well, come in if you’re going to hit me with it.”

“Fine.” She stepped inside. “Nice place,” she said in such a begrudging way he had to laugh.

“Thanks. I think.”

She looked around at the cabin-style house with the high vaulted wood-beam ceilings, at the wood-planked floors covered here and there with throw rugs, at the large but comfortable furniture, and then narrowed in on the music and candles. “What are you up to?”