Flight (13 page)

Ryle found a comfortable area to sit down, and took out his
iPad. He last checked his email a day ago and the inbox was already filled with a few dozen new messages. He spent some time answering all the emails and looking over some sketches and plans that were sent to him for approval.

After a couple of hours, he took a break and went to
Charlie’s office.

She seemed engrossed in her work. He stopped at the open doorway of her office and took several minutes to study her. He liked looking at her; watching her every expression. At the moment, she was reading something on her computer, and she was so focused that she wasn’t even aware of his presence.

Deciding not to interrupt her, he was turning to go when she called him.

“
Hey, did you want to get going?” She asked.

“
No, take your time.” He turned back to answer her.

“
Actually, I’m done. I just have to send it and we can go.”

“
All right.” He came into her office to sit down on the leather sofa beside the door; patiently waiting for her to finish.

“
There. Done.” She murmured, shutting down her computer and standing up. “I’m ready to leave if you are.”

“
Hey, what’s your hurry?” He caught hold of her hand as she walked by him. With a gentle tug, he pulled her down onto his lap.

“
Ryle!” She gasped softly. “People will see.”

“
Who?”

“
Other people.”

Ryle didn’t know why he felt such an urge to claim her as his. It was almost like a primal instinct. He wanted people to know she belonged to him; he wanted people to know she was not available. But he also respected her independence. She was highly respected at PAL, and he didn’t want to upset the balance she had set for herself at work. Yet at the same time, he didn’t want to stand back and pretend there was nothing going on. 

“There’s no one here.” He murmured, kissing the side of her neck.

“
Leo is here.”

“
Who?”

“
Leo Moretti, one of the engineers on my team.” She elaborated.

“
Yeah?” He said uninterestedly, still kissing her.

“
Ryle,” She protested half-heartedly.

“
Kiss me and I’ll let you go.”

She did it eagerly, putting her arm around his neck and kissing him. She tasted sweet, and he nudged her mouth open for a deeper taste. He ran his hands up her arms, her skin felt silky smooth under his hands and he wanted more. Much more. He was seriously tempted to push her down on the sofa and take her right there, glass office and security cameras be damned.

“Damn,” He muttered, breathing heavily as he held her away from him. His pants were uncomfortably tight. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.”

“
Hmm?” Charlie murmured, her eyes slightly glazed.

Ryle had to look away from her before he was tempted to continue where they left off.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.”

They made it back to his car without an incident. But once inside, he wanted to grab her and kiss her again. It took all of his self-control to stop himself. He was disgusted with himself; when
Charlie was around he had to rein in his self-control. He wasn’t exactly teasing when he told her he couldn’t think of anything else other than to screw her senseless whenever she was near him.

“
Why don’t we go back to my place and spend the evening there?” He suggested as they left the parking lot.

“
I can’t.” Charlie said regretfully.

He looked at her.

“I’m having dinner with my parents.”

“
Is this a weekly thing?”

“
Yes. Sundays are our standing family dinner.” She looked at him. “You’re welcome to join us.” She added, looking at him almost hopefully.

He was tempted.
“Thanks, but I don’t want to intrude on your family time.”

“
Not at all. My friends usually come to these dinners. And my parents always have some friends over too. My mom always makes enough food to feed an army.”

He looked her.
“Do you want me to come?”

“
Yes.” She said, then added, “That is, if you want to. It’s casual and um…”

He stopped at a red light and leaned over to kiss her.
“Thanks for inviting me.”

She smiled.
“You’re welcome.”

Charlie
didn’t know why she was so nervous. It was not the first time she invited someone from work to these family dinners. In the past, she had brought home several out-of-town co-workers. Her mom was always warm and gracious. But although she told her mom she was bringing someone from work, she knew this time it was different. Very different.

A couple of her parents’ friends also joined them for dinner.
Charlie had simply introduced Ryle as her friend from work; she could hardly introduce him as anything else. After all, they haven’t even gone on a date yet. And as far as her parents knew, she was still dating Jeff.

“
So, Ryle, what do you do at PAL?” Her dad asked interestedly.

“
I work with the cleanup crew.” Ryle said.

“
Charlotte’s boyfriend also works at the plant.” Her mom said, telling her friends proudly. “He’s an engineer there. Jeff Hathaway, maybe you know him too?” Her mom added.

“
Yes. I’ve worked for his team.” Ryle said.

Charlie
knew her mom meant well, but she wished her mom didn’t mention Jeff.

“
My dad used to work at PAL too.” She told Ryle, hoping to direct the conversation away from the subject of Jeff. “He was a flight test pilot.”

“
That’s must be an exciting job.” Ryle commented,

“
Yes.” John Brison said and started describing it in detail.

“
Oh, John, I’m sure our guests are not interested in all that technology talk.” Eva said lightly.

“
Not at all, Eva; John’s flight test stories are always interesting.” Mr. Holton reassured her.

“
I used to take Charlie into work with me.”

“
Is that how Charlotte got interested in aviation?” Mrs. Holton asked.

“
Yes.” John said and continued with his flying stories.

Charlie
looked toward Ryle and found him listening to her dad.

After dinner,
Charlie helped her mother clear the table and stacked the dishes into the dishwasher.

It was still early when she and Ryle left to go back to her apartment.

“I’m sorry.” She told Ryle as they walked towards the garage. “I hope dinner wasn’t too boring.”

“
It wasn’t boring; I enjoyed your dad’s stories.” He grinned. “Especially that one about him teaching you how to fly.”

She smiled.
“I’m glad you find it so amusing.”

“
Yeah. It was a good dinner, except for one thing.” He added.

She grimaced, having an idea what he meant.

“Your parents still think you’re dating Hathaway?”

“
It’s a long story.”

He seemed to understand her evasive answer and didn’t try to press her.

She murmured as they stopped in front of her door. She unlocked the door and turned to him. “Would you like to come in?”

“
You know the answer to that.” Ryle said. “And I would, except your parents are watching.”

She didn’t have to turn to see that her mom and dad were still standing by the porch where they had said goodnight to their guests.

“I know.” She murmured, trying to temp down her disappointment.

“I should get going, and give you a chance to rest; I didn’t let you sleep much last night.” He said lightly.

She had to suppress a flush of pleasure.
“Er…yeah.”

“
I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“
Yes.”

He looked down at her mouth for a long moment.
“Goodnight.”

“
Goodnight.” She whispered, feeling as if he had kissed her.

Charlie
woke up before dawn and couldn’t get back to sleep. For some time she laid in bed, remembering yesterday morning and the contentment she felt waking up in Ryle’s arms. This morning, the bed seemed cold without his hard body there. With a sigh, she got up, showered and dressed.

“
Good morning, Mom, Dad,”

“
Good morning darling, you’re very early today.”

“
Yes, I thought I’ll go to work earlier.” She answered, helping herself to a cup of coffee.

“
Breakfast is coming up in a few minutes.”

“
Thanks, Mom, but I’ll grab something from the cafeteria after my workout.”

“
Oh, okay, darling.”

It was still very early when she arrived at work. Parking her motorcycle, she glanced at Ryle’s parking spot, noting that it was still empty. She suppressed a sigh of disappointment and went inside.

She was on her third lap when Ryle arrived at the running tracks. Today, he wore a white T-shirt and steel grey shorts. Despite the excess of Saturday night, she felt desire spiraled in her lower stomach just at the sight of him. He smiled at her in greeting, his eyes frankly caressing as they ran over her.

Charlie
gave him a small smile and continued on without stopping as she jogged past him. He fell into steps beside her, matching her shorter gait. They jogged together for several laps until many more people arrived. Without becoming obvious that they were jogging together, it was harder to keep together in the crowd. After a couple of more laps, Charlie left and went to get some water.

At the water cooler, she took off her
earbuds and chatted with several others as they got water. She filled her water bottle and drank slowly, keeping her eyes surreptitiously on Ryle.

“
See you later, Charlie.” Several of the joggers said as they left the water cooler.

“
Later, guys.” She refilled her water bottle and with one last look toward Ryle, she made her way towards the change rooms.

She was almost at the bottom of the metal stairs when she heard footsteps on the level above. She glanced up and saw Ryle coming towards her.

“Ryle!” She gasped softly when he reached her and immediately backed her against the nook underneath the staircase. “Someone’s going to see us.” Her protest was lost against his mouth.

His body pressed her against the cold hard metal as he kissed her hungrily. She could feel the heat of his body, and the faintly musky scent of his sweat mixed with clean soap. It reminded her of their night at her apartment, and it aroused her senses to a fever pitch. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to tear his clothes off and make love with him right there.
She made no protest as his hand slipped inside her T-shirt to cup her breasts through her bra.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs drew her from her desire induced haze. She had to mentally shake herself and pushed Ryle away. He sighed and let her go. She scrambled out of the nook and straightened her T-shirt.

Charlie and Ryle were standing a couple of yards away from each other when the people reached the bottom of the stairs. They walked by on their way to the change rooms. She turned and followed them without waiting for Ryle.

“
Hey,” Ryle’s long stride easily caught up with her, “Did you have breakfast?”

“
No.” She answered without breaking stride.

“
I’ll meet you at the cafeteria?” He suggested.