Sweet Talkin' Scoundrel (11 page)

Chapter 18

Kinley

“Do you have
the list?” Katherine asked me for the fifth time that morning. Although, with my head spinning from the notion of seeing Dax, it was probably a good thing she kept reminding me.

I pulled it out of my coat pocket. The distant sound of the plane coming in for a landing caused the paper to slip from my fingers and flutter to the ground. I stooped down to pick it up and caught a tiny, annoyed tap of Katherine’s shoe on my way up. She seemed in an especially uptight mood, which, considering her usual demeanor, was really saying something.

“Sorry,” I blurted as I showed her I had a tighter grip on the list. I stuck it in my pocket.

Katherine picked up her coffee cup and carried it to the sink. “Becky hasn’t stopped talking about Saturday’s slumber party and, in particular, the mummy’s curse. By the way, I realized this morning that you haven’t had a day off. Why don’t you modify tomorrow’s lessons and give Becky some independent assignments. Ryan is coming in the morning to mow lawns and trim hedges. You can catch a ride back to King’s Beach. Maybe do some shopping or see a movie. Then Dax can bring you to the island in the afternoon when he comes back to pick up Ryan.”

Her tone was much more convivial than usual. Her light and cheery tone, coupled with the offer of a free day, made it feel as if I was being buttered up for something.

“That sounds great,” I said, hesitantly. I hadn’t expected a day off, but it sounded pretty darn wonderful. Of course my mind went right to Dax and the thought of spending all day in King’s Beach with him.

Katherine walked back to the table where I was finishing a muffin.

Even though she’d finished her coffee, she sat down across from me. She laced her fingers and placed them in her lap. I swallowed hard to get the last piece of muffin down. It seemed, the other shoe was going to drop. I thought the first part of our little visit was just a bit too peaches and cream. From her expression, which was neither cheery nor dark, it was impossible to predict which direction she was headed. But then, I could rarely predict what Katherine was going to say or do.

“So, it seems, you’ve been all over the world, but you never truly had a home.” The topic had come out of nowhere. It was the first time she’d asked me about my childhood since the job interview.

“I had a home. It was wherever my parents were.”

The answer stopped her short. It was obvious she hadn’t expected it. As she came up with the next conversation piece, I had trouble keeping my mind at the kitchen table. It was desperately trying to race out the front door and down to the runway.

“But wouldn’t you enjoy having a wonderful home?” She lifted her hands. “Like the manor? A grand house with a big enough budget to fill it and everything you could ever want.”

I knew I was wearing my stunned deer expression, but she’d caught me completely off guard. “I’m sure never having money problems makes life a lot simpler, but I think everyone has a different definition of wealth. I’m not sure a grand home would make me happy.”

Katherine’s mouth pursed and then untwisted. She wasn’t the least bit impressed with my answer. This was my second week on the island. Even though the first week had been what I considered a success, I wondered if I’d already overstayed my welcome. I was not getting good vibes from the boss.

After a chilly moment of silence, Katherine released a sigh and pushed up from the chair. “I guess we’ll have to work on that then. You should head out to the runway. I think James has landed.”

I was like a kid being told by the principal that detention was over. I jumped out of the chair so fast it scraped the floor and earned an admonishing glower from the
principal
.

“Kinley.” I’d almost made good on my escape when Katherine’s sharp tone sent my shoulders up around my ears.

I stopped and turned back to her, knowing that she always expected complete attention.

“Yes?”

“James possesses that charm and appeal that many women find hard to resist.”

My heart was slowly sinking to my knees as I waited for what I was sure would be my verbal pink slip. As hard as I’d worked to hide it, she’d somehow figured out what was going on. Or, maybe it was because Dax always ended up sleeping with the tutor. Maybe it was a game of his. That heartbreaking possibility made my eyes ache with the threat of tears. Not wanting Katherine to see me cry, I blinked them away.

“I suppose he is charming in a rakish sort of way,” I said, trying hard to sound indifferent.

“Exactly. I take comfort in knowing that you are far too high-minded to get lured in by him. He sees so many different women, and he never thinks twice about breaking a heart.”

I stared at her with a hundred responses I was dying to hurl at her, but every one of them would have gotten me fired. I smiled politely and headed out the door.

Once I got to the lawn, I picked up my pace. During the morning’s lessons, I’d been giddy with the idea of seeing Dax. Errands had, by far, become the best part of the job. But as I hiked the path to the runway, my stomach ached and my feet felt heavy.

Dax flashed me a white smile as he waited for me by the plane. I walked fast and purposeful hoping my pace would keep the tears back. But the second his smile faded and worry crossed his face, I broke into sobs and a full run.

My first instinct was to jump into the comfort of his arms, but I needed to know. Even though his arms circled me, I braced my hands against his chest to keep him back.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just need to know something and answer honestly because I’ll know if you’re lying.” I stopped. “That’s a lie. I’m not good at reading people, especially if there’s something there I don’t want to read because it will hurt like hell to read it.”

“Whoa there, Rabbit. You’re not making a lick of sense. Just ask me.” He pushed the brim of his hat back. The sun lit up his handsome face making my task even harder.

“Is this a game for you? Sleep with the tutor and see how quickly you can get her kicked off the island?”

He stared at me as if I’d grown a third eye in the middle of my forehead. “What the hell are you talking about? Wait. I know. My wonderful step-monster got to you.”

I swallowed back the ache in my throat. His response, his shock at my question, helped put me a little more at ease. “She had some less than flattering things to say about you, but I don’t care about that. I just need to know I’m not being used as a pawn to fuel the fire between you. I just need to know—”

He kissed me before I could finish. Even as I told myself I should pull away and get a solid answer, I felt myself melting into his arms. His kiss was tender and deep. It seemed he was trying to convince me that he cared using his kisses instead of his words. And it was working.

I was in a dreamy haze by the time he lifted his mouth from mine. I opened my eyes and peered up into his face. His eyes were deep green with an intensity that made my chest feel as if a weight pressed down on it. “Kinley, you’re not a pawn or part of a game. Not for me. I’ve had nothing to do with Becky’s teachers getting fired. That’s all Katherine and Marcus’s doing.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Does Katherine know about us?”

“I haven’t said anything. I acted very casual during our conversation this morning. I don’t want to lose this job.” I added before he could ask me to leave the island.

He sighed in surrender. “I know. Doesn’t make me happy, but I understand.” We walked to the passenger side of the plane. Before I climbed inside, he pulled me toward him and kissed me again. “I never stop thinking about you, Kinley. It’s not a game. I would never hurt you.”

His words and the way he looked at me as he spoke made my eyes burn with tears.

Dax leaned forward and kissed my nose as it started to twitch. “I love the way this nose wiggles. I love the way you make me laugh. I love the way you find good in everybody.” He leaned his head to the side and glanced down at my body. “I love the way your ass looks in jeans.”

My eyes smiled through the tears.

He shrugged. “Just keeping things honest.” He took hold of my face and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Mostly, I love that you walked into my life. You’re making me rethink my whole philosophy. All this time, I was convinced I was happy. I had everything I needed, a business, my own place, time to surf and—”

He stopped at the last part of the list.

“And women?” I finished for him.

“Yes, but not the right woman. Now she’s here, and she’s turned the whole fucking list upside down.” He wrapped his hand around mine. “Kinley, don’t let Katherine into your head. She’ll turn you against me.”

“Why would she do that?”

Dax glanced in the direction of the manor. The massive chimney was the only part of the house visible from the runway. “It’s complicated. Mostly, it’s because she hates me. Just promise me you won’t let her turn you against me. I do not want to lose you.”

“I promise.”

Chapter 19

Dax

Kinley bunched up
her shoulders and pulled her coat tighter. “It figures my day off would be a clammy, ugly day.”

I lowered Tero through the clouds only to coast through a fog that was nearly as opaque as the clouds. The King’s Beach runway was a black stripe, splitting the landscape neatly in half.

Kinley had spent most of the flight telling me about a village she’d lived in where the neighbors had a pet orangutan that would walk with her to the local school. He even liked to carry her books on his head. The experiences she’d had in her short life had been numerous and varied. Yet she was still grounded and not the least bit jaded. I loved that about her. She’d been all over the world and seen four of the seven wonders, but she still got excited about my mention of a small, rundown bakery at the end of King’s Beach that served great cinnamon rolls. She was different. It was a good different.

“I don’t want to be presumptuous,” she spoke over the rumble of the engine, “but I was hoping you’d have a spare hour or two in your day to hang out.”

“Jeez, Rabbit, I’d love to hang with you, but I’ve got a full schedule today.”

She slouched down lower in her seat. “Oh. I see. No problem. I’ll find plenty to keep me busy.”

Her bottom lip stuck out just a little farther than usual.

“See, you do like me,” I said.

“Oh shut up. I’m just disappointed. But who knows, maybe I’ll find someone else to talk to while I’m in King’s Beach. Where do your surfer friends hang out? Surfers are always hot.”

“Is that right?”

“Yep. Sun-bleached hair. Suntanned skin. That white cream they wear on their noses. All hot stuff.”

“Then I guess I better clear my schedule and smear some Bullfrog on my nose.”

She popped up higher in her seat. “You’d do that for me?”

“Already did.”

“You did? When?”

“Yesterday, after you told me you had the day off.”

“Great.” She sat back with a satisfied smile. “Guess you sort of like me too.”

Swirls of fog rolled off Tero’s windshield as we flew down the runway and brought Tero to a crawl. I turned the nose of the plane around, and we rolled back to the hangar.

I walked around to the passenger side of the plane, opened the door and Kinley dropped into my arms. I kissed her. “I need to write some things in my logbook, then we can decide how to spend the day.” I led her toward the hangar and used my key to get in the side door.

“Does Tero sleep in here at night?”

“Yep, this is his bedroom.” I switched on the light in the small office I’d set up for myself and began filling out my logbook. Kinley wandered out into the hangar to explore.

“Helloo!” she called out and waited for her voice to echo back. She popped her head into the room. “I expected a better echo.”

“Sorry to disappoint. There are too many gaps between the panels.” I finished logging the hours and headed into the hangar. Kinley was strolling down the long workbench running along the side of the building. She stopped at the picture I had nailed to the wall above my workbench.

I walked up behind and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her head. She pointed up at the photo. “Is that you in front of the helicopter?”

“What gave it away? The roguish grin? I was about the same age Becky is now.” I stared up at the photo. It was one of those pictures that had captured the moment so perfectly, it felt as if I was reliving that day every time I looked at it.

“So the man next to you is Jack, your adopted dad? Becky’s father?”

“Yep. That abandoned helicopter on Wildthorne’s runway was his favorite
toy
. He taught me to fly the thing when I was only ten. I think that’s where I got the itch to become a pilot.”

“He was handsome. But then I can’t imagine Katherine with anyone who wasn’t tall and posture perfect.” She leaned farther over the bench, seemingly not realizing that as she did, her bottom pushed against me. My cock reacted instantly.

“You know he has a bit of a mischievous grin just like you. I can see a resemblance.” She spun around. I lowered my arms, hoping it would help relieve the ache that had started by touching her.

I peered up at the picture. I’d never really noticed it before, but Kinley was right. There was a family resemblance. “Jack had a dry sense of humor. He loved to play pranks on people. When I was fifteen, I’d somehow decided it was cool to smoke cigarettes like some of the high school kids. Of course, Katherine was always watching me with her eagle eye to make sure I wasn’t breaking any of her rules, so I had to sneak off to the other side of the island to light up. There was this massive boulder that’s concave from erosion. It’s almost a shallow cave. That was where I’d sit to puff on my smokes and try to convince myself I was enjoying it. It wasn’t working, by the way.”

“Yeah, tried it once and threw up.”

“So, I’m sitting there puffing away, and Jack jumps out from behind the rock in this creepy gorilla mask. Practically swallowed the cigarette. But it worked. Didn’t light up again.”

Kinley covered her laugh with her hand. “Wish someone had filmed that.” She glanced back at the picture. “What an odd couple they must have made, Katherine and Jack, that is.”

“Definitely a mismatch. I think it was arranged between the two families. Katherine came from some important east coast family with big ties to politicians and every other person of power. Jack sort of bit the bullet and married her for the family’s status in society. I never saw much love between them. Mostly because Katherine is devoid of that particular emotion. Let’s change topics. It’s your day off. What do you want to do?”

Kinley walked next to the bench, running her fingers along the edge of it. She spun around with a lopsided smile.

“What has you grinning like that, Rabbit?” I reached her, and, as usual, I had to touch her. It was an unbreakable habit that I had no intention of ever breaking. I took hold of her hand.

She looked around before answering. “I was just thinking that I’ve never had sex in an airplane hangar.”

“Is that right?”

She leaned back against the bench and crossed her arms. “Uh, I think the proper response here would have been—‘gee whiz, me neither’.”

I shook my head. “Never used the phrase gee whiz in my life.”

“How about the ‘me neither’ part? Wait,” she continued. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“That’s probably for the best. But in my defense, I’ve spent thousands of hours inside an airplane hangar. Whereas you have probably only spent—” I waited for her to fill in the blank.

She cast a quick glance at the clock on the wall. “Ten minutes?”

“I think I’ve made my case.” I unzipped her coat. “Now let’s make sure the next time you’re asked, you can proudly boast that you have had sex in an airplane hangar.”

I pushed the coat off her shoulders. A shiver pulsed through her that I would have loved to take credit for. But I was sure it was from the cold. “Probably should just get these jeans off and leave the sweater on.”

Kinley sat on an oil drum and took off her boots. “Think my big socks are staying too.” She pushed down her jeans but left on her lavender panties. They were no more than a tiny triangle of fabric held up with two thin straps. She pretended to be shy as she lifted her sweater up just enough to expose them completely.

“Holy shit, those panties are going to keep me up at night.”

“Thought they might. I’ve sort of been saving them for just this kind of occasion.”

“You mean sex in an airplane hangar?”

“Well, I was thinking a day off with you, but yep, the hangar thing works too.” She started to roll off the panties.

“Leave them on.”

Her mouth tilted up on one side, revealing only one deep dimple. My pulse pounded as she looked coyly up at me through her lashes and then, in complete contrast to her dimples and shy smile, she turned around to show me the thin lavender string of the thong. The sight of her amazing ass split into two perfect white ass cheeks by the line of purple sent me across the cement floor.

I stood behind her back and wrapped my arms around her, digging my hands under her sweater to touch her bare skin. I kissed her ear. “Rabbit, everything about you is fucking intoxicating.”

I spun her in my arms and kissed her as I carried her to my work table. I didn’t pull my mouth from hers as I swept my arm across the table, sending my tools into a disheveled pile at the end.

I took hold of her waist and hoisted her onto the table. A chirp of surprise popped from her lips as her bottom hit the cold surface. She leaned her hands back to brace herself. Her blue eyes swept over me from head to toe as she bent her knees and lifted her feet up to the table’s edge.

I pushed off my shoes and pants while she gave me an erotic fucking show, dropping her knees wide open and then closing them just to open them again. I picked up my jeans and fished for the condom.

She sat up, looking a little disappointed. “Aren’t you going to take off your shirt?”

“You still have yours on.”

“That’s because it’s cold in here, but—” She motioned her finger up and down telling me to take it off. “If you’re going to stand between my legs, I want you naked.” She leaned back again and parted her knees. “It makes my most important parts very hot.”

“Well, in the interest of heating things up . . .” I took off my shirt and held out my arms. My cock was like a compass pointing north. “Will this do?”

“Oh yes, that will do.”

I pushed myself between her legs and reached around her ass to scoot her forward. She wrapped her long legs around me and leaned back on her hands.

“Oh Dax,” she said on a whisper that floated straight into my heart.

I moved aside the tiny lavender triangle and pushed inside of her.