“Hit you with a brick,” Romeo corrected before he could stop himself.
Doc’s eyebrows arched over the frames of his sunglasses.
“Can you blame me?” Romeo tossed his hands in the air. “One second you’re oozing your Montana mountain man charm all over Mia. The next you’re trying to talk our lawyer into giving you another chance for a lap dance. Camilla D’ Angelo strikes me as a woman who can smell the one-night stand on you. But Mia? No.” He shook his head forcefully. “She’s different. If you’re not serious about wanting to start something real with her, you should keep your dirty mitts off her and aim your swagger elsewhere. I thought you understood that. I mean, isn’t that exactly what you were giving me shit for when you stopped by her room and found us together?”
“Hell yes, it is.” Doc nodded. Then he went mute for a full five seconds. When he finally spoke, Romeo’s stomach jumped into his throat like he’d flown through an air pocket and experienced a momentary freefall. “And what if I was serious about starting something real with her?”
Romeo hoped the noise around the airport covered up the hoarseness of his voice. “Are you?”
“Maybe.” Doc hitched one big shoulder. “I mean, what’s not to like? She’s smart and surprisingly funny and she’s the kind of pretty that sneaks up on you.”
Romeo experienced a flash of irritation. “She’s pretty. Period. And those eyes of hers are beyond pretty. They’re beautiful.”
For a long moment, Doc regarded him silently. Then he nodded. “You know what? You’re right. She does have beautiful eyes. The kind of eyes a guy could spend a lifetime gazing into.”
Before Romeo could sputter a response, Doc pushed past him and opened the copilot’s door. A second later, the big man hopped inside the plane, leaving Romeo standing on the tarmac with his mouth hanging open.
What the fuck did I just do? he demanded of the universe.
It wasn’t the universe that answered him. It was that small, annoying voice that lived in his head.
You just convinced Tall, Tan, and Tough Guy to get serious about Mia. Just when Romeo thought the voice was finished, it added, You really are a dumbass.
His eyes scanned the airport for a spare brick. When none could be found, he made his way around the propeller and opened the pilot-side door.
Climbing into the Otter, he saw Doc was already buckled in with his headset on. But Doc pulled down his sunglasses so Romeo could bear full witness to the wink he added to his cocky, shit-eating grin.
Doc and Mia might be perfect for each other, Romeo thought hotly, but that won’t stop me from kicking the bastard out of the plane over the Straits of Florida.
Chapter 4
11:38 AM...
Mia wasn’t crazy about flying.
But it was obvious Camilla D’ Angelo hated it.
The two women sat across the aisle from each other, behind the bulkhead separating the fuselage from the cockpit. And from the corner of her eye, Mia watched the lawyer’s bloodred nails dig into the leather of her seat cushion when the Otter hit a patch of turbulence and bounced, the engine revving and filling the plane with a wall of sound before quickly leveling out.
Even after they flew into calm air, Cami didn’t loosen her death grip on the seat, and Mia experienced a spurt of anxiety just looking at the woman.
She knew why she wasn’t a big fan of air travel. It was the lack of control. The having to trust someone else to get her from point A to point B.
Although, she didn’t mind flying when Romeo was the pilot. He was just so...capable. One of those men who could be dropped naked into the middle of a jungle with nothing but a bundle of twine and a Bowie knife, and in two weeks he’d build a small city complete with indoor plumbing and HVAC.
She was momentarily distracted by the thought of Romeo naked and swinging on a vine through the jungle Tarzan-style before she forced her mind back on track.
What was my point?
Oh, right. That I don’t mind flying with Romeo because he can handle anything.
She’d once called him a jack-of-all-trades, but he’d just laughed and said, “More like a jackoff-of-all-trades.”
Despite his many accomplishments, Romeo was surprisingly self-deprecating.
Leaning over the aisle, she strained her vocal cords above the low hum of the engine. “Don’t worry. Romeo is the best pilot you could hope for. One time, he flew us through a thunderstorm so big it was nearly a tropical depression. Landed us in the wave-filled lagoon on Wayfarer Island and motored up to the beach like it was just another sunny Sunday afternoon.”
Cami’s face was blanched of color, making the rouge she’d swiped across her high cheekbones stand out garishly. Through clenched teeth, she admitted, “My sister died in a plane crash last year. Ever since, I break out in a cold sweat the second the wheels go up.”
“I’m so sorry about your sister,” Mia said automatically, although she knew from experience that the words never did any justice to the unbearable weight of a loved one’s death. “I lost a sibling too. My little brother.” Her voice was hoarser than usual because she still had trouble saying the words out loud. “Ten years ago.”
Cami pushed her sunglasses onto her head, and Mia saw the woman’s dark eyes were overly bright. “Everyone says the pain fades with time.”
Mia snorted. “Everyone lies.” When Cami blinked at her, she made a face of horror when she realized what she’d done. “Oh, god! I know that’s not what I’m supposed to say!”
Blame it on early trauma or her nature or whatever, but she’d never learned the fine art of casual conversation. Whenever she talked, the truth came tumbling out. Which was undoubtedly why she chose to remain silent so often. That way she could be sure her one terrible truth stayed locked inside.
“No.” Cami grabbed the hand Mia had placed on the armrest to stabilize herself while she leaned over the aisle. “Thank you. I’d so much rather hear the truth than platitudes.”
Mia felt like she should explain. “The pain is always there. It never fades. But it does change from something hard and sharp into something aching and dull. And then you’re able to live with it.”
Mia lived with her grandmother’s death. She lived with her father’s death. She struggled every day with her brother’s death, however.
But, of course, she reminded herself, you should struggle with that.