But something had held him back.
The same something that stopped him from burying his nose in her hair now.
She only thought of him as a friend. And even if that wasn’t true, even if the longing look he sometimes thought he saw in her eyes was the real truth, he wasn’t the kind of man to give her what she wanted. And so it was best if he kept his hands—and his nose—to himself.
As soon as the rogue wave moved on and the plane resumed its gentle rise and fall, he cupped her shoulder and gently pressed her away. Every cell in his body cried out with unhappiness, straining toward her like the hand on a compass strains toward due north. But he covered up what he knew was the pained look on his face by asking, “You okay?”
Her delectable mouth pursed into a bow when she briskly nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks for the save.”
Any day, every day, he could have told her, but didn’t.
Instead, he touched a gentle fingertip to the scratch on her chin—he wasn’t sure why, maybe to keep himself from touching those fascinating lips of hers. Then he jerked his gaze away from her lioness eyes because he’d started drowning in them—he was always drowning in them—and called overhead, “Cami! You still with us?”
There was a muffled thump as the lawyer adjusted herself on the skin of the plane. A second later, her wide-eyed face appeared in the empty hatchway.
“Holy cannoli.” Her shaking voice matched the trembling hand she pressed to her forehead. “What do you guys say to getting out of that plane before another one of those waves rolls by?”
“That’s the plan,” he told her and pulled the first aid kit off the wall. Handing it up to her, he instructed, “Hold on to this, will you?” Then he turned to Mia. “You ready?”
“God, yes.” She climbed the last row of seats until, like the lawyer, she was standing on the headrest closest to the exit. She was shorter than Cami, however. The only part of her that poked out the door was the top of her head.
“Here.” He handed her two bottles of water. “Tuck these into your pockets.”
She wore the same pair of cotton shorts from the night before. And somehow, despite having slept in them and despite having just been involved in a plane crash, they still looked crisp and clean. She tried stuffing a bottle inside each hip pocket, but the little cotton pouches weren’t big enough to hold the containers.
“I have another idea.” She opened her purse. It was smaller than Cami’s, and what little room she had was mostly taken up by the most recent addition to the Night Angels series.
“Lose the book,” he told her and tried not to let the look of disappointment that crossed her face stab him straight in the heart. “P.J. Warren is a baller, no doubt. But water is life.”
Wrinkling her nose, Mia went to grab the book but then stopped and snapped her fingers. “Give me a second.”
Zipping her purse, she tossed it around her body so it hung at her back. Then she un-tucked her white blouse and Romeo was gifted with a brief glimpse of creamy skin and the most adorable belly button ever created. After tying the tail ends of her shirt together into a tight knot, she wiggled her fingers in a come-hither motion toward the remaining bottles. “Start handing them over.”
“Smart,” he praised, feeling inordinately proud of her quick thinking as he passed her the plastic containers.
“Comes with the territory.” She dropped bottles down her shirt. “Those of us who like to dig in the dirt and the sand are always having to improvise ways to carry around our finds when we forget to bring a specimen bag.” She looked a bit like the Michelin Man by the time they were finished, but she’d managed to sock away the remaining bottles of water.
“Same as before.” He nodded to Doc, feeling the sea crawling up his shins. Very soon, the bird was going to reach a tipping point and sink like a stone.
“One,” Doc said.
“Two,” Romeo added and snuck a quick peek at Mia’s ass.
So sue him. Didn’t matter how bad the situation was, he was still a guy. And Mia had an ass that was made to be ogled.
And honestly? If I’m about to die, I think I deserve one last pleasure.
Together he and Doc said, “Three,” and tossed Mia out the hatchway, purse, water bottles, delectable ass and all.
Once she’d situated herself on the outside of the plane, she poked her head back through the exit door. “Two down, two to go,” she told them.
Romeo pulled the plastic case that held the flare gun off the wall and handed it up to her without saying a word. He didn’t need to. She knew the score.
When he turned to tell Doc he was next, he saw the man’s face was ashen. Concern had him glancing up at Mia and telling her, “Slide back. Give Doc some room.” He hated to see her disappear from sight, but once she did, he asked quietly, “What is it? Your head?”
Doc jerked his chin once. “No.” Then he seemed to reconsider. “Well, that hurts like a sonofabitch, too. But what’s really giving me fits is my stupid arm. Think the damn thing’s broken.”
The tepid water slipped over Romeo’s knees but he refused to think about how quickly the plane was filling. “How bad?”
“Bad enough to piss me off. Not bad enough to make me think we have ourselves a serious problem.”
Romeo nodded. “Can you get out on your own?”
“You should go first. I’m the least likely one of us to need a boost.”
Romeo shook his head. “You’re injured, so you’re first.”
“Rock, paper, scissors you for it.”
“For fuck’s sake, Doc! We don’t have time for this shit!”
Doc didn’t argue. He simply repeated, “Rock, paper, scissors you for it.”
“Fine,” Romeo grumbled. “But if your stubborn ass loses and you end up drowning, don’t blame me. You ready?” He held out his hand and three seconds later his scissors had handily beat Doc’s paper.
Even with a broken arm, Doc was able to hoist himself through the hatchway in a flash. He was the size of Jolly Green Giant, after all, and once he stood on the backs of the seats, all but his lower half had poked through the opening.
Doc was laid out on the body of the plane when he dropped a hand back inside, wiggling his fingers. “Come on, brother. We saved the best for last.”
“Hold that thought.” Romeo turned to make his way back toward the cockpit. “And get that life raft inflated while you’re at it.”