“She’s inside. She got here about twenty minutes ago. I didn’t see any sense in letting her just sit out there in her car, so I brought her in, told her you were on your way and gave her a cup of coffee.”
“Well, aren’t you the great host.”
Saint glared at him. “Be nice. She’s a messy wreck.”
Eagle sighed. Weren’t they all?
He locked his car and trudged up the stairway into the plane.
“She’s in the seating area in the middle of the cabin.” Saint inclined his head. “She’s got her coffee, but she’s so nervous I’m worried she might spill it.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ve got it from here.”
The woman was turned away from him when Eagle approached. Her thick blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she was so obviously on edge that she practically vibrated.
“Hello,” he began. “Welcome to Galaxy. I’m—”
She turned to look at him, and he stopped, his jaw practically hitting the floor. This was Sierra Hunt, the new client? The woman with whom he’d had the best sex of his life? Holy fucking shit! Twice over!
Sierra stared back at him, so obviously shaken and nervous she dropped her cup, spilling coffee on the floor and shattering the ceramic.
Eagle found his voice first as he stared at his hot date from the night before, trying to unfreeze his brain at the same time he was telling his cock to stay at rest. Holy fucking shit again. What are the odds, anyway?
Then they both spoke at the same time.
“You’re Vic Bodine?”
“You’re Sierra Hunt?”
What the fuck?
Chapter Three
Eagle hoped his mouth wasn’t hanging open because he was sure his jaw had dropped at least a foot. Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined his client would turn out to be the woman he’d fucked seven ways from Sunday. The hottest woman he’d ever met, and he’d met a damn lot of them. The only one he’d ever fucked without knowing her name.
Again images from the night before slammed into his brain, along with thoughts of all the dirty things he’d like to do to her. How was it possible to make that kind of connection with a total stranger in just a few short hours? Only his ingrained SEAL discipline allowed him to maintain control over his demanding cock.
Her hair looked just as much like silky gold as it had the night he met her. Even though it was now neatly pulled back in a tail that his hands itched to stroke. He remembered the feel of the soft skin of her cheeks over her high cheekbones. The heat in her jade-green eyes framed by long, thick lashes. The way she’d looked at him at the height of her orgasm. Before he could even breathe, his cock hardened and threatened to break the zipper on his slacks. And wouldn’t that just be a fucking hit.
Damn!
No woman had ever affected him like this and that was saying a damn lot. Images of their night together flashed through his brain like a video in fast forward.
Now what did he do?
Act like the professional I am.
“Nice to see you again. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He held out his hand, hoping when she touched it, he could control himself.
Fuck! What was he, sixteen?
Sierra bounced out of her seat, looking for a moment like she was planning to run off the plane. She stared at him as if she’d seen a ghost.
“I swear, uh, I swear I didn’t know it was you when I called,” she blurted out. “I don’t want you to think I’d be using what happened between us to get you to do something. I would never presume like that.” She blew out a breath. “Look. Maybe I should just leave. If you want to cancel, I’ll understand. I can try to find someone else.”
Cancel? That hadn’t even occurred to him. In fact, he was positive she’d had no idea who he was when they spent that incredible night together. He might have been stupid blind with sexual desire, but his radar would still have picked up something like that.
No, she was as shocked as he was.
He cleared his throat.
“Sierra, I have no intention of canceling. Nor do I regret that night for one single minute. If we need to put it aside—just for the moment—to deal with this, we can do that. But first just let me clean up this little mess here.”
“I can do it. I’m so sorry about this. I—”
He shook his head. “No worries. There. All done. Now, how about sitting down again, settling yourself in, and letting me get you some more coffee.”
“Yes, please. If you think you can trust me with it again.”
“Happens to all of us. Cream? Sugar?”
She shook her head, so he took care of the housekeeping chore then filled two mugs, black, and handed one to her. Then he took the opposite seat.
“If you went to the trouble of searching us out,” he told her, “I’m pretty damn sure you have a desperate situation. That’s why people come to us.”
She nodded and took a sip of her drink. “Desperate doesn’t begin to describe it. Last night was, um…” She looked down at her hands.
He chuckled. “Stress relief?”
He couldn’t believe she actually blushed.
“It’s okay. Been there, done that.” He lowered his voice. “And by the way, it was fantastic. No, spectacular.”
“Um, thank you.” She wet her lower lip with the tip of her tongue, making his cock beg for mercy. “But,” she went on, “I understand if you have a personal conflict here because of it. I really do.”
He wanted to laugh. If personal conflicts arose because of attractions, none of the partners would have been with the women they now shared their lives with. Blaze was engaged to Peyton, and that was probably the only situation in the partnership that had started out without a relationship of some kind. She’d come to them as a client but, before anyone could blink, she was living with him. Viper had rescued Hannah from people who wanted to pin a murder on her and had her locked up. They’d been hot and heavy between the sheets before twenty-four hours had passed. And Rocket and Mallory, well, they’d had hot sex in a cave while hiding from the Taliban and things hadn’t cooled down during their five years apart.
Maybe it was becoming their trademark. In any case, he could handle this professionally. He was a SEAL, for fuck’s sake. He could separate the personal from the professional in his life. Just like in the military, he had a mission and he could stick to it.
Sierra had a serious problem and had come to him for help. He was going to give it to her, even while his cock kept trying to send him messages. And he wasn’t going to let go of the connection they’d made. He’d just have to make sure it didn’t fuck up his head, which he knew he could handle.
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Let’s get this out of the way first. That night happened by accident, but I wouldn’t take back a single minute of it. And I’d like to think it was Fate bringing us together again today. You obviously have a desperate situation that I believe Galaxy can help you with. I—”
“But you don’t even know what it is yet,” she interrupted.
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. People only contact us because we’re a last resort. I like to think I can read people and what I get from you is an honest person at the end of her rope. You came to us for help, and we’re going to see that you get it. It’s what we do.”