“Not a bad thing,” he murmured, pulling me into him. “You’re okay? You don’t need any more food?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ll be fine with what I ate. I’ll give it about an hour or so and then recheck it. But that’s why I thought to come here. We can fly around for an hour. Or you can fly me around. I shouldn’t go to bed with it being this low, though. That’s the quickest way to never wake up again.”
Something shifted in his eyes that looked a lot like fear.
But he covered it before I could ask him what was wrong.
“Did you know that one of the SWAT team guy’s girlfriend trains service dogs?” he asked. “They actually just sold one to a man out of Souls Chapel. For his son that had diabetes like you.”
My brows rose. “I’ve actually looked into those before. But mine’s so manageable that I really don’t need to spend that kind of money.”
He hmmed and gestured to the door. “Shall we?”
I nodded and made my way to the door. “The code to get in is…”
He placed his hand over my mouth. “You put it in. Don’t say it aloud. And don’t give it to people you don’t know.”
I rolled my eyes but did it all the same.
Then I made sure to whisper it into his ear when we were behind the door on the inside this time.
He pulled me in close after the numbers were whispered, then slammed his mouth onto mine.
“Careful,” I whispered into his mouth. “My dad monitors these cameras.”
He growled and pulled away, putting so much distance between us it was nearly comical.
“I was kidding,” I told him. “Mostly. There are cameras, but he doesn’t monitor them.”
“No, but he can go back and look anytime he wants to,” Adam confessed.
I shrugged and led him through the communal room that the flight medics used, then out into the bay where all the fleet was kept.
“I’m hoping you know how to get one of them out,” I said. “Because I haven’t the slightest idea.”
Adam burst out laughing at that. “I think I can manage.”
And manage he did.
He got out with the ease of someone very familiar with aircraft. Once it was outside, he went through a checklist of sorts while I polished off my last taquito, used the bathroom, and then settled myself into the seat to read a few chapters.
Only when he was satisfied that we weren’t going to go down did he get inside and instruct me on what to do.
Five minutes later, we were lifting off into the sky.
Exhilaration poured through me at the feeling of going weightless.
I didn’t ride in any of my dad’s fleet much. I had no need, and my dad didn’t know how to fly them. So it wasn’t like I could just walk up and ask him to take me for a ride.
“Where to?” he asked, his eyes shining with light from the instrument panel in front of him.
“Umm.” I hesitated. “I don’t know. Take me wherever you want to go.”
So he did.
He flew us around Kilgore, over Longview, then to Uncertain, and finally back to Kilgore.
All the while I had the hugest smile on my face.
Chapter 11
A threesome? No thanks. If I wanted to disappoint two people at once, I’d go over to my parents’.
-Adam to Amelia
Adam
It was only as I landed the helicopter and looked over to see if she was as fuckin’ stoked as I was that I realized she was asleep.
Tenderness filled me at the trust she bestowed upon me, and I sighed as the rotors of the helicopter came to a stop above our head.
The silence was almost deafening as I went through the post-flight checklist.
After getting the bird back into the hangar, all the while Amelia still didn’t wake up, I went outside and started my truck up and opened the passenger side door.
Only after getting back in using the code she’d whispered into my ear earlier, I came back for her and carried her tired body back outside to my truck.
Grinning when she collapsed into the seat like a toddler, I buckled her in and got into the truck.
The ride home she didn’t so much as stir.
Nor did she stir when I got her out of my truck and took her into my place.
After lying her down on my bed, I allowed my eyes to skate over her prone form.
God, she was beautiful lying on my bed.
Her eyelashes were dark half-moons on her cheeks, and her face was flushed slightly with sleep.
Her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes were moving behind her eyelids so fast that it was obvious that she was dreaming.
But still, she didn’t wake.
Damn, but she was a deep sleeper.
My grin could’ve split my face.
I’d been doing that a lot lately—grinning.
I wasn’t normally a man that smiled.
I just didn’t like smiling.
It was easier to keep a neutral expression at all times, especially in my line of work.
Heading to the bathroom on that thought, I took care of my nightly routine of brushing my teeth, washing my face, and then taking a quick shower.
When I got out, instead of assuming she’d be okay with me going to bed naked, I found a pair of sweatpants instead and tugged them on.
I’d be hot as balls all night, but that was better than thinking it was okay to just get into bed with her naked.
My next stop was to her side of the bed where I slowly removed her socks and shoes.
The fuckin’ smile that lit my face at the sight of her socks—which had been covered by a pair of combat boots—sparkly combat boots at that—was nothing less than impressive.
Her socks were mismatched, one said Tuesday, and one said Friday.
A snort left me as I took those off as well and tossed them to the floor.
Then I couldn’t help but stop and stare at her cute little feet.
She had rainbow toes.
Every single toenail was a different color, ranging from red all the way to black.
I loved it.
And damn, there were a lot of things that I was beginning to love when it came to this girl.
Forcing myself to walk away when all I wanted to do was pull her closer, I made one final round through the house.
Then I cursed when I walked into the living room and saw King sitting there staring at me like I’d let her down.
“Shit,” I said. “I’m sorry, girl. Want to go outside?”
She jumped down off the couch and made her way to the door, all the while giving me a puppy glare that made me feel pretty low.
“I’m sorry I forgot about you,” I spoke to her. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I opened the door and she darted to the grass by the mailbox and did her business.
Stepping out onto the front porch with her, I glanced around to see who was home tonight.
Since all of the SWAT team lived in this duplex housing on the same street—everyone had started calling it cop row—I could tell exactly who was and wasn’t there.