Just one little word, but it kept echoing through her head. She'd been letting life drag her along for the past year while she raced to keep up and dodge the next disaster. Right now she wanted to take charge for a change. She would face the lawyer and that safety deposit box herself. And she would quit running from her attraction to Bo.
The time had come to introduce this man to a girl-next-door type in serious need of a fling.
Chapter 10
Bo wanted to fling Paige on her back and just work this crazy attraction out of their systems.
Arriving in Charleston Saturday morning after too many travel delays that crunched them down to the wire on scheduling, he wondered if they would have five free minutes for sex
—about all the time he would need, given his current state of frustration.
Except that he wanted hours with her, not some rushed encounter. But then, not much had gone according to plan this weekend. At least they were finally at the base and ready to climb into his Jeep that he'd left parked at the squadron.
His intent to fly her out in the Cessna had shifted, due to an emergency repair on the aging plane. For the best, no doubt, that the problem hadn't occurred midair.
So they'd booked a civilian flight instead, a last-minute credit-card nightmare that left Paige so pale Bo struggled for a face-saving offer to help. Luckily, Seth had come through with some frequent-flyer miles on a red-eye. Truth or face-saver? At least it put her on the plane.
So much for his hopes of arriving late Friday afternoon and dazzling her with an evening of romance since Kristie was safe and sound with Vic and Seth.
He shuffled his duffel bag from his shoulder onto the Jeep's back seat along with his guitar, marshy Charleston air steaming up off the asphalt. They were both too dragging-ass exhausted to talk and in serious need of a shower. And for some odd reason she ended up looking cute with her hair mussed and glasses skewed, sweat dotting her upper lip until he wanted to kiss it away.
The nudge moment of realization had lowered his defenses, leaving him wide-open to endless more tiny nudges as he finally let himself just watch her and breathe in her new scent. No tropical sunscreen or Skin So Soft today. She wore something distinctly flowery wafting on the humid coastal air. Chosen for him?
She passed over her small carry-on and travel tote. There was no talk of a hotel for her, even if neither of them openly acknowledged how the evening would end—after they met the lawyer at the bank and went to a wedding. Damn. Deadly testosterone buildup would level him before they saw the cake cut.
If Paige didn't cut and run first.
The military environment and routine wrapped itself around him with relaxing familiarity, while Paige stiffened more with every second back in the sunny South. Just because of the lawyer's appointment. Right? He didn't want to think overlong about the possibility this base, place, he caused those tensing memories.
Time to put the testosterone on hold and help her through the day.
Bo closed the passenger door behind her. "Do you want the Jeep top up or down?"
"Oh, uh..." She smoothed a hand over her hair, then shrugged. "Down is fine. It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone, and the wind sounds nice."
"Fair enough." Stowing the roof, he couldn't keep his eyes from straying to the rows of parked gray planes, waiting, calling, reminding him of decisions to be made.
Later. Paige's problems first.
He settled behind the wheel and guided his Jeep past a blur of military-reg brown buildings, through the security gate. Her head tipped back, she blinked against the bright morning sun then closed her eyes while the wind whipped over them, swirling stronger as they crossed bridges into the water-locked historic region of Charleston.
Was she shutting out the place? Or simply sleeping? He started to question his insistence that she come back to Charleston. Damned arrogant of him, and if he'd screwed up, she would pay the price.
The way Tag and the other crew had taken extra hits when his recklessness cost him broken hands and made him a liability during their capture.
He glanced at her quickly. "You don't have to do this."
Her lashes fluttered open for a quick peek his way. "Now aren't you changing your tune?"
"I want you to do this for you, not because I'm a pushy bastard."
Her eyes closed again as she reached to touch his arm. "I am doing this for me. Call me selfish, but this whole trip is about taking control of my life."
She skimmed a finger in a scorching path down his forearm before her hand fell to her lap again.
Well, hell. No mistaking that. How long until they could find a bed?
He navigated the Jeep through a maze of narrow one-way streets lined with squat palmetto trees until he pulled up outside a three-story bank. He backed the Jeep into the tight curbside parking. "Are you ready?"