The continued patch of rough air made him tighten his hand on her waist. When it passed, she was a whisper away from leaning on him. Austin could feel the curves of her body and where they would fit if she just eased back an inch. And that inch had to be the most energized, electrified space on the entire fucking plane.
“Should I bring her back to the seat?” she asked, her voice soft. “Buckle her in?”
The plane had already stilled. But neither of them moved away from the other. “I think she’s fine. It probably feels stronger because we’re standing.”
Everly nodded and looked at Bella again. Silence fell. Comfort set in. And Austin experienced the strangest sense of relief that the intimacy between them had been restored, even while knowing he shouldn’t foster it.
“I swear I can hear you thinking.” A hint of humor edged her hushed voice, and when she looked at him again, a sultry burn darkened her eyes. “It’s not going away. This thing between us.”
Dread swept into the intimacy and dimmed the glow. He couldn’t argue with her. Their attraction seemed to get stronger with each passing day. “It might.” He tried on the idea for size and immediately knew it wasn’t a good fit. “Maybe, you know, with time.”
She laughed. The sound was laced with relief and affection and a real kind of joy that made Austin smile.
When her laughter faded and more of that rich, electrified silence slipped in, Austin knew she was dead right.
“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” she said, her words tentative, as if she were testing them out as much as Austin had been testing his own. “I know where I stand. I have my priorities in line. Neither of us is interested in anything permanent or even long-term.” She paused, and in the silence, Austin’s mind spun. “Nothing will interfere with how I care for Bella. She’ll always come first.”
He felt like they’d jumped some invisible chasm and he was face-to-face with an impossible decision. “I don’t know… I can’t even…”
She closed that last inch of space between them, the move utterly imperceptible. All Austin knew was that her body was truly touching his now. Every delicious curve. He couldn’t think with his mind caught up in her spell. She had a way of making him feel so much with such little contact, his brain seemed to short out.
When he exhaled and lowered his chin to her shoulder, she pulled his hand from her waist and drew his arm across her body, adding another spin cycle to his thoughts. He tilted his head, pressed his mouth to her shoulder and groaned.
As if he had no control over his body, his arm tightened and pulled her even closer. He turned his head just enough to press his lips to her skin. And her sigh just about pulled him apart at the seams.
“I can’t.” His murmur vibrated against her neck. “We can’t.”
But he didn’t pull away. Knew he wouldn’t do it on his own. And Everly wasn’t putting a stop to anything. In fact, she turned toward him another inch, reached back, and combed her fingers into his hair. All he had to do was lift his head, and his mouth could be on hers. He could taste her heat, her passion. He was already standing on a l
edge, his erection stiff against the luscious curve of her ass. And, damn, she felt utterly perfect against him.
“Good afternoon.” The pilot’s voice cut into the cabin over the intercom. “We’ll be landing in approximately twenty minutes. If everyone could return to their seats and fasten their seat belts, we’ll have you on the ground shortly.”
“Fuck,” Austin breathed.
Everly laughed and released him. Austin straightened and put some space between them, trying to still his swimming brain while Everly leaned over Bella and pulled her into her arms.
She turned and smiled at him with a lazy, lusty look in her eyes. “I guess Bella’s going to have to bend to someone else’s schedule today.”
Everly retied the straps of the halter behind her neck as she looked out the window at the sun setting over the Caribbean. The room she’d been given had floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the sea in variegated blues. Every room in the modern stucco-and-glass house was equally as mesmerizing.
She tossed her hair back and surveyed the new fit in the mirror. Yes, better. The halter’s straps were positioned wide on the bodice, pulling her breasts up and together, just enough for them to plump at the lace and sequined edge. She turned, checking the back. The diamond of lace exposed her shoulders and teased the eye to the small of her back where it joined the skirt, a layer of sheer-covered satin.
She faced the mirror again and made a final adjustment to the thin satin trim around her waist. The bodice fitted intimately to her upper body. The skirt flowed sensually over the curve of her hips, shifted with her body as she moved and ended three inches above her knee, allowing a glimpse of her thighs.
She played with the skirt a little, swishing it around to make sure it sufficiently concealed her Tac Force blade strapped high on her left thigh.
If this didn’t tease Hix’s attention from the members of her team who would be attending tonight, nothing would. This was the best she’d ever looked, from her hair, artfully curled and collected in a sexy, messy bun by a stylist a few storefronts down from the dress boutique, to the heels with straps across the top of the foot ending in one simple bow at her ankle. She was glad she’d gone for charcoal and not black for the outfit. She liked the way it offset her black hair while still allowing her eyes to pop.
The knock on her door made Everly’s heart jump.
“Time to go, ladies,” Hix called.
“Daddy!” Bella ran in from the adjoining room and straight to the door.
Everly slipped her phone into another elastic holster, this one lower on her right thigh. The tactical blade was a nice backup weapon, but if she could only have one, she preferred her Heckler and Koch. This was the longest she’d ever gone without carrying her own weapon in close to fifteen years.
Memories of her rough childhood clashed with Hix greeting Mirabella at the door. He dropped to one knee and scanned his daughter as if she were every bit the princess she appeared to be tonight. No one had ever looked at Everly like that. She’d never had a father in her life, and her mother was always too distracted or consumed with her own problems and emotions to see straight. And here Bella had two families fighting over her.