Breathless Descent (Texas Hotzone 3)

Shay relaxed a little. “No emergency. Thank you. This whole thing has me a nervous wreck. I shouldn’t be with Caleb, and I know it. I mean my family is his family. I can’t jeopardize that for him, but I’m selfish I think. I can’t seem to help myself. What does that say about me?”

“Shay,” Sabrina said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this—I mean we just met—but…if you two have been pining for each other as long as it sounds like you have, across thousands of miles, how can you not explore what’s between you? Just keep it your secret for now. Then there is no family damage if it doesn’t work out.” She smiled. “Though you’d better be careful you two don’t ‘vibe’ too heavily as a couple in front of them. You two connect. It’s obvious.”

Which is what Caleb had said. They weren’t hiding what was between them. The family would figure it out. And they had to go see them all today.

Sabrina added, “That’s why I was confused when you first said you two were family.”

Caleb’s voice rumbled in the background, and Shay looked up to find him standing in the doorway, dressed in a green flight suit, his light brown hair wind-rumpled and sexy. “Ready to get some sleep?”

“Do we even have time?” she asked. “We have to be at my folks’ in a few hours.”

“We can snag an hour to keep us standing,” he said. “It’s better than nothing.”

The receptionist yelled from behind Caleb. “Caleb— Kent’s on the phone.”

Caleb’s expression didn’t change—if he was affected by the call, he didn’t show it. “I’ll call him back,” he called over his shoulder, and then added to Shay, “Let’s go get some rest.”

The receptionist called back. “He wants to talk to Shay.”

Shay stood up. “Kent knows I’m here?”

“Tell him I’ll get back to him,” Caleb told the receptionist.

Sabrina pushed to her feet. “I’ll leave you two to hash this out. Shay, I’ll call you about the flying lessons.” She quickly scooted out the door and Caleb let her.

“Caleb,” Shay demanded.

“Let’s go to the trailer and I’ll explain.”

“Explain now.”

12

CALEB SHUT THE DOOR to the break room and recapped his call with Kent from earlier in the morning. And his plan to deal with Kent. “I’ll tell him you came out for a sunrise jump. Just like he did.”

“He’s never going to believe that, Caleb,” Shay said. “Kent knows me. He knows I won’t skydive.”

“We’ll convince him.”

She pressed her hands to her face. “This is a mess.” Her hands fell away. “What were we thinking?”

Caleb stepped forward and settled his hands on her shoulders. “Shay, sweetheart, you’re exhausted, and exhaustion has a way of making things look bigger than they are. We’ll convince him. We can do it.”

She rested her head on his chest and hugged him. “I am so very tired, Caleb.”

“I know, baby,” he said, sliding his hand down her hair, and thinking how wonderful she felt in his arms. He tilted her head up, framed her face. “I’ll call Kent, and then we’ll go get some rest. I’ll convince him. He might know you, but I know him. Let’s go to the trailer first, though, because once I tell him what went down out here this morning, he’s going to talk my ear off. You can be resting.”

“Why would he even call you so early?”

“Knowing Kent,” he said, “he was up all night playing poker, and knew I had a morning jump, so he called to brag.”

She sighed. “That sounds like Kent. But call him now. I need you to call him now.”

One look at her determined stare and Caleb knew he wasn’t waiting until he got to the trailer. He grabbed the phone on the wall. Kent answered in two rings.

“What the hell is going on?” Kent asked. “Shay’s out there with you, and she’s not answering her phone. You won’t take my calls. Is there something you want to tell me, Caleb?”

Kent’s hot attitude gave a glimpse of what the future might hold, because it was clear Kent believed he and Shay were involved and he wasn’t happy. “Shay did something stupid and I promised I wouldn’t tell you about it if she skydived. But since she chickened out, I’ll tell you. She locked her keys in her car at her office. Which, of course, with that fancy car of hers, means I have to take her to the dealership to get another key later today. Though I hear you’re responsible for losing her spare keys.”

Shay smiled, because she knew that last part about Kent losing her spare keys would ring true and add validity to her excuse for being with Caleb. When all was said and done, Kent had confirmed that, yes, he’d been up playing poker all night and so had Shay’s parents, and her father had won big. He’d be taking Shay’s mother shopping on Kent’s dime. And now, to Shay’s utter dismay, Shay could tell that Kent had just asked to borrow money from Caleb.