Some Kind of Wonderful (Puffin Island 2)

He never let anyone sit with him in the cockpit unless he was flying with a copilot, which was rare. And he’d never taken a woman on a pleasure trip, at least not the sort that involved strapping in and cruising at six thousand feet.

But her hand was on his and her eyes, bright and intelligent, were looking at him hopefully and somehow he felt himself nodding.

She smiled, and that smile knocked him off balance and fried his brain.

Sexual attraction he could deal with, it was the other feelings that shook him up like a wind gusting at thirty-five knots. Being with her was like being injected with adrenaline. Pushing women away was one of the few things in life that had come easily to him, but for some reason he’d lost that skill around Brittany.

Instead of pushing her away, he wanted to carry her up to the bedroom, strip her naked and keep her there until she’d told him every single thing she’d done in the years they’d been apart.

It was that last thought that drove him to his feet.

She’d open up. She’d trust.

And then he’d let her down.

“I should go.” He gathered up his tools and made for the door, trying not to look at her sexy eyes and her wind-ruffled hair.

“Thanks for fixing the lock. I owe you.”

He almost crashed into the table in his haste to leave the room.

It was only as he closed the door behind him that he realized she’d made no move to stop him leaving.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“IT’S LIKE TRYING to cage a lion,” Brittany said to Skylar a few days later while they were chatting on the phone.

“You still haven’t heard from him?”

“Not a word in three days.”

“You could go over there in black underwear.”

“No. I don’t want to pressure him again. That’s what I did last time. This time he has to make the next move.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“I die of sexual frustration.” Brittany sat in her favorite spot on the rocks above Shell Bay, watching the sea roll in. She’d gone for a run right after waking and was still dressed in sweats and her favorite sports top. “Are you going to visit this weekend?”

“I don’t think I can. Richard needs me to be somewhere.” Sky was evasive. “What are your plans?”

Brittany stared out to sea. “I thought I’d clear out some of Grams’s things. I haven’t been up into the attic since she died. It’s full of boxes I’ve never opened.”

“You should wait until one of us is there and we can do it with you,” Sky said immediately. “You shouldn’t be on your own for that.”

“I’ll be all right. I’ve put it off too long already.” She glanced back towards the cottage, all familiar lines and welcoming warmth as it nestled on the edge of the bay. “I don’t feel ready to leave here.”

“So don’t leave.”

“Staying was never part of my plans.”

“Plans change, Brit.”

“Do you remember what she used to say to us?”

“Kathleen? Yes. ‘Change is part of life, girls.’ Then she’d slap down some of her apple-topped ginger cake and I always wondered if the change she was talking about was gaining a hundred pounds in one meal.”

Laughter eased the ache in her chest. “She wouldn’t be impr