Jill Shalvis - Animal Magnetism

“In no time,” she repeated, clearly realizing that that meant she was indeed still taking the chopper back. “That’s… great.”

Because she was still shaking like a leaf, he leaned in and kissed her softly. “Come on, Amelia. You look like you need your feet firmly on the ground. Let’s go eat.”

She nodded but didn’t move.

“Want me to fly us to the restaurant?”

“Ha. And no.” She rose, wobbled, and pointed at him. “Not a word.”

He was good at not saying a word and, with an arm slung around her shoulders, led them across the tarmac and inside the airport.

The maintenance department informed them that they were backed up and needed an hour to locate the part Brady needed. Instead of waiting, Brady got them a cab and they headed to town. At an outdoor café, they ate fresh salmon and drank beer delivered in a metal bucket, all while being serenaded by a trio of birds sitting on a branch of a tree. Afterward they window-shopped as the sun set, walking down the main drag past a few galleries and artsy shops with the other tourists. Actually, Lilah shopped, and Brady just watched her. It was quickly becoming a favorite pastime.

“None of this interests you,” she said after a block.

“Not much of a shopper,” he admitted.

“Me neither. It’s hard to be a shopper when you’re perpetually broke-Oh,” she exclaimed with a gasp, and stopped in front of a shop called the Pharmacy. Only it was unlike any pharmacy Brady had ever been in. Instead of medicine and various sundries, there was lace and silk. It was a lingerie shop, and there was tons of it, all displayed and surrounded by… fluff. That was the only word he could think of. There were boas and feathers, lotions and soaps. Lilah was standing there taking it all in when his cell phone rang. It was work. “I’m sorry. I need to take this,” he told her.

“No worries,” she murmured, still enthralled by the window display. “Take your time.”

Brady stepped a few feet away to talk. “Miller.”

“Got a job,” came the familiar voice of Tony, his boss. “How soon can you be in Somalia?” he boomed.

Tony always boomed. Probably because he’d lost fifty percent of his hearing in the Gulf War, not that he’d ever admit the handicap.

Brady’s gaze tracked to Lilah, still nose up to the glass. “Not anytime soon.”

“What does that mean? You said you needed a couple of weeks and it’s been a couple of weeks.”

“It means I’m skipping this one,” Brady said. “Assign someone else.”

“But you’ve never skipped a job.”

No. No, he hadn’t. He’d never had a reason to. And he didn’t now, except…

Lilah was looking at a silk teddy set. Spaghetti-strapped cami and a tiny thong, both in a pale blue that would make her gorgeous skin shimmer. She turned her head, found him watching her, and blushed gorgeously.

He didn’t want to go.

“What the hell’s up?” Tony asked loudly enough that Brady winced and pulled the phone from his ear. “You said you needed personal leave,” Tony said. “Nothing special, you said.”

“Yes. And I’m taking a full month off.” That had been his promise to Dell and Adam, and he’d honor it. “I let the office know.”

“Yeah, you said you were in Idaho. What the fuck’s in Idaho?”

Brady let out a breath. “It’s personal-”

“Ah, Christ. You’re not going off the deep end and buying a ranch out in the middle of nowhere to raise cattle, are you? You belong in the air, man.”

“Two more weeks,” Brady said through his teeth. “I’ll be back in two weeks.”

“But not now?”

“No. Not now.”

“It’s a woman. No, what am I saying, not even a woman keeps you grounded. It’s two women, right?”

Brady shut his phone and slid it in his pocket, giving Lilah a knowing shake of his head. “You can stop pretending not to eavesdrop now.”

“You turned down a job.”

“I just postponed it, that’s all.”

“Why?”

Well, wasn’t that just the million-dollar question. His cell phone rang again. The Boise airport maintenance department. When he was done with that call, he shut his phone and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Good news first,” she decided, not looking sure she wanted either.

“Yeah, there isn’t really good news.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then why did you ask?”

“Because normal people always want the bad news first.”

“Just tell me!”

“The part I need for the Bell 47 won’t be in until the morning.”

Her mouth fell open. “How were you possibly going to make that good news?”

Brady pulled out his rarely used Visa. “With a nice hotel, including a hot tub for all those sore muscles?”

“How do you know I have sore muscles?”

“Because you had them clenched tight the entire flight. You’re sore.”

She looked him over speculatively, and he wished he knew what the hell she was thinking. But for all that she usually wore her heart on her sleeve for the whole world to see, she was keeping this one close to the vest. Finally she pulled out her cell phone. “Cruz,” she said into it. “Remember that time I covered for you when you took Marie to Vegas for the weekend on the spot? Yeah, well, I’m calling in the marker. I’ll be back some time tomorrow… No, you don’t get to ask why. Use your imagination. Feed Sadie.” She slid the phone into her pocket and looked at Brady. “What kind of a reputation do you have that this guy seriously thinks you’d sleep with two women at the same time?”

“Heard that, did you?”

“It wasn’t hard, he talks pretty darn loud.”

“He just couldn’t imagine what would possibly be keeping me, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. So tell me the truth,” she said. “Was this all a plan to get lucky tonight?”

“If I’d been trying to get lucky, I wouldn’t have terrified you first with the flight.”

She thought about that. “Good point,” she decided, and looked at the phone when it rang again, letting out a moan. “Why, Adam, what a shock,” she said when she answered. “Tell Cruz he’s a tattletale. We’re just stuck waiting for a part, not running off to get married. Talk to you tomorrow.” She shoved her phone back into her pocket and blew out a breath. “About this hotel… ”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want you to spend a lot of money.”

He knew the only thing she hated more than flying was being a burden to someone. “I don’t care about the money.”

“Hmm. Brady?”

“Yeah?”

“Two women?”

He sighed, and gently squeezed her fingers. “Let it go.”

Half an hour later, Brady had reserved a two-bedroom suite in a boutique hotel that the restaurant had recommended. It had a lush lobby, done up in luxurious Old West-style with leather and dark, rich woods. They managed to buy some toiletries for the night in one of the shops before going upstairs.

When Brady escorted Lilah to their floor, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Penthouse? How’s the penthouse being thrifty?”

He shrugged, then took her to the wide windows, where she gaped at the skyline view of Boise.

“Oh my God,” she said for the tenth time as they walked through the opulent place. “What did you do?”

“My money,” he reminded her.

“But it must have cost a fortune.”

He opened the door to her room, nudged her inside, and then when she whirled to face him, mouth open-no doubt to bitch him out some more-he gently shut the door in her face.

And went to his bedroom. He had to, or he’d have taken her right there, and he couldn’t do that. If they were going to sleep together again, it had to be her choice, not circumstance, but a real choice. He was flipping through one hundred and fifty channels on the TV when there was a quiet knock at his door. He opened it to Lilah.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hi.”

Putting her hands on his stomach to push him out of the way, she walked in.

Okaaaay. He leaned back against the door to study her. It was that or grab her and toss her to the bed. Since his fingers were itching to do just that, he jammed them into his pockets.

“Hi,” she said.

He smiled. “You already said that.”

She nodded. “Right. Listen, I forgot to mention one more thing that I’m afraid of besides flying.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m afraid to sleep alone in a hotel room. Suite. Mausoleum. Whatever.” She looked around the big fancy room. “Although yours doesn’t look as scary as mine.”

He arched a brow. They had the exact same rooms.

She returned his look with a guileless little smile. “So I was hoping you wouldn’t mind letting me in,” she said.

He was beginning to think he would let her in anywhere, at any time, and in any place she wanted. His chopper, his hotel room, his life.

His fucking heart…

L ilah would have laid money down on Brady having her naked by now, but he was still standing all the way across the room, leaning back against the hotel room door just looking at her.