Jill Shalvis - Strong And Sexy

“Where are you now?”

“Between my place and Alan’s.”

“Alan…” He tried to place the name. “Stalker Alan?”

“He’s not a stalker,” she whispered and rubbed the baseball bat for courage. “Listen, I’ll call the police from here, okay? I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have called you. Please, forget I called.”

“Dani-”

“Thanks.” She winced. Thanks ? “Bye, Shayne.” She hit the off button and resisted smacking her own forehead with the phone.

Shayne gritted his teeth at the unmistakable click. “Hello? Dani? Don’t you hang up on me-” She’d hung up on him. “Damn it!” He pulled his cell phone from his ear to look at the readout. “She hung up on me.”

Still sprawled on the couch, Brody shrugged. “Saved you some time.”

“This is serious. At least I think it’s serious.” Shayne brought up the last number received on his phone, then called it.

“Interesting,” Brody noted to Maddie. “He’s calling her back. I think that constitutes date number two.” He looked at Shayne. “Aren’t you worried you’ll get your, what is it now, fourth rejection in a row?”

“Brody?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.” Pick up , he silently urged Dani, while letting Brody’s teasing roll off his back. So he hadn’t been the most reliable of men where women were concerned. He’d never been a good bet. He didn’t stick. Ask his family. Ask any of the women he’d dated.

But this felt different. This wasn’t about sticking. Or at least that’s what he told himself as he waited. This was simply about helping someone who needed it.

Dani’s phone rang and she nearly lost a year of her life. Still against the wall between her apartment and Alan’s, she looked at the caller ID screen, felt her stomach quiver, and answered. “Shayne.”

“You call the cops yet?” he demanded.

“I-” Oh, God, was that a scraping sound behind her? Flattening herself to the wall, she squinted into the darkness and saw nothing. Breathe. Just breathe . She’d just half convinced herself she’d made this whole thing up, but she hadn’t manufactured that noise. “I’m fine,” she whispered.

“So fine your voice is shaking with terror. So fine you accidentally called me instead of the police.”

“I would have called them now,” she pointed out. “But you keep chatting.”

“You’re giving me gray hair as we speak. Gray hair, Dani.”

“Don’t worry. Gray will blend in nicely with your color.”

“Not funny.”

Through the phone, she heard a car start up. A Porsche. “Shayne, seriously. Stay put. I’m calling the police right now. I’m getting out of here.”

“Where to?”

“The zoo. I work there. It’ll be fine.” There was that word again, fine. She’d used it so much tonight it didn’t even sound like a word anymore.

“Don’t tell me you are going to walk.”

“Okay.” She winced. “I won’t tell you.”

“Jesus Christ. Another ten gray hairs just popped out on my head.”

“Look, I was going to knock on Alan’s door, but his place is dark.”

“That’s because it’s the middle of the night. Can you get to the street? Near one of the lights?”

“Yes.” Glancing behind her as she took the stairs, she saw no one, not a person, not another car, nothing. Sort of becoming a thing with her tonight. She got to the ground floor and moved toward the street. With a little distance, she began to breathe easier. “Seriously. This is silly.”

“If it turns out to be silly, then we can laugh and move on.”

“Gray hair and all?”

“Gray hair and all. But for right now, go with scary, and stay out of dark places. I’m nearly there.”

She didn’t know what to say or how to feel about the fact that his rushing over without question had brought a lump to her throat, so she quietly nodded. “Thanks,” she whispered, but the phone had died. She’d gone outside the parameters. Completely alone, she hugged the wall behind her and hoped he hurried.

Maddie sat at a bar looking at her date, wondering what the hell she’d been thinking. She’d met him at the party tonight, had agreed to this drink because he’d been funny and gorgeous and smart, but as she watched his lips moving while he talked, she wished… hell .

She wished it was Brody who’d wanted the nightcap with her.

Stupid.

She’d taken the job at Sky High out of desperation. She’d needed money, and more than that, she’d needed security, both of which had been in short supply most of her life. So she’d bullshitted her way into the job, thinking how hard could it be to make flight reservations and keep the clients happy?

Turned out to be a lot more complicated than that, and a lot harder. The guys-Noah the sexy intellectual, Shayne the carefree playboy, and Brody the wild pilot rebel-had seen through her B.S. immediately, of course, each of them being just as street-smart as she, but still they’d hired her.

They’d taken a real chance on her.

But it turned out that she had a real knack for the organization required, for making things happen. For making people happy.

Who’d have thought?

She’d saved the guys’ collective ass in their first year, and they’d saved her too, without even knowing it. They’d given her that sense of security she’d craved, and a place where she’d been accepted, no matter what. She’d love them for that alone, but it went deeper. They trusted her, and in return, she’d been able to learn to trust again as well.

And in a shockingly short amount of time, Sky High Air had become home, and the guys her brothers.

But nothing about Brody felt as comfortable as a sibling or a kid. Nope, the man made her sweat, pure and simple.

She hated to sweat.

The problem was her own, of course. Yes, she was damn good at what she did, and yes, she’d made herself completely indispensable. But in doing so she’d also made herself a part of the family.

As a result, there was no way in hell that Brody would touch her now, not the way she dreamed of him touching her. It made her ache, but if she had to choose between having him or having the job, the job would win.

Every time.

Cold consolation when she excused herself from her date and walked toward the front of the bar just as Brody was coming in, with a tall, gorgeous brunette.

So tall. So gorgeous.

Damn.

He’d taken her advice. He’d started to “live it.” Terrific time for him to listen to her.

He didn’t see her, he was too busy laughing with Barbie Doll-as he never did with her.

All about the job , she reminded herself. Not the man. Which was really just more cold consolation…

Distance, Shayne reminded himself on the drive to Dani’s. The trick was to remain a little distant. Shouldn’t be a problem, he was a master of distant, and any who knew him would be able to swear to that in a court of law.

But no more than six minutes after Dani had hung up on him, he pulled up to her apartment building.

For the second time.

He had no idea what to expect, or what he thought he could do, and twice on the way over he’d nearly turned around, and would have, except for one thing.

She’d been genuinely terrified.

As he parked, she came out from beneath the awning on the front porch and into the rain, moving like a shimmering wet dream. Her hair was down, still wet, clinging past her shoulders. Out of her black dress now, she wore only an extremely wet T-shirt and boxer shorts, no longer looking awkward and out of her league, but like a hot, drenched, curvy woman who deserved the trophy at a wet T-shirt contest. Holy shit .