Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (16 page)

She slid her hands into her jean pockets and seemed to stiffen when she noticed his perusal.

He didn’t understand what had changed, but something had. He could feel it in her every stilted glance she gave him today. Last night at the party, she’d seemed like she was right with him in where they were going. But today, there was a wall around her. It didn’t make any sense. He knew the photos scared her, but he felt like this was unrelated. He needed to figure it out. He wanted them back in the same place they’d been the night before, but this time closer to a bed.

“So where are we going?”

“I need to head out to the airport to check a couple of planes that are for sale.” She gave a quick nod and snagged the book she’d been reading and slid it into the interior pocket of her jacket.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. “Planning to do some reading?”

“Hey, if you get to talking planes with someone out there, I’ll need something to do. Would you rather I was bored?”

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re never bored when you’re with me.”

“Hmm, is that a threat or a challenge?”

“Sweetheart, that’s a promise.”

* * *

When Penelope said yes to riding Colton’s motorcycle, she hadn’t taken into account how arousing it would be to have him in between her thighs with her arms wrapped around his muscular torso. This. Was. Torture. But oh, what an incredible way to die. If she flexed her fingers even the tiniest bit, she could feel his abs moving and rippling below them.

She shifted trying to relieve some of the pressure building within her, but that just exacerbated the problem. At this rate, she was going to have an orgasm simply from riding pressed up against Colton with the vibration of the motorcycle below them. Wouldn’t that be embarrassing? She shifted her body again. This time, Colt grabbed hold of her hand and gave it a light kiss before pressing it back to his stomach. Instead of letting go, he continued to hold her and threaded his fingers through hers. She, honest to God, felt like she was going to ignite into flames she was so turned on.

Finally, they arrived at the airport. As soon as they stopped, she slid off the motorcycle to get her feverish body away from Colton. She quickly turned and took off her helmet, struggling to keep her libido in check. Colton moved much slower to get of the bike, but when he did, he reached over and grabbed her and pulled her to him.

Tendrils of her hair had escaped from her braid and fluttered over her face in the blowing wind. He reached down and tucked them behind her ear, before he took off his sunglasses. As he did so, she was shocked at the naked lust shining in his dark blue eyes.

He didn’t give her a chance to take in a single breath before he swooped down and claimed her lips. His hard lips pressed into hers, punishing, while at the same time so erotic. The pulse of her blood settled low into her belly. His tongue searched for hers as they tangled with combined need. She wanted more of him as she clutched him to her. He obviously agreed. He pressed his groin to hers, eliciting a low moan from her.

Suddenly he stiffened and she heard a man clearing his throat behind Colton’s massive back. Colton groaned and laid his forehead up against hers. “Sweetheart,” he muttered, “soon we’re gonna have to do this when we’re not in public.” He gave her a pained grin as he turned to greet the man standing behind him.

The man grinned at them unrepentantly. When you pictured a good-old boy from Texas, this man’s photo could have been in the dictionary. He wore a grey felt cowboy hat and button down western shirt stretched over his massive girth that barely left room for a glimpse of the huge silver belt buckle. He had on grey ostrich cowboy boots and Levi’s that rested way too low on his hips for Penelope’s ease of mind.

“Sorry to interrupt y’all.” She noticed he really didn’t look sorry about it at all. In fact, he looked positively gleeful about it. He reached his hand out to Colton. “Are you Colton Robertson?”

Colton nodded while he shook the man’s hand. “I am. I’m assuming you’re Phil Jordan.”

Phil nodded and directed them over to a hangar where the doors were slid open. “The two planes you want to look at are in here.” He looked them both over as if measuring their ability to buy a plane. “You’re interested in the Cessna Caravan and the de Havilland Twin Otter, right?”

Colton nodded and reached over to grasp her hand as they walked. Entering the hangar, Penelope was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the building. Sure, she knew hangars were big. They hold planes. Planes are big, but she was still surprised. There were several planes in here of various sizes, but other than the planes it was very clean. Almost sterile. She tried to figure out which ones were the planes they were here to see. As she glanced around, it occurred to her she knew nothing about what Mad Rob would need.

Her attention was immediately caught by a red plane over in the corner of the hangar. She noticed it caught Colton’s attention too, but Phil herded them towards a plane closer to them.

“Here’s the Cessna Caravan.”

They stood looking at the mostly white plane. For some reason when Colton had been talking about buying planes, she’d assumed they’d be the little 4-seater planes, but this was much bigger than that. It had windows all down the side and sat low to the ground. Phil went to open the door for them and as they entered, Penelope was immediately struck by the lush comfort of it. This was the way to fly. Huge leather seats and burl wood tables were throughout the cabin. She turned to Colton and murmured, “I thought you wanted this plane for a jump school.”

“We do, but we also plan to sometimes work as an executive charter as well.” He reached down to the edge of the carpeting to show her the tracks on the floor. “Everything in here can come out when we use it for parachuting.” She nodded as she continued further into the lush cabin.

Colton went into the cockpit with Phil and they started talking specs and engine capabilities. Penelope wasn’t interested in the mechanical details so she blocked them out. She sat down in one of the leather chairs. This was so much more luxurious than she’d expected.

She pictured what she knew about the three guys running Mad Rob. Sure, they had their moments, but this level of sophistication wasn’t what she saw when she thought about them living their dream. They were not suit and tie kind of guys and they definitely weren’t the type to pander to the whims of the rich and powerful. She looked back out the window into the hangar. Again, the red plane in the corner caught her eye.

As the men stepped back into the cabin of the plane, Colton’s eyes immediately sought her out. He gave her a searching look and she tried to give him an encouraging smile.

Phil watched their quiet interaction before he said, “I’ll give y’all a few minutes to poke around. I’ll be waiting for you outside when you’re ready to look at the other plane.”

“Thanks, Phil. We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

After Phil disembarked, Colton turned to her. “Well, what do you think?”

“It’s really nice, but much fancier than I expected. I can’t see a bunch of college kids hanging out in here.” She looked around again at the lush appointments.

“Yeah, you’re right. This is perfect for executive charters, but that isn’t where we want to concentrate our business right now, although we do plan to do some.” He looked around the interior of the plane again, scowling in thought. “Let’s go see the other plane he has to show us.”

When they rejoined Phil, he started leading them towards the area of the hangar with the red plane. Penelope felt a flutter of excitement, but was surprised when Colton gave an extra squeeze to her hand. Did he feel it, too?

Across the distance of the hangar, she’d just thought the plane was red, but it was so much more. The bottom of the plane was white and the top three-quarters of it was red. The two colors were separated by a black stripe whi
ch took a lightning-like zigzag right below the cockpit windows. The wings and the tip of the tail were painted shiny black. There were two propellers on the plane…each on a wing and both of these were painted with black and white stripe. The plane was gorgeous and simply perfect for Lubbock, TX where the entire town revolved around the red and black color scheme of Texas Tech. It was fun, but still classy.

She could already imagine the Mad Rob logo painted onto the tail of the plane. Did they have a logo yet? They’d need to get one soon, so they could put it on this plane.

When they stopped below the door of the perfect red plane, Phil told them about it. “The is the de Havilland Twin Otter. It’s a little bit older plane and not quite as fancy, but it’s been well-maintained and I think it may work for y’all’s outfit.” He opened the door and led them into the cabin.

This was more along the lines of what Penelope imagined Mad Rob flying, although it was still much bigger than she’d originally pictured. In fact, this plane was bigger than the first one was. The interior here was more functional rather than luxurious. There were rows of two seats on one side of the plane and a row of single seats on the other side. The grey canvas seats complemented the red and black color scheme perfectly.

When she glanced over at Colton, he looked like a kid in a candy store. His eyes were alight with excitement. A frisson of awareness snaked through her body. She liked seeing him like this…carefree and happy.

As he continued to talk mechanical details with Phil, she thought about Cassie’s reaction to them last night. There was no denying they had fantastic chemistry. But Cassie was right; she didn’t have staying power when it came to relationships. Normally she went out with guys who knew the score. She wasn’t looking for a long-term attachment. She wanted a fun fling and most guys were perfectly fine with that. As long as both parties stayed monogamous for the duration of their time together, it was all good. It was just a matter of fact that the duration didn’t usually last more than a month or two.

Would Colton want more than that? If he did, could she give him that? In her experience, guys in long-term relationships had certain expectations for how their significant other should act. Colton already had control issues. She could only see those becoming worse if they were actually involved. That wasn’t control she was willing to give up. She’d tried living that way with her parents. She didn’t work that way. She needed her freedom to be completely herself.

She’d been so lost in thought; she’d missed Phil leaving the plane until Colton sat down in the seat beside her. He reached over and gently grasped her chin and kissed her softly. Even this soft, gentle touch left her aching for more. She lifted her eyes to his as he released her. She could get lost in those navy blue depths.

“Hey,” he said, low and soft.

“Hi.” She smiled up at him. She could really fall for this guy. Wait, fall for him? No, she wasn’t falling for Colton. She frowned in consternation. He was all wrong for her.

He reached up and smoothed the frown line between her eyebrows. “Why are you looking so serious all of a sudden? I’m the one sinking my life savings here.”

She ignored the first question. “So you’re buying it?”

He grinned widely. “I think so. I still have to make sure Chris and Jake agree, but I don’t see why they won’t. This is exactly what we’re looking for. I told Phil to draw up the paperwork.”

She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, but she was so excited for him. This new endeavor in his life meant so much to Colton and his future. She threw her arms around him. “Colton, that’s wonderful. I knew as soon as I saw this plane, it was the right one for you all.”

* * *

Dinner at Penelope’s parents’ house. When they got back from the airport and heard the message from Penelope’s mom summoning them both to dinner, Colton’s nerves went into overdrive. Meeting the parents caused most guys moments of panic, but they weren’t even dating yet, so this shouldn’t be an issue for him. It was the ‘yet’ that caused the issue here.

The more time he spent with Penelope, the more he realized he’d been wrong about her. He really liked her. He found her incredibly sexy. No, not sexy. Fuck. He was getting ready to go meet her parents. No thinking about sex. He looked longingly into the kitchen at the cabinet that held the hard liquor. Maybe one shot or five wouldn’t be a bad idea for tonight.

Colton was just about to head toward that cabinet when he heard the sound of high heels walking down the hall. He turned as Penelope stepped out of the hall and his breath caught.

She wore tight black pants that hugged every curve of her long, fantastic legs. Her top was a red and white polka-dot and it shouldn’t have been sexy, but with its spaghetti straps, he got to see more of those tantalizing birds of her tattoo. He really needed to find out that whole story, preferably while tracing exactly where all those birds flew all over her body.

She’d tied her wavy golden hair up into a high ponytail and tied it off with a red scarf that fluttered down her back. Wrapped around her wrist, she’d tied another red scarf so that it looked like an accessory and camouflaged where her sprained wrist was still wrapped. Makeup covered the lingering bruises which were almost completely faded anyway. She had draped her bangs to artfully hide the stitches. The entire outfit was finished off by super-high red heels with a tiny strap that buckled around her ankles.