Steal: A Bad Boy Romance (3 page)

CHAPTER
4

~ J
AMES
~

The straps rattled as I
checked the connections one final time.

Kat
stood next to me, holding onto my arm as we prepared to launch.

“Ready
to go? Do you remember everything I told you in the briefing?”

She
nodded, but she was wary, watching everything I did. “I think so. Are you sure
we’ll be safe?”

I
chuckled, overplaying it to put her at ease. “We’ll be fine. I’ve done this
hundreds of times. You’ve read the pamphlet, signed the forms, and been
briefed. We’ve watched a few other tandem launches. There are no surprises
here. You know exactly what’s going to happen and what we have to do.”

Kat
took a deep breath and nodded again, this time more sure. “You’re right. I can
do this.”

We'd
both suited up in helmets and equipment to reduce the drag as we glided through
the air. It was our turn to launch.

“Okay,
we’re up. I’ll count down from three, and then we’ll run into it, okay?”

I
waited for her nod. She clutched my arm tighter.

“Three.
Two. One. Go.”

I
led the way, giving her the pace to match as we charged to the edge of the
cliff.

The
wing of the glider caught the wind, lifting us as the ground fell away beneath
our feet.

“Holy
crap!” Kat yelled as we took flight. The harness suspended her to the left and
slightly behind me. “We did it!”

Transitioning
from running to flying was quick and simple—it had taken me by surprise
the first time I’d glided.

“How
does it feel?” I asked. I banked ninety degrees to the right to follow the
beach and maintain our positioning within the lift region. The wind rose around
the cliffs in a predictable manner—if I kept us on a certain path, then
we could stay aloft for a long time before coming in for a landing.

Kat
laughed. “This is incredible! I can’t believe we’re flying!”

Her
arm rested over my back, and the way we hung in the harness draped part of her
body over mine. I let her closeness wash over me.

It
was a great day for flying—the ocean rolled away to our left, waves
glistening as they reflected the sinking sun. The coastline was rocky and
dusty, the windswept cliffs dotted with clumps of green brush.

“Do
you want to hold the control frame and see how the steering works?” I asked.

“Are
you sure? You won’t let me mess it up, will you?”

“I’m
right here. Just hold the bar like I’m doing and use it to push us right and
left. See how the glider responds to the movement?”

I
couldn’t see her face, but her voice held all the excitement of a kid on
Christmas morning. “That is so amazing! That’s all there is to it?”

There
were countless intricacies to the sport—reading the wind, trick
maneuvers
, skimming the land, watching the weather—but
she didn’t need to know that.

“That’s
it—you’re a pro now.” I took back control of the craft.

“Wow.
I can see why you do this all the time,” she said.

We
drifted up the beach a couple miles before I turned us around with a gentle
bank. A comfortable silence filled only by the wind settled between us as Kat
reached her arm back around me and we watched the ground.

I
gave us a few more passes of the beach before circling back to the landing
zone.

“Do
you remember the landing procedure I taught you?”

“You
mean to let you bring us in and then try to not trip over my own feet as we
touch down?”

“That’s
the one.”

She
chuckled. “I think I got it.”

“Good.
We’ll land in one minute from here.”

If
jumping off a cliff was nerve-wracking, seeing the ground come closer and
closer was no walk in the park, either, especially for a first-timer.

I
eased us closer, paying careful attention to our airspeed and the wind.
Finally, we were close enough to flare up and touch down. Being so much taller
than Kat, my feet touched first, and I ran us out, slowing us before she hit
the ground.

She
looked up at me, her cheeks rosy from the wind.

“Congratulations,”
I said. “You’ve now completed your first hang glide.”

Kat
wrapped me in a big hug. “Thank you, James! That was fantastic. I can’t believe
we did that!”

I
held her close. Her head felt perfect resting on my chest.

“You
were great up there. I’m impressed with how well you kept your cool.”

She
looked up at me with a smile. “It must be ’cause I had such a great teacher.”

The
sun sank toward the horizon, and the light caught her face and made her eyes
sparkle. Her hands slid up to my wide shoulders and squeezed the muscles.

I
couldn’t resist any longer. I bent my head and captured her lips in mine,
teasing them open. Her right hand shifted to the back of my head, pulling me
deeper. The softness of her mouth entranced me, demanding that I ravish it.

Exerting
self-control, I broke off the kiss. She stared up at me as though drunk, eyes
wide and lips parted.

“We
should clear the landing zone; there will be many people landing soon with the
sun this low.”

Kat
cleared her throat and dropped her hands to her sides. “Right.”

It
didn’t take long to unhook us from the harness, and I picked up the glider to
carry it back to the group of spectators at the launch point.

“You’re
a good kisser,” she said as we started the trek back.

“That’s
not the only thing my lips are good at.”

She
flushed.

She was always so easy to
embarrass.

“Is
that a skill they teach you in the Marines?”

I
wanted to see how far I could push her limits. “You mean how to fuck? Not
exactly. Stamina, maybe. Lots and lots of stamina.”

Kat
turned an even darker shade of red.

We
reached our goal. “I’ll need you to strip for me.”

“Excuse
me?” Kat put her hands on her hips.

I guess I haven’t broken down
her barriers, yet.

“I
mean your equipment. We have to return everything.”

“Oh,
right. I almost forgot about it.”

We
divested ourselves of the helmets and flying suits, folding everything up
neatly beside the glider.

I
found Jerry, a friend from the club. “Hey
Jer
, thanks
for letting me borrow this. You need anything from me, or can I take off?”

He
looked at Kat, then back to me. “By all means, James, I’ll take care of this.
You have fun.”

“You’re
a champ, Jer. Beers on me the next time we go out after gliding.”

“Don’t
sweat it.”

I
guided Kat down a path to a secluded nook I’d found on a morning run. There was
enough room for us to sit in the sand and lean back against the cliff. The sun
hung inches from the horizon, extra large from the distortionary effects of
sunset. Hints of red streaked the celestial orb, growing deeper by the second.

“It’s
gorgeous,” Kat said. She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder as
she wrapped her arm around mine.

I
put my hand on her knee. “It is, isn’t it?”

I
rubbed her knee with my thumb, then gently stroked up her thigh with my palm,
low at first, but inching higher with each pass.

Kat
voiced no complaints, so I tested her boundaries, sliding the hand up until it
touched her hip crease through her pants. Her breath caught as my fingertips
pulled on her flesh through the material on its way back down her leg.

“James,”
Kat began, but before she could say anything further, I leaned down to take her
mouth with mine.

Whatever
she’d been about to say was forgotten as we rapidly found ourselves back where
we’d left off at the landing zone. We turned toward each other and sank deeper
into the kiss, her mouth hot and hungry on mine. I dragged my hand back up her
leg and gripped her hip to pull her closer.

Kat’s
lips trembled beneath mine as she moaned, and the sound triggered the
animalistic nature hidden beneath the thin veneer of my civility. With both
hands I lifted her slight frame and positioned her on top of me, settling her
so that her knees straddled me and her ass rested on my thighs.

From
here, only our clothes separated us. Kat pulled back to look me in the eyes. A
slight shift of her hips ground her against me, and she gasped as she bent and
pulled my face toward her. This time she took the lead as her tongue
desperately swirled against my own.

With
my hands free to wander, I took full advantage. They slid up to cover her
breasts through her shirt, the sizable flesh the perfect amount to fill my
palms. They felt just as good as I’d always imagined they would.

Not
content, I slid one hand into her hair and pulled her head back with gentle
force. Unable to resist her exposed neck, I latched on with my mouth as the
other hand found its way underneath the back of her shirt and made short work
of the clasp of her bra.

“Oh,
James,” Kat moaned. Her own hands were on my neck and shoulders, holding her
body up even as she squeezed the muscles.

She
pushed herself harder against me where our bodies joined, and I lifted my own
hips in response, giving her as much stimulation as she could take.

I
lessened my grip on her hair and she responded by sinking her own mouth to
my neck, returning the
favor
as her long brunette
locks formed a curtain around us.

The
bra no longer a barrier, I finally took possession of her breasts, palming them
and lifting them together as I brushed lightly along the edges of her areolas.
Her body’s responses urged me on; I took the nipples between my thumbs and
fingertips, rolling them with a gentle twist.

“Fuck,
yes.” Kat pulled me back into a deep kiss, picking up where we’d left off. She
broke it off long enough to issue a set of instructions. “Keep doing that, just
like that.”

The
way she moaned into my mouth
signaled
her approaching
climax. I continued my ministrations, eager to see the beauty have her first
orgasm at my hands—something I’d fantasized about for far too long.

“Sparky!”
A strange voice echoed along the hidden path to our private nook. A loud bark
followed the call, and the jingle of a collar paired with light footsteps
rapidly approached.

“Shit,”
Kat said as she scrambled off me. She pulled at her clothes, trying to
rearrange everything that was out of place. She couldn’t do much about her bra
and after a few seconds she ripped it off and stuck it behind her.

I
shifted as best I could to hide the monstrous erection in my pants, to only
moderate success. Kat looked down at it and bit her lip before she giggled.

A
black lab ran up the path and stopped beside us as though he’d been looking for
us.

Moments
later an older man with silvery hair and running gear followed.

“Sparky!
Don’t run off like that,” the man admonished. He spotted us next to his dog.
“And don’t bother those people. Sorry about that.”

“Not
to worry,” I replied, unable to keep the grin off my face. “Dogs will be dogs.”

He
gave us a nod and jogged down the path, Sparky at his side.

After
he turned the corner and disappeared, Kat burst out laughing. Her laughter was
as contagious as it ever was, and I couldn’t resist joining. The tension, sexual
and otherwise, drained away under the mirth.

“Of
course that would happen,” she said as she wiped tears from the corners of her
eyes. “Why wouldn’t it?”

“It
seems obvious, doesn’t it?” I agreed.

I
put my hand on her shoulder to turn her so we could pick up where we’d been
before the interruption. Her hand on my chest stopped me.

“I
don’t know if it’s a good idea to keep going at it out in public like this,”
Kat said. “I’m not that type of girl—I don’t know what came over me.”

Unfortunately, not me. Not yet.

“Let’s
go back to my place,” I said. “It’s got great views, and I have impeccable
taste in music and wine. We can make things classier than sitting in the sand.”

Her
eyes held mine, looking from one to the other as she bit her lip. “I shouldn’t.
I can’t. I enjoyed this, but I have to go home and prepare for work tomorrow.
We shouldn’t let this go any further. Not tonight.”

Half
my mind and all my cock screamed in frustration, but the other half kept it
together enough to give the proper response.