Casanova In Training (22 page)

She sat and opened her email to scan what Sedin had sent to her. The news didn’t make her any happier. Concealing her reaction, she merely put her music in and got back to work after closing down the email.

The rest of the day she dealt with KVA, and double-checking another’s report on electrohydrodynamics. When they’d finished up, she gathered her stuff and trooped to the door. Ivan fell into step with her.

“How’d you like it?” she asked.

“This certainly is an impressive facility. I was shown my permanent lab and all things will be moved there by morning.”

“Terrific.”

“Dinner tonight?”

“Can’t. Lexy’s visiting.”

“No problem. I’ll swing by and say hi to her.”

“Bye, Ivan.”

She broke away and headed for her bike, more than ready to be home. A sigh of relief escaped her as she parked at her own building.

The music could be heard as she stepped from the elevator, the loud sound escaping from an open door. Her open door. She pushed it wide and saw Lexy speaking to a guy she didn’t know.

“Hey, Jaydee! This is Steven. He delivered some groceries for me.”

“Steven,” she said.

The young man replied but, even as he made his way to the door, Jaydee could tell he was doing everything in his power to remember Lexy. When the door had closed behind his exit, she tossed her bag down and sank onto the couch.

“Everything okay, hon?” Lexy turned the music down and sat next to her.

“I was grounded today. Ivan Vinokourov showed up as Dr Thompson’s replacement and he’s moved into this building.”

Lexy chuckled, tried to stop but couldn’t and soon it was a full laugh. Jaydee stared at her friend who was still laughing.

“How is this amusing?”

“It will make things interesting, don’t you think?”

“How so?”

“Your ex living in the same building as you, not to mention working with you and your current flame.” Her eyes twinkled. “Yeah, I’mma go with interestin’, hon.”

She shook her head. “Gio is not my current anything.”

Lexy punched her in the shoulder. “Good luck with that.”

“Luck with what? There is nothing needing luck.”

More laughter. Lexy stretched out one long brown leg adorned with a blue stiletto. “Babe, if you think that, you’re in for a big shock.”

“You’re not being logical.”

“Neither are you, Jay. Gio doesn’t strike me as a man who will let this go, let
you
go, without a fight.”

“We aren’t allowed to be together.”

“Didn’t stop y’all before,” she replied without missing a beat.

Jaydee stood. “Which was also a mistake.” She turned. “I’m showering.”

Lexy stared at her foot while she rotated it. “Letting yourself live life isn’t a mistake, Jaydee. You deserve to be happy as well.”

Lexy’s words stayed with her throughout her shower.

They shared a light dinner and spent the rest of the night competing against one another using the Kinect. When she rolled from bed, she tiptoed around so she didn’t wake Lexy. She swiped her keys and opened the door to find herself face to face with Ivan.

Chapter Fourteen

Gio stared out of the cockpit as they streaked through the sky. The rush that being up here usually gave him had abandoned him today. All he felt was sorrow. Today was the second to last day Jaydee had to be a part of the squad. Then, two weeks later, she’d be gone.

Lexy’s words echoed through him. He would force her to face it. Just as soon as they had a moment. But, hell, the way the clock was currently ticking down before her departure, if it had to be done in the women’s locker room, then that was where it would occur.

“You okay over there?”

He glanced at Lizard and gave him a small nod. He wasn’t really, but he didn’t want to hash it out with Lizard in the B-2. Besides, he didn’t need therapy, he needed Jaydee. He needed her in his life.

The memory of her walking around his place wearing one of his shirts made him smile. Made him hard too, but it didn’t set up anxiety in his gut. Other women he’d wanted gone, especially if they’d actually fallen asleep at his house, in his bed. Part of why he’d tended to go to them, so he would leave and not have them curved all over him come morning. Something else he didn’t mind with Jaydee, the feel of her pressed against him…one of the best experiences ever.

Somehow, he
had
to get her alone. It wasn’t as if she avoided him, they were just that busy.

“You’re sighing again, man. What gives?”

He ground his jaw and shook his head.

“It’s just us, Giovanni. You look like hell, what’s going on?” A brief pause. “God damn it, man. If you’re not on your A-game here, there’s a chance we don’t go home at the end of the day. And I for one have a lot more women to sleep with before I call it quits. So spill.”

“Just mulling over the upcoming completion for the combat unit.”

“Uh-huh. And I’m flying in my skivvies just looking for the chance to eject out of this perfectly sound bomber.”

Oh Geez, a bit of sarcasm.

He took a deep breath. “Fifteen days.”

“You lost me, Casanova. What’s happening in fifteen days?”

“She leaves.” More specifically, she would be leaving him.

“This is about Jaydee.”

He glanced briefly at his friend. “I can’t let her go.”

“Why? Because you feel pained she ended it with you lying naked in your bed?”

“No. Because somewhere along the line of her being here I fell in love with her. Totally. Head over fucking heels in love. And I can’t begin to imagine my life without her.”

Lizard didn’t laugh at him. He merely nodded.

“About damn time you admitted it. I know how you operate. I told you before, I knew this woman meant more to you than all those others. From the first day, I knew.”

“Whatever. Point is, I don’t know how to proceed.”

“You’re emotional and not thinking straight.”

He banked left and checked the position of Jaydee’s plane. Exactly where she should be. She always flew precisely where she should.

Her voice flowed from the speaker and he ground his jaw as she chatted with the air traffic control officer. The woman was calm personified. Even during the troubles she’d had, her tone had been remarkably composed.

Sharing a look with Lizard, he followed the orders that came across the airwaves. As they shut off the flame-jet engines and ran on the electrogravitics, he thought again about Jaydee and how she’d tried to explain this to him.

“How stealthy are we really when flying like this?” he asked.

The question was meant for Jaydee—he wanted her to talk to him. Lizard just gave him a weird look.

Silence met his question and he knew she wouldn’t answer. Still a smile lifted his lips as he envisioned her eyes sparkling while she taught him something with her very descriptive explanations. He knew she’d heard him and would have responded in her head. She couldn’t help herself.

Lizard gave him yet another odd look and he merely lifted his shoulders in a brusque motion. He had no explanation for his comment. None at all.

“Fifty seconds to the line,” Lizard informed him.

Gio snapped to. All attention on the mission. This was the time to be professional. They were going in on a mock bombing run. He was actually flying second in this, so if Jaydee missed her target then it would be on him to complete the task.

Like that would happen. He was content to be backup for her. And only her.

“Alpha Two, you have a green light. The mission’s a go.” The voice crackled over the radio.

“Roger that, going in hot.”

“On your six, Dusti.”

“Always good to know, Casanova.”

The words were delivered in a professional way, yet it was like she stroked him. Damn, he wanted her. He watched her shoot forward towards the target.

Clouds rolled in but they didn’t slow. In fact, if anything, they went faster. Beside him, Lizard did a countdown until they hit the target. He flew a bit above and behind her to keep an eye out for any incoming bogies. Fentress always liked to throw something in, and on this mission they had no AWACS to watch out for them.

“We’ve got two MiGs approaching from the South.” Lizard spoke calmly.

“Keep on target, Dusti, we’ve got this.” He banked starboard.

“Roger that, Alpha One.”

“One-sixty degrees heading in fast. Contact in one hundred miles.” Lizard kept him apprised.

Checking the array of gauges on his instrument panel, he adjusted. “We’ll come in high.”

It would be a challenge. These were bombers, not the smaller, easier to manoeuvre fighter jets. Didn’t change the fact that he was first and foremost a fighter pilot. So he responded accordingly.

It didn’t take them to long to take out the MiGs with their AGM-69A SRAMs. Over the radio came Keel’s victory cry of “Target destroyed.” He and Lizard joined in.

Levelling off beside Jaydee’s Spirit, he glanced over. He was proud of her.

“Nice job, Dusti.”

“Right back at you, Casanova. Thanks for keeping us alive.”

“My pleasure.” And he meant it one hundred per cent.

The rest of the trip went by in silence. He didn’t mind, for he took the time to appreciate how much went into these planes. The massive bomber cut through the air flawlessly and to be nigh invisible…well, even more impressive.

What topped it all, though, was the fact that Jaydee—his woman—was instrumental in making it all work. His crazy, super-genius, incredible woman.

After landing, he and Lizard climbed down, grateful there had been no incidents. Spying Keel and Jaydee striding away from their bomber, he released a loud whistle. Both of them spun around and stared at him. He jogged over, unable to maintain distance from her.

“You up for a celebratory dinner?” His words may have been for both of them but his eyes were only on Jaydee.

“Sure,” Keel said.

“I’m sorry, I still have company.”

Evasion tactic. “Come on, Dusti, think of it as a farewell dinner. Bring Lexy.” Seconds ticked by until she nodded. “Great, Kerrigan’s? Nineteen-hundred?” He waited for another nod. “See you then.”

He loped off and vanished before he did something like pull her close and nibble on her plump lower lip, then slide his tongue…

Shit! Looked like
another
cold shower was in his immediate future.

He arrived at Kerrigan’s about thirty minutes early. After he got seated at a table by an overly attentive waitress he nursed his drink and waited for everyone else to show. He purposefully positioned himself so he could view those entering, a habit of his when waiting to see Jaydee. That was the reason he noticed her the moment she strode through the door.

In a millisecond, his life became slow motion. The bounce of her hair, the sway of her hips, everything. It all magnified, rocketing him to a new level of his own personal hell. She was coming closer. Close enough to touch and yet he couldn’t.

Jaydee wore slightly baggy khaki cargo pants and a white oversized T-shirt. Despite her attempt to disguise her femininity, he knew what lay beneath her attire and it made him harder than titanium. Beside her, turning every red-blooded male’s—and some women’s—head was Lexy. Tight leather pants and a skimpy cornflower-blue halter top that exposed her flat midsection and belly-button piercing.

Lexy had this presence about her that drew men like flies to honey. And she deserved it, she was a gorgeous woman. Thick black hair, dark brown skin, and a killer figure.

None of it mattered—those guys could stare at her all they wanted, so long as they left Jaydee alone.

He knew the moment she spotted him. She stilled briefly before touching Lexy and continuing towards him. He ran his gaze appreciatively over her figure. God damn it! How long would he be able to keep this up?

Two weeks before she leaves.

The mental reminder sobered him in an instant. The women approached and he smiled. “Evening.”

“Gio.” Jaydee barely looked at him and he wanted to force an eye connection. A longer one.

“Hey, handsome. Thanks for the invite. Jay, order my usual, I’ve got to hit the ladies n’ make sure I still look okay.” Lexy was gone in a flash, leaving behind a trace of floral perfume.

It was the two of them and he stared at her. Remembered how it had been in her arms and let it leech into his gaze. The responding heat in her eyes when she finally glanced at him educated him that she knew his train of thought.

“Jaydee—”

“Don’t. We can’t.”

Devastation filled him. “Why not? I should have argued this before with you when you first spouted the shit. Why do we have to ignore this between us? We’re good…damn good. Hell, we’re fucking amazing together, Jaydee. And you damn well know it.”

Her eyes closed, those sinfully thick lashes resting upon satiny skin. He bit the inside of his cheek and willed his body to—for once—to behave.

She exposed those incredible eyes to him and he was witness to the stark frankness of her own desire. Unfortunately, as fast as he saw it, it faded, leaving him to stare into cool and impersonal tortoiseshell eyes.

“What we had was a mistake.”

Lexy reappeared and halted his response. A mistake? Like fucking hell it was.

“So,” Lexy said. “How did y’all do today?”

He ripped his gaze from the ever-tantalising view of Jaydee and focused on something safer. Lexy.

“Fine, thanks.” The waitress came with their drinks and left after dragging her hand up his arm, blood-red nails vivid against his black shirt.

“Well now, she was right friendly.” Lexy arched a brow at him. “She’s a hot little number.”

He truly didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t a guy, but Jaydee’s best friend. Not to mention she’d threatened a vital part of his anatomy.

“You’ve fucked her. Are y’all still an item?”

His mouth moved but nothing came out. Lexy’s grey eyes stared at him over the rim of her Martini glass. Was that humour in there? Or a warning?

“Leave him alone, Lexy.” Jaydee’s statement shocked him. “It’s no one’s business but his own who he does what with.”

No emotion in her words. Hell, she could have been commenting on the weather for all the sentiment her tone contained.