Angel in Armani (16 page)

She should be grateful, she supposed. She was flying again. And she’d been hungry to fly. Starving for it, in fact. Now she would have all the flying she could want. With someone else picking up all the bills.

All thanks to Lucas.

But it was hard to be grateful to the man.

Not when she knew, somewhere deep down and barely acknowledged, that it wasn’t the chance to fly again that had made her heart bounce when she climbed into the pilot’s seat. No, it was seeing Lucas himself.

Which meant she was all kinds of stupid. He made her all kinds of stupid.

And he was late. He’d stopped to check his messages when they’d gotten off the plane at JFK, and she’d taken the opportunity to put some distance between them for a while and gone on ahead to get the helo ready. But they’d agreed on a time for takeoff, and she knew exactly how long it should take him to get from the terminal to her—and he was now fifteen minutes late. What was taking him so long?

Just as she reached for her cell phone to call him, it buzzed to life. The man himself.

“Sara speaking,” she said, trying not to let irritation overtake her.

“Sara, change of plans.”

“You’re not coming?” A girl could hope. She could leave as fast as she could and be home even sooner than she’d planned.

“I’m on my way. But I have to stop in the city. Can you take me to downtown Manhattan?”

“You’re staying the night in Manhattan?” She tried to keep the hope out of her voice. If she just had to do the hop to Manhattan and then fly on to Staten herself, it would hardly put a dent in her plans.

And surely any sensible person would want to stay in town and sleep in their own bed after commuting from several states away. She assumed Lucas lived in Manhattan rather than on Staten Island. No doubt he could afford a place on the island as well, but she didn’t picture him as the type to live anywhere but the glittering heights of the Big Bad Apple. Upper East Side, probably. In one of those condos that cost more than most people made in a lifetime. All marble and steel and glass.

A million miles from aging TiVos and linoleum banged up by big black dog paws.

“No, I still have to be in Staten Island later tonight. Can you wait for me and bring me over? I’ll only be an hour or two.”

Crap. She felt her teeth clench, and the knot in her back twinged in sympathy. But Lucas was paying her the big bucks, so she could hardly tell him that she wouldn’t wait for him and, you know, do her job.

“Service with a smile, that’s me,” she said and hung up before she could say what was really on her mind. So much for a quiet night with her dog. She might still get the Thai takeaway, but hanging around the city for a few hours while Lucas did whatever the hell it was he had to do that was so important was definitely not what she was in the mood for.

She missed Manhattan but tonight, she didn’t have the energy to even think of something fun to do. She knew that Viv was out for the night, she’d Skyped her from Orlando the night before, so she couldn’t even try and meet up with her for a long-overdue girl talk.

At least she had her eReader in her flight bag. She’d have to make do with a new book instead of TV. And then there was Dougal. Who would be waiting patiently for her to get home.

She made a quick call to her mom, who was happy enough to keep Dougal a little longer. That was all she had time for before she got the message from the terminal that her passenger had arrived.

Chapter Eleven

Sara Charles was not happy with him, Lucas thought as he followed her through the chilly night back out to her chopper. Her greeting had been almost as cool as the wind whipping through his bones. Apparently two days in Florida was enough to make him forget that it was still winter in New York. Other than reconfirming which heliport he wanted to go to, she hadn’t said a word to him.

Which made him wonder if his plan was going to work after all. It had made sense at midnight the previous night when he’d come up with it, but maybe that had been some sort of horniness crossed with tropical madness descending upon him.

Tropical madness in the form of the sight of Ollie Shields talking to Sara every time he turned around. He knew Ollie had been hung up on Maggie, but with Maggie now pretty firmly glued to Alex’s side, Shields had to be on the hunt for a distraction.

Ollie wasn’t going to distract himself with Sara.

Nor were any of the other Saints players.

Sara was going to be busy distracting Lucas.

She hadn’t been talkative on the flight back from Florida. In fact she’d spent the time either sleeping or reading with her headphones firmly clamped over her ears. The carefully neutral expression on her face now suggested she wasn’t feeling any more talkative now.

But damn it, he was going to try anyway. She’d opened the chopper door for him, clearly expecting him to take up his usual spot in the passenger seats behind hers.

Screw that. He climbed into the seat next to Sara’s before she could say anything. Hard to ask a girl out when you were sitting behind her after all.

She shot him a look but kept her mouth shut. Better give her some time to cool down a little. He waited while Sara got the chopper in the air and headed toward the sparkling lights of the city before he spoke.

“Sorry about the change of plans,” he said. There, that was a nice and gentle, if somewhat boring, opening.

“It’s fine,” she said.

Fine
was never a good sign.

“Did you have plans tonight?” he tried. He fervently hoped the answer was no. In retrospect, he should have tried to get that information out of her. She really was distracting him if he couldn’t even think of the basics.

“Nothing important. Like I said, it’s fine,” she said.

Two fines. Which meant she was annoyed, if not outright pissed, if his female-interpreting skills weren’t failing him. “If you did have plans, you could tell me,” he said. “We’re paying you to be a pilot, not a slave.”

This time he saw the muscle on her jaw tighten. “You’re paying me to be on call. That means ask and you shall receive.”

Oh, how he wished that were true. There were many things he wanted to ask her for. But no. She was stubborn. She’d decided to ignore whatever this was sparking between them. Even if it killed them both.

“It’s okay to let me know if you have a problem,” he said. “I’m not going to fire you if you disagree with me.”

She slanted him a look, eyes a mysterious shade in the odd light shed by the chopper’s instruments. “I’ll try to remember that.”

He shook his head and sat back, watching for a few minutes as Sara flew them through the darkness, working out what he should say next.

Sitting up here in the front of the helicopter didn’t make flying any more pleasant other than putting him within reaching distance of Sara. Watching her was a pleasure. Not just because she was gorgeous but also because of the way she flew.

She seemed part of the helicopter, moving with ease as she steered—was that the word?—and checked instruments and kept them moving forward through the air. Almost a dance. The way a good surgical team worked together. Every movement certain. Every movement purposeful.

It was clearly her world.

Despite the fact she wasn’t happy with him, he could see that she was happy in the helicopter. Relaxed in a subtle way, some of the tension she always carried with her gone while she was up here in the air.

His own tension at being up here retreated a little just watching her.

He wanted to be able to watch her more often. And not just when they were in helicopters.

The question was, how did he convince Sara to give them a chance? He watched the lights of the city growing closer and brighter as they sped through the darkness and the small half smile on Sara’s face as she flew.

At least, she was smiling until she noticed that he was watching her. Then the smile became pursed lips and brows drawing down. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just admiring the view.”

Her eyes narrowed and he grinned at her. “What, you don’t like the sight of Manhattan by night? Or did you think I was talking about something else?”

“Don’t try and charm me.”

“Why not? You seem eminently worth charming. Actually, no, scrap that. I know you’re eminently worth charming, remember?”

Her mouth flattened, and he knew that she was going to tell him off. But he’d also seen the tiny flare of her pupils. Which told him that she remembered, too.

And that she liked that memory, even if she was trying not to.

He settled back in the seat. “You do remember, don’t you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my memory,” she said in a cool tone.

“Then—”

“There’s also nothing wrong with my common sense,” she said. “So stop trying to charm me.”

“Can’t help it.”

“Try harder.”

“Oh, I’ve been trying. But I’m not a slow learner. I know that banging your head against the wall doesn’t help anything. So when trying not to think about you didn’t work, I decided to change tactics.”

She sucked in a breath, and he wondered what she was going to say about that. But then the radio crackled to life.

“Land the helicopter,” he said as she glared at it then back at him. “We can talk about this on the ground.”

*   *   *

Lucas waited for Sara while she completed her postflight and got organized. Of course he did. He was annoying that way.

She wanted to tell him to go, go have his fancy dinner or whatever it was his detour to the city entailed, and leave her in peace. No flirting and charming and making her forget her resolve.

She would find out how long he was going to be and then she would walk to her favorite little deli near the heliport and get some dinner, and then she’d wait for him and deliver him back to Staten Island. And out of her hair.

It was an excellent plan.

A simple plan.

Somehow, though, as she came around the helo to where he stood, looking into his very blue eyes, she didn’t think Lucas was going to let things be quite that simple.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” She gestured him toward the walkway that led to the terminal building.

“Do you?”

“Well, if I did, that would’ve been ruined by your little side trip, wouldn’t it?” she muttered.

“That depends,” he said. “You said you didn’t have plans. Have you been holding out on me, Sara Charles? Did you have a hot date tonight?”

She almost laughed. Her and a hot date? Apart from the moment of idiocy with Lucas back in Sag Harbor, there had been very little heat in her life lately, and what there was 100 percent self-service. There’d been no time for dating since her dad’s accident. Not that any of that was any of Lucas’s business. “Are you always this nosy about your pilots?” she said, hoisting her flight bag up on her shoulder and turning toward the terminal.

“Only the pretty ones,” he said. “And there’s only been one pretty one.”

“Oh yes, and who was she?” she said, only half joking.

“Don’t do that,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Put yourself down.”

“I’m the pretty one, am I?”

“Yes.”

He reached a hand toward her, and she ducked away. “Don’t do
that
,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because this is somewhere I work. And I don’t want people getting the wrong idea about you and me.”

He stepped back. “What’s the wrong idea?”

“That I’m fooling around with a client.”

“That sounds like a pretty good idea to me.”

“That’s because you’re the one who won’t get called a slut for doing it. And it won’t affect your professional reputation.” She started walking toward the terminal.

Lucas moved with her. “So let’s go somewhere away from this and talk about it. Because I’m sorry, Sara but I’m not giving up on you just yet.”

“Don’t you have an important dinner date or something?” she said, trying to sound casual. He had her stomach squirming and her pulse doing strange things. He wanted to have dinner with her. He wanted to see her again. It was amazing. And a disaster.

“This is it.”

She jerked to a stop. “Excuse me?”

“I wanted to come to the city so we could have dinner,” he said simply. “I figured you wouldn’t want to on the island, given you grew up there. Not discreet enough.”

She didn’t know whether to be charmed or appalled. “You could have just asked me.”

“Would you have said yes?”

“Probably not.”

“That’s why my way is better,” he said. “C’mon, Sara. Just dinner. Let’s talk. See what happens. You never know, we might bore each other senseless and then your problem is solved.”

She really didn’t think there was a possibility in hell that he would bore her senseless over dinner. Not that she was going to tell him that. She should say no. The simple and safe plan was to say no.

“Just dinner,” he repeated. “You must be hungry. It’s nearly eight.”

He had that part right at least. She was starving. She’d been thinking wistfully of the red chicken curry takeout she’d planned for the evening ever since Lucas had told her of his change of plans.

Just dinner. How bad could it be?

“There’s a diner a block or so west of here. Meet me there and we can catch a cab,” she said.

“There’s a taxi stand just outside the terminal,” he said.

“Yes, but I’m not getting into cab with you in full view of everyone here. They all know me. And I’m guessing most of them know you.” she said. “Go to the diner and wait for me. I’ve got to do a few things first.” Not least of which was try to work out if she could make herself look like someone that Lucas Angelo might be taking out for dinner.

“What do you feel like eating?” he asked.

“I like food,” she said. “You choose.” She glanced down at her uniform. “Nothing too upmarket. I’m not dressed for upmarket.”

“You look great.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact I’m not dressed for an expensive New York dinner.”

“Okay.” He paused, with his hand on the door. “You’re not going to leave me standing out there in the dark, are you?”

“Well, that would be kind of dumb given I have to fly you home later,” she pointed out. “So just go. I’ll be ten minutes.”