Casanova In Training (21 page)

“If all you wanted was to get in her pants why did you bring me into your schemes?”

“Who else would I bring along?”

“Bastard,” he muttered good-naturedly. “Now, come on. I don’t have enough food for everyone. We’re shopping and you’re paying.”

“What?”

“Your idea, your dime.”

Jason grumbled a bit but paid. That night, with his backyard full of friends and some neighbours, Gio waited on pins and needles for Jaydee and Lexy to arrive. He perked up at the familiar sound of her motorcycle’s engine and he moved to the gate to witness their approach.

His breath caught as her Ninja came into view, Lexy riding on the back. They parked along the street and he ignored the desire to go to her and claim her before everyone.

They headed towards him. Lexy wore a bit more than earlier, but what she did wear was skin-tight, while Jaydee wore baggier attire. And, like usual, it was his sexy scientist-pilot who made him lose control.

“Thanks for the invite, handsome,” Lexy purred, brushing by with a pat on one pectoral.

“You’re…welcome,” he said to air. Lexy had progressed, leaving him alone with Jaydee.

“Hi.” Her voice was hushed.

“Come on, Lizard’s about ready to feed us.”

She nodded and walked beside him. He couldn’t help reaching out and trailing two fingers through her hair. Jaydee stiffened briefly before she continued on as if he’d never even touched her. His fingers dug into his palms so he didn’t grab her to him and kiss her with all the pent-up sexual tension that had been building for the past few weeks.

This fucking sucked!

The evening passed with a blink. Keel’s wife, Felicia, had brought some desserts and they were well received. He stood on his porch and watched his visitors play volleyball in the waning light. Except for Jaydee. She sat on a lounge chair beside the sleeping baby.

“So you’re him,” Lexy said. She leaned beside him on the railing. “I remember you from the bar.”

He sliced his eyes down to her before staring back out at the loud game. “And you’re the friend who encouraged her to wear what she did.”

She gave a low laugh. “That’s me. So, I’m guessing by the way you’ve tried so damn hard to not stare at her all night, it’s over between you two. Her decision, of course.”

“Of course?”

“I hardly think you’d be acting like this had you been the one who ended it, handsome.” Her tone was light yet matter-of-fact.

True. When he dumped a girl that was it. There was no pining after her, or wanting more. None of what he was going through at this moment with Jaydee.

“She tell you that?”

“Didn’t have to. Jaydee is my best friend. I can read her like a book.”

“She’s infuriating.”

More laughter. “Jaydee isn’t like most women you’ll meet.”

“I know that.” Man, did he ever.

“No, I don’t think you do. It takes a lot for her to do this,” she waved a hand to the yard, “and come across as ‘normal’ to everyone.”

He observed Jaydee. She didn’t look lonely over where she sat—she seemed more relaxed than she’d been all night.

Lexy shifted to sit on the rail. “She was tired of being labelled a freak. Wanted to try to fit in with others. It’s hard, she is a private person. And an inquisitive one.”

“She said she was sent to live with her father because—”

“Because that bitch of a mother wanted to please the men she brought over to fuck, and having a child ask them questions and not appear embarrassed by anything tended to ruin that.” Thick venom dripped from her statement.

He thought about that for a bit and nodded. “She is smart.”

“Yeah, she sure is. Do you even know how smart?”

“Nope. She just said she was considered smarter than some.”

Lexy coughed. “Wow. Well, she was tested above genius level when she was nine, which was when we met. Let me break it down for you. My girl is fucking brilliant. Off the goddamn charts brilliant. Despite all that, she lacks a lot of social graces, because they weren’t important for her to learn. That’s where I come in. I am safe and she can have fun and know it’s okay.”

He frowned. “So, it’s all an act?”

“Yes. And no. Not with you, but this, here, tonight, yes. She is trying desperately to behave normally.”

“Surely her father—”

“His focus was her smarts. She’s a commodity to him. Always has been. And, right now, she’s one who works for the United States government.”

“But she graduated from Annapolis. How did she do that if she has such an issue with social interactions?”

“Daily emails.”

He shook his head. “Plebes aren’t allowed outside contact except for the parent day.”

Her smirk made him arch a brow. “I told you, fuckin’ brilliant. We emailed daily and no one was the wiser.” She shrugged. “Look, my point is, she’s not the same. No matter how she tries, you can’t lump her into the category you would me. She likes you. I know this. She knows this.”

“I don’t. She told me it wouldn’t work.”

“Jaydee likes rules. She follows them for the most part. And she compartmentalises. It is her coping mechanism. And I’ll tell you right now, if you don’t force her to face whatever is between y’all, she never will. By the end of her time here, she’ll look in that box that contains her feelings for you, sigh, and delete it. Then she’ll move on.”

He watched her slide off the rail. “Delete it. Like it was a file on a computer?”

Lexy’s expression was serious. Disturbingly so. “Exactly like that. It’s how she’s survived, she’s had to. Only problem, now she can’t stop doing it. It’s an ingrained habit.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

She stepped closer. “Because you get through her barriers. You brought her into the land of the living and I want her here with me.” Another step and their chests almost brushed. “Don’t think, though, that if you hurt her I won’t come after you, because trust me, handsome, I’ll be on your ass. Sure as shittin’, I will. And I’ll bury my five-inch stilettos right through your balls and heart without any hesitation.”

He flinched at the deadpan statement. He couldn’t help it. Lexy walked away and joined Jaydee on the loungers. He mulled over the stuff she’d told him about Jaydee. Yes, she was different, but he loved that about her.

Huh, would you look at that. He didn’t panic at the word love. He strolled down the steps and to the makeshift volleyball court.

“You playing, Casanova?”

“You got it.” He whipped off his shirt and shoes then joined them.

* * * *

Jaydee strode through the hallway, a particular destination in mind.

“Amos!”

Twisting around, she found Fentress bearing down on her. She waited. “Sir?” she asked when he halted.

He seemed drawn and tired. “I wanted a chance to speak to you privately.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I’m sending Beast up with Keel today. I know it’s not time for the switch yet and it’s not on the board but that’s what it is. The replacement for Dr Thompson arrived today and, since you two will be working together overseeing the final training of our guys, I wanted you to work with him today.”

“Very good, sir.” She isolated the pain and disappointment and locked it away.

“Speak freely, Dusti, if there is something you want to say.”

“No, sir. I understand. He’s your permanent pilot, he should be logging the hours. If there is nothing else, I will head over to the lab.”

“That’s all. You will be in the air tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.” She stood straight then walked away. There was no point in going to change into her flight suit so she made her way with her comfortable clothes and music to the lab. She entered the large room and glanced around. There were a few people there but not many.

“Good morning, Dr Amos,” one woman said as she went by, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

“Kelly,” she replied smoothly.

“You’re here, why?” Dr Thompson’s voice came from behind her.

“Orders. Captain Fentress wants me working with the one replacing you when you leave.”

He grunted. “Good idea. He’s in the cafeteria at the present. Come look at these equations on the board.”

She followed him without question to a whiteboard. Ignoring her belly’s demands for substance, she got directly to work. In the process of correcting the third equation, she halted when her name was called and a hand touched her shoulder.

Lifting her head, she rotated to see who needed her attention. As she realised who it was, a large smile crossed her lips. Tall and leanly muscular, with blond hair and startling blue eyes, Dr Ivan Vinokourov stood before her. Iceberg blue, she called his eye colour, for it reminded her of the pale tinting the icebergs picked up from the reflection of both sky and sea.

“Ivan!”

“Jaydee.” He wrapped his arms around her and held tight.

She closed her eyes and welcomed it. Ivan was her second truest friend after Lexy. After a moment, they drew apart. She stared into his eyes.

“You’re replacing Dr Thompson?”

“On his recommendation.”

Ivan sounded as surprised as she was by his announcement, although she knew she shouldn’t be. Ivan was at the top of his game. He’d been Dr Thompson’s protégé for a while.

“He picked well.” She sneaked a glance at her father to find him watching them with a calculated gleam in his eyes. Ignoring that puzzle for the moment, she focused back on Ivan. “I was told this morning to come here and meet you. So, have you had a tour or did you want to get right to work?”

“Let’s work, then we can chat after lunch.”

She agreed and went to her boards and got back to work. Time flew and, before she knew it, Ivan made his presence known. She capped her marker and gave her work on KVA a final perusal. KVA stood for kilovolt-amperes. In their field, the term had exclusive use in referring to power consumption by an AC power source. Part of their investigative use of time-varying electric fields for EG propulsion.

Rolling her shoulders, she set the marker down and walked beside Ivan. She pointed out things as they slowly made their way to the cafeteria.

“Where are you staying?” she asked, grabbing a tray.

“Same place as you. Dr T recommended it to me.”

“It is a very comfortable place.” She put down a cheeseburger and a fruit cup on the tray.

“I like it. Probably even more so once I unpack all of my things and make the place my own.”

She didn’t respond, she wasn’t required to. Ivan did that quite a bit, making lots of rhetorical statements. Questions, too, if she wanted to think about it. He reached around her and grabbed two waters, placing them on her tray. Then he grabbed himself a Coke and a water.

“You still drink two with lunch, I would assume,” he whispered in her ear.

The side of her mouth curved up. “I do.”

He always made her smile. Ivan was a man she felt comfortable with. That was how everything was between them. Nice and comfortable. Even the sex. It had sated an urge, but never would she say it had affected her like…

Don’t go there,
she reprimanded herself.

They paid and made their way to a table. Thankfully, Ivan was a man who ate during lunch. He didn’t do chitchat when the time came to feed oneself. She didn’t mind—most of her meals were eaten alone.

She had just finished her fruit cup when a loud masculine laugh reached her ears. The fork wobbled a bit in her hand before she managed to pull herself back together. In her peripheral, she watched Gio and Lizard swagger in followed by Keel and Beast.

Ivan glanced up and scoffed. “Pilots.”

“Yes, the four who fly here.”

“Only two are staying. I heard they’re going to be competing for a final position in a combat squad.”

She blinked. “You know more than me.” A slight shrug and a subject change. “It’s a nice area, Ivan. We just got out of the rainy season. Some parks and a place to base jump.”

His burst of laughter made her chuckle. She’d been forever trying to get him to go with her. To feel how it was to fly.

“Not in this lifetime.”

She sighed dramatically. “I keep telling you, it’s science.”

“No way. You got me in a helicopter with you for ‘science’—no more of that for me.”

“Why are you complaining? We survived. In fact, I did very well, considering.”

His blue eyes narrowed. “I was fifteen and you…you were thirteen.”

She grinned. “It was an experiment on aerodynamics. I’m an awesome pilot now, Ivan. Not to mention base jumping. You’d be in charge of yourself.”

“No way,” he uttered in Russian. She knew he spoke it when he was being very adamant about something.

“If you change your mind…” Her offer was also given in Russian.

“I won’t.”

Something caused her to look up and, when she did, she was met by hazel eyes. Gio watched her from his table, his expression an unreadable mask. His gaze flickered from her to Ivan and back to her. Suspicion narrowed her eyes but he merely broke the connection.

“Who’s he?”

“That’s Commander Cassano, the ace around here.”

“And the look he gave you?”

“He’s not wanted me here from the beginning. The one lost in the incident was his best friend. So I’m sure he’s just reminding me I don’t belong with the pilots.” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“A dick, then.”

She loved his immediate support of her. “Crudely put, perhaps, but yes, at times he has been.” Her phone rang. “Amos.”

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am, but I have something you should see. I’m sending it to your email. I wanted to let you know to expect it beforehand.”

“Thank you, Sedin.”

“My pleasure, ma’am.” He hung up.

She finished her second water and rose. “I have to go.”

Ivan stood as well. “Everything okay?”

“I think so. Just got some information I’ve been waiting on.”

“Let’s go.”

They cleared their table and left. Although she never looked directly at him, she could feel Gio’s gaze upon her until they were out of view. She reached the lab and made a beeline towards her area where she had left her tablet. Perhaps in some places people wouldn’t leave their things, but this group had worked for Dr Thompson. Stealing got you booted, no questions asked. So there’d never been a reason to lock things.