Love at First Flight (7 page)

As the guests applauded, Michael's arm
dropped from Paige's shoulders.

“I know you've got more important things
on your mind tonight, Michael, but I look forward to talking with you soon,”
Gantley said, shaking hands again with the Admiral.

“How about that?” the Admiral asked with
glee.

Michael heard nothing but the roar of
anger. “Did you know about this?” he asked Paige.

“I thought you'd be happy about it.”

“You thought wrong,” he said, making no
effort to hide his fury. “I need some air.” He headed for the French doors that
led to a terrace overlooking the golf course. One person after another called
out their congratulations. Nodding politely, he didn't stop until he was outside.
On the terrace he paced back and forth, trying to control the anger.
Goddamn it! What a fucking operator the
Admiral is! He knew that by having the A.G. offer the job publicly, he made it
all but impossible for me to say no.

Paige joined him on the terrace. “Michael?
Michael, honey, please don't be mad.”

He shook her hand off his shoulder. “This
is how it's going to be, isn't it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your father will say 'jump,' and I'll
be expected to ask, 'how high?'“

“You don't have to take the job.”

“Yeah, right. If I say no your father
will be embar-rassed in front of the same people he's counting on to put him in
Congress. I'm sure my future father-in-law would be
delighted
to welcome me into his family then.”

“You don't have to do anything you don't
want to do.” Paige reached for his hand. “I don't care where we live as long as
we live together.”

He pulled his hand free. “I've already
let him push me into one job I didn't want. I've given that one my all, and
I've grown to like it. I don't want the job with the A.G., but more than that,
I don't want your father thinking he can make career decisions for me. I'm not
one of his sailors he can just order around.”

“I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry you didn't put a stop to it
when you found out about it.”

Tears spilled from her eyes. “I just
wanted you to be happy.”

“Give me a break, Paige! You weren't
thinking of me when you let this happen.” He shook his head in frustration and
anger. “I need to get out of here.”

“You can't leave your own party,” she
said franticly.

“I can't trust myself to be civil right
now.”

“You'll embarrass me if you leave me
here alone. This is our
engagement party
,
Michael.”

“Our engagement is off. I can't marry
you. It'd never work. I'm sorry.”

“
Michael!
”
she cried as he walked to the terrace stairs. “Michael, please. I'm sorry.”
When he didn't stop, she screamed, “
Michael,
I love you! I love you!
”

Moving through the darkness, his heart
raced. After he walked for several minutes, he finally left the sound of her
choking sobs behind.
Did I really just
break up with her?
His hands felt clammy, and his stomach lurched. Cutting
through the golf course, he recalled making love with her the summer before in
a dark corner near the sixteenth fairway.

At the Simpson's house, he found the key
they kept hidden in the lanai that covered the pool. He punched Paige's birth
date into the security system to shut off the alarm. In the great room he
poured a shot of whiskey and downed it. After two more shots, the liquor
finally did its job, and his heart stopped racing. Reaching up to his collar,
he tore off the bow tie and went into the kitchen to use the phone.

Ten minutes later, he slammed the phone
down after learning he had missed the last flight out that night and the next
day was booked solid. “Shit,” he said on the way upstairs to the guest room
where he shed the monkey suit and took a long shower. With a towel tied around
his waist, he lay down on the bed. The whiskey and champagne had given him a
buzz, and the room tilted in a nausea-inducing spin. He had ended it with
Paige, and now he was trapped in her parents' house.
What a nightmare
, he thought, resting his arm on his forehead.

Once the shock of the night's events
lifted, the numb-ness wore off and Michael began to hurt. They'd had their
problems, but he did love her, and suddenly all he could think about was just
how much he had once loved her.

***

The Sunday after they met, he went to
Annapolis for brunch with her parents. Afterward, they walked through the
Academy campus and along the waterfront in down-town Annapolis. On the way
back, Michael stopped her on a quiet sidewalk near the state capital.

“What time did I get here?”

“At eleven. Why?”

He looked at his watch. “Three hours
ago.”

“Yes,” she said, confused. “Do you need
to leave?”

“No, but I can't wait one more minute
for this.” Bringing her into his arms, he kissed her with abandon. He had done
more kissing in public with her than in his whole life before her.

She shuddered. “
Michael
.”

“I love that shudder,” he whispered in
her ear. “I love knowing I can do that to you.”

“That's not all you do to me.”

Michael's mouth went dry. “What else?”

“My stomach flips, my hands sweat, and
I—”

He tightened his hold on her. “What?”

“I ache for you,” she said shyly.

“Where?” His voice was hoarse and rough.

She held his eyes with hers and tilted
her hips against his erection. “Here.”

With a fierce groan, Michael buried his
face in her fragrant hair. “Come home with me. Now.”

“It's too soon. We can't.”

“I've never wanted anyone the way I want
you. I haven't slept since I met you, Paige. You're all I think about. I can't
study. I can't work. I can't do anything but want you.” He steered her into an
alley between two colonial houses and pressed her against one of them to kiss
her again, leaving her with no doubt as to how much he wanted her. “Please,” he
said, kissing her neck. “Come home with me. Let me make love to you.”

“Yes,” she panted, clinging to him. “Yes,
take me home with you, Michael.”

He kissed her again and took her hand to
run back to his car at her parents' house. They were breathless by the time
they got there, and he waited with impatience while she hurried in to tell her
mother they were going for a drive. When she got in the car, he broke speed
records driving to Georgetown. In the elevator, he was almost afraid to touch
her on the way to his sixth-floor apartment.

But once the door closed behind them,
they were both hit with nerves they hadn't expected.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I'm fine.”

She startled when he came up behind her.
“Relax, honey. I was just going to take your coat.”

“I'm sorry.” She shrugged off her coat. “I
like your place.”

“Thanks.”

“You're a neat-nik.”

He shrugged. “I guess. Law school keeps
me disci-plined. I'm afraid if I let things slide, it'll snowball on me.”

She picked up one of the textbooks on
his desk. “Is it as hard as they say it is?”

“Harder.”

The word hung in the air between them.

She put the book down and turned to him.

“Come here,” he said. When her cheeks
flushed with color, any doubt he had that he'd fallen in love with her faded
away as she took the first tentative step toward him.

He met her halfway, put his arms around
her, and held her tight against him.

She turned her face up, and their mouths
met in a hot and hungry frenzy.

Michael trembled at the feel of her
hands on his back under his sweater. When he couldn't bear the pain of wanting
her another minute, he swept her up into his arms to carry her to his bedroom.
But as he brought her down onto the bed, something flashed through her eyes
that stopped him cold.

He caressed her face. “Paige? What is
it? Are you afraid?”

“A little.”

“Of me?”

“No,” she whispered. “Then what?”

“This. All of it.”

“Why?”

She looked away from him, and his
stomach knotted with understanding. With a finger to her chin, he brought her
back to him. “Is this your first time?”

Again her cheeks flushed with color as
she nodded.

“Oh.” He fell onto his back when all the
oxygen seemed to leave his body in one big rush. “Oh God, and I've been like a
lunatic with you. Jesus.”

“You haven't. Don't say that, Michael.”

Seeing that she was on the verge of
tears, he turned onto his side and put an arm around her.

“I'm sorry. I didn't realize. The way
you kiss me—”

She ran a finger over his lips. “I've
never kissed anyone quite the way I kiss you. It's like I'm someone else with
you.”

And there it was again, the dizzying
rush of lust that obliterated every rational thought in his mind.

“How come you've never done this before?
Surely you've had boyfriends. Lots of them.”

She shrugged. “I've never loved any of
them.”

With his heart in his throat, he asked, “And
do you love me?”

“Yes.” Her eyes full of wonder, she
reached up to caress his face. “I really do.”

“I can't believe it, but I love you,
too. And I want you so much.” He kissed each of her fingers. “But not until
you're ready. I don't want you to be afraid.”

“I'm ready, Michael. I want it to be
with you. Now.”

“You're sure?” His heart pounded as he
worked to summon the tenderness he would need for her.

Her eager hands moved on his chest under
his sweater. “Show me. Show me what to do.”

He undressed her slowly, taking the time
to worship each new discovery. Their clothes were soon in a pile on the floor.
Her breathless sighs and gasps were driving him mad, but he held back the need
to devour. Sliding his fingers through the dampness between her legs, he
carefully prepared her and then focused on the spot that throbbed for him.

She came with a shriek that startled
both of them.

Gasping, she clutched his shoulders. “God,”
she whispered, aftershocks rippling through her.

With a chuckle, he said, “You're a
screamer.”

“That's news to me.”

He turned away from her to roll on a
condom. “I don't want to hurt you.”

“I hear it's only bad for a second.”

“Stop me if it hurts.”

She tensed as he pushed into her.

“Try to relax, honey,” he whispered.

When she wrapped her legs around him, he
again struggled to hold back urges he'd never felt quite so strongly before.

She, on the other hand, held nothing
back as she moved beneath him. Before long her breathing became more frantic. “Oh!”
she cried. “Oh, Michael, don't stop!” She came again with another scream that
snapped his control and sent him into a devastating release that left him
completely drained.

***

Michael ached when he thought of that
first time with her. In the months leading up to graduation, they spent every
minute they could in his bed where her eagerness more than made up for her lack
of experience. It had been madness and passion and lust. And love. Definitely
love. But the madness never really abated.

They hit the first of many bumps the
weekend of graduation when Admiral Simpson announced he had arranged a job for
Michael with his friend, the state's attorney in Baltimore City. Michael had
been furious, and the moment he was alone in the car with Paige he told her so.

“I just wanted you to stay here, so when
Daddy told me about the job in Baltimore it seemed like the perfect solution.”

“Damn it, Paige, don't give me that pout
face. It might work with 'Daddy,' but it does nothing for me.”

With a coy smile, she ran a hand up his
leg. “It doesn't do anything for you?”

He pushed her hand away. “Stop.” He'd
fumed about the interference for a week before he took the job, which was the
only offer he received in the capital area. Truth be told, he wanted to stay
near Paige as much as she wanted to keep him close. But the Admiral's meddling
rankled, especially since he never missed an opportunity to remind Michael of
how he got his job.

The next bump occurred at graduation
when Michael's mother and sisters took an immediate and intense dislike to
Paige—an opinion they never wavered from in four years. “She's not for you,”
his mother had said.

As Michael fell into a restless sleep in
the Simpson's guestroom, he heard his mother saying, “She's not for you.” He
dreamed of Paige, and as usual, they were making love. Her hands and lips were
everywhere on his fevered skin. Then he was inside her, moving with the abandon
that overtook him every time they made love. Only when he reached an explosive
climax did he realize he wasn't dreaming. As if he'd been scalded, he pulled
out of her and rolled away.
“What the
fuck? What are you doing ?”