“I’m going to clean up,” she replies.
“Not too much,” I say, biting my bottom lip as my eyes drop to the hem of her dress. “I like you dirty.”
Turning, I adjust my uncomfortable hard-on and head back to my troop. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight. The beast, the old Tahoe, can come out to play, just a little. Enough to give her pleasure and enough to tamp down the lust coursing through my veins.
Just the tip.
May cracks another joke about the military. He doesn’t mean to be offensive, it’s just that jokes are the only things these people know about the military. With the closest large base four hours away, little trickles down this far. Caroline, wearing another goddamn sundress, sits next to me at the long table in a fine dining room. Her mom buzzes around the room clearing dishes and refilling glasses that are perfectly full.
“Mama,” Caroline croons. “Sit down. You’re not working right now, remember?” It’s a reminder her mom responds to. She takes her seat opposite me and settles in to take a bite of pasta that’s probably cold.
“How was the air today, Tyler?” Mr. May asks, sipping his Budweiser from a tall, iced glass. “Looked mighty fine from the ground.”
I nod. “It was good flying today. We got in almost a dozen jumps. I think once a week will be perfect. Thank you again for letting us use the airport. The space is perfect.” Caroline’s hand snakes over to squeeze my upper thigh. Either she’s worried about me talking about work, or she can’t keep her hands off me. “Our pilot was pleased with the setup, and everyone was happy.”
“How could we possibly say no to the generous offer?” he chortles. Caroline looks down. I knew it was a foregone conclusion when we made the monetary offer, but leave it to her to string me along for a glorious month. The month she made me fall for her due to sheer stubbornness.
Leaning back in my seat, I wrap one arm around Caroline’s wooden chair back. “I’m not sure you could have refused,” I reply, glancing from Mr. May to Caroline. “We wanted it pretty badly.”
“You sure did, son. And because of it we don’t have to worry about the bills anymore!” he exclaims loudly, one hand slapping the table.
Caroline shakes her head, laying a hand across her forehead. “Daddy. Subtlety has never been your strongsuit. He’s a business partner now. Try to be professional.”
In that moment, the switch is thrown. Dad mode. “A business partner is he? That why your hand is on his leg, is it? Why we’re eating dinner together as a family, huh? That why he looks at you like you hung the moon? He’s a business partner then? Nothing more than that?” Mr. May dares her to challenge him, a narrowed grimace on his face. When Caroline takes a small bite of food, he says, “That’s what I thought.”
“Tell us about yourself, Tyler. Other than the glowing praise Caroline has given you, we don’t know who you are,” Mrs. May says, taking this as a prime opportunity to ask the hard questions.
Clearing my throat, I set down my fork. “Well, ma’am, I grew up all over the world. My father is a Navy man himself. We never lived in any one place longer than a couple of years. They’ve settled in Chico, California.” I lift and lower one shoulder. “I don’t have any brothers or sisters by blood, but the Teams have given me a slew of brothers.” Mrs. May is smiling when I finish my explanation, and I hope that’s as much as I’ll have to talk about my career path.
“Taking up after your daddy. I like that,” Mr. May says, glancing at his daughter with a fond look. “You’re liking Bronze Bay then? Going to hang around for a while?”
Caroline snakes her hand away and clasps her hands in her lap. “It’s hard for some to fathom why someone like me would like to stay in a small town in Florida, but when you’ve lived the life I’ve lived, sir, you begin toappreciate the small, important things in life. You know when you have a good thing. A perfect thing. A beautiful thing. Something you want to keep,” I explain, reaching under the table to take her hand in mine. “Bronze Bay opened my eyes to a whole new way of life. I love it here.”
“Love is a pretty strong word,” Mrs. May declares, her mouth quirking up in one corner. “It is a lovely place, though. We do know that Caroline loves Bronze Bay as much as we do.”
Caroline tucks a strand of blonde, wild hair behind her ear. “Though I’m thinking I’d like to see other places.”
“Oh?” Mr. May asks. “You always said there was no sense flying anywhere when you couldn’t get back the same day. This man got you thinking about branching out a bit?”
She swallows hard. “His stories are pretty amazing,” Caroline says meekly. “Things I’d like to see for myself, that’s all. Not on a screen, but with my own eyes.”
It’s the first she’s mentioned it, not that I’m surprised. She has the flying bug. I’m sure it’s only a small nudge to create a traveling bug, too. “We could start in New York,” I say.
“Really?” she says, eyes lighting.
“That’s not safe. It’s not safe at all in them big cities,” Mr. May remarks.
Mrs. May lays a hand on his arm. “She’ll be with Tyler, honey. How much safer could she possibly be?” At least Mama Bear catches on quickly.
I put one hand on my chest. “I’d never let anythinghappen to Caroline, Sir. Trust that. I’d protect her with my own life.”
You could hear a pin drop in that living room. The crickets chirping outside make their presence known in our acute silence. Caroline is staring at me, bottom lip pouting out. I’d kiss her if we weren’t sitting at her parents’ table, and by the way she licks her lips, she knows it. “I haven’t told you about the trip I have to take next week. How about we fly up there a little early and check it out?”
Her eyes slant down in the corner. “Oh, you’re leaving?” Her mom and dad are talking to each other, ostensibly about Caroline going to New York and my credentials for caring for her safety.
I squeeze her hand. “For a few weeks. A quick trip. It will be like I’m not even gone.”
Her eyes widen. “Three weeks is a quick trip?”
