She offered a tentative smile and a nod. “Tomcat.”
My brows furrowed, the name sounding foreign and wrong from her lips.
“Keegan,” I muttered. “You call me Keegan.”
“Oh. Sorry.” She blushed deeper and shrugged shyly.
My mouth twitched with amusement. “Don’t be sorry, little dove. It’s just a name.”
If my brothers had heard me say that, I’d probably be kicked out of the club. Road names were fucking sacred. But when they met Linden, they’d understand.
“Alright, Keegan. It’s nice to meet you.”
Fuck. She had no idea how much I liked hearing that from her lips.
Blinking a few times, I forced my mind to a far safer topic.
“You here with records?” I gestured to the file on the ground, papers fluttering lightly in the warm breeze.
“Yes.” She bent to retrieve it, and I quickly crouched to help her before any of the file’s contents blew away. “I’m an archivist for Aegis Aerospace Systems. Digitizing logs and organizing flight data.”
“I’ll be seeing you around, then.”
Her eyes shot up to mine once more, startled, but my attention had again been claimed fully by the way her lips parted with each nervous breath. She clutched the folder tighter to her chest, fingers trembling slightly, obviously still rattled from nearly falling…or something else.
“I’d better go,” she murmured. “I shouldn’t keep you from your work.”
“You’re not.” I took a half step closer. “You’re distracting me, but I don’t mind.”
Her breath hitched, and I saw awareness darken her eyes. I almost grinned at the confirmation that she hadn’t only been off-balance due to her near miss. She felt the same heat between us that I did.
She nodded, swallowed visibly, and spun around, scurrying away. I forced myself to let her go, reluctantly watching her hurry across the remaining pavement to the admin building.
When she vanished inside, I pulled my mind back to the jet waiting on the tarmac behind me. My pulse was still too fast, my cock still hard, and I dragged a hand over my face, trying to clear the image of her from my mind.
When I returned to the prototype, Jason—who was also the test director and my main ground support during each flight—gave me an amused look. “Got distracted, Tomcat?”
I shot my friend a sharp look, which only made his smile widen. “Who is she?”
He followed my gaze toward the admin building. “That’s Linden. She works for Aegis. She was temporarily assigned to the airfield, doing data work. Digitizing records for their current and former aircraft programs, I think. I haven’t spent much time with her, but my impression was that she’s quiet. Smart.” He shrugged. “Stays out of the way, mostly.”
I didn’t respond, just gave a small nod. He moved off, and I returned to my pre-flight check of the new jet without further comment.
Later, when I’d finished my inspection and checklists, I caught sight of Linden again through the window of the admin building. She was at a desk, her head bent, chewing her lower lip softly as she looked at whatever was in her hands. My chest tightened, possessiveness surging with absolute clarity.
Mine.
Well, shit. It bowled me over for half a second, then the clarity was back, and I accepted my fate.
Linden didn’t know it yet, but she belonged to me now. Not just because she’d tripped into my arms but because for the first time in my life, I’d felt that rare, consuming instinct lock into place. The same one I’d seen so many of my brothers fall victim to. I was gonna take a truck full of shit from them after all the smart-ass remarks I’d made and my vow that I would never feel the same obsession with a woman.
But I’d found my girl—sweet, soft, and sexy as hell—hidden right under my nose.
And there was no letting her go.
2
LINDEN
