“Hey there, gorgeous!” He whistled as he leaned a brown and muscular shoulder against the wall.
That line should have been hers. The man was one beautiful specimen. He had the body of a gymnast, trim and well-balanced. Six feet of male musculature. Being a pilot, he wasn’t built like a fighter, but nothing about him was soft. Was there any part of him that was imperfect? She eyed the silver chain dangling just above his impressive chest, her gaze trailing down the well-defined washboard abs to the stringed sweatpants riding low on his slim hips. Her eyes slid back up to meet his. His sexy blue ones gleamed back invitingly.
“You look like a walking soap commercial,” Helen drawled. The man knew his effect on women and didn’t try to hide it. She sniffed. “Unfortunately, you stink.”
“I’m on the way to doing that commercial right now. Want to join in?” His voice was sensuous, caressing.
Helen shook her head in amusement. Ah well…proposition in the morning. Good omen for the day. “Another time, sweetheart. I have VR this morning. You didn’t get to see me yesterday. You said you wanted to compare notes. You have…oh, half an hour…if you’re still interested.”
Flyboy straightened and pulled on the ends of the towel. “Can’t. How about lunch?”
Helen grinned. “Is it a business lunch?”
“Absolutely. What we do is our business, baby.”
She laughed. Subtle he was not. “Don’t you have something important to do, like fly your commandos out to some dangerous place to save the world?”
“Nope, bad guys must be taking a day off,” he quipped.
Flyboy was one of the nine commandos of the V-Program, some top covert group with whom T. worked. Helen didn’t know too much about them but the few she’d met the past few months convinced her that they weren’t your normal commandos. For one thing, they were all damnably attractive, as if sex was part of their armor. For another, her operations chief’s name was linked in gossip with one of them.
That in itself was a revelation. T. was…T. Helen had seen firsthand how men were around T., no matter what disguise she happened to be in. Any man who had managed to hold the top GEM operative had Helen’s respect and admiration. For sure, he wouldn’t be a normal kind of guy.
Speaking of the devil, Alex Diamond came around the corner. Like Flyboy, he was stripped to the waist, towel over one shoulder, sweatpants wet from exertion. Helen ran her tongue over her teeth.
Wow. She had to check out one of these morning training sessions one of these days. Alex Diamond was at least half a dozen years older than Flyboy but his physique certainly didn’t show it. Lean and hard, his arms were roped with muscles. He looked extremely fit, like an extreme-sports athlete. Dangerous. Yeah. The man had that aura in waves.
Flyboy leaned and whispered into her ear. “Hey, remember me?”
Helen slanted him a teasing grin. “A girl’s got to enjoy the view God gives her. Good morning,” she called out a greeting. “Crowded corridor.”
Diamond, as always, just nodded. She couldn’t remember speaking more than a few sentences with the man. Strong, silent types always were a challenge to her.
A door opened. Helen’s smile widened. Oh, the fun was about to begin.
“Morning, T.,” she chirped.
Flyboy chuckled, folded his arms and relaxed against the wall again. Alex stopped, his light blue eyes meeting her chief’s. Helen pursed her lips.Operation Covert Combustion.
It was like watching two blond lions about to do some X-rated stuff onAnimal Planet.Neither T. nor Alex said anything as they stood there. Their eyes, though, were doing a hell of a lot of communicating.
“Well, I’ve got to go, chief,” Helen said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“Meet for lunch?” T. asked, not looking her way.
She shook her head. “I have other plans.” And deliberately stepped on Flyboy’s toes. He didn’t react at all.
“I’ll call you,” T. said.
“Yeah. Come on, Flyboy, we’re late,” Helen said, heading off. She would have liked to stay and watch. Flyboy followed her as she turned the corner.
“Man of few words,” Helen commented. “You’re heading in the wrong direction.”
“I came with you to get an apology.” Flyboy wiggled his foot at her meaningfully. She looked back at him innocently. “Diamond has a way with words, believe me. And, with women, too. I saw how you were looking at him.”
“You think T. and he are going to make a soap commercial of their own?” Helen asked. When he shrugged, she gave him a friendly shove. “Oh, he’s taken, Flyboy. Can’t you see the sparks flying in the air back there?” She patted him on the jaw, privately amused to see a touch of jealousy in his eyes. “You, on the other hand, are still an available hottie.”
Nothing like a compliment to soothe the savage beast. Flyboy grinned. “And don’t you forget it, sweetheart. Shall we meet later then, or was that just a ruse to get out of meeting your O.C.?”
