Page 84 of Strike Fast

“I like the view a lot,” she murmured, lifting her left hand to stroke the side of his face.

Reid couldn’t resist the temptation and moved in to cover her mouth with his. He kept it light even though he was so damn hungry for her, stroking her lips, caressing her tongue. When he pulled back she was breathing faster and her pupils were dilated.

“I wish I was feeling good enough to do something about this,” she murmured, pressing her hips against his throbbing erection.

He grinned against her mouth and kissed her again. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

She smiled back. “So true.”

He came up on one elbow and stroked his fingers through her hair, his chest about to burst with everything he was feeling. “I know we haven’t had a lot of time together, but I haven’t felt like this in… Maybe ever. I think about you all the time, and I miss you like hell when we’re apart.”

He took a breath, let it out slowly, heart pounding. “I didn’t see you coming, Tess. Didn’t expect you at all, but I’m falling for you hard and I don’t want to lose you. I realize we’ve all been through a lot here, and I know I come with a shitload of baggage and that we live in different cities, but I’m hoping that’s not a deal breaker for you. I want to see where things go with us.”

Joy flashed in her eyes, easing the constriction in his chest. “I don’t want to lose you either. And believe me, you’re the last thing I expected, too.”

“And the baggage?” A young daughter, an ex-wife, and a drinking problem were a lot for a woman to take on.

“I can handle anything but you breaking my heart or drinking again.”

He mentally winced at the reminder of what he’d done the night Autumn was taken. “I won’t. Neither of those. I’m calling my sponsor tomorrow.”

She smiled again. “That’s good.” She groaned softly and leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m supposed to fly out the day after tomorrow with my sister, but I don’t wanna go home.”

Then don’t.

Reid barely held the words back. Asking her to make that big a leap for him right now wasn’t fair. She had at least six weeks of healing ahead of her, and other things to take care of back in Texas—like her job and family. He had to be patient, give her time to figure out what she wanted. “If we’re both willing to try, we can make this work.”

“I want this to work,” she murmured sleepily. Then she yawned and he tucked her in closer to him, keeping another pillow between their chests to shield her arm.

He wanted to be there for her through her recovery, but he needed to be there for Autumn more. And Tess would understand that completely.

It was just another reason why she’d stolen his heart so completely, so fast. And why he intended to claim hers for good in return.

Epilogue

“How’s the view back there?” Tess asked via the headset from the cockpit as she flew them back to base.

“Great!” came the enthusiastic response from the back. “I can see the airfield out the side door window,” Autumn said excitedly, then sobered. “It’s so flat here.”

“Welcome to Dallas Fort Worth, honey.” Tess shared a smile with her copilot and eased the cyclic to the right to turn them, her feet adjusting the pedals to keep them steady.

Autumn had adjusted well into her normal routine after her ordeal. Autumn kept regular appointments with a counselor, but no longer had to see a psychiatrist, and Sarah had kept her word about loosening the reins with the schedule she and Reid shared. Even so, Tess had been stunned—and ecstatic—when Reid and Autumn had surprised her at the office this morning.

It had been eight weeks since the accident and her collarbone was fully healed. She still saw a physiotherapist twice a week but she had almost ninety-percent range of motion back in her shoulder already, and no more swelling in her hand.

The moment they’d cleared her to fly, she’d climbed back into the cockpit for various training missions out of her home base here in Fort Worth. The first few times had been hard, haunted by the memory of what had happened, but she’d refused to let it beat her. Imagining Ruiz despising life inside his max security prison cell was fabulous mental motivation.

“What can you see out the other side now?” Tess asked her.

A few seconds passed before Autumn answered. “My dad! I see him!”

Tess grinned as she lined them up on the runway and followed it in to the landing pad near the hangar. Reid stood there waiting for them, a pair of shades hiding his eyes as he watched them land.

Tess lowered them into a hover and gently touched the wheels down. “Touch down. Your first flight on a Blackhawk is in the books.”

“It was so awesome! I can’t wait to go up again.”

“Think you might have created a monster there, Tess,” her crew chief said, popping his head in from the back. “That’s one excited little girl.”

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