Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
She looked up at me, her lips parted and breath hitching. Her green eyes widened further, startled but not afraid. My gaze dropped involuntarily to her mouth, plush and pink, just inches from mine. Heat surged through me, primal and fierce. My pulse roared in my ears, and it took every ounce of control I possessed not to dip my head and taste her right there in the middle of the fucking tarmac.
“You okay?” My voice was rougher than I intended.
“Yes. I—thank you,” she whispered, her cheeks flaming a deep shade of red. She was even prettier when she blushed, her freckles standing out like tiny constellations across her flushed skin.
For a moment, neither of us moved. My hand lingered on the small of her back longer than necessary, and she didn’t pull away. Her curves were pressed tight against me. Soft, full, and perfect.
My mind was suddenly filled with images I had no right to be picturing. Her beneath me. Her lips parting for my tongue, opening wide for my cock. Her body hot and writhing, begging for my touch.
“Sorry,” she breathed, pulling me from my fantasy. She stepped back, her eyes wide and bright, and her skin still flushed. “I was distracted.”
“You’re good.” My thumb brushed briefly along her elbow as I reluctantly released her. “What’s your name?”
“Linden.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. Her voice had a sweet timbre that tightened something deep in my chest. “Linden Holbrook.”
“Keegan Connelly.” I frowned, surprised that I had given her my real name. “People call me Tomcat.”
My road name had stuck long before the club made it official. Tomcat fit in part because I flew fighters—usually F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-35C Lightning II. But it was also due to my bloodline. I was related to Vice Admiral Keegan Francis Connolly Jr., a key figure in the development of the F-14 Tomcat. The nickname started as a joke during training—the legacy kid—but stayed because it just fit.
It was what most everyone called me since I patched with the Hounds of Hellfire MC right after leaving the Navy. But my first instinct had been to give her my legal name, one that only my parents and sister had permission to call me.
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.”