A Kiss in the Dark (30 page)

She was falling in love with Angel Torres.

* * *

I
T
WAS
ALMOST
midnight. Sedona leaned back against Angel’s chest and let him squeeze the warm water from the washcloth over her breasts, making rivulets in the sudsy, fragrant froth that covered her and exposing the skin beneath.

“Mmm,” she said, sighing, and stroked his thigh with her hand, captivated by the way the black hair flattened against his bronzed skin and then swirled upward again with the lapping of the water. “I can’t recall the last time I took a bath. To think, I once considered them a waste of time.”

Angel laughed softly against her ear. “That’s because baths are definitely meant to be shared.”

Sedona looked down at their legs, where Angel’s lay along the outside of her thighs.

“Hmm,” she said. “Maybe in a bigger tub. This one is a little short.”

“That all depends on what it is you want to do.” His hands swept upward to cup her breasts and toy with the nipples until they stood rosy and stiff beneath his ministrations. Sedona gasped. His fingers were lean and brown against the pale creaminess of her breasts. The sight was erotic, causing a now-familiar tingling to begin between her legs.

When he rolled her nipples between his fingers, she felt his own response in the rise of flesh that pressed against her backside. Her breathing quickened when he ran one hand down over her belly and pressed it between her thighs to stroke her slick flesh.

“Ohmigod,” she panted as she pushed against his hand, “what are you doing to me?”

He chuckled. “What does it look like?”

Sedona moaned. “You’re turning me into a sex-crazed lunatic.” She shivered when he caught her earlobe in his teeth and tugged gently.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he murmured.

But Sedona wasn’t prepared when he stood up, lifting her with him and sloshing water over the edge of the tub.

“What—”

“I want you again,” he said roughly, “but this tub is definitely too short for that.”

He stood her on the bath mat, and pulled a towel from the rack. Sedona’s knees felt weak when she saw how ready for her he was. The man had no right to be so incredibly gorgeous. She had absolutely no willpower when it came to Angel Torres.

But when he turned to face her, she could only admire the sleekness of his skin and all the hard, muscled contours of his body. For the moment, anyway, he was all hers.

He lay the towel across the tank on the back of the toilet, and a second one over the closed seat. Then he tore open a condom that he’d put on the counter earlier and sheathed himself. Sedona smiled uncertainly.

“What are you doing?”

“Come here.”

He drew her forward until she stood facing the toilet. She was helpless to prevent a giggle from escaping. “Sorry, but I’m still not getting it.”

“Oh, you will,
mina,
” Angel said. He stood close behind her until his erection pressed against the cleft of her buttocks. Keeping one hand on her abdomen, he used his other to bend her forward. “Look in the mirror.”

Sedona looked sideways at the mirror that covered the wall over the sink. She gasped at the erotic sight they made. With her hands braced on the tank, her breasts hung down in clear view, and the curve of her bottom glistened wetly from the bathwater.

Angel stood behind her, his penis dark against the pale skin of her butt, his hands grasping her hips. She felt herself grow hot and wet at the sight. Slowly, watching their image in the mirror, Angel stroked a hand over one buttock, all the way down to the back of her knee, even as he cupped and kneaded one breast with his free hand.

Sedona’s breathing quickened. Instinctively, she shifted to accommodate him. Angel smiled then, a sexy smile of male appreciation, and slid the head of his penis along her cleft. Sedona pushed back against him, feeling herself swell with desire. She was helpless to look away, even when Angel stroked her with one hand, and gently inserted a finger into her wet center.

“Oh, oh!” Sedona clenched her muscles around his hand, and cried out in protest when he withdrew. But her breath caught when he went down on one knee behind her.

“Bend over a little more,
mina.
That’s it.”

Sedona braced her elbows on the soft terry cloth and arched her back. She nearly swooned when Angel gently parted her folds with his fingers. But she couldn’t prevent her cry of pleasure when his hot, talented tongue swept over her, swirling over her clitoris. The sight was the most incredibly erotic thing Sedona had ever seen. He continued to lick her, and then inserted his finger once more.

Her climax caught her by surprise, and she cried out, convulsing around his finger as her body was rocked by one of the most intense orgasms she had ever experienced. But even as she collapsed weakly forward with her head on her arms, Angel stood up.

“I want you to come again,” he said, his voice rough with need.

Bending her forward over his arm, he drew her back to him. Sedona’s eyes glazed over when she watched him enter her, one excruciatingly delicious inch at a time. He stretched her, filled her, rubbed against her already sensitized flesh until she was helpless to prevent the small, mewling sounds of need that came from her throat.

Angel threw his head back as he thrust into her, and Sedona thought she’d never seen anything quite as masculine or beautiful as the sight of this man, loving her so fiercely. As if on cue, Angel opened his eyes and captured her gaze.

“Watch me,
mina,
” he growled softly. “See what you do to me.” His eyes were dark and hot. “I’m going to come,
mina,
can you feel me?”

His words were like a catalyst, and amazingly enough she
could
feel him. He seemed to swell within her, to grow thicker and longer. Her flesh gripped him, stroked him, until she was about to explode. She knew he was on the verge, too.

“Oh, please,” she gasped, thrusting back against him, “please, don’t stop.”

As their eyes locked in the mirror, Sedona could have watched herself as she experienced her third shattering orgasm of the night, but she watched Angel instead. Watched him as he watched her climax again, and the expression on his face was one of pure, unadulterated male satisfaction.

Then, Angel bent forward and pressed a tender kiss between her shoulder blades, before withdrawing. He helped her straighten, and wrapped his arms around her, gazing at her in the mirror.

“You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever known,” he said, his breathing still ragged.

Sedona’s heart rate pounded unevenly. “Oh, yeah?” she said with a smile. “You should see what I can do with a bidet.”

Angel laughed, the sound sliding over her senses like warm honey. “Here,” he murmured. “You’re cold. Let’s dry you off and get you into something warm.”

He reached up and took another towel from the rack. Her sketchbook came down with it, landing with a thunk on the bathroom floor.

Faceup.

Open.

An image of Angel in all his nude, muscular glory stared up at them. The ensuing silence was almost deafening, and for a moment the world itself seemed to stop.

It wasn’t until Angel bent to retrieve the book that Sedona was galvanized into action.

“Oh. Wow.” She swiftly scooped it, snapped it closed and hugged it defensively against her chest. She laughed self-consciously. “I wonder how that got in here.”

She couldn’t meet Angel’s eyes as he pulled another towel down and tied it around his hips. Maybe he hadn’t gotten a good look at it. Maybe he hadn’t recognized the drawing as himself.

“Sedona.” His voice was quiet. Was that resignation she heard?

She smiled brightly and ignored him as she turned toward the door. “I’ll just go put this away somewhere. Housekeeping must have gotten it mixed up with the towels, but geez, all that humidity will ruin the pages.”

“Sedona, I already saw the book.”

Her heart almost stopped. Heedless of her own nudity, she clutched the sketchbook and turned to face him. “You did?”

His smile was tender, his eyes warm and filled with emotion. “I came in earlier, looking for you. You’d left the book on your bed, and I—” He shrugged. “I looked at it.”

“Oh.” Sedona took the towel he held out to her, wishing the bathroom floor would suddenly open up and swallow her. Heat flooded her face. She swallowed. “How embarrassing.”

“Actually,” he said, moving closer and taking the sketchbook from her nerveless fingers, “I find it incredibly flattering.” He let the book fall open in his hands, this time to the picture of himself standing in the entrance to the hangar. “These are really good, you know that? I mean, really good. There are military artists who sell their work for thousands and in my opinion, their work isn’t nearly as good as yours.”

Sedona felt her face get even redder. “They’re just okay,” she demurred. “I do my best work when I have a photo to work with, like those artists you see at the shopping malls.” She shrugged. “But the only photo I have of you…”

“Is the group photo from the USS
Abraham Lincoln,
” he finished. “I know. I saw that, too. The photo isn’t great. Your drawings are.”

She knew he was just trying to make her feel better. She was going to have to explain just why she had a sketchbook filled with pictures of him.

“Angel, I know how this looks, but…” She shrugged and pulled the sketchbook out of his hands and clutched it to her. “Well, c’mon, let’s admit it. You’re pretty hot. Who wouldn’t want to capture you on paper? I never tried to hide that I find you attractive.” She raised her eyes to his. “In fact, I’ve pretty much been attracted to you since the first time I saw you down on the flight line. I won’t pretend I wasn’t.”

Angel stepped close enough that she could smell the fragrance of his skin, still warm and slightly damp from their recent bath. He smiled almost ruefully and reached out to tuck a strand of wet hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to pretend you weren’t. To be honest, I discovered something about myself tonight.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “When I saw you with Larson…well, let’s just say I didn’t like it. And it made me realize I really want to make a go of this.”

Sedona felt her heart stutter. “What do you mean?”

He caught her gently by the elbows and drew her forward until the sketchbook was wedged between their bodies. “I don’t know, exactly… I just know I hated seeing you with somebody else, and I don’t want this to end when we get back to the East Coast.”

“Angel… I don’t know what to say.”

Except maybe,
hallelujah!
Sedona was stunned. She still had a hard time believing this incredible guy found her interesting and sexy enough to spend a night with. And now he wanted to try to make a relationship out of what essentially began as a one-night stand.

“Don’t say anything,” he murmured, sliding a hand under her damp hair to cup the nape of her neck and tilt her face up. “Just think about it, okay? Now kiss me.”

And Sedona did.

14

“A
NGEL
,
YOU
DON
’
T
have to do this.”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

Sedona stood at the foot of the bed and stared at Angel, stretched out on the sheet with his arms bent behind his head, wearing nothing but a towel draped over his hips.

“You don’t have to do a beefcake pose. I can take a picture of you fully clothed and…” She blushed. “The rest I can do from memory. I only need a picture of your face.”

Angel grinned. “If you’re going to be drawing pictures of me without my shirt on, I’d just as soon you get it right.”

“Oh!” Sedona gave an astonished laugh. “Are you saying I didn’t do you justice?”

“I’m just saying I want to make sure you have all my…parts where they’re supposed to be.” A dimple teased the corner of his mouth.

“I refuse to take pictures of your
parts,
” she said indignantly, but couldn’t keep from smiling back at him.

“Take the damn picture,
mina.
”

“Okaay.”
Quickly, before she could change her mind, she held up her small digital camera and centered him in the tiny display screen. “Mmm, that’s good. Smile.” The camera flashed, and Sedona peered at the display to see the results. “Actually, that’s
really
good.”

She sat down on the edge of the mattress and held the camera so Angel could view the picture she’d taken. She was unprepared when he pulled her down beside him and wrested the camera from her fingers.

“Smile,” he said cheerfully, and holding the camera at arm’s length, took a picture of the two of them, sprawled laughing against the pillows.

“Angel,” she protested, making a grab for the camera, “delete that picture right now. I’m not decent!”

“You’re fine,” he assured her, holding the camera out of reach.

“I’m wearing my
underwear.
”

“I’ve seen bathing suits that reveal more than your bra and panties.” He grinned and sat up, pulling her with him. “C’mon, get dressed. I already told you, we have a big day ahead of us.”

She watched as he disappeared through the connecting doors to get dressed before she collapsed back onto the mattress, unable to keep the silly grin off her face. He’d stayed the entire night in her room, his long limbs wrapped around her as they’d slept. And the way he’d woken her up… Her smile turned dreamy.

Angel had seen her sketchbook, and he hadn’t run screaming for the hills. He’d actually encouraged her. Even let her take his picture so she could capture his likeness more accurately in her drawings. She knew it wasn’t done out of vanity, but in an effort to please her. Had he guessed that she was falling for him?

He’d said he wanted to make a go of their relationship, but did he really mean it? It was one thing to profess your feelings during the intimate aftermath of lovemaking, but how would he feel once they returned to the East Coast and the first blush of romance had worn off? Sedona didn’t need to guess; he’d pretend to still be interested, and maybe he actually would be. But eventually, he’d see how impossible any relationship between them was.

“Hey, c’mon, you’re not even dressed yet.”

Startled, Sedona looked up to see Angel leaning against the door frame between their rooms. He’d pulled on a pair of faded blue jeans and a black T-shirt that emphasized his dark good looks. His hands were shoved casually into his front pockets. He hadn’t shaved and the dark blur of stubble on his jaw lent him a slightly piratical look.

She shivered.

“Sorry,” she said, pushing herself upright. “I’ll hurry.”

“Okay, I’ll pull the car around and meet you out front.”

After he left, she rummaged through her dresser, undecided on what to wear. It was Sunday, and the inspection teams were working rotating shifts. Neither Angel nor Sedona had to report for work that day. Angel had said he had a surprise in store for her, and now she tried to guess what it might be.

She grabbed a pair of jeans and a scoop-necked gold T-shirt with a slender ribbon of satin piping at the neck. Casual, but still nice. Not overdressed. She almost gathered her hair back into a clip, but then let it fall loosely around her shoulders. Angel had said he liked it that way.

Satisfied, she took the elevator down to the lobby and stepped outside. Angel stood by the rental car, and his dark eyes gleamed with approval when she came around to the passenger side.

“You look great,” he murmured into her ear as he opened her door for her. “Really.”

“Thanks.” She felt ridiculously pleased by the compliment. “So,” she ventured, when they pulled on to the main road, “where’re we going?”

He just smiled at her. “You’ll see.”

Sedona frowned when he drove onto the base, and turned in her seat to stare at him as they made their way down the now-familiar roads that led to the flight line.

“Oh! You tricked me. Unfair!”

“What?” Angel laughed as he looked over at her.

“Here I thought we were going to spend the day doing fun things, and all you want to do is work.” She cast him a dark look. “Unless you’re planning on doing wicked things to me in the backseat of one of those Coyotes, you can turn around right now.”

“Actually,
mina,
” he said as he parked the car next to one of the Coyote hangars, “I was planning to put you in the backseat of one of those Coyotes and take you for a ride.”

Sedona stared at him, stunned.
“What?”

Angel grinned. “You heard me. We’re going for a ride.”

“But how?” Sedona shook her head, bemused. “I mean, what are you talking about? You can’t be serious.”

Angel turned in his seat to face her, one arm draped over the steering wheel. “Oh, I’m completely serious.” He shrugged. “I know it’s something you’ve wanted to do, so I’ve been planning this for a few days.”

He’d been planning…

To her utter horror, Sedona felt her eyes fill with tears and she blinked furiously, unwilling to let Angel see how much his unexpected gesture meant to her.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You did say you’ve always wanted to ride in a Coyote, right?”

His voice was warm and concerned and Sedona knew if she saw the tenderness in his eyes, she’d lose it completely. She waved him away and turned to look out the window, swiping at her cheeks and laughing self-consciously.

On the opposite side of the flight line, a dozen Coyotes gleamed softly in the morning sun. To her eyes, they were incredibly beautiful, representing all the strength and courage of the U.S. Navy. Like the man sitting next to her. Until this past week, being close to either had only been a dream.

She swallowed hard and turned to give him a wobbly smile. “Yes, I did. It’s just—it’s just that I can’t believe you remembered, and then actually went ahead and planned this.”

Angel grinned, clearly relieved. “Hey, it’s the least I can do. Besides, it wasn’t all that difficult to arrange.”

He pushed his door open and climbed out as Sedona stared at him.
The least he could do?
O-kay. Nothing like taking the fun out of it; he made fulfilling one of her dreams sound as mundane as giving her a lift to work.

She pushed down her disappointment in his reaction and tried instead to focus on what he had planned. She was going to take a ride in a Coyote! The prospect terrified her as much as it thrilled her.

He grabbed his flight bag out of the trunk. “You haven’t eaten anything this morning, have you?”

“Well, when you told me not to eat breakfast, I thought it was because we were going out to eat. If I’d known…”

“What did you eat?”

She grimaced. “A banana. Was that bad?”

Angel laughed. “Actually, if you had to eat something, that was probably the best choice.”

Sedona walked beside him as they made their way to the Coyote hangar. “Why is that? Because of the potassium? Does it help with altitude sickness or something?”

“Nope. It’s just that bananas taste pretty much the same coming up as they do going down.”

“Oh!” Sedona stared at him, horrified.

“Relax,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a brief, hard hug. “I’ll go easy on you. Besides, you may not even need the air-sickness bags.”

“I think I want to change my mind,” she moaned.

“Too late,” Angel said cheerfully. “We’ve already scheduled your preflight brief.”

He opened the side door to the hangar and sure enough, there was a Coyote flight crew waiting inside for them. She had to sign some release forms, and then the crew went to work ensuring she had at least a basic understanding of what would happen once she sat down in the rear seat of the Coyote.

One of the grounded jets became a perfunctory classroom as the crew chief escorted her up the ladder and helped settle her into the seat directly behind the pilot.

Sergeant Dwight Nelson was a master mechanic, on loan from the Marine Corps flight program to assist with the investigation. He didn’t talk; he barked. His voice was loud and gruff, and combined with his shaved head and Marine Corps tattoos, it made him the epitome of a Hollywood drill sergeant.

“This is a small camera mounted on the back of Diablo’s seat.” Sergeant Nelson sat perched on the edge of the cockpit with his feet resting on the wing as he prepared her for the flight. He indicated a tiny lens affixed directly in front of her face. “It will record the entire flight and capture every scream, squeal, hurl and blackout you experience, so remember to smile every so often.”

Sedona gave him a withering look. “I will not
squeal,
and I certainly will not hurl.”

Nelson laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ve seen marines completely incapacitated by the g-forces this baby pulls. It’s no big deal.”

Sedona glanced down to where Angel stood at the foot of the ladder, arms crossed as he watched them. He shrugged and grinned at her expression of horror.

“Okay,” Nelson continued, “this is your seat belt and it straps you in like this.” He deftly pulled several straps across her chest and another one up between her thighs until they buckled near her midriff. “You’re sitting on top of live explosives, so whatever you do,
do not
touch this handle, here, unless you want a bonus ride.” He pointed to a bright-yellow-and-black-striped handle next to her seat.

Sedona looked quizzically at the lever. “A bonus ride?”

“Yep. That’s the free ride you’ll get should Diablo decide you need to leave the aircraft during the flight. A free ride aboard your own rocket-propelled ejection seat. Pulling up on this handle will eject you from the aircraft with enough force to compress your spine and cause you to black out.” He grinned into her shocked eyes. “I’m sure you won’t need to use it.”

Sedona made a mental note not to touch the yellow handle under any circumstances. Under Nelson’s tutelage, she learned about the physical effects the flight would have on her body, and how to counter the g-forces so she wouldn’t pass out. She practiced drawing deep breaths and squeezing her leg muscles to keep her circulation flowing during intense maneuvers.

“You want to tighten those muscles,” Nelson explained, “to keep the blood from rushing out of your head to pool in your legs. It’s the number-one cause of blackouts.”

“Wonderful.”

It was several hours later when Angel helped her climb out of the seat and down the ladder.

“Here’s a flight suit for you,” he smiled, handing her a dark green jumpsuit and a pair of flight boots. “We took the liberty of assigning you a call sign.”

Sedona’s eyes widened, and she held the suit up by the shoulders to admire the name tag they’d affixed to the front. Sedona “Flygirl” Stewart. Oddly, she felt her chest constrict. Angel had given her a call sign.

“It’s perfect,” she murmured. And it was. “Do I get to keep the suit after the flight?”

“Well,” Angel drawled, “we don’t have too many calls for suits in a size small with extra room in the rear and chest.”

“Oh!” She smacked him playfully on the arm, then grinned. “I’ll just go change.”

It wasn’t until they were on the flight line and standing next to the actual Coyote that would rocket them into the skies that Sedona felt the first real frisson of fear finger its way along her spine. The Coyote engines were already whining with life, and the flight crew was prepping the aircraft. Standing below the jet, looking up at the blue sky and white clouds reflected on the glass surface of the canopy, she wondered if she really had the nerve to do this.

“C’mon, darling, we have a schedule to keep.”

Sergeant Nelson indicated the ladder, and with a sense of foreboding, Sedona climbed up. With Nelson’s assistance, she sat down in the snug seat and let him buckle her in. He fitted a helmet onto her head and fastened it beneath her chin, and then rechecked all the safety straps one last time. He was like a mother making sure her child was safely buckled into a car seat. His ministrations made her feel both small and cherished, and she gave him a grateful smile.

As he turned to climb down the ladder, she grasped his arm. “Can you…can you tell me who the plane captain is for this jet?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t betray her fear.

“I did the final inspections myself,” Nelson assured her. “Diablo took this jet for a test flight yesterday and it’s in perfect condition. You’re in good hands.”

As long as it wasn’t Airman Laudano, she was satisfied. After what Lieutenant Palmer had told her about him, she didn’t trust the guy, plain and simple. There was no way she’d voluntarily go up in a jet under his watch. “Right.” She gave Nelson a grateful smile. “Well then, I guess that’s it.”

“Have a good flight, ma’am,” he said, and gave her a brief salute before disappearing over the side of the Coyote.

Angel came swiftly up the ladder and before he climbed into the cockpit, he stood looking down at her. “Are you okay?”

He was silhouetted against the backdrop of brilliant blue sky, all wide shoulders and chest. Sedona gave him what she hoped was a confident smile. “Of course. After all, I’m flying with a Top Gun, right?”

“Okay, then.” His coffee-dark eyes swept over her, and he smiled, his dimples denting his cheeks. “You look good in there.”