“So why don’t I head there and take a much-needed shower?” Tanya smiled at the both of them as she backed away. “I’m sure you two can find something to talk about for the next half hour.”
Mac, who stood as tall as Devlin, eyed his friend. “Yeah, I’m sure we can.”
“Oh, and, Mac, you should get yourself a light meal and slip into something looser, like sweats. It’s been a while since you’ve done this and remember what happened that first time.”
He nodded. “I remember.”
Dev’s eyes grew wide. “What happened?”
“I tossed my cookies.” Mac barked out a gruff laugh. “And that was after I fell flat on my face while getting off the damn table.”
“And you want to do this again?” Dev’s tone was incredulous.
Tanya’s laughter joined her grandfather’s as she reached the door. “That’s what I said, too, but he was brave enough to agree to a second session just a few days later. He came through that one with flying colors.”
Dev looked from Mac to her, crossing his arms over his chest again. She couldn’t see his eyes from this far away, but she could guess at the emotion in their icy blue depths.
“Brave or just crazy?”
“Well, some say there’s a fine line between the two,” she replied. “I guess it depends which side you’re standing on.”
Chapter Three
“I can’t believe you never told me about your granddaughter.” Dev stood next to Mac, waiting while his friend locked up the hangar.
“I can’t believe how hard it is for you to keep your eyes off my granddaughter’s ass.”
Having no idea how to respond to that, Dev kept his mouth shut. He glanced across the yard toward the cabin, glad that Tanya had already disappeared inside and hadn’t heard Mac’s comment.
Silently, he admitted his disappointment that he hadn’t been able to watch her walk away, because she did have a damn fine backside.
Mac headed for the farmhouse and Dev fell into step next to him, noticing how the man slowed his pace to match his own awkward stride. The thought of stopping by the Jeep for his cane crossed his mind, but Dev decided he could make the short distance across the yard without it.
Besides, if he got it now he’d have no reason not to take it over to the cottage. The last thing he wanted was for Tanya to see him hobbling around like an old man.
“Still not using the cane, huh?”
“I use it.” A zing of fire licked across Dev’s right hip and down his thigh. “Sometimes.”
Mac just shook his head and went inside, leaving the door open for Dev to follow. His friend headed upstairs and Dev went into the kitchen, choosing to lean against the counter instead of taking a seat at the table.
If he sat down, he probably wouldn’t be able to stand again.
Still, it felt good to take the weight off his legs, even just a little bit. Not that having Tanya see him with a cane mattered. She’d obviously figured out he was injured. The gleam in her intelligent brown eyes and her direct questions had told him that long before Mac had come out with his crazy idea of her helping him.
Needles? No way in hell.
There’d also been something else in the way she’d looked at him, something that didn’t have anything to do with their being a potential client and caregiver and everything to do with being a man and a woman.
It hadn’t lasted long. She’d managed to erase the gleam seconds after the interest lit up her eyes, but for the briefest of moments...
He glanced out the large window over the sink, his eyes following the direct sightline to the cabin. It wasn’t hard to imagine Tanya’s toned muscles slick with soap as she stood beneath the hot spray of the cabin’s shower—
“What are you grinning at?” Mac walked into the kitchen, having switched out his jeans for sweatpants, but still wearing the same T-shirt that boasted he was a founding member of the Mile-High Club—Huey Style in faded lettering across an image of a helicopter. “Or do I want to know?”
He probably didn’t, so Dev settled for a noncommittal shrug instead.
Opening the refrigerator, Mac grabbed a package of sandwich meat, cheese, mustard and a couple of water bottles. He shut the door with one hip, tossed a bottle at Dev and sat at the table. “Pass me that loaf of bread behind you.”
Dev did as requested.
Mac pulled out two slices and squirted a healthy amount of the yellow condiment on both. “You want one of these?”
“No, thanks. I grabbed a burger at the Blue Creek a little while ago.”
Mac stopped spreading the mustard and looked at him. “You went to the Creek for lunch?”
“Yeah.” His mouth suddenly dry, Dev cranked open the water bottle and took a sip. “So?”
“Your first time back in town in months and you go to a bar?” Mac’s surprised tone turned flat. “Alone?”
Dev returned his friend’s stare. “Yes, alone. I did fine.”
This time Mac only offered a raised eyebrow and went back to sandwich making.
“I did,” Dev pushed, wondering why he felt the need to defend himself. No, that wasn’t true. He knew why. He and Mac had had too many conversations like this in the past. Conversations where Mac had seen him in much worse condition than he was now. “I’m not saying it was easy. Hell, it was way harder than I’d thought it’d be. Racy stepped in, but I was...tempted.”
Silence filled the air for a long moment as Mac sliced his sandwich from corner to corner into two perfect triangles. “Well, we all get tempted,” he finally said.
Dev thought back to the sight and smell of that tall frosty beer. Swiping his tongue across his lips, he swore he could almost taste the forbidden liquid there. “But I got through it. I ate my burger and fries, washing it down with bland, boring ice water.” He took another sip of the same. “Then I got out of there.”
“Is that why you called me?”
There was no reason to lie. “Actually it was the idea of paying a visit to White’s Liquors across the street after I left the bar that made me call.”
Mac took a bite of his sandwich, chewed and swallowed before he spoke. “Yeah, I used to avoid that side of town like the plague. Still do at times. If you were interested in eating out, you should’ve come to the coffee shop at the airstrip. Everyone’s been asking about you.”
Dev’s fingers tightened, the plastic bottle crinkling in his grip. “I already told you I have no plans to get back in the air again.”
“I know you did, but that was when you were still in the hospital. I figured once you got some distance from the accident, you might’ve changed your mind.”
“I haven’t.”
“I read the report. It wasn’t your fault.”
Mechanical failure due to electrical wiring defect. Yeah, Dev had read the report, too. Actually, he’d listened as Adam sat beside his hospital bed and read it to him a few months after the accident.
Final determination: pilot not at fault. Commended for landing disabled aircraft resulting in no loss of life. License to fly fully reinstated.
No, thanks.
Dev took another long swallow of water. “Like I said, I’m done flying.”
Mac