Any Day Now - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,26

asked curiously.

Amelia, obviously not shy at all, stood up with King still in her arms.

She turned her back to us all and then looked at me for help. “Can you lift my shirt up?”

I offered to take the dog instead. I mean, her father and brother were standing right there.

And, yes, Sam probably wouldn’t kill me because he and my dad were best friends. But I didn’t know Silas all that well other than a handful of times seeing him here and there. Also, from the one time that I can ever remember seeing Silas pissed, I knew damn well that I didn’t want to piss him off.

“You know,” I said later as I watched my family and hers walked to the back porch to start the barbeque up. “I remember your dad being really pissed once.”

Her brows rose. “When?”

It was as if her dad being scary was a foreign concept to her.

“One time when he’d heard about one of his helicopters being tampered with,” I said. “I was there getting some flight hours since I was home. He’d said that I could use one of his birds. I was doing a pre-flight checklist with one of the men he has as a supervisor there. He came storming in, mad as hell, because the supervisor had found something that he’d needed to see. When he arrived, after riding here however long it takes to get from Benton to Kilgore, he’d walked right up to the bird and demanded to see who’d ridden in it, been around it, and looked at it all week. It was found out that a vengeful ex-employee had decided to do some tampering with some mechanical lines. It’d almost killed the pilot and the flight nurse.”

“I remember that.” She winced. “I was in my last year of high school, actually. Taking a lot of college hours as well. I remember him tearing out of our driveway as if his ass was on fire. And to say he was pissed was an understatement. He was livid. That flight nurse had a heart attack. Did you know that?”

I shook my head. “I decided to not take any flights that day. But, even if I hadn’t decided not to, your dad wouldn’t have let me. He decided to check all of his fleet out. I came back the next week and dealt with the supervisor again.”

“Do you still do that?” she asked curiously.

I nodded. “Fly? Yes. I call your dad’s supervisor, I think his name is…”

“Ross,” she finished for me. “He took over the Texas offices.”

“Yeah.” I grinned. “I actually considered working for them before I got the job with the SWAT team. I’m actually still considering it. As a side job. They always need flight crew.”

“They do,” she confirmed. “What’s stopping you?”

I thought about that for a long moment and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Her brows rose as if she didn’t believe that answer.

“More like, you know, but you don’t want to tell me.” She smiled softly. “I’m not going to make you spill all your secrets, Adam. I have some of my own that I don’t want to share.”

Now that had me curious.

“You want to go out with me?” I asked suddenly.

Because, suddenly, I wanted to know all her secrets. And I wasn’t altogether against telling her all of mine.

Before she could answer, Silas made his way out of the door of Sam’s place and called out.

“You ready, kid?” Silas bellowed. “Got something that needs taken care of.”

Amelia stood up and I went with her, walking along at her side, my hands tucked into the pockets of my jeans to stop myself from pulling her toward me and refusing to let her go.

That would be a bad idea.

At least at this juncture of the night.

Silas, despite being old enough to be my grandfather, looked to be in better shape than I could ever hope to be.

I had zero doubt in my mind he could kick my ass if he so pleased.

And I had a feeling that he would if I so much as pretended to have an interest in her.

Platonic side-by-side walking it was.

Once we reached the edge of the grass that would lead to the drive where Silas’ bike was parked, I came to a stop.

Amelia kept walking, her steps definitely slower and more hesitant since I’d come to a stop.

She didn’t stop until I shouted her name.

“Ummm, Amelia?” I called out when she was almost to the bike.

She turned, eyes alight with something I couldn’t quite