Eagle
I’D HEARD RUMORS about Link’s gorgeous and completely off-limits sister, but none of them did the woman justice. She was tall, about five-ten, and muscular but curvy. Wearing distressed black jeans, boots, and a tight Harley-emblemed tank top, her long blonde hair was straight and her makeup light. With a tasteful sleeve of tattoos down her left arm, she looked like a goddamn biker’s wet dream come to life. People watched as she walked by, but she didn’t pay them any attention. She homed in on me and approached without an ounce of hesitation.
This was a woman who got shit done. It was obvious she was used to being listened to and respected. I’d heard she was in the Air Force, and could tell she was an officer. Regardless of her rank, when she put her hand on her hip and tried to tell me she wouldn’t be riding bitch, it took all of my restraint not to hop off my bike, throw her over my shoulder, and smack her ass.
Officer or not, nobody drove my bike but me.
Still, I appreciated a woman who could hold her own. I’ve been told I can be intimidating and intense, but she held my gaze as she stared me down, testing and watching my reaction. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be this unruly and defiant between my sheets. She’d probably want control and have to be tied down. Maybe she’d even fight me a little. That could be fun.
Just thinking about it made my jeans uncomfortable. I adjusted my growing erection, and her gaze followed my hand. She was interested, for sure.
Too bad she was Link’s sister.
Before he’d sent me to pick her up, the club’s incoming president made it a point to tell me to keep my hands off Naomi. Apparently, no one had given her such instructions. When she finally relented and climbed on the bike behind me, she pressed her big round tits against my back and her hands fanned out over my abs. She held me tighter than necessary, and her clean, sweet scent invaded my helmet before I snapped down the visor and clipped the face mask in place.
I’d unwittingly trapped that intoxicating scent in with me.
Her hands drifted down my stomach, and I took off faster than I meant to. Naomi squeezed closer in response, making it damn hard to concentrate on the road. The fire station was thirteen miles from the airport, and in traffic, it took almost an hour. An hour with her curvy body pressed against me, her hands roaming over my stomach, sometimes dipping down to the waistband of my jeans. A little further south, and she would have felt how hard she was making me. By the time we reached the fire station, I was desperately in need of another adjustment and a cold shower.
Without waiting for my help, Naomi kicked her leg over the seat and plucked off her helmet. Her hair was wind-tousled, her big brown eyes were bright, and her cheeks were rosy, giving her a just-fucked look that made me keep my hands on the handlebars, so I wouldn’t reach out and pull her onto my lap. Judging by the devious smirk she gave me, she knew exactly how she affected me. No doubt she did it on purpose. I couldn’t tell if she was just fucking with me, or genuinely interested.
“Thanks for the ride, Marine,” she purred, handing me back her borrowed helmet. “While I’m in town, you should let me buy you a drink for your trouble.”
If Naomi and I drank together, there really would be trouble. But, since telling her that would make me sound like a pussy, I gave her a non-committal nod and dismounted. “How long will you be here?” I shouldn’t have asked, shouldn’t have cared, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
“I leave Monday.”
Since it was Thursday evening, that meant I needed to avoid the fire station through the weekend. Easier said than done since Link’s inauguration would be Friday at noon. There’d be no avoiding this woman, and as tempting as her body was, I hoped to hell she found a more interesting toy to play with and left me the hell alone.
I walked her into the station. A few prospects, and ol’ ladies were hanging out in the common area, preparing for tomorrow’s festivities. The ol’ ladies stopped what they were doing and hurried over to greet Naomi. Jake and his ol’ lady, Margo, stepped out of the kitchen, saw what was going on and joined us.
“There’s my slugger,” Jake said, releasing Margo’s hand to hug his daughter.
“Slugger?” I asked, surprised by the nickname. My dad had called my sister princess or sweetheart. Slugger seemed like an odd term of endearment for a girl.
Jake grinned, pulling back to frame her face with his hands like she was still a child. “Yep. Her first year of T-ball, one of the boys on her team told her she hit like a girl. Naomi here marched straight home and bullied her brother until he taught her how to crack the ball. First game of the season she put one right between the third baseman’s eyes.”
“Dad,” Naomi said, her tone chastising. “Always with that story. It wouldn’t have been between the third baseman’s eyes if he would have just held up his glove. And I didn’t bully Link, I encouraged him to help me. Persuasively.”
“Blackmailed is more like it,” Link said, joining us. He slid an arm around his sister and squeezed her to his side to kiss her forehead. “Hey squirt.”
She rolled her eyes. “Slugger, Squirt… You guys give the worst nicknames ever.”
Jake elbowed me in the side. “It’s an important tale. That’s when she first started showing up the boys.” Pride beamed in his eyes as he kissed her cheek. “She hasn’t stopped since.”
“Stop talking about her like she’s not standing right there,” Margo chided, pushing Jake out of the way so she could hug his daughter. “You know she hates that. Welcome home, Naomi. Your dad has ribs on the smoker and I whipped up some of my homemade mac-n-cheese. I hope you’re hungry.”
I’d gotten to know Jake and Margo over the past two months, and as far as I could tell, they were the salt of the earth, reliable, trustworthy, good people out to make a real difference. Still newlyweds, the only time I saw Jake without his bride was during church, our weekly club meetings. He was stepping down from his presidency to spend more time with her. Maybe even travel some. Jake had done his time, both with the club and in the service, and suffered more than his share of losses. I was happy to be a part of the new guard coming on, so he could rest and enjoy his retirement.
“Starved,” Naomi replied. “I was hoping you’d be cooking, so I didn’t eat yet. Didn’t want to spoil my appetite.”
“Oh, you sweet girl,” Margo gushed. “It’ll be nice to have you here. There’s far too much testosterone around this place.”
“What?” Link asked, throwing his hands up like he was offended. “You sayin’ I’m not sweet, Margo?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying.” Turning to me, she said, “Thank you for picking Naomi up so we could finish cooking. Please, join us for dinner.”
Naomi watched me, looking a little too interested in my response for my comfort. I didn’t want to be rude and reject Margo’s invitation, especially not when she was always so nice to me, but I also didn’t want to fall prey to temptation. The less time I spent with Link’s forbidden sister, the better. “Thank you for the offer, but tomorrow’s a busy day. I’m sure Link has something else for me to do.” I looked to my incoming president, hoping he would throw me a task that would get me the hell out of here.
Link shook his head. “I’m good, brother. Join us. In fact, all the prospects and ol’ ladies helping out should. Here, Nae, let me introduce you to the others. This here’s Havoc. He was my weapons specialist.”
Naomi extended her hand toward the big black prospect who served with Link. He ignored her hand and pulled her in for a hug. “Any sister of Link’s is family,” Havoc said.
I knew the gesture was meant as friendly and nothing more, but it still set me on edge. I recognized the emotion for what it was—jealousy—but it shocked me. I’d never been a jealous man. Not even with Genie. If I could go back in time, I’m sure things would be different now. I’d covet every minute she spent away from me, knowing our time was limited. But, for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why I’d be jealous of Havoc’s arms around a woman I intended to avoid.
After the rest of the introductions were made, we all headed into the dining room to eat. Naomi sat toward the middle of the table with her dad and brother on either side of her. Havoc took a seat directly across from her, irritating the hell out of me. Frustrated and confused by the way I wanted to block her from him, I sat clear at the end, as far away from them as possible.
“So, Naomi,” Wasp said, sitting beside Havoc. “Link said you’re in the Air Force. How do you like it?”
“I love it. Most of the time. Okay, I love doing my job and going out on CSARs, but I hate the political bullshit.”
“CSARs?” I asked, recognizing the acronym for combat search and rescues. “Are you on a flight crew?” I didn’t mean to ask, didn’t want to appear interested, but the question had just flown out. I wasn’t usually chatty, but something about her made my tongue wag.
“She’s a helo pilot,” Jake beamed, heaping mac-n-cheese onto his plate. “The only female helo pilot in her squad.”
“You’re a Pedro?” Havoc asked, chewing on a rib. He wiped his mouth before adding, “Damn, girl, get it.”
His voice held respect, and I could understand why. Pedro was the call sign for Air Force helicopter pilots, specifically those who did CSAR missions. Pedros were uncommon. Last I’d heard, the Air Force only had about a hundred helicopters compared to the thousands owned by the Army. Getting an Air Force helo slot meant you were the best of the best. Naomi Lincoln had to be made of some pretty tough shit to make her way into such a competitive job.
“I tried to tell her to go Army,” Link said.
“Yeah, you were super helpful,” Naomi droned. “What was that great advice you gave me?”
Link grinned. “If you want to fly choppers, go Army. If you want to fly jets, go Navy. If you want to fly the fuckin’ space shuttle, go Air Force. If you want to blow shit up, go Marines. If you can’t swim, go Coast Guard. And that’s some damn good advice, thank you very much.”
It was customary for different branches of the military to flick shit at each other, and since the club didn’t currently have any Coast Guard vets, the Coast Guard usually got the brunt of our jokes.
“Damn good advice,” Jake agreed. “But I still wish you wouldn’t have gone after such a dangerous job, slugger. You’d think after growing up around a bunch of fucked up old soldiers, you’d want more from life.”
She smiled at him. “Dad, I grew up around the best men on the planet. Why wouldn’t I want to follow in their shoes?”
He shook his head at her, but his eyes were full of pride.
“What made you choose the Air Force?” Havoc asked.
“Better pay and conditions than most of the branches. Smarter people. I’m not savage enough for the Army.” Naomi elbowed her brother.
“She likes doing the shit people say is impossible,” Link added.
She directed a pointed look at her brother and father. “Wonder where I get that from, hmm?”
Link threw his hands in the air before not-so-discretely pointing at their dad, who denied everything. Even when Margo called him a bald-faced liar.
“What about you, Eagle?” Naomi asked, surprising me as she dismissed the brothers in front of her and angled her body to face me. “What did you do in the Marines?”
Talking about my time in the service dredged up too many memories I didn’t want to think about, so I gave her the short answer. “Sniper.”
“Guess that explains the name,” she replied. “Like a scout sniper?”
I nodded and shoveled in another bite to keep my mouth busy, so I wouldn’t have to talk. She seemed to get the hint and turned her attention on Wasp. “What about you? Wasp, right? Which branch did you come from?”
As the conversation continued, I learned a lot more about Naomi than I wanted to. She was smart and funny, she shared a love of reading murder mysteries with her father, and she seemed genuinely interested in the people around her. I’d been expecting her to be an entitled daddy’s girl, but she wasn’t that at all. She kept throwing glances my way, making her interest in me known. But, she wasn’t the kind of girl I normally took to my bed and I didn’t need the grief I’d get if Link ever found out about it. So, as soon as we finished dinner, I got the hell out of there and away from her.