Night Maneuvers

chapter 17

SITUATION REPORT: Well, I’m not saving a $70 million plane, but…

Mitch had once heard of an unbelievable feat pulled off by a U.S. Navy pilot flying an F-35 joint strike force fighter.

This navy pilot had been lifting off from an aircraft carrier when his vertical thruster fired while he was still vectored for vertical takeoff. The plane headed nose-down, a hundred feet off the deck of the carrier. The aircraft should’ve crashed. Instead, the pilot performed a perfect vertical loop and then took off. Talk about stability control…

If Mitch hadn’t seen video footage, he might have thought the whole story was merely urban legend. It seemed unbelievable that any fighter pilot would’ve had the kind of balls it would take to stay calm and get that F-35 to remain stable. So many things could’ve gone wrong. He was flying through his own afterburner. His wings had to remain perfectly level.

Sunday night Mitch lay in bed in his apartment, wide-awake, his hands clasped behind his head, and thought about that pilot. He came to the conclusion that if that guy could get himself out of that kind of snafu, then Mitch should be able to get himself out of the mess his life had become.

He’d left the MGM Grand shaken, Neil’s words pounding in his brain. “You have everything I want and you don’t even know it.”

As if Mitch had been struck by a lightning bolt, everything he’d thought about his life had turned upside down at that moment, just like that F-35. And if he didn’t want to crash and burn, he needed to execute a perfect vertical roll and get his life back in the air and flying right.

A part of him knew deep down that Alex had been telling the truth about her kiss with Neil. He hadn’t really needed Neil’s word to prove Alex’s loyalty. But if he had acknowledged her truth the other night, that she loved him, he would have had to open his heart to trusting her. Like Jackson said, take a chance on someone.

Before he’d seen Alex kissing Neil, he’d been more happy, more—yeah, he needed to admit it—in love than he’d ever been with Luanne. But he might never have recognized it. He’d have gone through life—for as long as it lasted—thinking he could have Alex’s love and still keep his heart safely inside the bunker he’d built around it.

Loving someone, trusting them, scared the hell out of him. It meant opening himself up to pain. He’d been there, done that and barely survived it. But the reason he’d survived it was…Alex. How blind had he been not to see she’d always been there for him? Twelve damn years she’d been there. Always standing beside him, watching his back, giving him her unconditional friendship. Her understanding. Her…love. She’d been his wingman, his buddy, his…everything.

He’d had the most wonderful gift all this time and never appreciated her. All these wasted years. Years of sleeping around, pretending he was the smart one, keeping women at a distance, using them for pleasure to get back at—what? His mom? Or a young girl who’d married too young to know what she wanted? What a jackass he’d been.

And Alex, wasting her time on a jerk like him.

Now it might be too late to get her back.

But he sure as hell intended to try.

Alex hadn’t given up on him. He wasn’t going to give up on her anytime soon.



THE WEEK AFTER her parents left seemed to pass by under a dark, heavy cloud of gloom for Alex. And, as if the weather wished to match her mood, it stayed dark and stormy all week, as well. Some nights it’d been too dangerous to fly, and Alex knew her students felt the same skin-crawling cabin fever she did at being cooped up in the classroom all night.

The weekend finally came and Jordan and Lily ambushed her Friday for a girls’ night out. She knew they were trying to cheer her up, and she appreciated their effort, but…

Note to self: Jell-O shooters and broken hearts don’t mix. Turns out she was a mean drunk. Ugh. She was totally embarrassing. Luckily, her two new friends had ignored her bad temper and self-pity party.

She spent the rest of the weekend in bed with the sniffles and actually called in sick Sunday night. By Wednesday she was forced to admit she needed a doctor and some antibiotics. The good thing about being sick was having an excuse for puffy eyes and a red nose. Someone else had to teach her class, but other than feeling guilty about that, being a contagious recluse suited her just fine.

She didn’t seem to have the energy to care whether she ever left her house again. And she wasn’t in the mood for visitors, either. This meant she might have left some well-meaning friends with the false belief that her house was full of infectious germs.

After another weekend in bed, even she couldn’t stand herself. She’d milked the flu for all she could and it was time for her to cowboy up—as her grandfather would say—and face the world. A world without Mitch.

She shouldn’t miss the clueless jerk.

But she did.

She missed being able to rant to him about her bad day. Or brag to him about her good day. She missed his smile, and his wicked humor. His optimism every day. Always finding some way to make life fun. She missed his kisses and his arms around her at night. Those exquisite moments of connection when he slid inside her and, for a little while at least, they seemed like one person. And she missed those moments of silence when she could look into his eyes and know that he knew exactly what she was thinking.

So, Monday night at the end of her shift, her mind had totally wandered off to thinking of all those things she missed about Mitch, wretched as that was. Leaning back in her chair, staring at the ceiling, she had her hands behind her head and her feet propped on her desk, completely oblivious to the emails and reports in front of her.

At the knock on her open door she dropped her feet to the floor and scooted her chair up to her desk.

Grady came in, looking almost as tired as Alex did. “Hughes, I’m heading out. You coming?”

“Doesn’t Lily work days at her shop? Why do you look like death warmed up?”

He shrugged. “Just not a day sleeper.”

“Blackout curtains help.”

“Sounds crazy, but I just don’t sleep as well if Lily’s not there.”

Alex tried to swallow past the huge lump in her throat. “No. It doesn’t sound crazy.”

Grady stared at her a second or two, and then gave her a brief nod. “Good night, Major Hughes.”

“Good night, sir.”

Over the past couple of weeks, she’d lain awake during the day, or been walking out to her car in the early morning hours, and wanted so badly to call Mitch. To see how he was doing, see if they could try to make it work just one more time, or just to hear his voice.

So far, she’d resisted. But in these dark hours just before dawn, when she was tired from working all night, her resistance was lowest. She yanked the paperwork toward her and tried to concentrate on performance reviews and grading classroom tests.

The later she worked the more quiet the building grew. She stuck in her ear buds and flipped on her iPod. Ugh! Why had she bought all these depressing songs about unrequited love? She flipped it off again and shoved to her feet. This was ridiculous. She could take this paperwork home and finish it there while she watched the DIY network.

Collecting her things, she grabbed her hat and headed out, locking her door behind her. Not that she had to worry about Mitch’s practical jokes anymore— Stop it, Alex!

She had to stop thinking about him all the time.

Out in the parking lot she drew in a deep breath and noticed the sun creeping up over the mountains, turning the sky pink and orange.

Feeling a bit better, she slid into her Mustang, dropping her briefcase in the passenger seat, stuck her keys in the ignition and turned.

The only sound she heard was a click. She knew better, but she still turned the key again. Yep, same result, knucklehead.

Man, she so did not need this right now. She was tired and cranky and hungry and all she wanted was breakfast and a bath. With a loud, self-pitying sigh, she climbed out, pulled the lever under the grill, and opened the hood.

She stared a moment, disbelieving her eyes. What the… How could a distributor cap just disappear?

“Looking for this?”

She jumped at the sound of Mitch’s voice and peeked around the hood. He stood beside her driver’s door holding a black distributor cap. Or more correctly, her distributor cap.

She blinked at him, uncomprehending at first. He’d removed her distributor cap? Why would he—

How could he—! He thought some stupid practical joke would make things right between them? Outwardly she bristled. But inside, her heart was melting at the sight of him. He looked like hell. He looked wonderful.

“What is this, McCabe?”

“Take it easy, Hughes.” He stepped closer, but haltingly, like a cowboy gentling a wild pony. “I just wanted to talk.” He gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged one shoulder. “Figured I’d make sure you couldn’t get away.”

She briefly closed her eyes and prayed for strength. Strength to resist running to him and wrapping her arms around him and begging him to kiss her. “All right.” She folded her arms. “Talk.”

He took another step closer and the breeze brought the scent of Mitch to her nose. She inhaled and felt a pang of desire burn through her.

“I remember the first time I saw you. We’d just entered the academy, and you were walking off the field alone after the swearing-in ceremony.”

She frowned. “You saw me then?”

He nodded. “I remember thinking, hey, I’m not the only one that doesn’t have family here. I’m not alone. So, I followed you.”

“You did?”

“When I saw those creeps jump you, I wished to God I had a tire iron.”

“You saw them?”

He nodded. “Didn’t you ever wonder how I happened to be in that hallway?”

She shook her head. “I guess I was so shaken I didn’t question it.”

“You were shaken?”

“Scared to death.”

“Well, you didn’t show it. When I realized you’d taken down that upperclassman with your hands taped behind you, I couldn’t believe it. And after, you were so tough, so determined to be treated equally.” He ran a finger down her nose. “You never would let me protect you, or help you. I’ve always admired that.”

Mitch’s face swam before her. As if in a dream, the world slowed and brightened. A ray of sunshine escaped the shadow of the mountains and lit his blond hair in golden light. Her throat closed up.

He took another step and brought his fingers up to tuck back a strand of hair that had blown across her face. “Yet every time I lost faith in myself, you believed in me. You saw that better person in me even when I couldn’t see it myself. I think I’ve probably loved you from the very beginning, Alex.”

She tried to swallow, but she still couldn’t speak.

“I love you, Alexandria Hughes.”

She searched his eyes. Those baby-blue eyes that had smiled at her, laughed with her, beguiled her for twelve years. Then she looked at his mouth. Those masculine lips that had saved her, whispered both truth and lies to her. Lips that had hurt her and kissed her. “Say it again,” she whispered.

He flashed a quick grin and then his expression turned serious again. “I love you, Alex. I love your stubborn streak and your horrible temper, and your sweet mouth and your deadly intelligence.”

She punched his arm.

“Ow.” He faked an expression of pain and rubbed his arm.

“It’s about time, you idiot.” She finally let the tears flow, even as she laughed.

Mitch smiled and gathered her into his arms and held her tight as if he never wanted to let her go. He caressed her back and laid his cheek atop her head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her nose in his chest. It felt so good to be in his arms again. To let herself be needy, after so many years of believing she couldn’t show any sign of weakness.

He gathered her hair away from her wet face, and pressed kisses on the top of her head and her temple. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, baby.” Bringing both hands up to cup her face, he lifted it to him. He bent and tenderly kissed her trembling lips. When he raised his head, he smiled at her. “Thank you for loving me all these years. For believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

“It’s always been you, Mitch. Always.” She threw her arms around his neck and took his mouth with hers, luscious and long, happy and smiling, and never letting go.