“Okay. I’ll look at the space and see what would work best. I’ll see you later.” She pushed to her toes and smacked her lips to his. When she pulled away, he grabbed her elbows and yanked her up again.
“Oh no, that will never do for a goodbye kiss,” he said before slanting his mouth over hers.
It took concentration to keep the kiss from sinking deeper. He wanted to give her just enough to leave her wanting more, but he also had to remember where they were. Her mouth, her taste, were all too easy to get lost in. With reluctance, he sipped at her lips one final time then stepped away.
“There. Much better,” he declared with a smug grin.
She stared at him, blinking fast over dilated eyes, her cheeks flushed, and her lips red and puffy. “Wow.”
He grinned wider. “I’ll call you when I can.”
“Ah, okay, bye.” She made her way to the door and gave him a look over her shoulder that had him mentally patting himself on the back.
He’d accomplished his objective. She’d be thinking about that kiss—and him—the rest of the day.
He adjusted his pants.
Of course, they would both be thinking about that kiss for the rest of the day, but it had been worth a few hours of discomfort.
“Jeez, are you still in here? C’mon, let’s get this thing going. We need to get to the hanger and check everything is ready to go. The kids will be here soon,” Gray said from the open door.
“Coming. Wait? What? Kids?” Rylan’s words fell into the empty room, bounced against the closed door. “Shit.” What the hell had he volunteered for?
He headed out via the kitchen, where he grabbed a couple of bottles of water. When he walked into the hanger, it became clear what thistrainingsession was. It was a demonstration of what they did here at Mercy-Life.
One corner of the hanger had charts taped up on the wall, two large tables with various medical equipment and papers on them stood in front of the poster display, and across the large space, the plane door was open, the stairs down.
“How old are they?” Rylan asked as he moved closer to the tables.
“Average age is thirteen.”
“Eighth graders?”
“Seventh and eighth.”
“Do we do this often?” He picked up a handout and studied the pictures. “We’re not expecting them to learn CPR, are we?”
Gray laughed. “Hell no. We’ll send them back to school with those leaflets and hope something sticks, but at this age, we’re really just showing them around and telling them what everything is, talking about what we do. They don’t care about anything but riding in a chopper. We won’t take them up today. I prefer to show them the choppers and the plane here on the ground and leave it at that.”
“Okay. What do you need me to do?” He could do this. And he needed to get used to the idea of spending time with kids. He was going to have one in about eight months.
“Nothing right now. Everything is set up already, and I’ve done this so many times I could do it in my sleep. Just follow my lead and help me ride herd once the group gets here. There should be at least three chaperones as well as us. That’s five adults to twenty teens and preteens. I’m not expecting any drama.”
“What time will we finish?”
“Should be out of here before midday. Why? Got a hot date?”
Rylan grinned. “Actually, yes.”
“Wait? You and Mazey?”
He nodded.
“That’s new.”
“Recent-ish.”
“Be careful. You both have to work here after.”
