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Penny, his daredevil cousin, had been over the moon at his request. Then again, she’d have likely agreed just to meet Sarah.
He’d made the mistake of mentioning a name, of mentioning how much Sarah loved the city, of how he wanted to show New York to her in a way she’d never seen it.
What better way than from Penny’s helicopter?
Or so he’d thought until that moment.
Sarah’s face had gone a ghastly pale shade at the sight of the helicopter.
“We’re going somewhere in that?” she asked, her voice strained.
“You’re not afraid of flying, are you?” He’d not considered that possibility, but knew there were lots of people who didn’t fly.
“No.” Her tone didn’t sound confident. “At least, I don’t think I am. I don’t know.” She gave him a trembling smile and shrugged. “I’ve never been in a helicopter.”
Protectiveness swept over him. An odd protectiveness that felt different from any he’d ever experienced until she’d been telling him about her failed date. Just as then, he wanted to take on her fear, her doubt, and give her the world.
He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“You’ll like this,” he assured her, hoping he was correct. “Penny is a great pilot. You’ll like her.”
Still eyeing the helicopter, she asked, “Penny?”
“My cousin Penny,” he clarified. “She said she knew you. Among other things, she’s a paramedic with Manhattan Mercy’s air ambulance.”
“Penny Davenport. Your cousin. Charles’s younger sister. Of course.” She glanced at him and a new uncertainty crept into her eyes. “You get along with her, then?”
He nodded. “She’s crazy, like me.”
“You don’t care if she knows you’re with me?”
Not what he’d been expecting Sarah to ask, neither did he understand why she had.
He frowned. “Why would I care if she knows?”
Insecurity shone behind her glasses. “I... I just wondered. I wasn’t sure how much your family knew about your women.”
Maybe because he was concerned he’d miscalculated on the helicopter trip or maybe in retaliation for the vulnerability he felt at the intense protectiveness she evoked in him, Sarah’s comment made him angry. Enough was enough.
“You’re not one of my women, Sarah.”
She wasn’t. She was...hurt by his outburst.
He could see it in how she averted her gaze, in how she looked even more tentatively at the helicopter, in how her grip on his hand loosened.
“That didn’t come out right,” he began, wanting to rake his fingers through his hair but knowing Penny was watching from where she now stood next to the helicopter. “Let’s not talk about other women, Sarah. They don’t matter.” They never had, but especially they didn’t at that moment, when he was looking into Sarah’s eyes and wanting to recapture the magic that had sparkled there when they’d left the theater, when they’d been at the restaurant, before he’d spilt his guts to her. “Okay?”
“Fine by me.” But there was no sparkle as she eyed the helicopter, just wariness.
“Sarah?” His pretty cousin with long, wavy chocolate-brown hair greeted them. Her eyes were the same blue as Jude’s, that piercing Davenport blue that his family was famous for and that they couldn’t escape.
“I know we’ve bumped into each other in the emergency department from time to time,” Penny continued. “But we’ve never officially met. It’s nice to meet you.”
Sarah went to shake the woman’s hand, but got pulled into a hug instead.
Seconds later, Penny had him in a death-grip hug, too. To be so tiny, his cousin packed a punch. He’d always connected to Penny on a level he hadn’t with the rest of his family. Maybe because they were both risk-takers and didn’t fall into line with family expectations.
“It’s good to know my cousin’s taste is improving,” Penny teased, giving him a playful punch in the shoulder, much as one of his male friends might do.
