Let It Ride by Katherine Garbera Page B

that wasn’t in the plans today. So he forced a lightness he was far from feeling into his voice. “How was the museum?” he asked.
    Kylie tipped her head to the side and smiled. Her expression of joy struck an answering chord deep within him. He wanted to make her happy. He knew he couldn’t. He’d tried for years to make his mom happy until finally one day when he was eight, she’d told him one of life’s truths. Each person had to find his or her own happiness. He couldn’t manufacture a happy ending for her, she had to make her own happy ending, she said.
    “Awesome. They looked so real. Didn’t they, Angelo?”
    Angelo? He arched an eyebrow at the older man, who just gave him a hard stare. Deacon turned away to keep from laughing.
    “Thanks so much for coming with me,” she added.
    “You’re welcome, amico . I’ll leave you two to your tour. I need to get back to work.”
    “Thanks, Mandetti,” Deacon said, shaking the older man’s hand. He cupped Kylie’s elbow and led her toward the helicopter.
    She was wearing a close-fitting black top, a pair of khaki pants and black sandals. There was nothing remotely sexy about the outfit, but it turned him on, anyway.
    “Who’ll be the pilot today?” she asked as they neared the chopper.
    “I will.”
    “You can fly?”
    “I can pilot a helicopter.”
    “I can’t.”
    “I’m not surprised,” he said.
    “Why not? Am I not the adventurous type?”
    “Oh, you’re adventurous, all right,” he said.
    She smiled at him. That secret smile she used only when they were alone together.
    “Wow. I have a million questions,” she said with a laugh.
    No surprise there, either. Kylie was curious about everything. She had a million questions about stuff that Deacon admitted he’d just taken for granted.
    “Ask away,” he said.
    She stopped on the tarmac and pivoted to face him. The large sunglasses she wore covered her eyes. Raising her hands to his shoulders, she leaned up and kissed him.
    He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her more fully against his body. He tilted his head and leisurely explored her mouth with his. She sighed.
    He lifted his head long minutes later and gazed down at her.
    “I missed you this morning,” she said.
    He resisted the urge to hug her closer and never let go. To make promises he knew wouldn’t hold up in the real world.
    Damn. He was forgetting the rules he’d learned long ago. Forgetting the reasons he’d picked her out on the security camera. Forgetting she was here with him because he’d made a bet that he could convince her to marry him.
    He didn’t say anything, just urged her to the helicopter and opened the passenger door. “Put the earphones on.”
    She watched him with wounded eyes. He knew he hadn’t reacted the way he should have. He knew he’d just lost some ground. But he had come too close to losing his focus. To forgetting the golden rule. Love was an illusion, and only a man looking for a fall forgot they were playing a game.

    Deacon was a skilled pilot, which didn’t surprise Kylie. He was good at everything he did. Especially kissing. She freely admitted she was addicted to his embrace. The only reason she hadn’t stayed the night in his room was the very real fear that she’d start believing her vacation affair had turned into something else.
    She said nothing as they took off, feeling a little foolish for having said she missed him when clearly he didn’t feel the same way. Deacon seemed to sense her awkwardness and filled the silence in the cockpit with a running monologue that sounded as though it came straight from a Nevada tourism guidebook.
    She enjoyed hearing his observations, with which he peppered the tour-guide spiel. They gave her a chance to pretend he hadn’t rebuked her earlier. A chance to put her ill-timed words behind them and pretend he’d forgotten she’d said them.
    She knew he wasn’t trying to hurt her. She knew she was the only one who could keep her heart