Danger Zone • Top Gun: Maverick

• Chapter Thirteen •

A few rounds into the game, and the teams were tied.

Jake stood in front of Skye, the blonde's sports bra giving him just enough of a view of her cleavage, to which he allowed his eyes to linger on her chest.

The whistle pierced the air, and Skye took advantage of Jake being distracted by taking off in a sprint as she ran past him. She waved her hands at her cousin as Bradley threw the ball towards her.

Catching the ball with ease, she turned and found Jake smirking at her.

"That wasn't very nice, sweetheart." He taunted and tried to grab the ball from her, only for the blonde to duck underneath him quickly with a smirk of her own.

"Missed, bitch!" She exclaimed with a laugh. "It's not my fault that you're so easily distracted." She added with a wink and threw the ball back to Bradley, who in turn, passed it to Javy as they made it over their 'wining line'.

"Eat that, Bagman!" Bradley yelled and bumped chests with Javy before he did a little victory dance, his hips and shoulders moving in sync.

Emerson stared at him with her jaw slightly agape as she watched the sight in front of her.

"You're drooling, hun." Skye whispered with a teasing smirk, which had ultimately snapped her best friend out of her trance and made her quickly wipe her mouth only to find the back of her hand dry.

"Ha ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes playfully in response to her best friend, who simply laughed.

"So.." The brunette jumped slightly as she felt Bradley come up from behind her, his lips almost brushing against her ear as he whispered. "Are you planning on bombing the other team or are you just gonna stand there gawking at me the whole game?"

She could hear the smirk in his voice and decided that two could play at that game, her own smirk gracing her lips as she turned around to face him.

"Well, what can I say?" She asked with a light shrug and lowered her shades as she brought herself closer towards him. "I do enjoy a free show." She said with a wink and slid her shades back up, not missing the way that he had bit his lip before turning his attention back to the game.

The ball flew threw the air and Emerson ran backwards as it headed straight towards her. "I got it!" She exclaimed before she slammed into a body causing both her and the to fall onto the sand.

"There goes my back." Pete groaned as they lied on the ground.

Emerson, completely forgetting about how mad she was at her father, laughed softly. "Sorry, Dad." She apologised as she sat up and watched as Bradley held a hand out to her father, helping him onto his feet.

With a tap to his shoulder, the tall pilot made his way over to the brunette and held his hand out to her - to which she accepted and was helped to her feet.

"Shame on you, Em." Bradley teased lightly with an amused smile. "You gotta be careful around the old man. He's fragile."

Emerson released a soft giggle and spotted her team's ball in his hands. Quickly knocking it out of her hands, the brunette sprinted, picking up the ball before she ran to the other side of the beach.

"What are you doing?" Bradley quizzed.

"I believe it's called wining." Emerson responded with a smirk.

After a couple of more rounds, Pete had decided that he was going to sit the rest of the game out which earned a lot of teasing in response from the pilots and WSOs.

In actual fact, both teams had long forgotten about keeping score and were just enjoying their team-building exercise together.

Bradley had launched the ball over to Bob, who had a look of surprise cross his features as he had caught it and took off running to the other side of the beach.

Both teams gathered around the shy WSO, with Bradley hoisting him up onto his shoulders as they had begun chanting. "Bob! Bob! Bob! Bob! Bob!"

"Hey, Mav!" Emerson called out to her father, only now noticing that Admiral Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson had arrived. "So who won?!"

"Well, I'll say everyone is a winner." Pete responded with a smile and pointed towards the Admiral. "Drinks are on him, though."

The pilots and the WSOs cheered and began making their way inside the Hard Deck, with a not-too-impressed Admiral Simpson following after them.

Emerson shook her head lightly and walked towards the shoreline, allowing the waves to wash over her feet before she splashed some water onto her warm skin.

"Not gonna join them?" Bradley asked as he stood beside her.

"Hmm, in a few." She responded as she ran her hand over her arm. "Just wanted to cool off a bit."

"Understandable." The tall pilot stated with a nod, placing his hand against her lower back and before the brunette knew it, she was in the water looking back at her best friend who had a smug smirk across his lips. "Oh, I am so sorry, you looked hot. In more ways than one."

"You wanna play it that way, Bradshaw?" She questioned and tackled him into the water before she attempted to run away from him.

However, Bradley was faster and caught up to her in no time, wrapping his arms around her - Emerson releasing a squeal and laughed as he spun her around.

Placing her down on the ground, Emerson turned around and looked up at Bradley with a smile as she placed her hands against his chest, regaining her balance. She shifted her gaze up towards the sky that had turned almost golden in colour before shifting her gaze towards the sunset.

"Wow.." She breathed in a whisper. "Beautiful."

"Yeah, you are." Bradley responded, staring at her which made her shift her gaze back to him.

Before she could say anything, Bradley had dipped his head down and connected their lips as he tilted her chin up slightly.

Shocks coursed throughout her entire body and and the brunette had immediately felt herself responding to the kiss.

It was soft but passionate, gentle but full of need.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers gently tugging at his hair as he grabbed her legs and hoisted her up, forcing her to wraps her legs around his waist.

Emerson couldn't help but want to stay like this forever but sadly, they had both needed oxygen to breathe and slowly pulled away - where she had pushed his aviators up before doing the same to her own shades.

She played with the hair at the nape of his neck as she stared into his eyes with a soft smile. "That was.." She trailed off almost breathlessly.

"Amazing." He finished with a smile of his own as he found himself getting lost in her eyes.

"Well, I was going to say long overdue but.." She giggled and nodded her head before she placed her forehead against his. "Yes, that was amazing."