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“If that’s true, it makes me a chickenshit. Like I can’t take responsibility for what I want.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I think it’s just indicative of your uncertainty about the whole thing.”
Maybe. But she had a disgusted feeling she was simply being a wimp rather than a strong, independent woman.
Chapter Eight
“Al Rogers wants to go to Lake Tahoe and I’m tied up,” Travis Sullivan told Nate. “Can you take him?”
Travis was one of the original owners of Devil’s Rock Airport. Levi Chapman was the billionaire and ideas man, Zack Bannister was the inspiration and had inherited the land, and Travis was the pilot and the most knowledgeable about flying and running an airport. The three old friends had gotten together and Devil’s Rock Airport was the result.
When Nate first came to town, he’d been Travis’s copilot. But as time went on and the business had grown, Nate had become one of the main pilots of the private charter company. He and Travis also taught flying lessons.
“When?”
“This afternoon. Are you free?”
“Yeah. My student canceled. Kind of last-minute, isn’t it?”
“Yes. You know Al. If we don’t take him, he’ll find someone else.” And they sure didn’t want to lose the man’s business. They wanted to keep him happy and coming back to their charter service.
“Is it just Al or is he bringing someone?”
“Come on, Nate. It’s Al.”
“True,” Nate said with a shrug. “So, his latest conquest. I hope this one isn’t jailbait.”
“The last one only looked like jailbait. She was legal.”
“True enough.” Al’s women always seemed happy to be with him. He sure as hell didn’t coerce any of them. But he had a new one every time he chartered the jet. He was the ultimate ladies’ man and Devil’s Rock charters had flown him—and his latest woman—all over the US, as well as to Mexico and Canada.
One time he’d asked Travis’s wife Tobi how the man attracted so many much younger women. In Nate’s opinion he wasn’t that good-looking but hell, he wasn’t female. Part of it was money, sure. But according to Tobi, who’d met him several times, it was his charm and attentiveness that was the attraction as much as money. “When he’s with a woman he makes her feel like she’s the only one in the world for him,” Tobi had said. “And she probably is. For that day at least.”
Nate’s copilot today was Gary O’Brien, who he flew with regularly. Al introduced his newest girlfriend. She looked a little older than the last one had, but Nate would’ve bet his plane that she was still shy of twenty-five.
Al always spent a little time before takeoff talking to the pilots. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” Al confided. “I think Amanda’s ‘the one.’”
They both made appropriate noises but when he went back to his seat beside the young woman, his copilot, who’d never met Al before, said, “She’s a looker but she seems a little young for him. Do you think he’s serious about her?”
Nate laughed. “Sure. For the moment. She might even last a couple of days or even a week. But Al is the eternal bachelor.”
After they dropped off Al and his new girlfriend, Nate thought about Al’s lifestyle. It was one he totally understood. Hell, he’d been just like Al, albeit not as wealthy, for most of his adulthood. But that had changed once he got to know Damaris. What had started out as lust had morphed into friendship on Damaris’s insistence. And slowly friendship had deepened until Nate realized he was in love with Damaris and no other woman would do.
He didn’t want to wind up like Al. He was ready to settle down—something that would surprise most of his friends. He still had the rep for dating lots of women but never anyone seriously. Which was true, but only because he hadn’t convinced Damaris to give the two of them a chance. Would their pretend love affair lead to a real one? Who could say? But he sure as hell hoped so.
*
Not long after their discussion about becoming friends with benefits, Nate and Damaris went to Booze’s to play pool. Nate was across the room, shooting the shit with one of the guys, when he glanced over at the pool tables looking for Damaris. She’d disappeared and he figured she’d gone downstairs to get a drink.
He went downstairs and saw her at the bar, talking to a dude that he could see from fifty feet away was wasted. He began to walk toward them just as the asshole put his hand on her butt. He’d heard the expression seeing red before, but he’d never literally seen red until this moment. He was beside her in an instant.
Damaris said, “Stand down, Nate. I’m handling it.” He didn’t want to leave it to her, but he knew her well enough to know she could indeed handle herself. She’d grown up with four brothers, after all. Still, he was ready to jump in if necessary.
“Move your hand or you’ll regret it,” Damaris said.
“What are you going to do? Break it?”
She smiled. A smile Nate knew spelled trouble for the lech. “Maybe. If you don’t move it, sure.”
