Page 76 of One Kind Hand

“Partners who kiss?”

“Yeah, my favorite kind of partners.” He lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss that could have fueled every aircraft in that airfield. Luckily Harlon and some of her other pilot acquaintances weren’t around to bust her balls about this. She did her best to be one of the guys when she was here. Kissing—especially kissing a movie star—would be an endless source of teasing for her testosterone-filled colleagues.

Austin slowed the kiss to a few light nips on her bottom lip. “We’re going to be late and Cody will definitely hire an assassin to take us out if that happens.”

“Be a shame to have someone so handsome fall prey to an assassin,” she said, tugging him toward the chopper, well aware of how Cody felt about her. He’d given Charlie the evil eye on more than one occasion since that one time Austin had been late to filming. “Don’t worry. I’ll have us there in a jiffy.”

They boarded her helicopter, buckled in, and situated headphones over their ears. Within moments, Charlie had them in the air and on their way. Checking her watch, she saw they actually had plenty of time to get to their destination before Cody would become a problem so she flew a little lower and pointed out various spots in the landscape below.

“That right there,” she said, arrowing her index finger to a steeple, “is the oldest church in Maplehaven.” Rising higher then waving to their left, she indicated mountain peaks. “Those are Maplehaven’s three protectors: Mount Woodrich, Brenton Mountain, and Birch Peak. I’ve climbed them all.” She banked to the right and headed for Lake Brenton, wanting Austin to get an aerial view of the town’s key body of water.

Maybe she wanted to show off some of her chopper tricks too.

Charlie worked the controls, sending the helicopter up so the church she’d pointed out became nothing but a tiny white speck. “Hang on,” she said, giving Austin a quick glance.

She raced ahead then as soon as she had the lake in her view under them, she let the chopper nosedive. It felt amazing to be up to her daredevil ways again. Over the past few weeks, she’d been living rather tamely, hanging out with Austin when he wasn’t filming and she wasn’t choppering. Nothing wrong with that—especially when she’d used magnificent sex as a substitute—but testing the limits always brought a rush that Charlie loved.

The lake below was a wide blue mouth, waiting to swallow them. Austin let out an unmanly scream and she cackled like a crazy person, wanting to throw her hands up in the air as if on a rollercoaster. At the last possible moment, Charlie yanked on the controls, making the chopper do an almost ninety-degree angle before leveling off and coasting above the lake’s surface.

“Bring us up! Bring us up!” Austin’s voice didn’t sound as thrill-seeking as Charlie had expected it to.

She cast a glance his way to find one of his hands death-clamped to the seat and the other splayed on the side window. His chest heaved in and out as he breathed, and his eyes were wild with panic.

Fuck! His reaction had to mean he was the one who was afraid of the water. Charlie recalled Cody telling her not to fly near water on the first day she’d met Austin. She’d assumed it was Cody or Janice who had the fear. Not Austin. Not action-adventure hero, does-his-own-stunts Austin.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” She immediately brought the chopper up and over dry land. “I didn’t know, Austin! I didn’t know!”

A bead of sweat rolled from Austin’s temple down his cheek. He didn’t loosen up on his rigid posture to brush it away, nor did he let go of the seat or window.

“You’re okay,” she said. “We’re back up in the air and away from the lake. I left the water back there.” She arrowed a thumb over her shoulder. “We’re perfectly safe. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Austin.” It was true. She never would have flown anywhere near Lake Brenton if she’d known he was the one with the fear of water.

He didn’t say anything, nor did he relax in his seat. Austin was a silent stone statue for the remainder of the ride to Montpelier. A ride Charlie made sure was so steady you could have balanced a full teacup on the controls. She wished Austin would talk to her, but his lips were a firm line as he stared straight ahead. Charlie knew better than to push him right now. His fear had him all locked up.

The airfield in Montpelier finally came into view, and while Charlie would have liked to give Austin the aerial tour here, she didn’t think he’d appreciate that at the moment. She focused on the business of landing them as gently as possible and efficiently going through post-flight routines.

“Let me out of here.” Austin’s voice was strained as he unbuckled his seat belt and wrenched off his headphones.

“Austin, I—”

He silenced her with a single index finger. “Don’t. I need off this thing right fucking now.”

“Okay,” she said. “You’re free to get out. I need to do a few more . . .” Her voice trailed off as Austin opened the door and jumped from the chopper as if the thing were on fire.

He wobbled once he was on his feet and Charlie hopped out, ready to steady him. By the time she got to his side of the helicopter though, he was already heading for Cody who was waiting by a limo.

When Austin reached his agent, Cody immediately put a hand on his shoulder then he shot a glare Charlie’s way. She instantly knew she was in deep shit. Cody could have been more specific about who had the damn fear of the water on day one. He was a little bit to blame for her blunder today too.

Finishing up, Charlie closed the doors on her helicopter and started for the limo. Cody met her halfway after he packaged Austin away inside the limo.

“I’ll send another limo for you,” he barked. “And know that if it wasn’t such short notice, I’d totally be replacing you and your death machine here.”

“Hold up a moment,” Charlie said when Cody spun on his heel and marched back toward the waiting limo.

He whirled back around to face her, pure fury in his eyes. “I told you no water. What didn’t you comprehend?” Cody shot his hand toward the limo. “He’s a fucking disaster in there. How do you think that’s going to make today’s shoot go?”

“I didn’t know he was afraid of the water. You didn’t tell me to stay away from flying over water because of him.”

“You should have stayed away anyway. As a precaution if you weren’t sure.” Cody shook his head. “Why would you take unnecessary risks with the star of a major motion picture anyway? If something happens to him, the whole project is fucked.”