Page 36 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

“We were fine.”

“Turn us around. We’re heading back.”

“What?” she snapped. “Because I was a few feet closer than your comfort zone?”

“Because you ignored my instructions. This isn’t a game. You don’t win points for style.”

“Tell me what to do and let me do it.” Her sassy tone was gone. She was pissed. “Let me fly my way. I’m not a cookie-cutter version of you. We all have our own style. Flying is just like handwriting. I’m not you and there’s nothing wrong with being a little bold.”

“You think this is bold?” I said. “This is reckless. And if you can’t fly disciplined in a training run, how the hell are you gonna handle an inferno licking at your tail?”

She exaggerated sucking in a deep breath. I didn’t need the comms to hear it. “Fine. But stop treating me like I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Can you pretend for one second that I have more experience than you? That I’ve been in the shit, and I know what you need to watch out for?”

That quieted her. She didn’t speak for a few seconds. Just stared straight ahead, flying through crosswinds. There was no comeback.

Progress.

I leaned forward slightly. “Do it my way just one time. One run. After that, you can tell me to go fuck myself. Hell, you can file a complaint and tell Chief I’m the biggest asshole you’ve ever met for all I care. Let’s just pretend I actually know what I’m fucking doing.”

“Fine. One run.”

We looped back around. “We’re going to drop a smoke bomb. You need to know what it’s like to actually drop.”

“Okay,” she said.

I walked her through every step and to my surprise she actually listened. I was relieved and disappointed at the same time. I hated her sass and yet it turned me on. I was fucked up.

“Drop now,” I said.

The smoke canister plummeted directly over the target zone. A perfect mark.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. She knew she landed it.

“Don’t you dare say it,” she muttered.

I kept my mouth shut. But I smiled. Not a full-blown grin but I knew she could see it in the window. She had listened to me and she nailed it. I wanted to gloat. Tell her I knew what I was talking about. Princess didn’t know everything there was to know. This old dog still had a few tricks. I was happy to know I could teach her a few things.

In the air and in the sack.

Fuck.

Again. Why did my mind always go to sex when I thought about her? What the fuck was wrong with me? I needed to get laid. If I didn’t scratch the itch I was going to end up doing something really stupid. Maybe if I fucked her once, it would resolve the tension.

Yeah, right.

I had a feeling sex with Janna would be like trying to eat a single potato chip. One would not do. There would be a craving for more. And that would be bad. Even now she was distracting me. I couldn’t go through a whole season with a hard-on.

My thoughts were all over the place and I wasn’t really paying attention to anything. And then there was a flash. My head jerked toward the left where those gray clouds were looking just a little more ominous. Nothing major but clearly harboring some lightning.

CRACK.

The thunder cracked about four seconds after the flash.

Janna jolted. “Shit! Was that…?”

“Lightning,” I said. “We need to head back.”

Another flash.

The sky had turned fast. Where it had been blue and calm only minutes ago, clouds had stacked up out of nowhere. It was the classic mountain storm. It was quiet until it wasn’t.

I radioed base. “Tower, this is Spotter One. We’ve got lightning in the area. Request immediate landing clearance.”

Laser’s voice crackled back. “You’re clear. Runway’s yours. Fast but safe.”

“Copy.”

Janna was already adjusting course. Once again, I was impressed. She was acting like she’d encountered a detour in a construction zone. No big deal. Calm. Cool. Collected.

Another lightning strike lit the horizon to the east. Thunder followed fast.

“This came out of nowhere,” Janna muttered.

I kept my eyes on the clouds. “Mountain weather’s a bitch. Don’t blink.”