Coffee and Cockpits by Jade Hart Page A

irritated? What was in the past should stay in the past. I thought I’d moved on. Not forgiven or forgotten, but dealt with it the best I could. Turns out, I didn’t do such a great job.
    Rolling my shoulders, I sighed. “Did Kiwi Air hook you up accommodation wise? Perhaps after you’ve finished work, we should grab a bevy?” Was that my way of keeping my enemies close, or was I finally ready to stop being a dick-wad? Then again, I wasn’t the bastard in what went down between us.
    Nikolai smiled. “Yep. I believe I’m at the same shindigs as you. I’ll track you down tomorrow.” Rubbing his hands, he said, “Now excuse me while I go and take care of your wreckage.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Fifteen minutes later, I strode through the airport looking for my wayward step-sister and her incredibly hot friend. Nina was in a class of her own. Working in this business guaranteed a bunch of ladies who were well groomed, nicely spoken, and easy on the eyes.
    However, none fit into the level of awesomeness that Nina did. And I had to watch everything I said around her as I knew the real her, or as much as I could by my underhanded tactics of watching her from a distance. Was I creepy? Probably. Did I care? Not really. It meant I found a woman who was my perfect ideal in every way and didn’t have to deal with the heartache of rejection. But that was all about to change. I was rusty when it came to putting the moves on women. My life never seemed to have room for too much emotional attachment, but I wanted some. More than I probably knew.
    Even Joslyn and Theo had helped armour me with a stack of facts about Nina, so I’d have an arsenal of things to talk to her about and break the ice between us.
    Now I was sucked deeper into a crush I’d been nursing for almost a year. I knew she flew. I knew she had ambition and drive. I also knew she snuck out of the hotel in Sydney dressed in a yellow dress looking like a delicious lemon dessert. My hands still clenched when I wondered who she might’ve gone to see. God, I was an idiot. I suffered jealously even before I’d asked her out for a simple coffee.
    I also knew she was fiercely passionate about chasing her dreams, but was either too shy or embarrassed to share what she wanted with others.
    They say opposites attract, but in this case it wasn’t true. Nina was the female equivalent of me. And I wanted her. After Jos told me she refused to date any man with wings attached to his lapel, I’d been hesitant—just in case I crashed and burned. No pun intended.
    I had dreams. Drive and ambition. I had places I wanted to be; things I wanted to achieve. But I kept those dreams to myself. Even Joslyn didn’t know what I ultimately wanted; I was afraid it sounded idiotic.
    I turned a corner in baggage reclaim and spotted Joslyn slouching over a desk talking to Nina. My heart scrunched at Nina’s rumpled appearance. Her hair suffered static tendrils and curls framed her oval-shaped face.
    She smiled tiredly at something Jos said as her eyes connected with mine across the space of the reclaim hall.
    My throat imitated a desert cactus and my limbs forgot how to listen to my brain. God, Liam. Get a grip. I’d been so good the last few days keeping my emotions in check rather than see-sawing between gazing at her with puppy-dog eyes and acting like the egotistical pilot I pretended to be. I constantly ping-ponged between wanting to ask her out and pissed at myself for being so besotted. 
    To her, I was a complete stranger. To me, she was mine. I just had to make her see that in a non-creepy kinda way.
    I finally got my legs to obey my brain synapses and stopped beside Jos. She gave me a hip bump and a weary smile. “Hey. Can we get the hell outta here please? I have blisters on top of blisters and need to crash.”
    Nina laughed. “You already did the crashing part.”
    Jos groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
    Nina rubbed the back of her neck. “All I want is a soft bed with tons of