Incredible Dreams by Sandra Edwards Page B

length of her shoulder and upper arm.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    “Never better.” She snuggled up against him. If a voice could smile, hers did.
    “Me too.” Jack felt a tingling sensation spreading throughout him.
    “How long have you been in the Air Force?” she asked, her words emerging from a lazy, vague tone.
    Air Force? What an odd thing to say. “I joined the Air Corps after Pearl Harbor,” he said, instead of openly correcting her.
    “Were you a pilot before you joined?” She turned to look at him, propping her chin in the base of her hands.
    He shook his head in a casual response. “No. I’d always been intrigued by planes though. So, when given the chance, I took the entrance exam for the Army Air Corps’ Aviation Cadet Program.”
    “And that was it? They made you a pilot?” Some might have thought she was being sarcastic, but Jack knew better. Her genuine interest showed in the light in her expression.
    “Well, no...it wasn’t quite that easy.” He paused, fond thoughts filling his mind, back to the time when he’d found his calling. “First I was ordered to Pre-flight Training, see. Myself, along with a bunch of other guys underwent the hell of numerous tests and screenings in hopes of being assigned to pilot training, instead of navigator or bombardier.”
    “And of course, everybody coveted the pilot training positions.”
    “Yes. As you can imagine, I was pleased to attain one of those positions in the pilot training program. A couple of weeks later, I was sitting in the pilot’s seat of a PT-13.”
    “What do you think motivated their selection process? I mean that doesn’t seem like much time for a thorough evaluation. What do you think made them choose you over someone else?” Jack didn’t take her frankness as rude or biting. Her prying nature enchanted and delighted him all at the same time. Her genuine interest in him and his world was refreshing.
    “Well, it probably had something to do with the fact that I was always looking to get into a scrap, see.” His laughter echoed on the wind. Her curiosity, albeit intriguing, surprised him. Most women were against his career choice, but not Isabelle. She was more interested in what made him tick, rather than how and if she could fix him. He liked that.
    “So, Jack Baker, you got a girl tucked away somewhere?” she asked out of the blue, catching him off guard.
    He recovered with a quick, snappy chuckle. “I am a one-woman man, Isabelle.” He turned on his side and caressed her neck, teasing her with the possibility of a touch to her breasts.
    “Okay, so then why aren’t you married?” she asked with bold confidence. She’d been fishing for something all along, and here it was.
    “Well—” He chose his words with wise exactness. “—I guess I just never met the right woman, see.”
    Jack’s thoughts traveled back to Norma, an old girlfriend back home. Being here now, with Isabelle lying naked in his arms, he had no regrets about leaving Norma behind.
    “I was engaged once.” How’d that get loose?
    “Really?” Her tone chilled, matching her body, stiffening in response to his declaration.
    “It wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “She wanted things from me that I couldn’t give, see.”
    “Like?” Isabelle’s voice trailed off into an effective snare.
    Still, Jack knew a trap when he saw one. She wanted to know his inadequacies and she disguised her interest with idle curiosity. It showed ingenuity. He liked that.
    He relaxed and cuddled her closer. “She wanted me to leave the Air Crops.” Right now, he was thankful for that. Otherwise, he would never have met Isabelle. “Once I got a taste of flying, I knew I couldn’t stop. The Air Corps seemed the easiest way for me to keep doing that.”
    “So, asking you to stop flying would be like asking me to stop singing?” She got it. She understood. “I couldn’t stop singing, any easier than I could stop breathing.” She definitely got it.
    “Yep.