professionals."
Chapter 18
My first plane ride was an experience to remember. A taciturn pilot in dark blue coveralls ushered us on board and fitted us both with headsets to dull the deafening roar of the engine in the tiny Cessna. Chance showed me how to press a button in the side to communicate. I tried to ignore the brush of the back of his hand on my breast as he buckled me in to the three-point safety belt. It didn't work. If I hadn't had the shapeless beige jacket on, he would have seen my nipples jump to red alert through the fabric of the sheer white shirt.
" This is weird," I said nervously, testing the headset, my voice sounding tinny in my own ears.
" Don't worry about it." Chance's deep voice was reassuring, and it was strange to see his lips move and then hear the sound through the earphones on a slight delay.
We headed down what looked like an impossibly short runway, really just a strip of dirt in a grassy field, and my stomach did a little backflip while the ground dropped away below us. Pretty soon, the parking lot was just a postage stamp, with fields stretching off in each direction. I'd never flown in anything before, but it was a lot smoother-feeling than I'd expected. Pretty exhilarating, actually, once I got used to the sensation.
The pilot came over the intercom and gruffly let us know that we'd be there in a couple hours, but that there were some spring storms between Iowa and Vegas and things might get bumpy in a little while. That didn't sound fun. Seeing my face fall, Chance took my hand. I wished we were on a bench seat instead of buckled into individual bucket seats. But he didn't let go, despite our clasp being stretched awkwardly across the space between us. I felt like I was sitting with a grade school boyfriend in the back of Mom's station wagon, but it was a sweet gesture and I was grateful for the callused warmth of his palm pressed to mine.
Sure enough, about an hour later, the clouds began to pile up and darken in the distance. I wanted to talk to Chance to take my mind off what was going on outside the windows, but I didn 't want the pilot to know I was scared. Chance squeezed my hand again, and started making light, slow little circles on my wrist with his thumb, distracting me. It worked. When I pulled my attention from the building thunderheads we were steadily heading toward and looked at him, he was watching me with an unfathomable expression on his face. I shivered at the sensations his thumb was causing, sending tingles up my arm with each soft brush against my skin.
We were still caught up in that charged look when the airplane abruptly dropped like a stone. My terrified gaze flew to the back of the pilot 's head as he started messing with the controls. He lifted his right hand from what he was doing to briefly depress the communication button on his headset. "Wind shears from the warm front we're going in to."
How could I have forgotten —my stupid luck! It was ironic, just like that Alannis Morrisette song: "He won the lottery and died the next day." This was it. I was a goner.
Dropping Chance's hand, I fumbled with the fastenings on my seat belt. Before he could stop me, I got it undone. He started saying something into my headset, but I yanked mine off, and then his, leaving them to bounce and dangle from the spirally cords attaching them to the ceiling. Then I climbed into his lap, straddling him.
Chance 's look was priceless as I captured his face in my hands, his dark stubble lightly scratching against my palms. He was yelling something at me furiously, but the roar in the back of the cabin of the little aircraft was too much to make out what it was. His firm, warm lips were still moving when I locked my mouth to his and I bit his lower lip hard to make him stop.
Whatever Chance was saying, it didn 't take him long to forget it. His hands came up, knocking my blonde wig off. It took him about four seconds to loosen my braids and send my hair
Chapter 18
My first plane ride was an experience to remember. A taciturn pilot in dark blue coveralls ushered us on board and fitted us both with headsets to dull the deafening roar of the engine in the tiny Cessna. Chance showed me how to press a button in the side to communicate. I tried to ignore the brush of the back of his hand on my breast as he buckled me in to the three-point safety belt. It didn't work. If I hadn't had the shapeless beige jacket on, he would have seen my nipples jump to red alert through the fabric of the sheer white shirt.
" This is weird," I said nervously, testing the headset, my voice sounding tinny in my own ears.
" Don't worry about it." Chance's deep voice was reassuring, and it was strange to see his lips move and then hear the sound through the earphones on a slight delay.
We headed down what looked like an impossibly short runway, really just a strip of dirt in a grassy field, and my stomach did a little backflip while the ground dropped away below us. Pretty soon, the parking lot was just a postage stamp, with fields stretching off in each direction. I'd never flown in anything before, but it was a lot smoother-feeling than I'd expected. Pretty exhilarating, actually, once I got used to the sensation.
The pilot came over the intercom and gruffly let us know that we'd be there in a couple hours, but that there were some spring storms between Iowa and Vegas and things might get bumpy in a little while. That didn't sound fun. Seeing my face fall, Chance took my hand. I wished we were on a bench seat instead of buckled into individual bucket seats. But he didn't let go, despite our clasp being stretched awkwardly across the space between us. I felt like I was sitting with a grade school boyfriend in the back of Mom's station wagon, but it was a sweet gesture and I was grateful for the callused warmth of his palm pressed to mine.
Sure enough, about an hour later, the clouds began to pile up and darken in the distance. I wanted to talk to Chance to take my mind off what was going on outside the windows, but I didn 't want the pilot to know I was scared. Chance squeezed my hand again, and started making light, slow little circles on my wrist with his thumb, distracting me. It worked. When I pulled my attention from the building thunderheads we were steadily heading toward and looked at him, he was watching me with an unfathomable expression on his face. I shivered at the sensations his thumb was causing, sending tingles up my arm with each soft brush against my skin.
We were still caught up in that charged look when the airplane abruptly dropped like a stone. My terrified gaze flew to the back of the pilot 's head as he started messing with the controls. He lifted his right hand from what he was doing to briefly depress the communication button on his headset. "Wind shears from the warm front we're going in to."
How could I have forgotten —my stupid luck! It was ironic, just like that Alannis Morrisette song: "He won the lottery and died the next day." This was it. I was a goner.
Dropping Chance's hand, I fumbled with the fastenings on my seat belt. Before he could stop me, I got it undone. He started saying something into my headset, but I yanked mine off, and then his, leaving them to bounce and dangle from the spirally cords attaching them to the ceiling. Then I climbed into his lap, straddling him.
Chance 's look was priceless as I captured his face in my hands, his dark stubble lightly scratching against my palms. He was yelling something at me furiously, but the roar in the back of the cabin of the little aircraft was too much to make out what it was. His firm, warm lips were still moving when I locked my mouth to his and I bit his lower lip hard to make him stop.
Whatever Chance was saying, it didn 't take him long to forget it. His hands came up, knocking my blonde wig off. It took him about four seconds to loosen my braids and send my hair
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