Her Wings

by Liz Peters

  Ben hated to admit that Ali was the reason he felt differently about this particular group. The day that they had run into each other in the stairwell had been a complete shock. Ben realized that he didn’t know a lot of his neighbors, but he had never run into someone he was training so close to home. Most of the people who went through the program didn’t even live in this city. They moved here temporarily for the course and then were back off to the airports that were closest to the place they had come from. From time to time, they might be reassigned to a different city entirely, but for the most part, it was rare that his students even remained in Daytona after their training was complete.

  It would have been easy to say that the reason Ali stood out was that she was his neighbor, and as a matter of fact, Ben had been running into her more and more often in the parking lot of their complex as they left for class or arrived home from the training center each day. It made sense now that their daily schedules more or less lined up, but that didn’t make it any less weird for him to have a student here in his personal space. This morning had been no exception.

  “Good morning, Mr. Dixon.” Ali was walking to her car in the parking lot, only a few spaces over from his when he noticed her.

  “Good morning, Miss Hansen.” Ben had always been careful to keep things between them entirely professional, but there was usually somewhat of a teasing tone in her voice every time she greeted him. It always made him curious about what was going on underneath those pretty, red curls of hers.

  “So, can I ask what we have in the plans for today?” She stopped beside his car, leaning on the side of it while she spoke. It was closer to the building than her jeep was, so she would have needed to pass it in order to get to her own car.

  Ben paused, turning to face her, and couldn’t help noticing that she looked amazing in the uniform that fit her like a glove. All of them wore the same uniform. Even Ben was required to wear the male version, though he probably would have worn it even if it hadn’t been required just to set a good example for the rest of his class. He knew that uniform like the back of his hand, and he’d seen it more times than he could count, but there was something about how it looked on her that made it nearly impossible for him to avert his eyes away from her.

  It wasn’t until Ben’s gaze traveled fully up Ali’s body to find her face that he noticed the wicked smirk that her face held. He suddenly realized that he hadn’t answered her question, but she had certainly seen him nearly staring her down. Ben cleared his throat before responding.

  “Well, I suppose every day is interesting, though today we will be going over emergency procedures and aircraft evacuation, so I suppose it will be a more active day than any we’ve had so far.” This was actually one of the more entertaining days. Each of them had to learn the proper way to evacuate the aircraft and to make sure that they themselves stayed safe in case of an emergency. It was usually a pretty eventful day in every course. He had a feeling that today was going to be more eventful than normal.

  “Sounds like fun to me. See you there.” Ali smiled and wiggled her fingers in a flirty kind of wave at him before she made her way off to her vehicle and left him standing alone in the lot. He was totally perplexed trying to figure out why in the world he couldn’t get someone off his mind that he was just supposed to be teaching like everyone else that had come through his class.

  Three hours later, and Ben was pretty sure that things were about to get a heck of a lot more interesting than they had been. Today the class, or at least what was left of it was working on the model plane that was kept in the back lot of the training center. The model airplane cabin was extremely close quarters. It was modeled after one of the smallest planes in the fleet that they might find themselves working on. The theory was that if they practiced working in the closest quarters possible, then they would be able to easily handle the larger planes. Besides, they were most likely to start their careers out in the tiny commuter planes than in the larger international flights. Those were generally offered to those with the most experience in the company, so the thought was that students may as well get some training in the environment that they would be spending the most time in while they were just starting out.

  He had led the class into the model and had them all seated in the first five rows of seats. The class had started out with a little over thirty students, and since then it had dwindled to only twenty. That was pretty typical for the course at this point. The ones that remained were going to be in for a rough few weeks coming up. Most of them would last until the end, but that was when the rest of those who weren’t going to make it would start dropping like flies. The practicals always kicked everyone’s butts, but they were a necessary evil to make sure that the new hires knew exactly what they were doing.

  Of course, Ali was sitting right in the middle of the front row. She’d been in the front of the class ever since her first day, and she was clearly good at what she was doing. It honestly made it that much harder to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing today. Why this was suddenly a problem when he had done this nearly a dozen times before, he really couldn’t say. At least he managed to get through the introduction and the basic instructions for what they were supposed to do without stumbling over too many words. Their first task was always to go through the evacuation as if they were a passenger on the plane. After that, he would break them into groups of four to take positions and direct the evacuation on their own while he observed and made comments about their performance.

  For now, though, he was going to sit at the bottom of the ramp, making sure that each one of them got off the plane without tripping over their own two feet. His assistant was standing inside the model directing them all on how to go down the slide as they would be expected to do in case of an emergency. Ben’s job was to watch and wait for them to gather back up at the bottom of the slide.

  The plane evacuated from the last row forward since the emergency exit was at the back. As luck would have it, Ali was the last one off the plane. As she slid down the inflatable slide and towards the ground, Ben noticed her losing her balance the moment her feet hit the ground. The heels that were an optional part of the women’s uniform were hard enough to move around in when the women were on level ground, but trying to stand up from the bottom of a giant blow-up slide that looked like something from a children’s birthday party was sometimes a questionable task.

  Ben was used to having to move to help some of them back to their feet when they got to the bottom. Moving to help Ali stand was instinctual, and so was catching her in his arms and crushing her to his chest when she stumbled and nearly fell after she had gotten to her feet. He hadn’t even realized what was happening until Ali was fully in his arms, and he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as the warmth of her body pressed into his fully hit him.

  “Sorry...” He moved to quickly let her go, though what he really wanted to do was to keep her there for more than just a moment longer.

  “Nothing to be sorry for. Thank you for keeping me from falling right on my ass.” She grinned up at him before shooting him a wink and moving off to join the rest of her classmates waiting for the evacuation to be completed.

  Ben felt the guilt building until it felt like a rock inside his chest. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about his students like that, or like anything other than simply students. Normally, that wasn’t an issue for Ben. Trainees came and went in eight-week cycles. He remembered their names and faces for as long as he needed to get them through the program or to help them see their way out of the program, and then he moved on to the next group. There had never been anyone who had caught his attention particularly, so this was unchartered territory. He didn’t know how to shake this distraction, even though he did manage to let her go and join the rest of her classmates as they waited for the evacuation drill to finish.

  There were going to be at least five more of these drills before all was said and done. Ben wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to catc
h Ali four or five more times without some kind of hesitation when it came time to let go of her. Dear God, was she doing this on purpose just to torture him?!

  Six more weeks. He just had to make it through six more weeks without stepping out of line, and then Ali would be moving on to the next portion of her career and Ben could move on to the next class that walked through the doors to the training center. Then he could forget about this and get himself together. In the meantime, Ben just needed to keep his head on straight.

  Chapter Five

  Ali

  The end of the second week of classes came faster than Ali had even realized. It seemed like she’d just started all of this only a few days ago. Though people in the class were already dropping out like flies. Nearly ten of them were gone. Every day ended in a test on what they’d learned that day, and if you didn’t pass it, then you didn’t come back the next day. The stakes were high, and things were getting harder as they went on, never mind the fact that their teacher was more than a little bit of a distraction. Ben Dixon was gorgeous, even if he didn’t seem to realize what kind of effect it had on any of the students in the class who were attracted to him, and that was definitely more than a few of them.

  Yesterday, they’d been practicing evacuating the aircraft and today was CPR training. Ali had been more than a little distracted herself during the evacuation drills, though she had at least paid enough attention to pass the test that got them through to the next class. There was no denying that Ben catching her at the bottom of the slide made her grin, and she’d been certain that she’d seen a spark in his eyes when he’d helped her back to her feet. Like the naughty kid in class, Ali intended to test that today.

  Ali was curious to see just how flustered she was going to be able to make her teacher before something happened. Maybe she was going to get fussed at, maybe he was going to break. She couldn’t be certain which was going to be the outcome, but part of her wanted to see just how far she could take it without jeopardizing her place in the class.

  CPR training was the perfect opportunity to get some time between Ben and herself. It was fully hands-on, and it made a lot of sense that he might need to come over and help her through the process at least a few times. Their morning was going to be spent watching and then practicing, but Ali had a secret ace up her sleeve in this case. She’d already gone through this training last year when she volunteered at one of the beach events that happened around Daytona from time to time. In fact, her CPR certification still had about four months left on the card before it expired. There was no way she was letting on, though. It just gave her some wiggle room and meant she could afford not to give the instruction a hundred percent of her attention in favor of finding out if she could push Ben Dixon’s buttons for a few hours.

  Ali had made sure that her clothes and makeup were on point before walking out of the apartment this morning. She was more than a little disappointed that she hadn’t run into Ben in the parking lot, though that did mean that when she started this scheme, they were going to be in the place where he would have to use his best poker face. For some reason, Ali was getting a kick out of the idea of making Ben break that stoic expression he used in front of people. She really didn’t care what any of them thought about the process either, because it was far too amusing a prospect to give up.

  Kristina was waiting for Ali when she arrived at the training center for the morning while the rest of the students were just beginning to assemble.

  “Why do you look like you’re up to something?”

  Ali’s new friend hadn’t even bothered with a greeting this morning, just jumping straight into the questioning. They hadn’t known each other very long, but they had gotten a lot closer during the many hours that they’d spent in training. It made sense that Kristina was going to call her out on the smug expression she already wore as soon as she walked into the room.

  “Who me?” Ali let a grin spread across her face, knowing that she looked like the cat that ate the canary while feigning innocence as she took her place in the classroom next to Kristina.

  “Yes, you. You’ve got a plan, and I don’t know what it is. But something tells me that I’m going to enjoy watching you get in trouble.” Kristina laughed, settling into her own seat.

  Ali looked around the room, making sure that no one else there was paying any attention to them. Random students were filing into the room and slowly taking their places, though about twenty minutes remained before the class was due to start. She’d arrived early enough to make sure that she could get herself prepared before the button-pushing began. When she was certain that no one was close enough to hear them she leaned in closer to Kristina, whispering in a voice that was just loud enough for her friend to hear.

  “Well, let’s just say that I plan to see if I can get under Mr. Dixon’s skin today.”

  Ali leaned back just far enough to judge Kristina’s expression. The brunette raised one eyebrow before she spoke.

  “Under his skin? Or just in trouble?”

  Ali just laughed softly before answering.

  “Maybe a little of both.”

  “Yeah... I’m going to enjoy this.”

  Kristina leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and folding her arms in front of her as she tried to keep the obviously amused expression off her face. Ali was having just as much trouble keeping herself from looking like she was planning something when she actually was, but a cup of coffee helped her gain her composure before Ben walked in, laying his briefcase on the table at the front of the room. When he turned around, Ali made sure she was the first thing that he saw.

  “Good morning, Ms. Hansen.”

  Ali smiled warmly taking a slow step closer to Ben as he spoke.

  “Good morning. I missed seeing you in the parking lot this morning.” Ali was sure to keep her voice low enough that the conversation was at least a little private between them. No one else in the room even knew that they lived in the same apartment complex, much less that they were slightly familiar with each other outside of class.

  “Ah, yes.” Ben looked a little uncertain of how to answer for a moment. “I got a late start this morning.”

  He was always so prim and proper about everything that he did. It was something that made Ali want to push even harder until he could lighten up a bit. She wanted to run her fingers through that perfectly styled hair and ruffle it and see him curse or be anything but the polite gentleman that he appeared to be all the time. Ali could tell this was going to become something of a challenge of hers, but she wasn’t going to be happy until he lost his cool and maybe looked like he was having a good time.

  For now, Ali satisfied herself with shooting him a sly grin that she could tell grabbed his attention before she replied.

  “Well, I certainly hope that we get to see a lot more of each other, Mr. Dixon.”

  Ali didn’t wait for a reply before she slid her hands in the pockets of her skirt and walked slowly back to her chair. She didn’t know what the look on his face was, but she knew she’d caught him a little off guard.

  Ben was already off-kilter this morning. Whatever had caused him to be later than usual coming in appeared to have him with his walls down. It meant that Ali had that much more opportunity to see if she could get under his skin.

  When she arrived back at her seat, Kristina just shook her head for a moment before speaking.

  “I have no idea what you just said to him, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make that face. So, congratulations.”

  Ali laughed, leaning in to gently nudge her neighbor with one elbow.

  “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

  THE instructional part of the class had taken just a little more than an hour. Now everyone was splayed out across the floor with a CPR dummy in front of them. Ali herself was on her knees at the side of the plastic torso that all of them were meant to practice on. Girls all around the room were tugging the hems of their skirts down closer to their knees as they worked, but Ali
didn’t bother. She knew the fabric wasn’t going to rise high enough to expose anything she’d rather keep covered, but it was definitely going to reveal enough thigh that she would manage to catch someone’s eye with it. Maybe that someone was going to be Ben.

  Most of the other students had no experience with this, and it was starting to show. CPR was easy enough, though there were details of it that most people didn’t know — like exactly where to place your hands or how hard to press. For someone as small as Ali, putting enough force into the dummy to make it provide the click that indicated that you had pressed deeply enough could be an issue. Luckily, she had done enough surfing and moving kegs around behind a bar that she had more upper body strength than one would think. However, it gave her an opportunity to grab Ben’s attention to get more help.

  “Mr. Dixon?” Ali raised her hand in an attempt to get his attention. There were several assistant instructors around the room who were probably closer and would have been easier to catch for a question, but they weren’t the ones who she was interested in. Ben caught her gesture and walked over to where Ali was kneeling near one side of the room.

  She had chosen this dummy for a reason. It was the one at the farthest end of the room, and the one with the most distance from the rest of the class. It gave her a little privacy to do whatever she wanted for this session without anyone else in the class catching on.

  “Yes?” Ben arrived at her side, pausing to look down on her.

  Ali didn’t bother to get off her knees as she moved to face him, looking up the length of Ben’s torso with a slightly wide-eyed expression. She bit down on her lip for a moment, studying his expression.

  “I was wondering if you could show me exactly how my hands should be placed on the dummy. I feel like I’m a little lost and not putting enough force into the compressions.”