Airman to the Rescue

by Heatherly Bell

  But none of it had been an excuse to be cruel.

  “Did I tell you I found boxes in the attic? All my old clothes and drawings for him. Cards I’d sent.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Cassie said. “He used to talk about you.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I always knew he had a daughter. He said you were brilliant and an artist. Completely the opposite of him. But he was proud of you anyway. Believe it.”

  “I always thought I’d see him again.”

  “Honey, now, forgive me for saying this. I’m not one to criticize another woman, but...your mother should have done more.”

  Sarah also thought so, but felt too guilty to bring it up to Mom. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s the mother’s job to be the softness in a child’s life. To smooth over rough edges between father and child. I’ve had to do it a million times with my children. There are some men of your father’s generation who are too tough for their own good. They don’t believe in showing any sign of weakness. I think it was hard for your dad to admit that he missed you.”

  Later that afternoon, Sarah heard Emily over the CTAF communicating with all other pilots in the area of her approach and plans to land. Another few minutes and Emily and her father stepped into the hangar. They were laughing. Smiling.

  Mr. Parker bent down and kissed Emily’s cheek, and they parted with a wave. There went an interesting man. CEO of Parker, Inc. and owner of several other businesses. Nevertheless he dressed like John Wayne. Same swagger, too.

  And he clearly adored his daughter.

  It was tough to watch, that easy connection they had as father and daughter. An investor in Mcallister Charters and owner of his own private jet, Mr. Parker occasionally dropped by Magnum for meetings. He had a strange mash-up of a Texas drawl and a Western accent, and he always made Cassie break out the belly laugh. A rare feat.

  Emily breezed through the entrance to the offices. “Hello, all.”

  “How was it?” Sarah asked.

  “The usual. Cattle, cattle, cattle. Wish my father could talk about something else. Anything else.”

  Sarah heard that often enough from Emily. “He seems happy today. In a good mood.”

  “One hundred head of new cattle,” Emily said, pulling down her bun and shaking her hair out.

  She wore the same Mcallister Charters uniform the other pilots did, though it certainly didn’t look the same on Emily. Her long blond hair was usually tied up in a tight bun similar to the one Sarah wore. But Matt liked Sarah’s hair best when it was down. And spilling all over his flat abs on the way to...

  This time, Sarah pulled herself out of the daydream. “Cattle make him that happy?”

  She kind of doubted it was all cattle making him proud, judging by the tender way he’d bent down to kiss his daughter’s cheek. Anyone could see the pride shine in his eyes every time he came by the office to see his daughter, the pilot.

  Emily shrugged and glanced in the direction of Stone’s office. “Where’s Stone?”

  “Ground control to Major Thomas.” Stone’s voice came over the CTAF. “Pretty sure I left Matt Conner in my dust. He’s slow but I hear he’s worth waiting for, in case any eligible females are listening to this transmission. Over.”

  “I’m right behind you, shithead. Don’t get cocky.” Matt’s voice.

  Her big brother was without a doubt one of the single most annoying people she’d met in her lifetime, and working for the police department she’d met her share. Cocky. Bossy. And also, she really, really...loved him. He was her family, and she would miss him when she went back to Colorado. Miss watching the way he treated Emily, as if the sun rose and set on her. Without a doubt, he’d kill anyone who messed with her with his bare hands.

  And sure enough, a few minutes later when Matt and Stone walked into the office, Emily practically jumped into Stone’s arms. Sarah found herself smiling at them, no resentment left in her. They deserved to be happy.

  “What are you smiling about?” Matt asked, coming up to her.

  “Aw. Well. They’re cute together.”

  “Yeah.” He sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. “Rough day for me. Too many irritated and entitled passengers.”

  “I haven’t had the best day myself. I forgot to order more coffee and so now we have to pay extra for an expedited order. Also, I may have misfiled some flight plans.” She blew a breath out.

  Matt tugged on a lock of her hair. “Do you know what I need? Ice cream.”

  “Ice cream?”

  She hadn’t had ice cream for a year. The problem with ice cream, as she saw it, was that it was hard to stop at one pint. It was one junk food far too dangerous to keep in her kitchen freezer, and she wasn’t exactly a health nut.

  “It’s a sweet cream that’s frozen with different kinds of flavor added. Has a bazillion calories, which I know you don’t care about.”

  She slid him a look. “Thanks for the four-one-one on ice cream. And how do you know I don’t care about a bazillion calories? Maybe I do.”

  “I can always work it off you later.”

  The absolute heat of those words hit her like a whip. Because they were no longer friends tied together by their mutual connection to Stone.

  Now they were lovers.

  And she was so out of her element. Wanting him more every day, while reminding herself she’d made a promise not to fall in love with him. Matt didn’t make it easy. If she didn’t watch herself, she’d wind up getting burned. When she left Fortune, Matt Conner would be fine. He’d rolled and glided through his life, not even letting a teenage pregnancy rock it. And he’d move on when Sarah left. She’d barely register as a blip on his radar.

  But that was her future and this was the present. This moment was her “right now” and all she had. She resolved to enjoy it for as long as it lasted, swallowed her fear. She’d promised to live out loud again. To feel everything again, even if it hurt. Because, as it turned out, it hurt far worse to feel nothing at all.

  “Okay, Airman. Lead the way.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THE LICK N SPOON was almost empty when they arrived, and after they’d chosen their ice cream, Matt led her to a booth, his hand on the small of her back.

  Sarah had chosen Rocky Road and regretted it almost the moment she took her seat. She always chose Rocky Road. It was her go-to ice cream. No ice cream shop could ruin the chocolate, marshmallow and nut blend.

  But it wouldn’t have killed her to try something new. She’d promised herself to shift old patterns and beliefs, and to try something new for a change. Experiment.

  Actually, Matt had what she wanted in his ice cream dish. It was a cherry, chocolate and vanilla combination. She pointed to it. “I should have ordered that.”

  He arched a brow. “Switch?”

  “You would do that? That’s sweet, Matt, but not fair. I don’t want to take your ice cream. This is fine. I always—”

  But he had already switched them. “I’m easy.”

  She did like a man who took charge. Didn’t she? “Oh, thanks.”

  She took a bite of Matt’s ice cream and had a mouth orgasm. “Hmm.”

  He grinned. “You had close to the same look on your face around midnight last night. That good, huh?”

  “Yes,” she squeaked out.

  He didn’t speak for a beat, eyes filled with amusement, his lips twitching.

  “Glad to see you and Stone getting along now. I remember when you first came to town. You couldn’t stand him.”

  “He wouldn’t even let me in our father’s house for a while.”

  “Well, he was angry you were trying to sell the aviation school to a contractor who was going to put in another strip mall.”

  She didn
’t want to think about the way she’d behaved. Hurt and angry, she’d thought Stone and their father had shared a special connection that left her outside in the cold. She’d felt like the outsider, like the relative who’d been summoned to the last will and testament reading to get her share. Not like a daughter who wanted to grieve her father. So she’d behaved in the way they’d expected of her, and on her mother’s advice hired an attorney. If all her father had wanted her to have was his money, than why shouldn’t she sell to the highest bidder?

  Nothing had worked out as planned. Stone had decided not to leave Fortune, and hadn’t wound up selling at all.

  “I just wished I’d known my father was so sick. That’s all.”

  “Stone realizes how wrong he was about that.”

  “He only did what our father wanted.”

  “But sometimes you have to make an executive decision. It was a bad call on his part.”

  True enough, and it was Matt who’d acted on her behalf as a go-between.

  The first time she’d ever laid eyes on Matt Conner, it had been at the Airborne Bar & Grill where she’d discovered Stone hung out with his Air Force buddies. She’d driven there to confront him, hoping they could avoid litigation. Hoping to understand. On some level, she’d yearned for the connection, too. But like they were back to being children again, Sarah had allowed every action of Stone’s to produce an equal and opposite reaction from her—most of them not at all positive.

  She’d known better. Understood how to deal with difficult people, and even taken higher education courses on the issue. She’d believed she understood psychology and the human mind, understood how to handle hostility, but when it came to her big brother, all of her training flew out the window. She was back to being the same awkward thirteen-year-old girl from her last summer in Fortune. Her anger had ruled her life.

  She had walked into Airborne Bar & Grill a few months ago and almost immediately wanted to turn around and run. The place had been hopping with testosterone. Not a female in sight. Several men had already zeroed in on her like their eyes were laser beams that could cut right through her pantsuit. Yes, pantsuit. She’d been overdressed for the occasion, her hair pulled up tight in her usual workplace bun, glasses on instead of the contacts she wore now.

  “Excuse me,” she’d said, as some force she might call her guts propelled her to the bar. “Have you seen Stone Mcallister?”

  Conversation had pretty much stopped. Maybe because most of it, or what she could hear, had involved the F-bomb being tossed around like a comma.

  Then Matt had stepped up to help. She’d noticed overt and clear sexual interest in his eyes—dilated pupils, check—and slightly parted lips, which flattered her and made her feel attractive for the first time in a long while. Someone had noticed her. Not just someone, but Matt Conner, a man who everyone noticed.

  But all that had been pulled away from her with one simple word. That she was Stone’s sister.

  For the rest of the night, he treated her like he would a kid sister. This had irritated the hell out of her. Steering her in the other direction of any man who would talk to her. Making it clear every one of them understood that she was off-limits.

  She and Matt had talked for hours late into the night. He was easy to talk to once you got past all the hormones he naturally stirred up in her and any living, breathing, heterosexual female. He’d listened to her sad story and said he’d put a bug in Stone’s ear. But he’d also defended Stone as she might have expected. He’d tried to give her another side. The side of a son who’d only done what his father had asked. A son who was trying to save jobs at the airport, and save the aviation school that had mattered so much to their father.

  And much as she’d protested them at the time, she had taken Matt’s words to heart. Largely because of him, she’d swallowed her pride and given up the lawsuit. Since then, she and Stone had a friendlier relationship.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.” Matt interrupted her thoughts.

  “I’m thinking about the first time we met.”

  He cleared his throat. “In my defense, how was I to know you were Stone’s kid sister?”

  “I’m not sure why you let it bother you in the first place.”

  “Fair enough.” Matt licked his spoon. “But maybe you don’t understand The Bro Code.”

  “Maybe?”

  “Volume two of The Bro Code, page seven hundred, paragraph six, line four says—‘Thou will not make a move on your bro’s kid sister.’”

  It actually made her feel a little warm and toasty inside to think that she had been protected by the guys because of her brother. “Oh, Matt. You broke the bro code.”

  “I haven’t finished. Subsection B clearly states—‘unless big brother clears you first.’”

  “Ah. So you’ve already been through clearance?”

  “Say what you will about your brother—he’s cocky, bossy and arrogant. However, he’s also fiercely protective of the women in his life. And that includes you now. I like to think he knows I would take care of you. He knows I would never hurt you.” Matt’s eyes grew soft. “Besides, he couldn’t have kept me away from you.”

  She felt a wave of tenderness kick her in the stomach, and she considered asking for that in writing. I would never hurt you. He wouldn’t mean to. They were both grown-ups and consenting adults. She’d walked in with her eyes wide-open. And she’d never regret it.

  Not a single day in her life.

  Her throat clogged with affection for all he’d done to help her and Stone just talk to each other again. Handle it without the attorneys. Fire the lawyers, Matt had said.

  Talk to your brother.

  Talk to your sister.

  Without Matt, without knowing she had someone on her side who would listen and understand, maybe she would have given up and left Fortune. Let the lawyers hammer it out while she waited in Fort Collins.

  She set her ice cream aside and reached for Matt’s hand. “Hey.”

  “Tell me.” He squeezed her hand.

  “Did I ever say thank you? For stepping in and talking to Stone. For understanding me even when I was being the B word.”

  His thumb traced her palm in gentle circles. “You don’t need to say thank you.”

  But for the first time she was beginning to believe that maybe there were things left for her in Fortune. Reasons she might stay. “I want to. The truth is, I’ve been so busy mourning what I lost that I forgot to pay attention to what’s still here. I do still have a brother, and he’s about to have a beautiful wife. Maybe children down the road.”

  “I guarantee it, the way those two go at it.”

  “I’m going to be a sister-in-law and an aunt. Someday.”

  And I’m going to hate missing a second of it.

  “He’s a great guy, your brother. Got my ass out of a few jams. He’s a smart-ass, sure, but he’s loyal to the core.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know. No wonder you two are such good friends. You’re so much alike.”

  “Please don’t compare me to your brother. Not right now. I’m not feeling brotherly at the moment.” His thumb swept her lips.

  “I definitely prefer you this way.” She licked his thumb just as her phone played “I Will Survive” in her purse. That would be Mom again, since Sarah hadn’t responded to her calls.

  Sarah pulled the phone out of her purse. “Sorry. I have to take this.”

  She stepped outside the ice cream parlor for privacy. Maybe Matt would think it was work-related or something. At the moment, she didn’t want him to know that at thirty she was still not fully independent of her mother. Frankly, it was more like her mother wasn’t independent of Sarah. And yes, there was a great deal of guilt tied to the situation. Sarah’s. As much as it wasn’t true, Mom often acted like Sarah was her only child
. Mom had been chronically paranoid about Sarah’s safety for years. She had given Mom good reason to be, but that was all in the past and had been for years.

  “Hey, Mom. Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been so busy with the renovations. They’re really coming along.”

  “Nice to hear, sweetheart. But I’m calling with some great news. Do you remember Brock Montgomery?”

  The name rang a bell but she couldn’t say that an image sprang to mind. “No. Why?”

  “I’m surprised. He’s only the former running back for the Sliders. He’s getting a divorce!”

  “Uh-huh. Why is that good news?”

  “Sweetheart, we’re talking about the most eligible soon-to-be bachelor in Fort Collins. He came into our office yesterday and he’s buying some land just outside of town. To build a compound of sorts. Every secretary in the office and even some of the attorneys took out a photo of a niece, daughter or granddaughter. So I showed him your photo, of course. He actually smiled. I think the widest smile was for your photo, Sarah. Seriously. And best of all, he’ll be around a lot until we get all the contracts done.”

  Sarah might have a fever. Either that or it was this oppressive heat wave. Or maybe having a mother who was insane.

  “Mom,” she breathed out. “Look, you don’t have to do this.”

  “Show your picture around? Why not? Everyone else did.”

  “I’m coming back. You don’t have to have me almost married off to get me to come home.”

  She sighed loudly. “I’m beginning to wonder. We lose a lot of them this way. California seduces people to the other side. The near perfect weather, the mountains for snow and skiing only a few hours away from the valley, so that you can have the best of both worlds. Wine country. San Francisco an hour away, not to mention Hollywood and Disneyland to the south.”

  “Do you realize you sound like a travel brochure?” Sarah figured it was a side effect of working for attorneys who specialized in real estate deals. “I’m not here for the mountains, the weather or the wine. And Hollywood is a six-hour drive.”