Bought by the Lone Cowboy

by E. Walsh

  However, Evelyn had made sure that she had gotten an earful about Sally just a few minutes before, and now Janice was too anxious to even sit down.

  Her hands shook with embarrassment and anger, and she couldn’t handle the brunette right now.

  “Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened,” Sally was saying. “It won’t happen again.”

  Janice sighed heavily and put the trays she was organizing down. She looked at the brunette angrily, lips pursed, ready to blow but trying desperately to keep her temper in check.

  “Do you even care whether you work here or not?” Janice asked.

  Sally frowned in surprise. “Of course.”

  “It sure didn’t seem like it last night,” Janice scolded, trying to keep her voice down. “What you did yesterday was completely irresponsible.”

  “I was just trying to have some fun,” Sally said, going on the defensive.

  “There are times for that,” Janice shot back. “This isn’t another story you’re going to be sharing around the galleys with the rest of the crew.”

  Sally crossed her arms across her chest, her head hanging low as color rose to her cheeks. Janice could see the girl’s embarrassment all across her face, and almost felt sorry for her.

  “Just make sure you pick up your game,” Janice said. “I’ll handle Evelyn.”

  Sally nodded quickly, not looking up, and turned around and left.

  * * *

  Chapter Six

  Janice kept a close eye on Sally during the rest of the trip. At one point, one of the passengers in their section woke up and the brunette was immediately at his side, asking if she could be of any assistance.

  She was obviously still feeling guilty, and was quickly trying to redeem herself. After about an hour, Janice knew she could ease of the girl and get some rest herself.

  The plane was mostly empty, and Janice quickly found herself at the back of the plane where there were hardly any passengers and the last few seats were empty.

  She found a double seat in a corner, grabbed a blanket and quickly settled in. There were a couple of hours left, and most of the passengers would wake up soon, demanding everyone’s full attention. Besides, as long as Evelyn was strapped to her seat and sleeping, Janice knew she could relax.

  “Is this seat taken?”

  Janice looked up at Sally and gave her a weak smile, shaking her head as the brunette settled in beside her.

  “Is Jacky handling first?” Janice asked, making sure that at least one stewardess was on duty.

  Sally nodded and smiled, stretching in her seat as she crossed her legs and closed her eyes. “I’m going to get fired, aren’t I?”

  “No one gets fired because of a slip up,” Janice yawned, curling under the covers. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  Sally nodded, and Janice could almost see the wheels in the girl’s head spinning.

  “What is it?” Janice asked.

  Sally shook her head and smiled. “It’s just that I thought I could fly through this job easily. Never thought there was more to it than just smiles and distributing trays.”

  Janice almost laughed. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  “You didn’t,” Sally said. “I got into this job to see the world. I just wanted to have some fun. I never really thought of doing it for very long.” She looked over at Janice. “How did you stick with it so long?”

  Janice adjusted herself. “I enjoy it, I guess,” she said. “I understand it can be stressful. You’re never really stable, always on the move, never really enjoying one place enough. Still, it’s better than the alternative.”

  “Which is?”

  “I was a paralegal at a law firm before I applied to be stewardess,” Janice said. “I never really had a knack for anything else. Here, though, I feel like I belong. If I could do this as long as Evelyn has, I’ll be happy.”

  “Must be lonely, though,” Sally mused.

  Janice shrugged. “You get by,” she said. “It’s not like I have anyone waiting at home for me anyway. The job doesn’t really allow for it.”

  “I heard Evelyn has kids,” Sally said.

  “And she’s divorced,” Janice replied. “Trust me, if you want to settle down, then quit and look for something else. It’s never easy flying around the world with a family at home.”

  Sally nodded slightly and pressed on the small button on her arm rest, pushing her seat back as she pulled a bit of Janice’s blanket over her.

  “No one’s waiting for me,” Sally said, her voice almost a whisper.

  Janice frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “My parents practically disowned me, and I’ve never been in a relationship that’s lasted longer than a month.” Sally looked over at Janice, her green eyes almost glowing in the dim lights of the cabin. “I guess that makes me the perfect candidate.”

  “It can’t be that horrible.”

  Janice could see the girl’s eyes water up a bit. “I’ve been on my own since nineteen,” Sally said. “This is all I really have.”

  Janice grabbed the girl’s hand and squeezed. “You’re doing a good job,” she said. “Don’t worry about it so much.”

  Sally smiled. “You really are something, you know that?”

  Janice was about to say something when Sally turned her head to the other side, closing her eyes and curling the blanket under her chin.

  In a few minutes, her breathing slowed and deepened, and Janice knew that she had fallen asleep.

  Closing her eyes, Janice followed suit.

  * * *

  Chapter Seven

  Janice woke up to the soft touch of a hand on her leg. He eyes fluttered open, and it took a few seconds before her vision cleared and she realized that she wasn’t imagining the hand massaging the inside of her thigh.

  Janice turned and saw Sally looking right at her, the brunette’s eyes glazed over as she watched her supervisor.

  Janice frowned as the girl’s hand rose higher up her thigh, finding its way under her skirt and gently brushing the ends of her panties.

  “What are you doing?” Janice asked.

  Sally didn’t answer, just leaned over and pressed her lips against Janice’s. The touch of the brunette’s lips was soft, testing first, and when Janice opened her mouth, the girl kissed her with more passion.

  Her hand moved higher up, pressing between Janice’s thighs through the thin fabric of her panties, forcing her to draw in a sharp breath.

  Sally broke the kiss and stared into Janice’s eyes as her fingers moved. Janice frowned in confusion, unable to comprehend what was going on, or why she was letting this happen.

  She had never been with a girl before, her brief experimental phase in college stopping at a kiss she shared with her roommate one drunken night, and nothing more.

  She had never been attracted to another woman before, although she had caught herself admiring a few every now and then. Still, she had never thought of actually doing anything about it.

  Sally leaned in and buried her face in Janice’s neck, her lips parting and her tongue twirling against the woman’s skin.

  Janice closed her eyes, passionately enjoying the touch of the other girl’s tongue, her own hand finding its way around the brunette’s waist.

  Sally moved the armrest between them and pushed up closer, her breasts pressed against Janice’s side, her hand now inside her panties and rubbing her.

  Janice bit her lower lip, holding back the moans that wanted to escape. She briefly opened her eyes, making sure no one was watching, and was relieved to find that most of the passengers were still asleep.

  She instinctively pushed her hips up against Sally’s hand, and when the brunette kissed her lips again, she returned it passionately, breathing her in.

  Sally broke away again, her hands leaving Janice’s panties and unbuttoning her blouse. Janice watched the girl work, and she smiled back as the brunette winked at her wickedly, pulling her blouse open and bending down to kiss the t
op of her breasts.

  Her hands moved under the blouse and unstrapped Janice’s bra. Sally quickly pushed the bra up, freeing Janice’s breasts and instantly bending to suck in her nipple, moving her hips against the other woman’s.

  Sally suddenly pulled back, looking over her shoulder at the rest of the plane. She looked back at Janice, the passion in her eyes overwhelming as she whispered, “Not here.”

  Janice quickly buttoned her blouse again as both women made their way to the back galley, pushing into the bathroom and locking the door behind them.

  Sally instantly pushed Janice against the small cubicle wall, unbuttoning her own blouse as Janice quickly undressed. Janice stared at the brunette’s breasts as the girl freed them from her bra, and let herself be drawn to them, kissing the globes softly and sucking on the nipples as Sally slipped her skirt off.

  Janice held her breath as the brunette helped her out of her own skirt, then fell to her knees and pulled down her panties, burying her face between Janice’s thighs, her tongue finding its way to her core and driving her completely insane.

  Janice threw one leg over the girl’s shoulder, opening herself more, and grabbed onto the brunette’s hair, rocking against her.

  Janice felt the world around her spinning out of control, lost in ecstasy at what Sally was doing to her, and it took every ounce of her to hold back her screams as she came hard, shaking and almost losing balance.

  Janice pulled the girl up and quickly pulled off her panties, pushing her up onto the small sink and pushing her legs open.

  Sally wasn’t as quiet as Janice returned the favor.

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  “You can’t be serious!”

  Evelyn slammed her clipboard down angrily and gave Janice a stern look. “Can you honestly tell me that she’s not a complete mess?”

  Janice sighed heavily, crossing her arms as she stared at her supervisor challengingly. “It was one incident, Evelyn,” she said. “You can’t keep blaming her for that.”

  “I actually don’t blame her for that,” Evelyn shot back. “I’m blaming you. She was rooming with you. You should have had a handle on that.”

  “I’m not her keeper,” Janice said.

  “No, you’re her supervisor,” Evelyn retorted, “and honestly, I expected a lot more from you.”

  “That’s not fair, Evelyn,” Janice said.

  “That’s all I have to say about the matter,” Evelyn sighed. “I don’t want her on my crew.”

  Janice stared long and hard at the woman, unable to believe that she was being this harsh on Sally.

  Since the last incident, they had been through four trips together, and Janice had been able to rely on the girl fully on each one.

  “Fine, then I’m going, too,” Janice said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “I’m very serious.”

  Evelyn stopped what she was doing and eyed Janice, her eyes shooting daggers at the woman, the anger boiling up inside her almost at a breaking point. Janice worried the older woman might just blow up in her face.

  “Give her a chance, Evelyn,” Janice tried to reason with her. “None of us were perfect from the get-go.”

  “She’s not new to the job.”

  “She’s new to the crew.”

  Evelyn eyed her a bit longer before sighing and shaking her head. She grabbed her clipboard, threw Janice another look and walked away.

  * * *

  Chapter Nine

  “So that’s it, huh?”

  Janice kept her eyes low, gazing at the cappuccino in her hand and avoiding the brunette’s eyes as much as she could. It had taken only a few days for Evelyn to convince the airlines to get rid of Sally, and the brunette wasn’t taking well. Janice hadn’t expected any different.

  Over the past three weeks, the two of them had grown close, spending a lot more time together than Janice was used to spending with any of the other crew members.

  She had gotten used to having Sally around, even though they had never repeated their last encounter on the plane.

  “Looks like it,” Janice said. “I’m handing in my resignation tomorrow.”

  Sally frowned. “What? Why?”

  Janice shrugged. “I think you’re being treated unfairly. I was a mess when I first started, and you deserve a second chance. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t redeemed yourself.”

  “I guess the airline doesn’t see it that way.”

  “Evelyn doesn’t see it that way,” Janice replied. “The airlines aren’t up there with us. They take her word for it, and she has pull.”

  “I don’t want you quitting on my behalf,” Sally said. “I was never going to last in this job anyway. You have a career.”

  Janice wanted to agree with her, but couldn’t. She had spent years as a stewardess, fighting her way up the ladder, following Evelyn’s every word as she made her way up one promotion after the other.

  Despite all that, for some reason, she felt like she had had enough. Over the years, her life had been one hotel room after the other, the same people around her, and it was slowly getting to her.

  “I think I’m done,” Janice said.

  Sally eyed her as she took a sip from her cappuccino. “So what now?”

  “I’m not quite sure,” Janice said. “I’ll probably go back to being a paralegal.”

  “You hated that job,” Sally said.

  “There’s nothing else I know how to do, really.”

  “How about you come back to New York with me?” Sally asked.

  Janice looked at the brunette for a beat. “What the hell am I going to do in New York?”

  “We could find a place together, maybe find a job somewhere and start new careers,” Sally suggested. “My friend has a studio apartment he could rent us.”

  Janice smiled at the brunette and raised an eyebrow. They hadn’t talked about their little mile high adventure since it had happened, and most of the time they had spent together had been friendly enough, but Janice couldn’t deny how she was starting to feel towards the brunette, and the way Sally was looking at her now confirmed that she felt the same way. Janice had never even considered the possibility before.

  “Are you asking me to move in with you?” Janice asked.

  Sally smiled widely. “You have to admit, you’ve never had a roommate like me.” Sally winked at her. “Besides, there’s only one bed in a studio apartment.”

  Janice took a long sip from her cappuccino and looked around, watching the rest of the regulars in the coffee shop, laughing and going about their business without a care in the world.

  She began to imagine their lives, whether they were happy or not, what the world was throwing at them. She wondered if any of them was as confused as she was right now.

  “I understand if you’re not comfortable with that,” Sally said, and when Janice looked at her, she could clearly see the disappointment on her face.

  Janice quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed. “It’s not that at all,” she said. “I’d love to go to New York with you. It’s just all a little strange and sudden.”

  Sally nodded and gave her a weak smile. “How about I just head out before you, set things up, and when you’re done here, you could follow me.”

  Janice nodded and squeezed the brunette’s hand again before returning to her cappuccino.

  * * *

  Chapter Ten

  Janice walked out of the airlines offices with a smile on her face.

  She looked over her shoulder at Evelyn Snow who was watching her from inside with a scowl on her face, but Janice didn’t care.

  She had spent the past few days finishing up her paperwork after the HR department had reluctantly accepted her resignation, and she had never felt this relieved in her life.

  At the moment, she felt like a huge burden had been taken off her shoulders, and her first instinct was to call Sally and tell her the news.

  Janice pulled out her cell phone and dialed,
the phone ringing twice before being sent to voice mail.

  “I did it,” she said with a smile, barely holding back her excitement. “I’m a free woman. If the offer still stands, I can be in New York tomorrow.” She paused. “I’m looking forward to this, Sally. I really am.”

  Janice hung up and gazed at Sally’s picture on the caller ID for a few seconds before pocketing her phone.

  She could almost see herself with the brunette in the studio apartment, under the covers, tangled up together as they slept.

  She felt a shiver race down her spine, and she welcomed the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her.

  She hailed a cab, and when the first one didn’t stop for her, she patiently waited for another.

  She watched the pedestrians walking past her, rushing off to their destinations, heads down and frowning in concentration. The sun was beating down hard on her, and she relished the heat that came with it.

  She closed her eyes and raised her face into the falling rays, letting the sun warm her.

  Above her head, a plane cruised by, and she shielded her eyes as she watched it. She smiled to herself, remembering the years she had spent up there between the clouds, in her own little world, away from the hustle and bustle below.

  Now, standing on the sidewalk as the rush of the crowd passed by her, she felt exhilarated, alive even. She couldn’t remember why she had ever traded this for the isolation of the skies.

  Janice hailed another cab, and as it pulled up to the curb in front of her, she took a quick look around her before climbing in. There were no regrets anymore, no second guesses.

  She knew what she wanted, and for the first time in her life, she felt like she was finally in control of her life.

  She gave the driver her address, closed her eyes and rested her head back, the smile on her face wide as the cab pulled away from the airlines office and towards her future.