Her clit tweeted a message: It felt real to me.
No, focus on something else. Think about the pilot. A small grin danced across her lips. He's a hottie. It was heaven being snuggled up next to him. He smells like…like…oh, gee, I dunno. He smells like something that makes me feel secure. Capri chuckled. Oh, now that's sexy.
She rubbed between her eyes. Secure. Why did I choose that word? Because I feel comfortable around him. Like I've known him for years and I could lose myself in his love and know I'd be safe. He wouldn't cheat on me. He'd love me until the end of time. Hmph, here I've got us united until eternity and he's just being polite because I'm a client.
Capri watched as clouds floated past the window. Maybe not. He might like me. He held me when I was scared. She shook her head. Why would he like me? He doesn't even know me.
Snorting, she mentally slapped her wrist. I sound like a twelve-year-old. Anybody have a daisy? Capri made the motion of plucking petals. He likes me. He likes me not. Well since I am an adult let's forget the schoolgirl games and get to know him better.
She slapped the arm of her chair, stood and strode to the cockpit door. Why does he have to be a pilot? In a plane. That flies in the sky. Her stomach rumbled and her hands grew clammy. Don't think about flying. You're in a car. On a highway. Going really, really fast. She raised her hand and tapped on the door.
"It's not locked."
She pushed it open and stuck her head inside. "Can I come in? The planes up and flying along?"
Thall glanced up from the control panel and pointed to the seat next to him. "Yup. What's up?"
To avoid looking out front windows, Capri kept her eyes lowered as she shuffled past the center console and settled onto the co-pilot's seat. "Tight squeeze. Nothing's up. It just got lonely back there." She heaved a sigh. The knot in the middle of her upper back released, and a little of the tension eased. "I have to confess, I'm not very good at flying. Planes sort of scare me."
"You flew from the U.S. or did you swim?" He settled back in his seat.
"I was going to walk, but that little ocean posed a bit of a problem." She lifted her head and peered out the front window. "Oh, wow. What a view."
Not a cloud marred the sky, and before her laid the vastness of the ocean. "It's like we're the only ones up here. Sort of peaceful."
"Well, it is now that the storm has blown itself out."
Capri smiled. "I feel strangely relaxed and safe up here. Much more so, than back in the cabin."
Thall tossed off a playful salute. "Well, there's nothing to be worried about, little lady, Captain T. Hall's flying this here big bird."
She giggled and rolled her eyes. "So, Captain T. Hall, give me a tour of your big bird. What kind of plane is this?"
"Learjet 45. With a maximum speed of 561 mph or Mach 0.82 at an altitude of 24,000 feet."
"Should I be saying ooh and aah?"
He looked at her and raised one eyebrow. "If you expect to get the full tour, you'd better show more enthusiasm than that."
She threw a salute back at him. "Duly noted. What's that?" She pointed to one of the instruments on the main flight console.
"Technical term or layman?"
"Layman." She squirmed feeling her excitement grow. And I'm thinking I want to lay this man.
"This tells us if we're right side up."
"Right side up?" Capri gulped as a chill shot through her.
"A plane is sort of like a fish. Belly up can be bad."
She squeezed her eyes closed and calmed the nausea rolling in her stomach. "Not feeling so safe anymore." She opened one eye and peered at the plane's attitude indicator.
Thall chuckled. "It's on autopilot. We're good and level. Would you like to see unlevel?"
"God, no!" Capri's eyelids flew open, and her eyebrows rose to their peak. "Boringly level works perfectly fine for me."
He chuckled. "You've got to have a bit of excitement and danger in your life."
Capri scrunched her lips and shook her head. "No, I don't."
"Haven't you ever done anything that scared the crap out of you? Taken a big risk?"
"No." The heat rose in her cheeks. "I was too busy going to school, getting my degrees and getting a job."
"Well, buckle up." He pointed to her seatbelt.
"Why?" Her pitch and eyebrows rose.
"You're gonna fly this baby." He smiled and pointed at her seatbelt. "Come on, do it up. You've got to do something fun and dangerous for once."
Capri snapped her face toward Thall. "What did you say?"
"You have to do something fun and dangerous."
She fumbled reaching for her seatbelt. Why did that sound so familiar? It was like she'd heard him say that before. Something fun. Something dangerous.
"Ready?" He rested his hand near a switch.
She blinked. "No. Give me a moment."
"Like I said, it isn't hard. These things pretty much fly themselves. Just keep it level, and don't try and fly it like a video game."
Gripping the control stick in front of her, Capri took a deep breath. "I just keep this level?"
"Yup, like driving a car." He flicked the autopilot switch to off. "There, she's all yours."
Capri's heart rate jumped. "Really?" She tightened her grip.
"Yes, you're flying the plane."
"Oh, my God, what do I do?" She glanced at him.
He leaned back and laughed. "Keep doing what you're doing. Now glance out the window. See anything?"
"I see the ocean."
"Try and stay above that. I meant, do you see anything like another plane, a mountain, a UFO?"
She glanced sideways at him. "No UFOs. E.T. has long since gone home."
"Well, if there's nothing around, just keep flying straight ahead."
Capri's gaze flitted between the level indicator and the view out the window. "Am I really flying this thing?"
He nodded and pointed to Autopilot. "It's off."
She glanced out the window. "Oh, look. Land." She released her right hand and pointed, then grasped the control.
Thall adjusted his headphones and mic and spoke to Indonesian Air Traffic control. He grinned. "You want to land this?"
"Uh, hell no!"
"Remember, you have to do something fun and dangerous."
This time the sentence hit Capri right in her clit. The tingle spread through her body and trailed to her nipples. He sounds like… She shook her head. Don't be stupid. This guy's human.
Capri gasped when she felt the control stick shift. She glanced at it then the pilot.
As he spoke, he focused on the instrument panel, "I'll line you up with the runway, and you can put her down. I'll help."
The joystick moved within her grasp and the horizon tilted. Her stomach did a backflip. "Oh, this isn't good." Her hand flew to her mouth. Thall leveled the plane.
"I can't do this." She reached for her seatbelt. "I have to get out—"
He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Stay. I'll help. You can do this. I know you can. Fuck your fear. Let's land this together."
Capri leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and sucked in a deep breath. She exhaled and inhaled four large breaths. When she opened her eyes, the plane was lined up with the runway. She grimaced. It didn't look wide enough to land the plane on. "Aren't we too high?"
The control stick moved and the ground rose. Capri blinked. "I didn't mean we had to, you know, dive down."
He chuckled. "Watch our altitude here, and head her toward the runway. If you get too steep or something, I'll correct it."
Her knuckles turned white from the force of her grip on the controls. Her heart pounded in her chest. A trickle of sweat slithered down her right cheek. She wanted to wipe it away, but she refused to release the controls. She had a gut feeling her grip on the controls kept the plane in the air.
As the distance to ground narrowed, the runaway appeared to widen. Streaks of rubber from thousands of previous landings painted the tarmac a dee
p black.
She glanced at Thall, who sat upright, hands on controls, but seemed calm as he communicated with the tower. I can do this. Fuck my fear.
Her heartbeat roared into overdrive as the plane passed over the outer lights and appeared to hover above the runway. She felt a small shift in the joystick and bounced as the plane's tires hit the runway. "I did it! We're down."
With a roar of reverse thrust, Thall slowed the plane and directed her to a hangar on the far side of the runway. Trembling, she waited until he eased the plane to a full stop and killed the engines. He turned and smiled. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"That has got to be the most amazing thing I have ever done." She unlatched her seatbelt, scrambled over the center console, wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. Adrenalin and lust flowed through her veins. She fought the urge to rip his shirt off and mount him in his cockpit. Instead, she pulled back and plopped back onto her seat and focused her gaze out the window.
The sign read Maingapu International Airport. She tilted her head back and rested it on the seat.
"You flew to the wrong airport." Her brow crinkled and darkened. "We're supposed to be at Flores." She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Now, I'm never going to make that meeting."
Thall unclicked his seatbelt. "Had to land here. Flores' runway is shut down. Fuel spill on the runway. This was the closest island that we had enough fuel to get to."
She sighed. "But how am I supposed to get to Flores?"
"We'll take a boat." He shuffled out of his seat.
Capri dropped her chin to her chest. "Did I ever mention I hate boats more that planes?"
"Pardon?" He turned.
"Boats go on water. I hate water."
"Hmm? You hate to fly. You hate boats." He stretched out his hand to help her stand. "Why do you travel?"
"My job. The world is supposed to be globally connected by the Internet, but people still seem to think it is better for me to meet in person." She placed her hands in his and stumbled as she rose out of her seat.
Thall grabbed her shoulders. "Whoa. Got'cha. You all right?"
Capri smiled. "Yes, my foot just got caught. Let's get out of here and find a boat. Where the hell am I supposed to find a boat and a captain?"
"You forgot. I'm your captain. I'll find a boat. You stretch out on one of the sofa's and have a nap. I think there was a little too much fun for you today."
Both Thall and Capri glanced at her stomach, as it announced it was empty and would appreciate more food than just the peanuts and pretzels they'd had earlier. Capri blushed as she pressed her hand on her belly to silence it.
"I'll get us a launch and lunch." He chuckled. "Get it. Launch? Lunch?"
Capri's stomach rumbled out her opinion if his joke.
Thall led her out of the cockpit and pulled a blanket from one of the storage units. Capri nestled down on a couch and smiled as he covered her and tucked the bottom around her feet.
With a contented sigh, Capri's eyelids fluttered closed as she listened to the sounds of her pilot unlatching the door and lowering the stairs. She counted the steps as he descended. Silence filled the plane. The storm was gone. No wind rocked it. No rain pummeled against it.
I flew a plane. She snuggled under blanket. It was so cool. He was so cool. The way he told me to fuck my fear. He sounded like Sylvester Stallone. No, Bruce Willis.
She closed her eyes and drifted off to her dream world.
Rain splashed against the jet's windows as Capri gripped the control stick. With a quick flick of her hand, she swiped the sweat from her brow. Thunder rumbled after brilliant flashes of lightning momentarily blinding her. "The plane's been hit."
She glanced around the cockpit. She was alone. "I can't fly this in this weather."
She stood and strode to the cabin. He lay on the couch in his naked majesty. A smile on his face and holding his erection. "Wanna come have some fun?"
Capri walked forward and paused. She was the same distance away from him.
He slid his hand along the shaft. "Come on. Come play with me. I'm all hot and hard for you."
She watched her feet as she took twelve steps forward. Glancing up she saw she wasn't any closer.
"Capri. Come here. I want to suck your nipples and fuck you 'til you scream."
"I can't." She broke into a run. "I can't get close to you."
He flew toward her, stopping a mere breath from her face. "Don't you want me to make love to you?"
She stared into his face and watched as his features morphed from Taren, her pilot, to Thall, her Fate.
A rustling sound disturbed her slumber. Capri crawled out of the depths of sleep enough to listen then drifted back into her dream. A sharper sound startled her awake. She blinked and sat up. A man stood by the doorway. He wasn't her pilot.
"Who are you?"
The man grinned and held up a large knife.
Chapter Fourteen
Thall stepped from behind the man, clapped his hand on his shoulder and glanced over at Capri. She looked like she was ready to release one of those high-pitched screams. The kind that shatters glass and makes cats ears flatten against their heads. "Oh good, Capri, you're awake. This is Zaqi. He's going to cook lunch for us."
Zaqi nodded. "I make you Beef Saté and Ketupat. You will like." He turned and exited the plane.
Capri blinked and sat up.
"You okay?" Thall frowned. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Should I go over and hold her, wrap my arms around her like I did last night? She felt so good.
"I…uh, I'm fine. It shocked me to see a man standing there holding a knife."
Thall pointed out the window. "When I was checking around for a boat, his food truck was nearby. I asked him to drive over and make us some lunch. The cupboards on the plane are getting a bare."
She turned and glanced out to where he pointed. Parked off to the left of the plane was a rusty, green truck with a side panel folded open. She could see Zaqi busy inside preparing their meal. She turned to Thall. "Did you find a boat?"
"Yup. Right after lunch, we can unpack the plane, and hop over to the boat. You should be there by this evening."
Capri raised one eyebrow. "Should? Be there by this evening?"
He laughed. "Well, what else can happen? We flew through a cyclone, landed on a smugglers private runway, met a Komodo dragon, and got routed to the wrong island. Your luck has to change sooner or later."
"I guess an asteroid could hit the earth. Or…" She giggled. "A huge sea monster could rise up out of the water and carry us off to his secret lair."
He crossed his arms. "I got grief for one little UFO, and you've got a sea creature dragging us to the depths of the ocean?"
She giggled. "My bad."
Savory aromas drifted into the cabin. Thall turned toward the open doorway. "Wow, that smells good. I'll see if lunch is ready, yet." He exited the plane. "Ms. Gray!"
Capri appeared at the doorway of the plane. Thall signaled her to join him. "Lunch is served." He held out his arm, waiting while she scooted down the stairs and linked her arm in his. The touch of her flesh on his caused a small flutter deep in his belly. The brush of her shoulder on his as they walked intensified the sensation. He rubbed the thumb of his free hand against his fingers. His hand was clammy. Focusing on himself, he wondered why his heart beat faster. He wasn't running or doing anything strenuous. He was simply crossing the tarmac, holding on to Capri's arm. Could it be her? Was she affecting him? The mere closeness of her? He smiled.
"What?" Capri glanced at him.
"What, what?"
"You have a big grin on your face. I was wondering what the joke was."
Should I tell her, she's the reason? Don't be ridiculous. She's not ready to meet the real me. Let her keep thinking I'm Taren, the pilot, not Thall, her Fate. "No joke. Just anticipating lunch."
"Yes, it does smell wonderful. I'm surprised you can't hear my stomach rumbling."
He tossed back his head
and chuckled. "I think that's because mine's even louder."
"I sent a text and rescheduled the meeting for tomorrow afternoon. So I can enjoy the rest of today."
They stopped at the side of the food truck. Zaqi held out two plates. "You take this and I will bring tea for you. Where you sit?"
Thall shrugged and looked around the empty tarmac. "Not quite Central Park here. Uh, how about on the steps? Have an outdoor picnic."
"Brilliant." Capri reached up and took the plates from Zaqi. She handed one to Thall and held one to her nose. "Mmm, this smells heavenly."
He took the chopsticks Zaqi offered and followed Capri to the plane's stairs. He handed her a pair and settled two steps above where she sat. "Enjoy."
With his chopstick, he nudged the chunks of beef skewered together on a bamboo stick and an interesting, little, woven, green square basket. He picked up a stick and sniffed the beef. A blend of spices filled his nostrils and made him swallow. Opening his mouth, he bit a piece of beef, chewed and gulped it down. The flavor of this beef was very different from the Beef Bourguignon he'd had for lunch. That meal tasted as if he should be dining at the palace. This flavor was more suited to the steps of an airplane seated near a beautiful woman on a bright, sunny day. He dipped his next bite into a light brown sauce, then slipped it into his mouth. More flavors mingled with the beef and the combination made him sigh.
Capri swallowed. "I agree. With your sigh, that is. This is so good. But then anything dipped in peanut sauce is worth eating."
"Anything?" Thall tilted his head. "I can think of a couple of places to pour this on and then lick off."
She rolled her eyes. "Have you tried the ketchup?" She tapped the woven, green container. "Or whatever it was he called this?"
Thall shook his head. "I'm in love with this Saté thing. I might just distract you and steal yours." He pulled another piece off the stick, dipped it and popped it into his mouth.
"Don't you dare." Capri pointed her stick at him. "You just might end up like my younger brothers."
Capri's Fate Page 10
