by Melody Anne
“Logically, I know you’re right,” Ace finally admitted. “It’s just that my gut says something isn’t right.”
“That might just be because of your job,” Dakota told him. “You’re always looking for the worst instead of the best.”
“You might be right,” he said, another sigh escaping him as his hands began moving up and down her back.
She felt a shiver travel her spine, and she knew how easy it would be to cave in to the demands of her body. But she was starting to look at this strange relationship with Ace as something that could possibly last for a while. And if that were the case, they certainly needed to have more going for them than just a great sex life. Though, now that she’d discovered the joys of having a man own her so completely, she knew she couldn’t be in a relationship where the sex wasn’t spectacular.
“Then you will take me for another flying lesson?” she said as she snuggled against his hard pecs.
“Yes,” he said. “But I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like flying?” she said, purposely misunderstanding him.
“I love flying. I get to be free when I do it,” he admitted.
“Then it will be good for both of us. Well, if I don’t send us spiraling toward the ground.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen,” he assured her.
“Nope, you don’t get to play the hero,” she told him sternly. “I am going to be such a great pilot, the plane will have no choice but to obey my commands.”
“Oh, really?” he said, a smile entering his voice.
“Really!” she insisted.
“I have no doubt you are great at whatever you put your mind to,” he said.
“And I’m ready to go,” she said. She pulled from his arms, the action making her feel slightly empty. The look on his face assured her he liked it even less. That helped.
“Be ready in ten minutes,” she told him as she rushed to the back of the guest cottage and grabbed her tennis shoes. It was time to fly again. She was more than excited. The men who’d attacked her were forgotten. Okay, maybe not completely, but she wasn’t going to allow them to stop her from living her life. That’s how they won in their game of terror.
When she came back out, Ace smiled at her. His face was so beautiful, it took her breath away. This man was tugging on more of her heart each moment she was with him. She’d felt the need to soothe his battered soul from the moment she’d met him, but it seemed he was doing more for her than she was for him.
And she was more than okay with that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ace smiled as Dakota impatiently followed him around the plane while he took his time doing the preflight check. He made her look at everything after he did, and then check it off a list. He knew what she was feeling. She wanted to get into the air.
“I know this part isn’t exciting, but doing it will save your life,” Ace assured her.
“But we just did it a few days ago,” she pointed out.
Ace laughed. “It has to be done every single time you fly,” he assured her. “Otherwise disaster strikes.”
“You think disaster is striking all the time,” she told him.
Ace understood why she thought that, but she didn’t have the same knowledge he did. She had never seen what he’d seen, and she just didn’t understand true evil. He was glad she didn’t. If she were truly aware, she wouldn’t be the same woman. He’d seen too many instances of good people having their bubble popped, and then he’d had to watch the light go out of their eyes. He missed the light—he missed being that happy.
“If I promise to be more observant of my surroundings and to listen to you when it comes to all things about the plane, will you please let up just a little on your intensity?” she asked him.
Ace truly thought about her question for a moment before he forced some of the tenseness out of his shoulders. She was right. She was incredibly right. Maybe he felt this immense need to teach her because he knew that in less than two weeks he’d be gone. The thought of not being there if something else were to happen to her nearly sent him into a panic. That wouldn’t do.
“Okay, I’ll let up,” he finally said.
“You can’t just say it. You have to mean it,” she told him, her stubborn face clearly pasted on.
Ace laughed. “Deal,” he told her. “Are you ready to fly this beautiful girl?”
Dakota laughed. “Ah, we’re back to calling the plane a girl,” she said.
Ace smiled. “She sits here in the center of the room, and at the first sight of her, a hot flash of oxygen fills my lungs,” he said. Her eyes widened. “Nothing but a sculpted, beautiful woman can inspire that kind of reaction. She’s smooth, without blemishes. She’s intoxicating. A plane can only be known as a she,” he promised.
Ace saw desire flash in Dakota’s eyes, and he felt himself grow hard—just that quickly. He’d been thinking about Dakota during his description, but the same was true of the smooth, sweet lines of the perfect plane.
“I know many people envious of a plane’s beauty, of the confidence inspired while looking at her. She just sits there and begs you to climb inside and have a little dance.”
“Are you now a romance novelist?” Dakota asked in a husky voice.
“You inspire me,” he told her. He had to force himself not to step over to her and rip off her clothes. The thought of taking her against the beautiful machine in front of them had him aching in a way that should have sent him to the ER.
“I thought you were describing the plane, not me,” she pointed out.
“I might have gotten that a little bit mixed up,” he said with a shrug.
“We better get into the air, then . . . before we fly to new horizons without leaving the ground.”
Damn, he loved being with this woman. She didn’t shrink back from him, didn’t try to pretend there wasn’t massive attraction between them. She was real, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he had no choice but to walk away from her. That put a definite pail of cold water down his slacks.
“Let’s do it,” he said, a bit grumpily.
She looked at him as she tried to figure out his sudden shift in mood, but then she moved to the door of the plane and climbed up, giving him a delectable view of her butt before she disappeared inside.
He took his time walking around the plane. This was going to seem like a longer flight than last time, no matter how much time they were in the air. Her scent would still envelop him, but this time he’d know what it was like to be deep inside her tight body. Ace had been subjected to torture, but it didn’t come close to what he was going to have to go through during the next hour or two.
Trying to convince himself he was stronger than average, he climbed in beside her and then sealed the door. He would get his mind out of the gutter and focus on her training. It truly was a life-or-death situation each time she went up in the air. The more he could teach her before he left, the better he would feel about her continuing without him. No one would train her as well as he could. Maybe he would skip this CIA mission—just let someone else have it.
As soon as he had that thought, he pushed it from his mind. He was CIA. It was his job to make the world a safer place. Nothing should stop him. Besides, he would never be happy simply giving private flying lessons. It was too mundane, too boring.
That decided, they got to work. They started the plane and began taxiing, Ace no longer in the mood to share witty banter with Dakota. That wasn’t something he’d thought would ever happen.
She was doing amazingly well, getting her turns in, listening to everything he told her as they flew out farther from the airport, lifting higher into the air.
“I could do this all day long,” she told him, her joyful laugh coming clearly through his headphones.
“Yeah, me too,” he admitted.
“You don’t find it boring after your millions of hours of flight time?” she questioned.
He laughed. “I don’t have close t
o that many hours, but no, I honestly never get sick of flying,” he admitted.
“I know I won’t, either, even when I’m flying huge jumbo jets across the Atlantic,” she said, bouncing in her seat a little bit, causing her leg to rub against his. He forced himself to ignore the shot of desire he felt.
“What makes you think you’re going to be flying across the Atlantic?” he asked.
“This is my last year of cheering. It’s time for me to grow up. I want to be a pilot, and flying small planes forever will never do. Sherman told me when I get the necessary hours and training in, I would be a shoo-in to work for Cooper’s company.”
Ace felt a tinge of jealousy at her words. He knew how the pilot community worked. A lot of those pilots had had too many affairs to count. They’d think they hit the jackpot the second Dakota stepped on board, those proud stars on her shoulders. She’d be hunted down from day one. He tried telling himself he wouldn’t care. That was at least two to three years down the road. But with Dakota’s determination, he’d bet she’d be flying every single day, racking up those needed hours.
She wasn’t his—not really—so he didn’t understand why he should even care. Maybe he wouldn’t by the time that happened. He knew that wasn’t the case, of course, but he refused to even think about it.
“Those long flights are pretty amazing,” he said.
“Did you get to fly really cool places with the CIA?” she asked.
“Yeah, when the drug cartel on my last case thought I was working for them, we did a lot of international trips. Of course, they were up to no good, so that took some of the joy of flying away, but damn if she wasn’t a beautiful jet,” Ace admitted.
“You got them in the end, so that’s the most important thing to remember,” she told him.
“I try telling myself that,” he mumbled. After a long pause, he said, “We should turn around and start heading back.”
The pout on her face made him want to kiss her. She did a near-perfect turn despite her disappointment, and they began heading back toward the airport. Ace was about to speak again when a light began to flash on the control panel. Suddenly, the engine went silent.
Dakota looked at him with worry. What the hell? “Give me the controls,” he demanded, his voice calm. It wasn’t a big deal, but certainly not something a pilot in training could deal with on her second day out.
“This is bad, right?” she said. He noticed her voice remained calm, even if it was hesitant.
“This isn’t what’s supposed to happen, but we aren’t in trouble yet,” he told her.
She nodded as she watched every little thing he did. He was trying to get the engine to start again, but all he got was a sputter and then . . . nothing.
They were losing altitude, and Ace knew he only had seconds to decide what to do. He was sort of wishing he hadn’t been trying to impress her by flying this plane, because it ran hotter and required a much faster landing speed, making it more difficult to set down in a short field. He began searching the ground, damn grateful they were outside the city limits. To their slight left were some fields. He didn’t have a great visual to see if there were power lines, tractors, hay, anything that would make them flip once they hit the ground, but he had no other choice except to make an emergency landing.
“This is bad, right?” she repeated, her voice calm, but quiet.
“Yeah, this is bad,” he told her before he keyed the mic to call in an emergency landing. He relayed his coordinates and said a little prayer as the ground drew closer, their speed too fast.
“Hold on,” he told her, his voice tight. This would almost be a thrill for him if Dakota wasn’t sitting right next to him.
Dakota’s heavy breathing came over loud and clear through his headset, and all Ace could think about at this point was trying to control the plane. He didn’t have time to wonder what was wrong or what was going to happen when they hit the ground. He had to play this by ear and pray he kept her alive.
“This is it,” he said, not liking how fast they were going as the plane approached the field. Nothing was visibly in his way, but he didn’t know about holes, low fences, ditches. He just focused his eyes and did his best to pull up the slightest bit so they didn’t slam forward or tilt and hit the wings.
The plane hit the ground with a jarring impact, their bodies getting tugged painfully against their seat belts. Their harnesses were the only thing that saved them from slamming their heads into the ceiling.
He heard Dakota let out a sigh of relief.
“This isn’t over,” he told her. “Hold on tight.”
The plane careened a bit to the left, and he did his best to straighten her out as they thundered down the grassy field. He tapped the brakes lightly, not wanting to hit them hard and send the plane tail over front.
Looking ahead, he saw a fence, and he knew it was going to be a close call. Tapping the brakes a little harder, he felt the plane resist as the tail began sliding sideways. Then they hit a mound of dirt, slamming the left wing into the ground, making them flip over.
Dakota’s scream was the last thing he heard before his head slammed into the window, knocking him out cold.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Sirens were blaring when Ace regained consciousness. Dakota felt tears streaming down her face as she saw the beautiful sight of his eyes opening. She ripped off her headset and reached over and tore his off too.
“How long was I out?” he asked. He looked a bit dazed, but he was waking up fast.
“Only a few seconds, but you scared the hell out of me,” she told him.
“We have to get out of here. She could catch on fire,” he said. He ripped off his seat belt, then reached over and undid hers. Dakota’s fingers were trembling.
The doors were jammed, so Ace leaned back and kicked with all his strength. It took a few tries, but he finally broke the window out. He pushed her through, and then he quickly followed her. He directed her away from the plane. They were damn lucky it hadn’t gone up.
Dakota was trying desperately to be brave as fire engines and an ambulance drove quickly to find them. The whole ordeal had been terrifying.
“Still want to be a pilot?” Ace asked. He was trying to be calm, but she could see the fear in his eyes. She also knew it was because of her. She had a feeling Ace was rarely scared for himself but was bothered deeply when someone he cared about was in danger. That meant she was on his list of those to protect. She sort of liked that feeling.
“That wasn’t a fun part of training,” she admitted with a wobbly smile. “But it won’t stop me from going up again.”
The admiration in his eyes as he brushed some hair from her cheek made her want to do a dance. The soreness in her body warned her it might be a few days before she was doing any type of cardio movement.
“You impress me, Dakota,” he told her.
“Good. I like to be impressive,” she said.
They were interrupted by the emergency vehicles pulling up and medics rushing to them. Damn, this is beginning to become a thing, Dakota realized. Maybe the two of them could finish out a single week without emergency personnel coming to their rescue.
It took a while for Ace to explain what had happened and for the paramedics to check them both out. She lost count of how many people told her how lucky she was to walk away from this with only some bruises and muscle aches.
In all honesty, she’d been scared to death. But Dakota wouldn’t allow fear to rule her life. No way. She would get back into a plane. Not the one they’d just destroyed, but she would fly again, even if she was terrified the next few times. She’d give herself a week off, though. That wasn’t wussing out; it was being smart.
“Ready to go?” Ace asked.
That’s when another two vehicles pulled up and his brothers and their wives jumped out, the women with tears on their faces and his brothers with worry in their eyes.
“Oh my gosh, Dakota,” Chloe cried as she rushed over to them. She grabbed Dakota an
d squeezed her so hard, Dakota whimpered a bit.
Chloe immediately pulled back and looked at her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was just so scared,” she said before apologizing a dozen more times.
“We’re both fine. I promise. Just a little sore,” Dakota assured her best friend.
“You were in a plane crash,” she accused before glaring at Ace. “What in the hell is wrong with you boys that you keep on crashing?” she thundered.
Ace held up his hands as his eyes widened. “Trust me, it wasn’t on my to-do list today,” he assured her.
“I know. I’m sorry,” Chloe said, moving over to him and throwing her arms around him. Whether he wanted a hug or not, he was getting one. Ace’s eyes met Dakota’s over Chloe’s head, and Dakota smiled at him. When Nick had married Chloe, she’d taken on his siblings as her brothers. Ace would just have to deal with that and all the love that came along with it.
“We’re okay,” Ace said again, awkwardly patting Chloe’s back.
“I know. I just had to touch you both to make sure,” Chloe said.
Stormy and Lindsey both took turns hugging Dakota and Ace before the women stepped aside and let the brothers talk about the wreck. All four of them walked over to the plane.
“Do you know how it happened?” Stormy asked.
“No. One minute everything was fine, and then the next, the engine stalled and down we were going,” Dakota told them.
“I can’t even imagine,” Lindsey said, her eyes widening as she took in the twisted metal of the plane.
“Ace did an amazing job keeping us safe,” Dakota told them.
“That doesn’t exactly look safe to me,” Lindsey pointed out.
Letting out a sigh, Dakota ran through what she could say that would help ease everyone’s fear, but she was at a loss. “He got us out alive,” she finally said.
