Sky High (Alaskan Frontier Romance Book 2)

by Jennifer McArdle

  “It’s gorgeous,” she whispered to herself, unaware she was speaking the words aloud.

  Mason smiled. “First sunset above the clouds?”

  “First one like this,” she said, unable to take her eyes off the rapidly changing colors.

  She was so enjoying the view, Mason was reluctant to interrupt. But daylight was disappearing. She wasn’t ready to fly at night yet, not in dark conditions where she couldn’t see the horizon.

  “You ready to take the controls?” he asked.

  Lily didn’t hesitate. She’d been waiting since takeoff.

  A minute later, Lily held the controls in her own hands. And once again, she was overcome by the rush of adrenaline.

  “When do I get to do something other than hold it steady?”

  “Patience,” he said. “There’s a lot you need to learn first. Speaking of which,” he leaned around in his seat and grabbed a paper bag, “I have a few books you can take home with you. I want you to read them before our next lesson.”

  “Books?” Lily rolled her eyes at him.

  Mason chuckled. “Yeah, books. Study them.”

  Lily groaned.

  “I see you haven’t changed in that respect. You want to have the fun, but not the work that goes with it. If you want to learn to fly, you’re going to have to do the work. That means learning the science and the math.”

  “Can’t you just show me how to do it?”

  “No,” he said. “And I’m not taking you back up in the air until you read them.” When she didn’t say anything, he added, “I’m serious.”

  “Of course you are,” she said. “I don’t know why I’d expect anything else.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know what it means.” Lily glanced at him, smiling. “You’re Mr. Serious. You always have been. Do you ever let loose and have some fun?”

  Mason thought about that. Sure, he followed the rules, did what was expected of him.

  “I am capable of being spontaneous, if that’s what you’re saying.”

  Lily looked at him, raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

  “Time’s up,” he said.

  “But I’ve only been at the controls for 10 minutes.”

  “My controls,” Mason commanded. He reached over and swung the yoke back into position in front of him.

  The skies were turning dark. The clouds below them were now a dark purple color and the sky above a deep navy blue fading into blackness.

  Mason took the plane back down below the clouds.

  “You want to see me have some fun?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Lily urged him on.

  “Alright. Hang on.”

  Mason turned the yoke, banking hard to the left, then he plunged the plane into a downward fall. Just before the plane reached the rolling swells of the ocean, he pulled up. The plane climbed up and up.

  Lily was holding on to her seat, but she was smiling and laughing. It was like being on a roller coaster, but so much better because they weren’t confined to the tracks. Mason dipped them and rolled them until Lily almost begged for him to stop. That was what he wanted, for her to beg.

  When the plane eventually leveled out, Lily was giggling.

  “Happy?” he asked. Mason was smiling, too. He enjoyed it as much as she did.

  “Very much so.” She couldn’t stop grinning. “Can we do it again?”

  “You’re never satisfied, are you?”

  Lily thought about it for a second. “No,” she said, giggling some more.

  She looked so beautiful sitting there, laughing. Her hair was a mess from all the twists and turns, but her face was lit up with excitement.

  Spontaneously, Mason reached out and tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. It was a simple gesture, one he had done so many times before, long ago.

  “That’s better,” he said. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, but he had to remind himself that he was still flying the plane.

  At his touch, a new feeling of exhilaration rushed through her body. She realized she wanted more than a fleeting glance from him, more than the touch of his hand. She wanted him, all of him.

  Her eyes met his, and for a second she felt like a 16 year old girl again. The intensity of it was overwhelming.

  The feeling growing inside her reminded Lily she had to be careful not to fall for him again. It had felt like this the first time around, too… exciting. But the excitement didn’t last before and it wouldn’t last this time, either. It had taken years for Lily to get over Mason, years before the memory of Mason dumping her finally began to fade.

  Not for the first time since Mason’s return, a scene from ten years earlier flashed through Lily’s mind.

  Mason called her house and Lily answered the phone, as she usually did in those days. Whenever the phone rang, she expected it to be him, and so she raced to answer before anyone else.

  That time, they only talked for a minute. Mason asked her to meet him in their secret place. He said he had something important to ask. Lily remembered that he’d sounded excited over the phone. Happy.

  After she hung up the phone, she found an excuse to slip away. She told her dad she was returning a book to Aspen and he believed her. She acted casual about it, but as soon as she was out the door, Lily hurried to their cove. Then she waited. And waited.

  He was late. More than an hour later than he said he would be. It was unusual for Mason to ever be late.

  And then he finally showed up. That’s when Lily’s world fell to pieces.

  He slowly stepped out of the forest, onto the shale that lined the edge of the cove. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets. His head was hung down low. Lily went to him immediately, sensing that something was wrong. She wrapped her arms around him, but he grabbed her hands and pushed them away.

  “It’s over,” he mumbled.

  The words came out of his mouth, but their meaning didn’t register in her mind.

  “What’s over?”

  “Us. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

  Her heart stopped for a second. At least that’s how it felt. The ground dropped out from beneath her, and Lily sank to her knees. Even though she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, she managed to murmur one word.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t need a reason.”

  He turned to walk away, but Lily grabbed his hand. She held on as if her life depended on it. She wouldn’t let go.

  “This isn’t right,” she said, panic creeping into her voice. “You’re not acting yourself.”

  “I’m not acting myself? What does that even mean?”

  She could see the anger rising up in him, hear it in his voice as his words became harsher.

  “You think you know me so well, but you don’t know anything. Maybe this is me, finally being myself instead of trying to be whatever it is you want me to be.” As if he hadn’t already been cruel enough, he kept going. “You’re just a dumb kid. When are you going to get it through your thick skull that none of this is real? It never was.”

  He wanted to hurt her, and he did. His words completely shattered her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. She was crying now, prepared to beg him not to leave.

  “What I should have done a long time ago,” he said. “It’s over. We’re over. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

  He left her there, alone in the darkness. He gave no reason, no real explanation, why he was breaking up with her.

  Mason glanced over at her. She looked lost in thought.

  “Are you all right?”

  Lily snapped out of it, pushed the memory out of her mind, and smiled at him.

  “Fine,” she said.

  It was ten years ago, she told herself. They were just kids. Now she had better control of her emotions. She didn’t have to be afraid that Mason would reject her again. She wasn’t going to let herself get that deeply involved with him ever again. No, this time around was just for fun. And
she was going to enjoy it.

  To prove it, she reached down and unbuckled the seat belt. Then she leaned toward him. His eyes were on the instrument panel, his attention focused on flying. Lightly, Lily reached for him and turned his face toward hers. And kissed him.

  When their lips touched, Mason momentarily forgot what he was doing. The plane lurched downward, but he didn’t notice. All he noticed was the feel of her lips against his, her mouth opening to him. He wasn’t the only one who felt the attraction, Mason realized. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. One hand went to her hair, running his fingers through those golden locks, pulling her closer to him.

  It was the sensation of falling that brought him back to the present. Mason pulled away and immediately pulled up on the yoke. When the plane levelled off, he cleared his throat.

  “What happened to ‘one kiss for old times’ sake’? That’s what you said, isn’t it?” Mason remembered clearly enough. Only two days before, when he kissed Lily, she’d told him it wasn’t going to happen again.

  Lily shrugged, not at all apologetic for distracting him from flying, for risking their lives with a kiss.

  “A woman can change her mind,” she whispered huskily into his ear. “Don’t you like kissing me?”

  Mason quickly glanced at her and then back to the controls. Was she testing him? The look in her eyes said she wasn’t. But Mason couldn’t be sure.

  When Lily kissed his earlobe a second later, Mason knew he had to do something. He turned the plane eastward, back toward the inlet. Her fingers were entwined in his hair, her other hand rested on his leg. It took everything Mason had in him to stay focused on flying. If he didn’t land the plane soon, Lily was going to bring them down. And he’d rather not crash, even if she was in his arms when it happened.

  Somehow, they reached the inlet and landed safely in Heron Bay.

  As the plane drifted on the current, Mason didn’t bother turning the rudder toward shore. His mind was somewhere else entirely. The only thing he noticed was the softness of her lips, the smoothness of her neck, and the slight saltiness of her skin as his mouth grazed her collarbone.

  Lily let herself get caught up in it, too. After all, she was the one who brought it on. She’d been watching him fly the plane, wanting to touch him. And when she did, she forgot all about her fears of rejection. The memory of Mason dumping her was just that, a memory. Their relationship now was altogether different. They were grown and they were free to do whatever they pleased. And right now, the only thing Lily wanted was to feel Mason’s lips against her own.

  And then his lips were gone. Lily opened her eyes and found him looking at her, his face only inches from hers, his lips poised to kiss her again.

  “What?” she asked, nearly breathless. “Why’d you stop?”

  Mason didn’t have an answer. He only knew that he wanted, needed, to see her face, to see that she was real. He needed to know this was actually happening.

  “I don’t…” He looked up, then. The plane had drifted to the marina and was heading for a fishing boat. Mason quickly reached for the rudder to turn the plane. When they narrowly missed the boat, he chuckled nervously, ran a hand through his hair, and let out a sigh of relief.

  “That was close,” he said. “We should probably get to shore.”

  “You may be right,” she agreed. Then she kissed him one more time.

  By the time Mason maneuvered the boat alongside the dock a few minutes later, Lily was facing forward in her seat again. A regular passenger waiting for her pilot to power everything down. If Mason didn’t know better, he’d think he imagined the whole thing. The way Lily sat there, prim and proper, no one would ever guess she’d been all over him only moments ago. The only thing that betrayed her was the faint smile and the mischievous look in her eyes.

  “Wait,” Mason said when Lily reached for the door handle. “I’ll get it for you.”

  A giggle bubbled up out of her throat. “I’m perfectly capable of getting out of the plane on my own.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Really,” she insisted. “You don’t have to try and be a gentleman.” As she spoke, she grabbed the door handle and pulled. It broke off in her hand.

  Mason chuckled.

  “Told you so,” he said, jumping down out of the cockpit.

  Feeling silly, Lily waited in the cabin of the plane until Mason came around and opened the door for her from the outside.

  “You could have told me it was broken,” she said as she handed him the broken door handle.

  “I tried.”

  Rather than offering his hand to help her out of the plane, Mason grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out, pressing her body against his. Whatever she’d started up in the air, he intended to finish now that they were back on solid ground.

  Suddenly nervous, pinned between Mason and the plane, Lily glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching. Word traveled fast in a small town, and she wasn’t quite ready for everyone to know she and Mason were involved. The boardwalk was empty, but the sound of an outboard motor approaching told her they wouldn’t be alone for long.

  “I have to go,” she said, extricating herself from his embrace.

  He reluctantly released her.

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked huskily.

  “Rehearsals.”

  “Need help on the set?”

  “We always need help.”

  “Good,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

  She kissed him lightly one more time and turned toward home. Walking up the plank toward the boardwalk, she looked back once to see if he was watching her. He was.

  Chapter 11

  It was just like the old times. Mason worked on building the set for the play while Lily read through the lines. The only difference was this time they were adults. He didn’t need an excuse like helping out on the fall production to spend time with Lily. But he was doing it anyway. He enjoyed being near her, being part of something she loved doing.

  For the past hour, he’d been positioning lights and checking the controls. But he was only half focused on his work. He couldn’t help it. Every time Lily spoke, her sweet voice drew his attention back to her. She was a vision, even if she was only wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and an old Counting Crows concert t-shirt. Her golden hair was down, just the way he liked it, and he could tell by the way it curled at the ends that she’d let it air dry. She wasn’t wearing make-up, either. But she still looked beautiful. Natural. The way a woman was meant to look.

  For the life of him, Mason couldn’t tell anyone what the play was about. Even though he was helping build the set and he’d been sitting in on the rehearsal for a while, he hadn’t heard a single word the actors said. He never glanced at the script. But he did know one thing by heart. Lily. The curve of her lips at the edges when the actors were getting things right. The patient nod and the subconscious movement of her lips as she followed along with the script, as if she were willing the words into the mouths of the actors. The occasionally furrowed brow when they hit yet another snag. But even when they ran into problems, Mason could tell she didn’t let it get to her. She trusted that everything would turn out all right in the end, that it would all come together seamlessly. She was an optimist, always had been and always would be.

  Mason stopped working to watch her. Lily stood at the edge of the stage, following along with the script and simultaneously watching the actors to ensure they were in the correct positions.

  “Jackson, you should be over by the desk. As you’re talking to Carrie, don’t forget you’re supposed to be pacing the room. Stop at the desk long enough to pour a drink and then resume the pacing. Got it?”

  The teenage boy nodded his head and moved into position. He picked up where Lily had stopped him, this time making sure to remember not only his lines, but also the actions to go with them.

  “All right,” Lily said a half-hour later. “Let’s take a ten minute break.”
>
  The acting was choppy, at best. Not a single one of them had mastered the nuances of their characters yet. But at least they were learning their lines.

  “Carrie, after the break we’re going to start with the third act, so be ready with your lines,” she added before they left the stage.

  Everyone quickly dispersed. A few of the older volunteers went outside to sneak a quick smoke. The others went for the snack table set up on the opposite side of the room.

  Lily was the only one who kept working through the break. Mason assumed, by the knit of her brows and the way she concentrated on the clipboard, that she was going through a checklist of everything that still needed to be done before their performance.

  Satisfied with the lighting, at least for the time being, Mason climbed down from the ladder and busied himself with the control switches, checking to make sure each of them worked properly.

  When he saw Lily set the clipboard down and walk toward the ladies room, Mason grinned devilishly. He’d been waiting for this moment, a chance to steal her away, to get her alone for a few minutes.

  Discreetly, Mason moved toward a rack of costumes hanging along the wall. When Lily walked past, he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her in. They were completely hidden from view.

  “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to get you alone?” he asked, not waiting for Lily to answer.

  He gently pushed her against the wall and closed his mouth over hers before she had a chance to protest. His hungry lips claimed hers. He needed to taste her, to feel her skin against his. When he finally came up for air, Lily looked dazed. She quickly snapped out of it.

  “Mason, this is hardly the time or the place…”

  “Oh, shut up and kiss me,” he interrupted, pinning her tighter against the wall and kissing her even harder than before.

  It took a great deal of willpower for Lily to place her hands on his chest and push him away, just a few inches.

  “What if someone sees us?” she protested. “This isn’t exactly the kind of example I’m supposed to be setting for these kids.” Even as she asked the question, she already knew the answer. The colorful costumes, a variety of ornate dresses and sailor’s uniforms, completely concealed them. No one would see him trailing kisses down her chin, across her neck, toward her collarbone. And the kids certainly wouldn’t care if the break lasted longer than ten minutes.