He gives her a warm smile. “Of course. Who do you think is gonna fly it?” Then he turns and walks off before climbing the stairs to board the aircraft.
She turns to face me wearing a sly smile on her face. “What?” I ask.
She arches a brow. “So you have your own jet, but you can’t fly it?” I open my mouth, but she continues. “There is something you can’t do.” Then she spins around and starts to climb the stairs.
I chuckle and call out, “I have my pilot’s license.”
I make my way onto the plane and close the door behind myself, looking around the plane I bought three years ago. I had a very important meeting in California, and my father was away on his private jet in Colorado. I ended up missing my meeting in California due to the delay of my connecting flight, and it cost me millions of dollars. Solution—buy my own damn plane so that it won’t happen again. And so far, it’s worked.
“Want a glass of wine?” I hear my sister ask Ashlyn as they find a seat in the back.
“Yes, please,” she says, nodding her head quickly.
I stand in the middle of the aisle and watch her big blue eyes take in the white carpet and white leather seats to the right. On the left is a couch that fits four people. She sits down and reaches out, placing her hands flat on the black table top and slowly running her fingers against it.
I rub my finger over my lips to cover my smile. She looks like a kid experiencing Disney World for the first time—awestruck! I walk toward her and sit down in the seat directly in front of her, facing her.
She removes her hands quickly as if I caught her doing something wrong. “Sorry,” she says, licking her thumb and then rubbing a smudge off.
Holding back a laugh, I smile at her and how unsure she seems. “No worries.”
She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and asks, “What kind of plane is this?”
“It’s a Gulfstream G550,” I answer.
She types a few things into her phone and then her eyes widen. “Holy shit!” She gasps.
I know what she’s doing, and I chuckle.
Her eyes meet mine, and they’re huge. “Oh my God, this thing is outrageously priced. I mean, it’s awesome, but damn!”
“I stole it,” I assure her. She looks up at me through her lashes.
“I doubt that …”
“I only paid twenty,” I tell her.
She lets out a long breath. “Twenty thousand is a steal,” she agrees with a nod.
“Million,” I correct her, and her mouth falls open again.
**
The plane touches down, and after a few minutes, it comes to a stop. Milton comes out from behind the door and opens the stairs. “We’re here, ladies and gentlemen,” he says, gesturing us to exit.
Becca goes first followed by Jaycent and then Ashlyn. I come to the last step as she makes a circle looking around. “Wait …?” She trails off. “This doesn’t look like Florida.”
“Florida?” I ask, arching my brows. “What made you think we were going to Florida?”
“Well, where else would we be going …” Her voice trails off as a black limo pulls up onto the tarmac. It comes to a stop and the back door bursts open. A blur of dark hair and a woman squealing follows.
ASHLYN
“Mom?” I ask in shock.
She reaches me and wraps her arms around me, almost picking me up off the ground. “Oh, my God,” she squeals in my ear.
I gently pat her back. “What are you doing here?” I ask slowly.