Page 19 of Come Fly with Me

She exhales, long and low. I watch as she takes a bite of toast, chewing slowly before she looks across at me and says, “He cheated.”

“Was he a pilot? That guy from the airport?”

“Yeah, he was,” she replies. “But it wasn’t Dean,” she adds. “Not him.”

“Well, I’m sorry that happened.”

Taylor shrugs. “It is what it is,” she says.

“Maybe, but it still hurts.”

She looks over at me now, her eyes searching my face. “You’ve been cheated on?”

“I have,” I tell her.

She nods, surprising me when she doesn’t ask for details. “I kinda went crazy after we split,” she admits instead, staring down at her plate as she pushes her food around. “A lot of one-night stands and random hook ups.”

I nod, even though she isn’t looking at me, remembering the comment that flight attendant made last night when she saw Taylor and me together.

“Didn’t really make me feel any better though,” she adds.

I reach for her hand again, threading my fingers through hers as my thumb brushes her knuckles. “Sometimes it’s good to let off a bit of steam,” I tell her. “It doesn’t always have to mean something.”

She shrugs, staring at our joined hands. “Maybe not,” she admits. “But it did make me realize that it wasn’t what I wanted. It’s different for women, always has been.”

I swallow hard as I take in the full meaning of her words. I’d heard the rumors about Taylor long before I joined Crescent Airways. Despite her position as a captain, she was known for being fun and carefree, the kind of woman who was totally open to putting the lay in layover.

And while I absolutely didn’t have a problem with living like that, it wasn’t what had attracted me to her the first day I’d met her. Instead, it had been her intelligence and her beauty, her strength and the way she wasn’t afraid to hand me my arse when I’d shown up late and been a total smart arse to her.

It was hot watching a woman with that much authority throw her weight around. It got me hard just thinking about it.

I tug on her hand so she looks up at me. “Yeah, I get that,” I tell her, not missing the surprised look she gives me.

After breakfast, we jump back in the car and head further up north to Avalon. I’d done a bit of searching last night after I got back from the gym and called in a few favors to try and make this work. I wasn’t even sure she was going to go for it, I only have two hours with her now that breakfast is over, so I’m banking on making it a good two hours in order to entice her to stay for longer.

“What now?” Taylor asks, glancing at her watch as though to remind me of the time limit.

I grin. “I know, only two hours, right?”

She smiles back at me. “It’s gonna take us two hours just to get back!”

I laugh. “Travel time isn’t included,” I point out.

“What? Is this some kind of new rule you just made up?”

I reach for her hand again, pulling it over so it’s resting on the gearstick with mine. “Maybe,” I admit. “But maybe you’ll just have such a good time with me you won’t worry about the rules.”

“Maybe.”

When I pull into the car park, I turn to Taylor. “You pack your swimsuit in that bag?”

She smiles, pulling the strap of her tank top off her shoulder. “Wearing it,” she replies, and I grin, getting out of the car and grabbing my backpack from the back. Taylor does the same before she asks, “What would you have done if I hadn’t?”

I laugh. “Skinny-dipped,” I tell her with a wink. “Now I’m just bummed you already have it on.”

Taylor shakes her head at me before walking around and meeting me at the front of the car. I grin at her as I sling an arm around her shoulders and lead her down the path to the beach.

When we reach a good spot, I watch as she looks around, her eyes taking in the pristine white sand, the blue waves and the point that stretches out into the ocean on our right.

---