Page 18 of Two Tickets to Paradise

She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Really?"

He grinned at her and her heart skipped in her chest.

He nodded. "That's one of the reasons I chose the Navy instead of something like the Air Force. Being a pilot was never in my cards."

They both chuckled together.

"Just one?"

"One. Another was that my dad and granddad were in the Navy, so I guess it's a family thing."

She nodded, appreciating the connection. "Cameron joined the Marines just because... You know, I don't know why he joined the Marines. We grew up in Alaska, so I don't even think we have a Marine base there."

"I don't think there's a Navy base there either."

"Really?" She stared at him in shock. "We're bordered by so much ocean, I guess I figured that we'd have a Navy base. Crazy..."

He nodded. "If there is a Navy base I haven't heard about it, but then again. I'm in the Navy and stationed in Chicago."

She laughed softly at that. "I know there's the river and the lake, but... yeah, I wouldn't think there'd be a Navy base in the area."

"Great Lakes Naval Station."

"Wow. I've been living in Chicago for a little over two years and I had no idea."

His laugh mingled with hers and she really liked the sound of it.

"And I've lived in Chicago for about three and this is the first time I was trying to fly out of it. I guess I picked the perfect time."

Her chin dropped a little in shock. "Perfect? With the storm and cancelled flights?"

"Well, I got to meet you."

Something warm spread through her chest as she looked at him and saw the earnest look in his eyes. "That's really sweet of you to say."

He shrugged. "I mean it, Cora."

She looked away for a moment, unsure of what he'd see in her eyes as she wasn't even sure how she was feeling about it.

Cora felt a soft touch against the back of her hand and she turned to see his thumb brushing a gentle arc over her skin.

"If you think a little hesitation over lift off is going to make me regret this," she looked up as he shook his head, "it won't, even if I didn't feel the same way. Even if I didn't, at least I got to hold your hand. It made me feel a little heroic."

She couldn't help but smile at that. "You were pretty handy to have around when I needed it." She felt her cheeks warm even more. "Needed you."

"Now I really feel like a hero."

They kept talking softly until it was time for the first beverage service.

Vince was kind ofsurprised at the alcoholic drinks that they had available on the plane. The last time he remembered flying anywhere, there were just the normal sodas, water, tea, and coffee. He took the offered cup of coffee and handed Cora the cup of ginger ale. Two packets of fancy trail mix came a moment later and he smiled at the way Cora's eye lit up as she opened the packet. "I love these."

He didn't even have to think about it. He put his packet of trail mix on her tray and saw her eager grin turn in his direction. "You can have mine," he assured her. "I don't eat a lot of snacks."

Cora crunched into something that looked like a tiny pretzel. "We eat a lot of snacks at work. We have lunch times that we're scheduled for, but you probably wouldn't believe how many days we actually don't get a chance to eat an actual lunch. So we have a box of these things in the break room, and we probably eat our weight in these things every few days." She picked out a little thing that looked like a kind of a cracker. "I think it's safe to say we're all addicted so you just made me really happy."

Chuckling to himself, he had a thought that if she did eat her weight in the trail mix every few days it certainly didn't show, but he knew from listening to his mom and grandmother that weight was never something you should comment on with a woman. Well, besides hearing it from the favorite women in his life, it just made good sense.

Cora looked great to him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

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