Page 65 of The First Time

Her small white tank top pushes her breasts up and makes me want to take her right here in front of anyone who wants to watch.

“My buddy Carter is letting us borrow his plane. I’m flying us to Charleston, where we have a beautiful mansion on the water waiting for us.”

“Be serious, who’s flying us there?”

I chuckle. “I am serious. I’ve been flying planes for two years now. I took lessons, clocked my hours, and Carter has been teaching me. This is the first time he is letting me borrow his plane. This thing ain’t cheap. But he trusts me and has been flying with me for a year, so he offered the other day when I was telling him that I wanted to do something special for you.”

She still doesn’t look very convinced.

“Josh, you’ve never talked about flying planes before.”

“Well, Freckles, I’m not sure you and I sat down and had much small talk in the last couple of years.”

She can’t deny it, we’ve been dancing around these feelings for years, avoiding getting to know each other.

“How come Asher’s never mentioned it?” she asks, still not completely convinced.

I shrug my shoulders. “I’m assuming Asher hasn’t felt the need to bring it up to you. It’s not like I’ve flown with him before. I generally have only flown with my instructors and Carter. It’s not like I have a plane of my own to jet out with my friends all the time.”

I pat my lap. “Come here. Sit down.” I grab her hand and slowly pull her down to sit on my knee. “I’ll explain all of this to you. I want you to feel comfortable.”

I spent the next couple of minutes going over all the controls I will be using for the flight, showing her the communication I will have with air traffic control throughout the entire flight. She listened intently the entire time, her body slowly relaxing into mine.

“Most importantly,” I tell her, “is that I would never allow anything to happen to you. If there is anyone in this world I would die before I let anything happen to, it would be you. Trust me when I tell you, I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t know it was safe for you.”

“Okay,” she turns around and looks at me. “I trust you.”

I smile and squeeze her side. “Good. Now, you can go in the back and enjoy the trip. You can take a nap on the couch or watch a movie, or you can sit up here with me.”

She bites her bottom lip as she looks behind me at the luxury jet and all its features. I really won’t be offended if she chooses to sit in the back. I just want her to feel comfortable. But she smiles and leans down to kiss my lips.

“I think I’d like to be your co-pilot, Captain Crawford.”

I suppress a groan. “Fuck, that sounds hot coming from you. We’ll be exploring this name in the bedroom tonight.”

She laughs as she hops off my lap and takes a seat next to me in the co-pilot chair. I give her her own set of headphones so she can listen to anything that comes through onthe radio.

“This is so cool,” she claps. “I can’t believe I never knew this about you. You are full of surprises.”

“Just something I’ve always wanted to do. Not that impressive.”

She turns her head to the side in confusion. “You really don’t understand how amazing you are. Stop downplaying how incredible this is. But just so you know,” her face turns serious, “you would be equally amazing to me without any of this.” She motions to the plane and everything around her.

My heart skips a beat. I think that’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear from her. That I’m good enough just as I am, without any fancy accomplishments or skills. I smile at her, knowing words can’t convey what that means to me.

I turn back to the controls in front of me and start the engine. It comes roaring to life, like the love I have had in my heart for this woman since our trip.

Once all systems are a go, I reverse the plane and start to taxi towards the runway. I make sure Layla is buckled up as I turn the plane, coming to a complete stop.

“This is it. You trust me, baby?” I ask, just wanting to hear the words.

She smiles. “I trust you.”

“Here we go,” I tell her as I get clearance for takeoff.

I push the throttle forward, and the plane begins to accelerate. As we gain speed, I steer the plane down the runway. Once we hit our rotation speed, I pull the controls back, and the plane lifts off the ground.

“Holy. Shit!” Layla screams next to me. “You’re fucking flying a plane!”

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