When Amanda told her she was being assigned to Flyboy’s team, Ivy almost lost her cool . . . almost.
“Mustang.”
“I know. Don’t even say it. Well, okay, you can say it. I’ll listen.”
“I plan to tell Flyboy too. This feels like a cruel joke. I submit a formal complaint, and you guys put me on his team? All the frustrations of working with him aside, he knows I complained about him. He’s bound to dislike the experience as much as I will.”
“On the contrary. He asked for you. He was adamant about it.”
Something inside did a little flip. “Why would he do that?” She shook her head. “Is this some joke to him?” Did he really want her on his team? That was crazy.
“He said you’re the best pilot for the job. Maybe it was just a professional decision.” Amanda was the best part of Top Flight in Ivy’s opinion. She’d connected with her immediately, and the two often sat together when the testosterone in any room was thick.
“I can do this,” Ivy told herself more than Amanda.
“Of course you can. Colton’s a sweetheart. His heart is in the right place. Just remember there are lots of ways to reach the same goal.”
Ivy sighed, said goodbye, and logged off the call. “The same goal. Do we have the same goal?” Her words hung in the air in her apartment. She reached for her bags and headed to the airport. Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It would be cold. She hadn’t flown cold in a long time. And she didn’t savor the experience.
But it would be an easy job—two planes, fifteen pilots. She’d be on the ground more often than not. With any luck, they would finish early.
And, Colton or not, she loved working for Top Flight. Once she’d been honorably discharged, she had looked for her purpose, looked for a place to fit in, but nothing else in life had been so comfortably regimented, so perfectly orderly as the military. So when she heard of opportunities at Top Flight, she jumped at the chance.
But nothing in life was ever exactly as you’d expect.
Still, she loved her job. Top Flight was easily the best thing to happen to her since the military. If the others wouldn’t listen to her complaints and would then ask her to work with Colton as her team lead, then she would do it.
Colton. She shook her head and smiled in spite of herself. If he weren’t so dang charming in an irresponsible, irritating, and unacceptable sort of way, this would be easier. He’d gotten away with this reckless behavior all these years because he could smile like no one else she’d ever seen, as if the whole sun beamed out through his eyes. Well. She would work with him. But she wasn’t going to let that smile turn her into a sappy, soft, Colton follower.
He was dangerous. Plain and simple. In more ways than one. She shook her head and reminded herself that she knew what happened when pilots were dangerous. And no matter how it made her appear, no matter how much they all talked about her clipboard-carrying exactness to obedience, she knew the alternative, and she wasn’t going there. And Colton couldn’t either, not if a simple warning could do the trick.
The taxi dropped her off for curbside baggage, but she walked past with her no-nonsense carry-on and made her way through security. Not everyone could have their own jet. Not like Ace. Must be nice. She was pretty sure every member of the board of Top Flight was swiftly making their own millions. Her own salary was not too shabby. She lifted her chin. She could do this. She could work with an irresponsible man as her superior. She’d done it before.
When she landed in Brazil, the stark beauty of the mountains, the crisp air, and the lovely people did a lot to lighten her expectations and give her hope. This job certainly brought her to places she would never be otherwise. Rio Grande do Sul made up the very most southern tip of Brazil. Probably like most people, she’d always thought of Rio and hot beaches when she thought of Brazil.
The architecture as she drove through Puerto Allegre kept her eyes glued to the window. The driver was kind enough to point out churches and other sights in his remarkably clear English. “We have penguins and snow here in the south.”
“Remarkable.”
“Most people from other countries—they don’t know that.”
“I didn’t either.” She shivered even though she wasn’t cold as yet. The weather was mild. The sun was bright. The vegetation all around with full leaves seemed to indicate summer. Their road curved as they left the city and was lined with trees and her favorite flower bushes seemingly growing wild on the side of the road. “Hydrangeas.”
“Oh, yes. They love our country. The big blooms are everywhere. Even my mother sometimes, she would cut them back.”
“They’re stunning.” Light blues and pinks with the occasional deeper colors stretched on both sides of the road for as far as she could see. The flowers were as large as her head. She clicked a few photos with her phone. How often would she see something like this again?
“How long will you stay in our country, miss?”
“Six months, I think.”
“Oh, that is wonderful. Then you will see the festivals. The German towns have their festivals, and the tourists love them.” His smile grew. “You like our country. You stay so long.”
“Yes, I’m here for work.”
“Very good. We work down here in the south. We work hard. Not like the others in the north. Every day there’s a party in the Bahia, did you know?” He shook his head like something so innocuous as daily parties was offensive to his understanding of the world.
Ivy smiled. “Sounds like a great place to visit.”