Page 47 of Flyboy

And Venom. He whistled.Venom. That guy was infamous. Colton had a secret respect for the dude; it took a lot of nerve to do what he did. Dumb nerve, but nerve.

He tried not to look at Ivy with new eyes, but he couldn’t help it. She had fire burning through her. He knew that from her kisses. His own blood sizzled just thinking about her. But it was a different kind of fire. A different spark.

They went through inspections. Tested their instruments. And then climbed up into the plane.

“We have to shoot them down.” Colton adjusted their instruments.

“I thought you said they need some help.”

“This is what they need the most.”

“Okay.” Her voice sounded weak, tentative.

He counted to three, knowing what she was thinking. Then she said, “But I think it might be better if they feel successful.”

“Not these guys. They think they already know everything, and they have a chip on their shoulders about the women in the group.” He rotated his shoulders. “One of them was making some comments. Made our women pilots uncomfortable.”

“They reported him?” Ivy was silent long enough Colton guessed she was fuming. “Let’s shoot them down as fast as anyone’s ever been shot down. What’s the record?”

He chuckled. “That’s the spirit. But now, humor me a little bit. We’ve got to toy with them first.”

Her frustrated sigh while he finished running the inside pre-flight inspection made him smile. In truth, he wanted these two pilots to succeed. They were by far the best pilots of their group, but they had a few lessons to learn before they would be well and truly safe. Before their county could trust them to fly their most expensive assets.

And he wanted them to learn these lessons today before they went any further.

They burst into the sky. As soon as he saw blue all around him, his life shifted, and more started to make sense. Ivy. He liked her there with him. He should just tell her that. His eyes lifted to their monitors. She was watching him.

He pulled off his mask and smiled. “I like you here.”

“Here, here?”

“Yeah, flying with me. Anything with me, actually.”

“I like me here too.”

He nodded.

His instrument dial beeped. Someone had their guns aimed and locked on target.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” He dove. “Ivy, things are going to get a little reckless.”

“Oh, stop. That’s not reckless. That’s child’s play.”

“Right on. Do I have your permission to show these two what real flying looks like?”

“Yes, you do. Now, go get them.”

“Whoohoo!” He dove the other direction, spun in the air, pushed on the air brakes, dropped behind the other plane, put them in his sights, and shot a pretend missile.

He let what had just happened to them sink in, and then he turned on the radio. “Thank you, Firebrand and Burger. Send up the next two.”

As soon as his radio was off, Ivy called out, “How fast was that?”

“I don’t even know. That was way too close, though. We can’t let them catch us off-guard again.” He eyed her in the monitor. “Can’t blame a guy. When a hot girl just admitted she wants to spend time with me, I got a little distracted.”

They flew the rest of the day, taking down one pilot after another as fast as they possibly could.

“Oh, boy. This is going to be one rough day for these pilots.”

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