Page 46 of Love at First Flight

“Ah,” he replied. “I get it. But, also, I have to tell you that a responsible, safety-first woman is a real turn-on for me so...” Dex pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the back of her neck, his arm pulling tighter on her waist.

This she could allow, this she could get into. She gripped one of the fabric-covered steel support struts extending from the top of the gondola, and he closed one of his large hands over hers. His other hand, the one on her waist, drifted to a breast, fondling it until she whimpered against him.

“I don’t know how you can calm me and get me worked up at the same time,” he said.

“Maybe it’s a pilot thing,” she suggested between moans.

“I think it might just be a ‘you’ thing.Youdo this to me.”

As much as her brain didn’t want to fall into a trap and believe him, she had to admit he was making a good argument. She tried to enjoy this, even while knowing it wasn’t going to go nearly as far as she would like.

“Tell me about your tattoo,” he said, stroking one of his long fingers on the inside of her wrist.

She stiffened, like she was being tossed from a hot bath into a frozen lake.

His grip on her softened as he dropped his head against hers. “It’s something important.”

Selah fought the urge to push him off and tell him good night. Instead, she said, “No, not really. It’s just a little silly.”

“But you don’t want to tell me.”

Selah took the gondola footholds, climbing inside before turning to face him. If she was going to talk to him, she’d rather do it with some distance and a wicker wall between them. She took the farthest side she could, thankful he didn’t move to join her. Dex leaned against the top of the basket and waited patiently. She kind of hated him at that moment—for being that way. He made her want to confide when she preferred not taking anything out of her carefully protected shell.

Crossing her arms and steeling herself, she leaned against her side of the gondola. “You ever watchStar Trek?”

“I know I come off as a nerd, but I’m not into every fandom out there.”

Huffing a laugh eased some of the tension from her body. “My dad loved that stuff. We’d watched the original series, movies, all the new series, but his favorite was TNG. I think I’ve seen every episode at least five times. It was kind of my dad’s and my thing, like flying.”

“AndGalaxy Quest?” he guessed.

She bit her lip, nodding and taking a moment to blink away any tears.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” He didn’t wait for a response before climbing into the gondola.

She sniffled. “I’m not a captain, just a pilot. Plus, I think that’s more of an ocean ship thing than aviation.”

“Except I heard that hot-air balloons are the ships of the sky.”

Sucking in a breath at his unexpected words, it sent a prick right into the center of her chest. “Where did you hear that from? That’s my dad’s thing to say.” It came out accusatory, as if Dex had somehow stolen something from Robert. He had no ownership to say things like that.

He didn’t flinch at her tone, but his next words were low and calm. “Your mom told me.”

“Oh.” She felt herself detaching, becoming muted.

Dex took her arm, placing it against his chest, gently stroking over the same tattoo in question with his other hand. Was this how he was when he’d first found Harper as a poor injured crow? His touch felt as if it was capable enough to hold the most fragile of things, like hollow bones. There was nothing more fragile than her at this moment. One rebel tear managed to break free from the others as she watched his finger smooth over her skin where the tattoo was.

“He wanted to be a commercial pilot so badly, but, you know, life kept throwing him a lot of curveballs. When he started this business, he was so excited and I used to...” Selah swallowed a painful lump, her voice cracking into pieces. “I... used to call him Captain Picard.. which everyone knows is the best captain in all theStar Treks. My dad wasmycaptain. When I didn’t have school or wasn’t working, I was right here helping him, because I was going to be a pilot too. He’d call me Number One because I’d like to pretend I was his first officer, like Commander Riker.”

She roughly dashed a tear away from her cheek. “When I registered for flight school, I got this tattoo. It’s the flag rank of Riker, the little, um, insignias, or whatever they call it on their collar. Riker has three of them. I wanted to show my dad that no matter how high I fly, I’d always be his Number One.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry,” he said, drawing her to him, her tears soaking into the fibers of his shirt as he ran his hand soothingly from her head down her spine. “I think your dad would be very happy you’re the captain of his balloon.”

She took a steadying breath. “I’m not, though. I’m not a captain, at least not yet.” Selah pulled from him, raising her gaze to his. “They don’t just give it to you. You have to earn it, work your way up. So that’s what I’m going to do. That’s why I can’t stay here. I need to get my commercial piloting training, because the license I have is only for small planes and I need to go bigger. Then get on the crew as a copilot or first officer, and then, you know, after some time, maybe I’ll eventually work my way up to captain.”

“Wait, so that’s what your dad did?”

“Well, no, but that’s different because he couldn’t. I can.” It pained her to put it that way, because Robert had worked hard to get what he had. He was the captain of his operation. He deserved his nickname. Selah was happy to be under him, to learn from him, to do what was necessary to keep his dream afloat. But she didn’t have a Number One by her side. She had two sisters, a mother, and Boone, and one of those sisters clearly resented and didn’t respect her. Naomi and Boone helped, but they weren’t invested like she and her father had been. Flying didn’t take up their whole soul. Maybe she was a captain, but it was to herself alone, and that might as well be nothing.

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