Page 47 of Love at First Flight

“Yeah, I get your dad’s dreams. But what are yours?”

She grew slightly aggravated. Dex hadn’t been listening. “I just told you I’m going to go into commercial piloting.”

“Simply to become a captain for your dad?”

“No,” she said, even if part of it was true. But he didn’t understand. “Not just for my dad. I love flying and I don’t care what kind of aircraft it is, as long as I get to go up. I don’t care if it’s a damn weather balloon and, yes, I get that weather balloons don’t have anyone inside them, piloting. I know how it works. I’m an aviator, for God’s sake. I just need to find someone else to take me under their wing, another captain to make me better. I can’t do this alone.”

“Selah.”

“What?” Her impatience found its end as she considered kicking the man out of her gondola and never seeing him again. She didn’t need this level of grief from anyone, let alone from him.

“Honey, you’re the one who’s doing all the piloting here. You’re running the show. You’re a captain.”

“I’m tipping baskets over is what I’m doing.”

“You do that a lot?”

“Well, no, that was the only time it’s ever happened to me.”

He crowded her again, pressing kisses to her temple along her cheekbone. “I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”

“And what if everyone already knows because of my sister?”

His kisses moved from the shell of her ear to the curve of her neck. “I have a feeling you’re going to be okay, Captain. You’re still an excellent pilot.”

She clucked her tongue, even while parts of her were softening with his touches. “Okay, but I’m still not a captain.”

“Hmm. I think”—he skimmed his hands over the skin along the bottom of her shirt—“that you just haven’t allowed yourself to get used to the title yet, Captain.”

“Oh, is that how it works? Why don’t I also just get used to people calling me Professor Moreno, and then I can—”

“Permission to go down on you, Captain.”

She nearly choked on the saliva in her own mouth. “What?” Selah was certain she’d misheard the man until his fingers started undoing the button and zipper of her pants.

“Is it still the Mile High Club if we’re in a basket and it’s on the ground, Captain?”

She looked toward the barn door, checking to make sure it was shut, worried a member of her family would pop in any minute. “Okay, look, I don’t think this is a good idea—”

“There you go, Captain, being all responsible again. You have no idea how much of a turn-on that is for me.” He sank to his knees before her.

“Dex.”

“Captain.”

“Stop calling me that!”

He slid her pants and underwear down her legs as much as they would go without taking them off, since her shoes remained on. “I think the only one that can officially give orders in this basket would be the captain, so are you conceding that it’s you?”

“No. I don’t need to concede anything.” She attempted to put some toughness in her voice, but it was difficult to pull off when he was face-to-face with the lower half of her naked body, using his strong thumbs to widen her stance.

When he pressed kisses to her thighs, all she could do was raise her face to the heavens, begging for some kind of strength. “Oh God.”

Selah gasped at the first stroke of his tongue, nearly melting right there.

“Captain,” he said in a low voice before stroking her again.

“Yes,” the word released as half sigh, half moan.

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