Page 110 of Fly Boy
“And Colorado,” she finishes for me, her voice small. Her face pales as understanding dawns on her. “The flights I asked you to make. The flights I didn’t run past my dad because I’m a selfish bitch.”
“Pippa,” I chide, closing the distance between us, only she steps back raising her hand.
“No, Wyatt, it’s true. If I’d told him I had asked you to make those journeys, it would have been fine, but I didn’t because I didn’t want him to find out about us until we decided whatthiswas.” She gestures between us. “I wasn’t going to put your job in jeopardy, but it didn’t matter anyway, did it? It’s still the reason he fired you.” Her gaze snaps to mine. “Why didn’t you tell him it was me? Why didn’t you blame me?”
“’Cause that wouldn’t be the truth.”
“Yes, it would have,” she yells. “Iasked you!Iforced you…” She grabs her hair, tugging hard. “Fuck, I even used the wholeI’m your bosscard.”
Pippa Cartwright is a fantasy I never thought I’d get to have. Apoplectic on my behalf for some unjust reason for my seemingly unfair dismissal. Only she doesn’t realize I’d take a million firings if it meant I got to be with her.
This time, when I step forward, I don’t give her a chance to bat me off. I cup the back of her neck, my thumb pushing her chin upward. “What kind of man would I be if I threw the woman I love under the bus just to save my job? A job that I was going to quit anyway.”
Eyes widening, she gasps. “What?”
I move my hand, the same thumb I’d used on her jaw brushing over her lower lip. “I had my resignation letter all printed andready to go, but the day your dad called me into his office, I was on my way to Greenwich, and I didn’t have it on me.” I laugh half-heartedly. “It would have been nice to quit on a good note with your dad, but unemployed is unemployed either way.” I stare into her unblinking gray eyes. “But, it doesn’t matter because I love you, Pippa.”
She opens her mouth while my heart dislodges and travels to my throat as she closes it again.Maybe I’ve read this wrong. Maybe she doesn’t feel the same about me, but then she chews on her lip, trying to bite her smile, and I can only hope she feels the same.
“Wyatt,” she whispers her eyes slowly closing, only to snap back open with a look of determination on her face. “Fuck!”
She’s out of my hold and at my front door before I know it. Confused, I follow her, watching as she storms down my walkway toward the car waiting by the curb.
“I’m going to kill him,” she yells to no one in particular. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Pippa?” I call after her, leaning against the doorjamb, watching her go. Why bother chasing her? She’s Pippa fucking Cartwright. No one can tell her what to do.
She spins around, her long brown hair flying as she points at me, a fierce scowl on her face. “He is not firing my boyfriend over something that was my fault. I’m going to fix this.”
The car speeds away, leaving me on my doorstep, laughing to myself at the fact that my brat worked herself up over my firing yet didn’t fully register me telling her I loved her.
My phone rings, and I tug it out of my pants pocket, answering it without checking the caller ID.
“Are you ready for the best trip of your life?” Bowie asks as I walk back into the house and shut the door.
“I need a drink more than anything,” I say, rubbing my temple with my free hand.
“Uh-oh, what’s happened now?” His voice sounds farther away as I realize he must have put me on speaker. “Surely, your week cannot get any worse than seeing your biological mother on her deathbed and then getting fired?”
“Jesus, Bowie,” I hear Mason chastise. “You have no tact.”
“Some people might find your dry humor offensive, Bowie,” I add.
“Good thing you’re not some people,” he replies. “Now spill.”
Walking up to my bedroom, I finish adding my toiletry bag into my suitcase and close the lid. “I told Pippa I loved her.”
“Oh my god, that’s amazing,” Mason says.
“And what did she say?” Bowie asks, sounding curious.
“Fuck.”
The two men groan down the line. “Shit. You okay? What happened?”
I laugh, the sound a little hysterical. “No,fuckwas what she said.”
After the way our conversation went, how else did I expect her to reply? Pippa is fiery and passionate and puts her heart and soul into every aspect of her life. Why would her reply to my declaration be anything different?
