Page 127 of Fly Boy
“You sure you enjoyed it?” I tease, ushering him quickly toward the door, patting his back.
“Yeah,” he says, his lips tugging down as he pauses in the doorway, breathing in the fresh air. “I just need to get my feet back on land, is all.”
Sadie wraps Pippa in a hug before moving onto me. “It really was the best flight I’ve been on.”
“You’re just saying that because it was me who flew you, Mom,” I say. The word still sounds a little funny, even a year later. But the way Sadie lights up every time makes it all worth it.
My parents disembark the Bombardier, huddling together on the tarmac as they wait for everyone else.
“I really do miss you flying us, Wyatt,” Nancy says as she wraps her scarf around her neck. “Don’t get me wrong, Alistair and Liam are good and all…” She leans forward to whisper, “But they just aren’t you.”
“I’d be happy to fly you anytime, Mrs. Cartwright,” I tell her, holding her jacket as she slots her arms inside. “Even though I’m no longer on the payroll, you know it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Hence the trip to Martha’s Vineyard today with both sets of parents. A year ago, Pippa had the idea of flying my mom and dad using her plane, and a year ago, I dismissed it, thinking it was a pipedream. But as I look down at my girlfriend, smiling as her dad struggles with his gloves, past Wyatt can’t believe his luck.
Mr. Cartwright slaps my shoulder, squeezing hard as he walks past and down the aircraft steps. “And as long as they tell me in advance, Wyatt and Pippa can use the plane whenever they like.”
He turns around on the top step and winks.
“You’re not funny, Dad,” Pippa groans, putting on her coat.
“I thought it was,” I hear him say as I check the cockpit before leaving the plane too.
It turns out that Mr. Cartwright really didn’t care about our differences in age or the fact that I worked for him. He’s a man of integrity, and it really was about the sneaking around. We’ve moved past it, getting to know each other on a different level than boss and employee.
He never did offer me my job back, and honestly, even if he did, I don’t think I’d take it.
Flying Pippa was torture, both before we got together and after. I was desperate for her then and I’m insatiable for her now. I still think about the night when I fucked her in the private cabin, the way she looked all flushed and disheveled as I made her watch through the window.
My cock twitches.
And that is why I would never work for her again.
Besides, working for Reign, and on occasion, Mason, isn’t half bad. Especially when they keep me busy, stopping me from being home alone in Westchester while Pippa’s schedule is back to the normal grueling pattern in Colorado for the skating season. Which is why after the Worlds in March, I’ll be askingher to move in with me. I’ve waited a lifetime for Pippa, I can wait two more months.
“Oh, I forgot to say, Ana said we’ve got the best seats in the house,” Sadie says as we walk toward the terminal. She flashes Nancy a cheeky grin, linking their arms together. The pair are as thick as thieves ever since they met at Pippa’s first round of her second season competing in the Grand Prix. “You might have private jets, but we know the executive chef at the restaurant we’re going to tonight.”
Pippa’s mouth drops. “I’m sorry, what? You know Chef Skip?” She smacks the back of her hand against my arm. “What the hell, Wyatt? Your mom knowsthechef Skip?”
“Oh, shit,” I chuckle, recognition slamming into me. “Uh, yeah, he’s actually Ana’s brother.”
Pippa stops dead in her tracks, a look of utter betrayal on her face. “Your sister-in-law’s brother is the best chef around and you never told me?”
She shrieks the ending of her sentence, the unadulterated look of horror absolutely priceless. I walk back to her, cupping her neck, my thumb brushing over her pulse point, making her shiver.
“Baby, I forgot,” I say, shoving my free hand into my pants pocket and pinching my thigh to stop me from laughing. “You’d thrown me off kilter by asking me out, and then you paid for our first date when it should have been me… I got distracted.” Leaning down, I press my lips to hers. “But thinking back on it, maybe my inner caveman didn’t like hearing you being all swoony over Ana’s brother, and I inadvertently forgot.”
She shoves at my chest, her cheeks bright pink. “I was not swooning over him.”
“Sure, you weren’t,” I tease. “Maybe you’ll be lucky and he’ll come out and say hi since Ana told him we’re coming?”
“I hate you,” she grumbles, tugging out her phone.
“I’ll make it up to you when we get home…” I pause, turning around when I notice she’s not by my side. “Pippa?”
She’s stopped a foot away from the door, our parents standing in a circle inside the warm airport building, the five of us watching her with curiosity as she stares down at her phone.
I see the second her hand starts to shake, the confusion and shock as she lifts her head to blink at me with wide eyes, before returning to the screen.
