Page 9 of Shared By the Pilots

I laughed. “You don’t know my mom. If anything, it was the opposite. So, how many other guys have you had to say yes to because of your deal with Dexter?”

“Actually, you’re the first. Well, aside from an ambitious teenage boy who overheard us at the gate and asked me out.”

“Good for him for shooting his shot,” I said.

“Do you feel any pressure?” She leaned forward on the table, showing a bit of cleavage that made my heart speed up. “Being the first?”

“I can handle the pressure. I’m a pilot, after all. Besides, I was in the Air Force before this.”

“Really? How does one go from working in hotels to joining the Air Force?”

“I wanted to fly jet aircraft at ludicrously high speeds,” I said. “There aren’t many opportunities to do that in the hotel industry.”

“Not unless you’re the pilot for the Hilton family’s private jet,” Veronica joked.

She sipped her drink to cover a smile while I laughed. Veronica was a lot funnier than I expected. A few minutes together and my cheeks already ached from smiling so much.

I wonder how else she’ll surprise me tonight.

6

Veronica

When I left my hotel to get dinner with Luke, I was doing so mostly out of a sense of obligation. Dex was my best friend, and I had made a promise to him. I didn’t want him to be angry with me over something this silly. And Ididwant to eat some delicious seafood.

But after a few minutes with Luke, I realized something: we were hitting it off. The two of us had a surprising amount of chemistry, and he was nothing like the other pilots I knew. Or, at least, the stereotype of pilots that I had in my head.

“Only eight years in the Air Force,” he explained while we waited for our food to arrive. “Was an O2, and easily could’ve made O3, but by then I didn’t have the drive.”

“O2? Something tells me you don’t mean the stadium in London.”

“O2 is the second rank of officer. First Lieutenant, technically. O3 is Captain.”

“And now you’re aliteralcaptain.”

“I do like calling myself Captain Hendricks,” he admitted with a smile. “And although flying commercial aircraft isn’t as fun as flying an F-22 Raptor, I still love my job. What about you? What did you want to be when you grew up?”

“Astronaut,” I replied without hesitation.

He blinked. “Really?”

“Sally Ride came and spoke at my school when I was ten years old. The way she spoke about going to space, I became obsessed overnight. I asked Santa for NASA bedsheets and toys and clothes that year. I wore the same pair of Space Shuttle underwear until I was in high school.”

“Washed regularly, I would hope.”

I gave him a glare.

“What stopped you from visiting the space station, then?” Luke asked.

“I was bad at math and science,” I replied. “And it turns out, those are very important skills when going to space. I think my parents were relieved when I finally gave up the dream.”

“Being a flight attendant isalmostlike being an astronaut. You go up close to space, complete trips with very specific mission parameters, and then land safely when you’re done.”

“I don’t even care if you’re being facetious,” I said. “Ilovemy job. Being a flight attendant allows me to travel, which is my favorite thing in the world. I would do it for free.”

“You love it, even when you deal with annoying passengers?” he asked quizzically. “Or crying babies?”

“I would have to deal with all of that if I were a regular passenger. At least as a flight attendant I have some control over the situation. One time, a guy got in my face and called me a cunt because I wouldn’t serve him a sixth bottle of whiskey. I got his ass thrown onto the no-fly list.”

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