Page 28 of Breaking Emily's Rules
Stone stopped me at the door, laying a hand on my shoulder. “I’m going to do something I rarely do. I want to give you a free lesson, because I think once we get up there you’ll change your mind. And there’s nothing to be ashamed of. So, let’s give it a try.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.” Boy, this guy was a piece of work. For someone so damn good-looking, too bad he suffered from a personality disorder.
“Leave your purse with Cassie.” Stone waved a hand in the direction of his desk.
“Have fun,” Jedd called out as we made our way through the hangar.
Once I stepped outside, I blinked in the bright sunlight and wished I’d brought the shades from my purse. Stone had pulled a pair ofTop Gun–looking shades out of his shirt pocket. I followed his long, purposeful strides in the direction of a small plane a few hundred yards in the distance. When my legs didn’t want to cooperate, I silently willed them to move forward before they made a fool out of me.
This is it. I’m going to do it.Now that I was about to take my first flying lesson, I had a million questions I hadn’t had a chance to ask. But now I was afraid to ask, worried he might start arguing with me again.
He opened the door to the plane and stepped aside. “Sit.”
If he was going to churn out commands like I was some kind of dog, this wasn’t going to work. I gave him a stare that I hoped looked as mean as it felt. The charming man from last Friday night was gone, the one who knew how to dance and make a girl feel like she was the only one in the room. Probably he’d left for parts unknown when he realized he wasn’t getting in my panties. And he wasn’t. I never put out on a first date.
But how would he fit his long legs into the tiny cramped space beside me? The cockpit was an intimidating assemblage of buttons and knobs, but eventually they would all make sense to me. That was why I was taking lessons. I took a shallow breath of what was left of oxygen in this tiny hole.
Stone sat next to me and our shoulders literally touched, way too close for comfort.
“Seat belt.” He pointed to mine and then put on his own.
So. Man of few words. No matter, I was here to learn how to fly, not make a new best friend.
“There’s not much room in here, is there?” The seating arrangements gave new meaning to the word intimate.
“What did you expect? The Taj Mahal?” He didn’t smile.
I tried to concentrate as Stone explained all the instruments and what all those confusing knobs and dials were all about. But I had a difficult time concentrating when he was so near. When he asked if I had any questions, the only one floating through my mind was how someone could make mechanical things sound so sexy. It was probably his deep, gravelly voice. This would all be so much easier if my instructor was old and decrepit, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Is there a book I can read that has all this information?” There was no way I’d remember all of this, especially not when he sat next to me looking like an extra fromTop Gun.
“You won’t need to know all this right away. Anyway, after this flight you might change your mind.”
“I won’t.”You jackass. But I’m rethinking the whole date thing.
“We’ll see.” He placed a headset with a mic on my head and set one on his own. “I’m going to talk to you through this headset so you can hear me.”
“Okay.” I adjusted the headset. “But aren’t you going to contact traffic control before we take off?”
He turned to me. “Where do you think we are? This is a county airport in the middle of nowhere and I’ll watch for ‘traffic’ myself. I guarantee there won’t be any jams.”
Maybe I should have checked this guy’s references. I didn’t want to die up there. Unmarried. Childless. But Jedd seemed to trust him, and if he was an air force pilot he could surely handle a small plane.
Once he started the plane, the need for the headsets became apparent. His voice sounded strangely intimate. I began to imagine situations I had to push out of my mind if I wanted to concentrate on flying. It helped when we started taxiing down the runway and he continued to explain preflight checks, dials, proper speed and way too much for me to remember.
“You’re going too fast. Are you trying to confuse me on purpose?” Thatwouldn’tsurprise me.
He sighed, like a man overcome with the woes of the world. “I’ll go over all this again. If you’re serious.”
“Iamserious. Why won’t you believe me?”
“Shut up if you can and concentrate.” He picked up speed and, in a matter of seconds, we were off the ground and lifted into the skies.
I let out a strangled breath as I viewed the green hills and farmland below, my Fortune Ranch in plain view. Once I got my pilot’s license, I’d fly over the ranch on my own. Sure, that was what I’d do. Maybe I’d even carry a banner advertising our private company parties and petting zoo.
Stone was the picture of concentration, his brow furrowed. He looked far too serious. Which meant there might be something wrong with the plane. Oh, Lord, I was about to die up here with Mr. Hot Guy, and he’d never even kissed me.
Breathe, Emily, breathe.
