Page 69 of Jackson's Redemption
I closed my eyes and rubbed my hand over my face. “I don’t need commentary, Doogie. I need a pilot.”
“Well, I can’t help you today. I’m already booked with a pick-up.”
“Olivia flying in?” She was the only one I could think of who might be flying up here now that the contest was officially over. Thank God for that, too.
“Nope. But I’ll tell you what. You show up at the airfield around three this afternoon and if I think we have enough light left in the day, I’ll take you to Nome.”
“Fair enough. Appreciate it.”
I ended the call and fell back onto the bed. Now I had to think about what I was going to say to her, if I got her to open the damn front door.
Groveling, I thought. I could foresee a lot of groveling in my future.
* * *
Hope’s Point Airport—aka the runway.
Jackson
It was a little before three when I heard the plane in the sky. That was good. Doogie was a little early, which meant there would be plenty of daylight left to get me to Nome.
I had practiced nearly everything I wanted to say to her and none of it sounded convincing. That I was scared made me sound like a pansy. That I was weak when it came to her wasn’t any better.
What woman wanted to be with someone who was weak and afraid of his emotions? But how else did I tell her that pushing her away seemed safer than trying to be patient?
The trick was getting her into bed as soon as possible. Once I was balls-deep inside of her with her screaming my name, I would have to worry less about apologizing and more about making her come.
That I could do.
Doogie brought the plane down and rolled it to a stop. I started toward it, shaving off as much time as I could. Passenger out, me in and we could be up in the air again in minutes.
Only, when I saw the passenger hop down on the tarmac, my breath stopped.
She turned and saw me standing there and it was like we hadn’t put twenty-four hours and an hour-long plane ride between us. She was still in full-blown fight mode.
“Jackson Warner, I’m not done with you yet!”
She came charging down the runway, and my first thought was to turn and run. Kate was a formidable woman. But of course, I was so damn happy to see her, that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I made my way toward her even as she was cursing up a storm at me.
I glanced at Doogie who had hopped out of the plane. He tipped his hat in a way I knew he’d set this up. He knew he was bringing Kate here and figured I would want to be at the runway to greet her. He was right. I gave him a wave as he left us to do our thing.
“Who do you think you are to tell me what to do with my life? I happen to like Alaska. I happen to like that Mrs. Aponi trusts people with her Pyrex. I also happen to be a good cop. I’m sorry that it’s hard for you, but you know what? Screw it. Yes, I think I might love you. And yes, that scares the crap out of me. Because I don’t know what’s real from fake anymore. So it’s going to take me time to get there, andyouare just going to have to deal with that!”
I moved in and picked her up, lifting her over my shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing?” she screeched, kicking her legs so hard I had to wrap both arms around her to hold her still.
“Taking you to bed.”
“Oh no! This is not going to be about fucking anymore! I want a proper relationship. Where we will go on dates, you will buy me flowers and you will kiss me!”
I set her down then and took her by the shoulders.
“I’m not really a flowers kind of guy.”
“Get there,” she growled.
I could feel the smile happening then I was laughing. It sounded a little rusty, even to me, but Kate was standing in front of me and in all her ranting, she had said the wordlove.
