“You fly,” she said and leaned back, releasing the yoke.
He thumbed on the autopilot. “You could go ahead and get dressed before my eyeballs pop out and I get ideas.”
“Like what?” Her voice was not coy. “Heights make me horny. You’ve probably noticed by now. And this is high.” She was staring at him with an intensity he wasn’t used to. Her nipples were hard and erect. All of her hair was champagne.
He slid his seat back and she pulled his pants down and climbed on him, facing him. He reached around her and adjusted the trim to account for the shifted weight. Then he checked the altitude hold and the heading select.
Shortly, she was breathing deeply and hoarsely, and an urgency rose in both of them. His sensitive pilot’s hands roamed with need.
“This is as close to Heaven as I’ve ever been,” she said softly.
He wanted to share, not comfort nor conquer, and he did so.
When they were finished, Aloha said, “I will never, ever forget that.” Clinging to him, she kissed him deeply.
“Me, neither,” he mumbled and she moved against him, body taut, and then they were doing it a second time.
Shortly, she had a major screaming orgasm.
His powerful body rippled against her. Her every touch seared him.
She stayed on him, hanging on tightly, until he said, “The coast is coming up. I gotta fly.” His hands stopped rubbing her buttocks.
Reluctantly, she crawled in the back and dressed.
After they landed and swung into the parking slot, Sammy in the tower responded to Rudd’s transmission about shutting down. “Roger seven five six. You a member of the club now?”
Rudd stared at the speaker, clicked the mike button twice and hung it in its receptacle. He killed the engine and they dismounted. She followed him around during his post flight.
As she helped him attach the tie-down cable, she asked, “What did the tower guy mean, ‘the club’?”
Rudd blushed.
“What?” she demanded.
“It’s called the ‘Mile High Club.’ It, um, means you’ve um, made love while airborne.”
“You mean got laid?”
“I mean that.”
“I’ll be darned,” she said bemused.
He hid his grin.
“You didn’t answer Sammy’s question.”
“It wasn’t any of his business.” Though he had clicked the mike twice, which in some circumstances means “roger.”
Aloha grinned slyly at him and walked out from under the wing. She stood in front of the Beech and faced the tower. She waved her arms in a windmill motion for a moment, then raised her right hand high with her thumb up, her other hand provocatively on her hip. “Reckon he sees me?” she asked conversationally.
“Unless he’s blind. Doubtless he’s been watching us since we hit the ramp.”
Then Aloha took her left hand and raised it, too, thumb high in the air, with a great, big, wide grin on her face. “Twice!” she shouted at the tower.
“I’ll be goddammed,” Rudd said.
At that exact moment he knew he was no longer simply enamored with Aloha Bonnie Blaze. He was fully and irrevocably in love with her.
And he had a date with Amanda in a few hours.
He wished he knew what the hell to do.
CHAPTER FIVE
HER
That two-timing son-of-a-bitch was sneaking out on her!
When he’d dropped her off from the Saturday afternoon flying, she’d suggested they spend the night together. Rudd had begged off evasively. He had a couple things to do and then much needed sleep.
She bought his story because she was tired, too. She was almost in a dream state. What a day. A new member of the Mile High Club. The after-sex euphoria.
Not only that, but she’d really enjoyed flying, the aloneness, the altitude, the silence, the background hum of strong engines. The different perspective she saw from high was striking and led her to think. And afterwards they’d shared an extremely comfortable silence. She could tell he was feeling good about the day, too. The more she thought about it, the more she decided it was the best day in her life so far.
The way Rudd acted was special, too. He’d treated her very gently, very softly, and his goodbye kiss, usually perfunctory if at all in front of her house, was sweet and tender. They didn’t care if anybody was watching, which they probably weren’t. The neighbors of the Blaze family were used to unusual comings and goings, not only from the teenager, but more so from the parents. Long ago they’d stopped paying attention.
“Today was super,” Rudd said. “I don’t remember when....”
She remained quiet in his arms.
He shivered. “I want to tell you...well, this will be one of my fondest memories. I’ve already got it stored.”
Was he not ever going to declare his love for her? After all they went through, and the current tide of feelings, now would be the time. “We shared some stuff today, huh?”
“We did. And it fills an empty ache inside me.”
“Me, too.” He was so good with words. Aloha wished she could express herself so well. She vowed to study harder, to learn more, so she could be like him, on his level.
Finally, he shooed her out and went home.
At six-thirty she called him. No answer, not even Denise.
Once she’d told Rudd he’d be surprised at what she knew about him. One of the things she’d gleaned from Denise was Rudd’s favorite restaurants. What else do you do on a Saturday night when there’s not a Football Game at Doak Campbell Stadium? Too early for the movies, so—
She went through the restaurants in the yellow pages and marked the ones she remembered Denise saying or Rudd mentioning.
The Silver Slipper, the third one she tried. Perhaps the most expensive and exclusive restaurant in Tallahassee, except maybe The Governor’s Club.
Aloha called the reservations number.
“Silver Slipper, this is Mark.”
“I’m supposed to meet R. Six over there, but I forgot what time the reservation is.” She pitched her voice level and businesslike.
“Let me check the—ah, there it is. Eight, Miss..?”
“He told you the correct number of people in the party?”
“It says here two—”
“Thanks for your help. Us secretaries can’t trust the boss to do things by themselves, you know?” She hung up.
That goddamn Rudd had a date!
After all they’d been through today. Maybe the most wonderful day of her life. A cloud of depression settled upon her.
God damn it. Life wasn’t fair. She’d been so high on life today. Until now. No fair, damn it, no fair, damn it, no damn fair. She took several deep breaths.
Sometimes her alter ego, Bonnie, kicked in.
—Lissen to yourself, sweetie, observed Bonnie. You done everything yourself for yourself to the present. Nobody ever helped. Get your admittedly cute ass in gear. Do not go down without a fight.