To say I was surprised by her hello would be putting it mildly, but I only let it catch me off guard for a moment before I was grabbing her by the waist and sinking in her kiss, finding her lips to still be warm. God, to have her in my arms again felt so right.
She pulled back from me and the sun rose behind me, lighting up the gold flecks in her brown eyes. That moment, in the cool morning and with the sun lighting up her classic features, I fell a little bit in love with her.
“Hi,” she said lightly, her smile brighter than the sun.
I matched her smile. “Hi.”
“I missed you,” Jo said tentatively, like she wanted to tell me but I knew she was admitting something that was hard for her. She was saying she missed me, which meant she had thought about me, had remembered the night in her cabin. Those three words were almost better than kissing her. I would remember her kisses but those words were sketched into my skin and I could never get rid of them. Not that I would ever want too.
I kissed her again, this time nipping on her bottom lip and kissing it again, soothing the bite. “I didn’t miss you,” I told her.
She frowned, looking slightly embarrassed. “You didn’t?”
I gave her a sly smirk. “No, I didn’t miss you because you never left my mind. The image of you from last weekend is burned in my head. I kept hearing the sounds you make when you come. I did miss touching you. I missed talking to you, but that night gave me something to fall asleep to every night. The million stars that spread across the sky was only a simple background compared to the image of you basked in the light from the fire. I couldn’t get that image out of mind. I didn’t want to.”
I saw Jolene take a breath, her eyes sparking with lust and something else I wanted to say was affection, but knew she would never admit it.
“You’re mighty romantic, you know that,” she replied.
I held her tighter. “As cheesy as it sounds, you bring it out in me.”
She slowly nodded in understanding. She knew together we brought out different sides of us, ones people hadn’t seen in a long time. I understood her journey in putting up a wall, in going into survival mode and operating on bare minimums, because sometimes in life that was what you had to do. But as life calmed down and things changed, it was hard to get out of survival mode, to let yourself feel again.
Now wasn’t the time to get into it all. The next two days was for adventure and there was nothing more I wanted to do was adventure with this woman.
“So what’s the plan?” Jolene asked me. She finally looked around and saw where she was.
“Wait,” she said as her head looked past me. “How exactly are we getting to where we’re going?”
I thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe it wasn’t. “How did you think we were going to get there?”
Jo glanced down to her hiking boots that looked brand new. “Well I have these things called feet so I figured I would be using those.”
Smartass. “Yes, you will be using your feet at one point. Also, looks like you’ll be breaking in those new hiking boots as well. Remind me of how fun that is when I’m rubbing your sore feet later. But the first part of the trip will be in that.” I pointed behind me.
“Is this the point where you tell me what you do for the Forest Service?”
I turned both Jo and I to the Cesena 180 behind us. The plane was a beauty with it’s white and red coloring. I had owned her for a couple years, using money left by my grandpa to buy it.
I heard laughter coming from Jolene. “No really. Are we driving to the trailhead? I bet we can fit everything in my car.”
“Jo, you asked what I did for the Forest Service and I’m trying to tell you.”
I watched her eyes grow wide. “You fly that?” She pointed to the plane.
I smiled at her awe. Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier.
“Yeah, I fly that. I’m a backcountry pilot for the Forest Service when they need it. I take crews out for surveying, sometimes in helicopters or in planes like this. I’m certified to fly both.”
“Is this yours?”
“Yeah. It’s my personal plane. Thought we would take her out in the wilderness and camp out there. I know a couple good fishing spots. Did you bring your fishing license?”
She just looked at me and slowly shook her head.
“It’s okay, you can hang with me then. Either way it’s pretty relaxing being out there.”
She nodded her head, like she had lost the ability to speak.
“You okay there, Jo?”
“I can’t believe you fly planes for a living. How did I miss that?”
“I guess it never came up. But yeah, I fly planes for living. You ready to go.”
“Is it safe?” Her eyes darted towards the plane.
I took her hand and brought it to my lips bringing her attention back to me. I gave her a kiss on the palm of her hand. “You’re always safe with me.”
That seemed to calm her for at least a minute as we packed the plane and got ready for takeoff.
We were strapped in and I threw on headphones to tone down the noise.
I winked at her as I started to move the plane to the runway, getting in place for takeoff. She kept her eyes forward and I saw her slightly clutching her jeans, her hands turning white. As we sat in the plane, the loud sound of the engine roaring and the propeller starting to spin faster and faster, I thought to myself that I had never asked if she was afraid of flying.
Here I was trying to impress her and there was a possibility I was scaring the shit out of her instead. As the plane sped down the runway and lifted off the ground I knew it was too late. I would keep her safe; I wasn’t lying about that though.
We were in the air for only ten minutes when we approached the first pass of the mountains. As the large granite mountaintops became larger as they came closer I turned slightly so I was flying parallel to them, finding the area where I could go between. It made it so on Jo’s side you could see each summit. I glanced over to her and her fear had lessened. Now it was pure awe; her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were moving over each mountaintop as she tried to take it all in. I had flown these mountains many times. I tried to remember to never take it for granted, that it was stunning every time I was up here. Watching Jo see them for the first time like this was absolutely breathtaking, more than the jagged peaks behind her. You could hike these mountains until you were old, but unless you got up in the air, you never really experienced them like this. There was only a small population of people who would ever see nature’s beauty this way.
I was ten the first time my grandpa had taken me up in a plane like this. It was rickety and sometimes the wind would catch, throwing the plane a little bit, but I was never scared. I only wanted more. All of my brothers and sisters had done the same with grandpa, but I was the only one who spent their days thinking about getting their pilots license, knowing that these mountains were my playground. A dangerous one that required knowledge and safety actions put in place, but a playground nonetheless.
I loved flying here solo. It was such a rush. It was dangerous and nothing made me feel more alive. Having Jo in the seat next to me, well it was easy to see that maybe I had been flying solo for so many years because I was saving the seat for her.
The sound of the plane made it impossible for conversation, even with the headphones on. I tapped her on the knee and her head turned towards me. I gave her a thumbs up sign and then the most brilliant thing happened. She gave me a toothy grin and gave me a thumbs up back. Her aviator sunglasses reflected the sun and I knew she not only belonged in this plane, but next to my side in life.
I turned the plane and veered towards the mountains. We flew for a total of maybe forty-five minutes when I saw the backcountry landing strip nestled in the small valley between the two mountain peaks. Really the landing strip was a small strip of land that looked no larger than a dirt road. I looked over at Jo to make sure she was okay but she simply looked my way and gave me a small smile. I took that as a good sign and prepared to land the plane, concentrating on everything I needed to make sure it was a smooth landing. Well, as smooth as it could be with landing on dirt. Once we hit the ground, I started to decelerate, the plane slightly bouncing up and down as it slowed down.
As soon as we were at a complete stop, I did what I needed and eventually turned off the plane. I pulled off my headphones the same time Jo did. We both turned our heads, our eyes connecting. “That was awesome,” she told me.
“I was worried there for a bit. You looked nervous when we took off.”
“I’ve never flown in a plane this small, so yeah I was a little nervous but once we got up there I was fine. I was more than fine, that was a freaking rush, holy shit!” She was giddy with excitement. I knew the rush she was talking about and I loved sharing it was with, giving her the experience of it.
“Come on, let’s grab our stuff.”
***
After getting out of the plane, I knew there was a small lake close by. We hiked and swam in the lake under the afternoon sun, both of us naked as the day we came. There was no one around for miles and this lake wasn’t on any designated trail. I wasn’t worried about anyone seeing us. We eventually put our clothes back on. When we were swimming I had grabbed Jolene and we made out, our hands grazing over our bare skin under the clear water, but it never went father than it. It was innocent in a way, but sensual in a way where I was dying to sink into her. I was holding back, going slow, knowing there was a moment for us and I didn’t know when it was going to be, but that moment wasn’t right now.
It was evening by the time we had set up the tent. I had started a fire and was in the middle of cooking dinner. It wasn’t much, ground beef and veggies wrapped in tinfoil and thrown into the hot coals from the fire. Tomorrow I planned on catching fish to make for dinner. Jolene had grabbed wood for us and I would catch her standing there, her head high looking around at the mountains towering over us. I didn’t blame her. I had been at this airstrip before, it was one of the less popular ones but it was stunning here. We were in a small valley, less than half a mile wide and two mountains boarded each side. I knew we were at about seven thousand feet for elevation and the peaks were almost at ten thousand.
Even in the summer months, there were still large patches of snow this high. There was a creek on one side I knew had awesome fishing and sometimes if I was lucky, I would see a black bear come down the mountain sniffing around the water, trying to find food. The black bear was mostly harmless as long as you left it alone and there were no grizzly bears in this area.
Jolene walked back to me, wood piled in her arms, her braid falling out, and her flannel blending into the background. She was like my mountain princess, made for this land. Made for me.
She huffed and tried to blow the hair out of her eyes, still holding the wood. “What are you looking at?” she asked me.
“You.”
“I don’t know why with all this beauty around.”
I got up and took the wood from her hands, stacking it next to the fire. “I have to ask, where did you get the outfit. I didn’t know it was in your closet.”
I saw Jo blush, which was a strange sight because she rarely blushed. Even when I was making her lose her mind, she didn’t blush. That must had meant she was embarrassed.
“Well. I bought the shoes because I figured I would need them if I kept hanging out with you.”
That statement did something to me. To know she invested in what had to be not a cheap pair of hiking boots showed she was somewhat committed to this.
She continued, “I had the jeans and I borrowed the flannel from Clara. She’s a little smaller than me, but it was big for her. I wanted to play the role. Plus, this flannel is pretty warm.”
“You don’t have to play a role with me, you can always just be you. Especially around me. Not that I don’t like the flannel. It’s cute on you, you could model for one of those outdoor clothing lines.”
Jo gave me a small smile as I put my arm around her waist and leaned my head into the bare of her neck, kissing her softly.
She put her hands on my arms and I heard her small gasp under her breath. She didn’t want to admit what I did to her but I knew and loved it. I craved it. I kissed her neck again, open hot kisses as I moved up and sucked on her earlobe. The small moan she gave me was even harder to hide and I smiled into her skin, breathed in her scent and found myself growing hard just at the thought of having her underneath me with the night sky above us.
I found her mouth but I didn’t attack her like I wanted. Instead I felt her soft lips with mine. Light like a feather I explored her, never fully kissing her but discovering, finding every spot that made her moan or gasp in pleasure. I lightly kissed the corner of her mouth and then licked her bottom lip. She pushed her chest against me, trying to get more, but I wouldn’t give it to her. This was not meant to be rushed. I smiled as she whined in this sexy way that I almost gave in. I almost devoured her lips but there were times for devouring and there were times for savoring. I went back to kissing her neck, kissing below the collar of the shirt she was wearing. “Ty,” she said on an exhale. I moved up and found her lips once again. I put my lips firmly on hers this time for only a moment before I opened her mouth with my tongue, pushing inside and finding hers. Our tongues tangled and her hands gripped my waist so tight. It was the best feeling. It wasn’t rushed or a mad dash of getting each other’s clothes off but instead a kiss that was so intense it was like she was holding on for dear life. I wanted her to hang on, knowing I would never let her fall. I would only let her fall with me, fall into what we created together, this haze around us of lust and beauty and love. I knew it was there even if we couldn’t admit it. I knew that for us, a kiss wasn’t just a kiss. It was a way to show our secrets and fears. It was a way to stand on the cliff and face whatever life threw at us. To feel the wind blast through us but know that in the end, we would be still be standing, together.
Our kiss ended. As Jo looked me in the eyes I knew she felt it too. I kissed her again to cement what was between us.