Lost in Her (29 page)

Agitated, Charlie twisted around her finger the sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring
Ryan had made for her. Refusing to tell her where they were going, Ryan had taken her on a commercial flight that ended up in Orlando, Florida. A limo had been waiting for them when they walked out of the airport, and after a thirty-minute ride, they’d ended up at a Citabria dealer in Sanford
.

The brand-new, cherry-red aerobatic plane sitting on the runway in front of her was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. “I can’t let you do this, Ryan.” Oh God, to own that beauty.

He stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “You don’t like it?”

Was he crazy? “Of course I do, silly. I’ll look for a used one, something I can afford to make payments on.” He chuckled into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. The man was entirely too potent.

“Here’s the thing,
A mhuirnín
. It’s my wedding present to you. And before you say I can’t afford it, I can. There’s even enough left over for us to go house shopping. If you want to make me happy, you won’t say no.” He nuzzled her neck. “Come on, cherub, make me happy.”

Charlie burst into tears. She turned and threw her arms around her fiancé. “Yes, I’ll make you happy.”

Halfway back to Pensacola, the intercom clicked on. “Kid’s play,” said the passenger sitting behind her.

Charlie grinned. “You remember what happened the last time you said that, Hot Guy?”

“Yeah, you left my stomach two miles behind me. Do it again.”

Until she learned her new plane—all its quirks and secrets—she wouldn’t put either one of them at risk doing anything dangerous, but a few dives and wingovers would be safe enough.

“Tighten your harness then.”

“Yee-haw,” he yelled after she crested the arc she visualized in her mind, then dived straight down.

She burst into laughter as happiness swelled up inside her. Dang, she loved her Irish Hot Guy with the funny-colored eyes. She pulled the nose of the plane up, and then crested the next invisible arc.

“Yee-haw,” she yelled in unison with Ryan as they dived, leaving both their stomachs behind.

Acknowledgments

With each book, I write the acknowledgments, and each time there are names I’ve included in previous books, and then there are new ones. I am and will forever be humbled by the support and encouragement I receive from family, friends, fans of my books, and other authors. There are some of you I will never meet, but it doesn’t make our friendship any less meaningful.

Without readers, I wouldn’t be writing this. At the beginning of this book, I dedicated this story to the fans of my K2 Special Services series, and I mean it when I say y’all rock. Your e-mails, comments about these guys on Facebook, telling your friends they need to read this series—for all of that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The best way to thank any author who has carried you away for a few hours to another place, who has made you laugh or cry, is to write a review. If you’ve done that for any of my books, then I wish you were in front of me so I could give you a hug. Since that’s not possible, I hope you will settle for two words. Thank you.

To the very first friend (and critique partner extraordinaire) I made at the start of this journey: You know I love you, Jenny Holiday. I know you claim you’re not a romantic suspense author, but you’re dang good at helping me come up with evil plot ideas. To Lindsey Ross and Felice Stevens, my late-night partners in crime, thank you for all the belly laughs. The two of you will be forever in my heart. To Leslie Lynch, my 2013 Lucky 13 Golden Heart
^®
sister, thank you so much for answering all my questions about pilots and airplanes. Anything I got wrong is entirely on me.

I am truly honored to be published by Montlake Romance. To Maria Gomez, Melody Guy, Jessica Poole, Scott Calamar, and all the other members of the fabulous Montlake Romance team, thank you for all that you do for your authors. Love you guys! So much!

Courtney, it’s become a tradition to save you for last . . . isn’t that what you do with the best? So to Courtney Miller-Callihan of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, thank you for everything. It’s such a fun ride that we are on together. Heart you!

About the Author

Photo
©
2015 Cat Ford-Coates

A native of Florida, Sandra Owens now lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. As a romantic suspense author, Sandra often burns dinner because she’s about to crash a plane, or some such mischief. She recently told her husband (who happens to be her very own hero because he eats that ruined food without complaint) that if men in dark suits wearing reflective sunglasses knock on their door, he shouldn’t panic. All can be explained. She hopes. “It was just research,” she will claim when those scary men ask why she was all over the Internet asking questions that brought her to their attention.

Sandra has gone from riding a Harley while managing a Harley-Davidson dealership to writing about seriously hot heroes and their feisty heroines. A true daredevil, she has skydived, been a passenger in an aerobatic plane doing death-defying stunts, and will ride insanely outrageous roller coasters. She regrets nothing.

You can connect with Sandra on Twitter
@SandyOwens1
and Facebook at
SandraOwens.94043
. Her website is:
www.sandra-owens.com
.