Playboy Pilot (17 page)

“YEAH, WELL, THERE’S A FIRST
time for everything.” Carter was talking on the phone when I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel after my shower. We’d spent the entire day alternating between sitting outside in the desert, eating traditional Arabic meals, and listening to Carter’s friend Amari tell stories of the changes in Dubai over the last twenty years. In between, we snuck in snuggle time in our room. Now the sun had set, and I’d just scrubbed an inch of sand from my scalp. “Give me fifteen, and let me talk to my woman.” Carter hung up and tossed his phone on the bed.

“Your woman?” I looked over my shoulder to the right and then to the left and teased, “You have a woman you own around here somewhere?”

Even though he was standing on the other side of the room, the way Carter was looking at me made my body warm. The towels weren’t very long, and my smallish breasts were pushed up and popping out the top. “I’d like to own you. You keep standing there much longer in that little rinky-dink towel, and you’re going to feel how much you own me in about two seconds.”

I hid my blush by burying my head in my suitcase searching for some clean clothes to change into. “Who was that on the phone you were talking to?”

He walked up behind me and kissed my bare shoulder. “A pilot friend. He asked me to cover a flight for him tomorrow morning. He’s here in Dubai and has a rapid turn trip.”

“Is he sick or something?”

Carter ran his nose along my neck, his warm breath sending goosebumps down my skin, most of which was already exposed.

“Cold?” The smile in his voice was unmistakable. He knew the affect he had on me.

I ignored him. “Are you going to take his flight?”

“That depends.”

“Oh what?”

“If you’re up for another adventure.”

I turned, and he didn’t back up. “You want me to go with you?”

“I’m
only
taking it if you go with me. If you want to stay here for another two days, I’m fine with that, too.”

“Where do you go in two days?”

Carter’s eyes looked back and forth between mine. “Home. I have five down days after this. I fly from here back to the states and then pick up a connection as a passenger to get back home to Florida.”

Wow. Our little trip
really is
coming to an end. The thought made me sick to my stomach. Carter must have sensed what I was thinking. He tipped my chin up so our eyes met. “Let’s not go there yet. Stay with me. Whether it’s here or on another adventure, we still have time. I don’t want this to end yet either. Stay in the moment with me, Kendall.”

“Where would we go?”

He smiled, and it was all I could do not to drop my towel in response. “That’s a surprise.”

“Give me a hint.”

Carter scratched his chin for a minute. “Okay. If you want to continue our little adventure, you’ll give me the green light, but you might wind up getting stopped at the
red light
along the way.”

“What the heck is
that
supposed to mean? I said a hint, not a riddle.”

He laughed. “What do you say, Perky? You up for one more adventure with me?”

“Can I get arrested for dancing, cursing, showing skin, or touching you, wherever it is we would go?”

“Definitely not.” He kissed the top of my nose. “In fact, those things are strongly encouraged at the next stop on our tour.” Carter smiled and that damn chin dimple joined in.
God, I’m a sucker for that thing. Who knew?

I rolled my eyes. “Alright. I’m in. But if I wind up in jail again, I’m holding your dimpled self responsible.”

OUR FLIGHT THE NEXT MORNING
was at an ungodly hour. We had to leave Amari by three-thirty in order for Carter to check in. It was going to be what he called a rapid turn, meaning we would get to wherever we were going by late this afternoon and be back in Dubai within twenty-four hours. Then, we’d meet up with his regular crew and fly back to the states. It was after that I didn’t want to think about. I’d probably go back home for a few days before heading to Germany. On the way to the airport, I stared out the window watching Dubai pass by, but not really seeing anything. Melancholy had swept my mood thinking how soon things were coming to an end.

“You okay?” The taxi had pulled off the highway following the signs to the airport.

“Just tired.”

“I got you a seat in first class, so hopefully you can get some sleep on the flight.”

“How long is the flight?”

“About seven hours.”

“What do you do up there in the cockpit the whole time? I mean, I know you fly the plane…but seven hours is a long time staring out at the sky.”

He shrugged. “I like it. It’s the only place I’ve ever really felt relaxed.”

“You must do a lot of thinking.”

“Sometimes. It depends on who I’m flying with. Some co-pilots are like me and keep it quiet. Others talk non-stop. When I get one of those, I usually take a nap.”

My eyes bulged. “You nap while flying the plane?”

Carter chuckled. “I do. But don’t worry. We take turns. The airline frowns upon both pilots sleeping at the same time.”

“Can I see the cockpit?”

“There’s nothing more that I would rather do than show you my
cock
pit. I thought you’d never ask.”

Carter had my boarding pass on his iPhone along with his orders, so we didn’t need to stop for check-in. We breezed through the employee security line and stopped at the food court for some coffee and breakfast. I gave Carter my order and went to the ladies room.

When I came back, I found Carter sitting at a table with a tray. Only he wasn’t alone. A gorgeous brunette was sitting across from him.
Figures.
She was wearing the same navy colors as he was, another flight attendant groupie I assumed.

She looked me up and down when I arrived at the table, blatantly sizing me up. Carter stood and pulled out my chair. “Kendall, this is Alexa Purdy. We work at International Airlines together.”

The woman showed me her perfect teeth. Considering my parents had also spent a fortune in endodontic care; I smiled bigger. “Nice to meet you, Alexa. Are you on Carter’s flight today?”

“I am. But it’s actually
my
flight Carter’s on, not the other way around.”

Carter explained. “I’ll be the co-pilot today. Alexa is captain, the pilot in charge. It’s her route I’m filling in on today.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t crazy about the woman when I thought she was a gorgeous flight attendant. Knowing that she was smart
and
going to be locked in a small room with Carter today, I immediately disliked her.

Carter was watching me. “I didn’t know Alexa had relocated and moved out of the states. We haven’t flown together in years.”

He might have been trying to reassure me, but Captain Purdy clearly had other ideas. She batted her eyelashes at Carter. “It’s been
too
long. We have a lot to catch up on. Remember
how much fun
we used to have on long flights together when we were reserve pilots?”

Carter coughed. “Alexa and I started out as reserve pilots, taking whatever flights we could get. So did
her husband,
Trent. How is Trent? Been a long time since I ran into him.”

“He’s great. Last I heard he was doing the Milan route and sleeping with a ninety-pound model he met on a flight.”

“You’re separated?”

“Divorced.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Carter said.

Alexa touched his arm and cooed, “Don’t be. The divorce was my idea. I like my freedom. Being tied down made flying the friendly skies drastically unfriendly.”

Luckily, we didn’t have too much time to waste over breakfast, because if I had to witness one more flirtation, or hear one more story of their
good old times
, I might have lost it. I wasn’t generally a jealous person by nature. I always felt like it was a waste of time and energy to worry about what others had and I didn’t. But for the first time, I was thinking maybe the reason for my lack of jealousy before was there was nothing I really wanted enough to be jealous of.

We didn’t shake off Alexa until we were almost at the gate. Luckily, she got a call and told Carter she’d meet him on board before excusing herself. Still being careful to discreetly touch me in public, Carter steered me down a hallway near the bathroom for some privacy.

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry about that. I had no idea she was my co-pilot. I haven’t seen her in years.”

It was masochistic for me to ask the question, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Did you two, used to…”

Carter blew out a loud breath. “Yes. But it was a long time ago.”

“Did you two ever…fool around in the cockpit?”

“Kendall…” Carter warned. No answer was necessary because my brain had already conjured up a vivid picture of Miss Perfect Teeth with her head underneath the jet steering wheel.
Ugh.

I put up my hand. “It’s fine. We’re both adults. And it’s not like
we’re
fucking or anything.”

“That’s not by my choice, and you know it.”

“Whatever.”

“You’re not being fair here, Kendall. I’ve been honest with you from the day I met you. Would you prefer I lied to you and told you that nothing had happened between us ever?”

“I’d prefer to not
be here
anymore.” I was trying to hurt him, to make him feel the hurt I was feeling. His face told me I’d succeeded.

He leaned in, lowering his face to mine. “Is that what you really want? You want to leave? Then go ahead. I can’t change who I was. I like you Kendall. A lot. Probably a fuck of a lot more than I’m supposed to at this point. But know this. I have no interest in Alexa or any other woman. You want to know why? Because the only woman I have any damn interest in
is you
. So if you can’t even trust me to fly a plane, then there’s no point anyway.”

We stared at each other, neither one of us giving an inch. “I gotta go. I hope you join me. But even if you don’t, nothing is going to change. The life I led wasn’t worthy of a woman like you, and all I can do is try to change going forward. The past is exactly what it is, the past.” And just like that, Carter walked away.

Twenty minutes later, the gate attendant announced final boarding. I was still sitting in the waiting area chairs, unsure what the hell I was going to do next. There was no way I wanted to leave Carter, but staying was only going to make our inevitable goodbye even harder. And if by some miracle we didn’t say goodbye in a few days, could I build something with him knowing he was always on the road? Could I sleep at night wondering who he was keeping company with on those lonely nights of traveling?

The gate attendants flicked off the illuminated destination sign and began to pack up their paperwork. This was it. Now or never. I was scared as shit to keep going, but the thought of never seeing Carter again was even more terrifying. Just as they began to close the jetway door, I yelled, “Wait!” The two women turned back at the same exact second Carter frantically ran through the door.

Screw Dubai and their stupid rules.
I ran to him, and he wrapped me in his arms, holding me tight. “Don’t leave me, Perky.” Then he took my face in both his hands and kissed me passionately.

“I’m sorry. I was stupid. You promised me you wouldn’t judge me and here I was judging you.”

“I’m sorry, too, Perky. Sorry there’s so much in my past
to
judge. Let’s just go forward, alright?”

“Yes. That’s what I want, too.”

“Good. Now lets get the hell out of here before I get you arrested again.” He extended his hand. “Come fly with me, beautiful.”