The Pairing (The Proposition #3)(57)

“All right. I’ll keep my hands to myself…for now.”

A shudder went through her at his words. At that moment if there was any way possible to actually fly the plane and bang him, she would have tried. Shaking her head, she tried ridding herself of her inappropriate thoughts.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a dark blip far down on the horizon.

Pesh leaned forward in his seat, peering out the windshield. “Looks like a storm cloud moving in.”

“We should head back then.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think it’s going to affect us.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like the thought of trying to fly in a storm.”

“Then we’ll head back.”

“Which way should I turn the plane?”

“Let’s take a right,” Pesh replied.

Megan bobbed her head and then turned the yoke at the same time she pressed on the right rudder pedal with her foot.

“Good. Keep it coming. We’re almost turned around.” Once they were facing the opposite direction, Pesh said, “Now let’s bring up the speed.”

She did as she was told and waited for him to give her any further instructions. “We’re good to go now. When we’re about ten minutes out from McCollum, you need to let the ATC know we’re coming in.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“Do you have plans for this evening?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

She nibbled on her bottom lip to keep from laughing at his formalness. “I suppose so. Do I get dessert afterwards?”

His body tensed beside her. “Are you implying that I’m dessert, or that after we finish dinner I should get you dessert?”

Megan laughed. “No, I want you for dessert.”

“Then you can have me. Always.”

Glancing over at him, she said, “I might have to ask for a to-go box since I’m assuming we’ll have Mason with us.”

“I don’t mind. I enjoy spending time with him.”

Megan couldn’t keep the smile off her face at Pesh’s words. “He really likes being with you, too. I’ve never seen him warm up to a stranger as much as he has to you.”

“I’m a likeable guy,” he teased.

“Yeah, you are,” she murmured, trying not to let the out-of-control fluttering of her heart make her think more than she should about him.

Pesh interrupted her thoughts by motioning to the controls. “Go ahead and start doing your landing checks.”

Megan vaguely remembered what knobs and meters she had looked at before they took off. Once she got through the landing checks with Pesh’s help, they were getting closer to McCollum. “Now radio ATC.”

“Um, okay,” Megan replied, nibbling on her lip. After clearing his throat, Megan glanced over at Pesh. He motioned to the yoke. “Oh, duh,” she replied. With her thumb, she pressed the push-to-talk button. “This is Cessna 172 coming in for landing.”

Before she could ask Pesh if she had done it right, he relayed a different message over his push-to-talk. The ATC’s response crackled over her headset. “Cessna 172, this is ground control confirming you are clear to land.”

“Now push on the yoke to start the descent,” Pesh instructed.

After she did what she was told, her eyes locked on the speedometer. “Should we be picking up this much speed?”

“Yes and no,” Pesh replied.

“What the hell does that mean?” she asked, jerking her wild gaze to his.

He chuckled. “See the black knob there labeled ‘throttle’?”

“Yeah.”

“Look at it this way. You know when you’re in a car and you’re going downhill, you pick up speed?” Megan nodded. “It’s the same thing in a plane. But if you pull on the throttle knob, it reduces the engine power so there won’t be an increase in speed.”

With her fingers grasping the black knob, Megan asked, “How hard do I need to pull on it?”

“Try pulling back half-way.”

After pulling on the knob, Megan eyed the speed. “We’re slowing down.”

“Good.”

“Are we at ninety knots?”

Megan glanced down. “Yeah.”

“Okay, then lower the nose just a little bit. That will give us a glide-path or a controlled descent.”

Megan eased on the steering wheel until the nose of the plane dipped below the horizon.

“Now put the landing gear in the down position,” Pesh instructed.

“Is that the button with the little tire on it?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

Megan pressed it. “Got it.”

“Using the steering wheel, roll the wings a little to the right, so we’re lined back up with the runway.”

Megan turned the steering wheel to the right a little too abruptly. “Oops,” she replied.

“It’s okay. Just level it out. You always want your runway target spot to stay in the same fixed spot on the windshield.”

As Megan stared ahead, she realized how close they were getting to the runway, and in turn, the ground. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure if she could land the plane. It was one thing taking off, but it seemed like there was so much more that could go wrong when landing. “U-Uh, P-Pesh,” she stammered.