Fly With Me (Wild Aces #1)(38)

“Jordan—”

“No. I love you, but I’m done with this conversation. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a guy. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever been this excited about a guy. So while I appreciate that you love me and are just worried about me, I’m not going to get into this. My relationship with Noah is private.”

She gave me the disappointed look again, one I’d seen over and over again throughout my childhood. I knew my parents loved me and I felt the same way about them, but it wasn’t lost on me that I was definitely the “difficult child,” the one who never seemed to play by the rules they wanted me to follow.

She stood there for a second, as though she were warring with herself to say more, and then she simply nodded, gave me another hug, and said good-bye.

If only the fears she’d planted in my head left as easily as she did.



NOAH

“Hey, beautiful.”

I heard the smile in Jordan’s voice through the phone. “Hi, handsome.”

I leaned back against the headboard, stifling a yawn as I looked over at the clock. It was fairly early here—just after 8 p.m.—but a week of early show times had caught up with me, and considering the fact that I had to wake up at three tomorrow morning, I was ready for bed.

“How was your day?” I asked, settling into our nightly routine.

I’d called her every day for the past two weeks. Sometimes we talked for only a few minutes, but we filled each other in on what had happened during the day. She talked about her store; I mentioned things I was worried about at the squadron, talked about the pilot upgrades I was in charge of overseeing right now. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as having her physically here, but it helped me to feel connected to her, even when she was so far away.

It was quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the day, even though the distance made it tough at times.

“It was good,” Jordan answered. “Busy. We’re definitely still getting some of the spring break crowd. We’ve already hit our March sales targets and we’re only halfway through the month.”

“That’s awesome, babe. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you still okay to come out this Friday?”

It had been two weeks since her last visit and I was already dying to see her. I’d never had a great experience with long distance in the past, and I didn’t know what it was about her, but if anything, the time apart had brought us closer. Maybe it was the phone calls. When your relationship was reduced to talking on the phone, you got to know each other in a way that had nothing to do with sexual attraction. We still had phone sex—and an unforgettable video chat—but the bulk of our time was spent learning each other’s personalities and quirks. Talking on the phone stripped away the distractions, making it easier to just concentrate on each other.

“Yeah, I am. I’m excited to see you.”

“Me, too,” I replied. “I’m sorry I can’t pick you up. I tried to move this guy’s IPUG cert but there was no way to make it work in the schedule and we really need to get him through before we go TDY to Alaska. I’ll try to duck out of work early, though, so we can spend some time together.”

“IPUG? TDY?”

I grinned. I was quickly becoming her little Air Force dictionary.

“Instructor upgrade. If he passes this ride, he’ll be qualified as an instructor pilot in the F-16. And, uh, TDY is a temporary duty assignment. Kind of like a civilian business trip.”

Except our training usually involved blowing shit up.

“Do you think he’ll pass?”

“He was a strong flight lead, and he’s only hooked a couple rides in the IPUG, so yeah, I think he’ll be good. The debrief will take a while, though. Are you sure you don’t want me to see if I can get someone else to pick you up from the airport? Easy’s probably free.”

“It’s cool. I’ll just take a cab and meet you at home.”

Silence filled the line as her last words settled between us.

I was surprised at how much I liked the way she described my place as “home.” It had always just felt like a house—an investment opportunity that I’d probably rent out when I got my next assignment. The idea of her there made it feel like home.

“I meant your house,” she sputtered.

“I liked it the first way better,” I answered softly.

More silence.

If these past two weeks had taught me anything, it was that there was so much more to my interest in her than just the physical. In a way, the distance was a blessing of sorts. It sucked, but it highlighted the parts of our relationship that were easy to miss when you were in a constant state of arousal. Not being able to have her when I wanted had taught me to appreciate the other parts of her—being able to talk to her after a long day, telling her about frustrations at work, listening to her talk about her dreams and plans for the store.

“There’s a squadron function at the O-Club on Friday. Do you want to go?”

“O-Club?”

“Officers’ Club. The squadron will be there and families will come out, too. No kids, but there should be a lot of wives there.”

Everyone at work had heard about the girl I’d met in Vegas, and thanks to Easy being Easy, Jordan was kind of a legend among the guys. He’d finally stopped when I’d told him to f*ck off after he’d described her as being “stacked like a centerfold.” I hadn’t shared that particular tidbit with Jordan considering it hadn’t escaped my notice that he wasn’t her favorite person.