“Wanna give her some power?” he said.
She licked her lips. “Which way do I push the thingie?”
“My thingie, orthethingie?”
“That date isn’t until after I see your catapult,Captain. And even then, I’m not making any promises about touchingyourthingie.”
“We both know you won’t be able to keep your hands off.” His skin brushed hers while she breathed in the scent of shampoo and coffee.
The man was right.
He’d have to beat her off with a stick.
“This one,” he said. “Push the throttle up.”
Kaci thumbed the controller forward, but her hands wobbled.
He was so close. So relaxed. So confident.
“There you go,” he said. “Just like that.”
The white dashed lines on the TV screen sped by faster until, suddenly, they drifted lower. “Oh!”
“You’re flying,” he said.
Her heart was still pounding, but he was right.
She was flying.
A click sounded on the screen. “What was that? Did the wing fall off?”
“I put the landing gear up.”
“Oh. Right.” To minimize drag. She stared at the screen, watching the view of the land below shift and change. Trees faded into little green specks, and the horizon changed with a dark mass rising up before them. “What’s that? What’s going on?”
“Thunderstorm. We can go around it. You’re going to lift your right aileron—no, the aileron?—”
The plane suddenly pitched forward, and she saw the ground coming to meet them. “Oh, sweet Jesus, we’re gonna die!”
“No, we’re—yep. Yep, we died.”
Orange flames overtook the screen.
She tossed her controller down and stood. “Well, that was fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime never.”
“Kaci.”
Shivers tickled her spine.
He sounded so much older when he said her name that way.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said. “But it’s not working.”
“It won’t if you don’t give it a chance.”
“I’m giving it a chance.”
He didn’t contradict her or try to stop her. Instead, he lounged deeper into his couch. “Why are you so afraid to fly?”
