“In you get.”
Annabelle climbed into the seat and tried to breathe. Why had she agreed to this? Her lungs had seized and fear was clawing at her throat. As Ethan strapped her in, she tried to think rationally. Surely he wouldn’t put her in danger; after all, he flew in this metal death trap all the time.
“You can talk to me and I’ll hear your words, okay?”
She nodded as he fitted a set of headphones over her ears. He then jogged around the front and climbed into his seat. He fastened himself in, then pulled on his headset, and suddenly she panicked. It robbed her of rational thought and had her reaching for the headset.
“I can’t do this!”
He stopped her by grabbing her hands, caging hers inside his, gripping them hard enough so that she was forced to look at him.
“Yes, you can. The brave, strong woman I’ve come to know can do anything, and this, flying in a harmless helicopter, will be something you’ll enjoy if you let yourself. Annabelle, you need to trust me on this.”
“I-I don’t think I can.” She was totally undone, fear making her pathetic, and it was because of her weakness that he was able to lean over and lay a soft kiss on her lips before she could react.
“Hey!” She swung at him as he released her hands, but he was out of her reach.
“That’ll give you something else to think about.”
It did, for about 2.5 seconds. The feel of his lips pressed to hers had produced an instant flare of heat, but now it was gone and the panic was back. Clenching her eyes shut, she pressed her hands over them and prayed that the inside of her eyelids was not the last thing she would ever see. She should have caught the bus, but no, she’d allowed Ethan to provoke her into flying with him.
In minutes, she heard the whomp-whomp of the blades and they were rising.
“Mother of God, I’m going to die.”
He laughed softly into her headset. “Open your eyes for me, honey. Come on, you have to see this.”
Annabelle felt his hand touch hers.
“Pl-please keep your hands on the wheel.”
“Collective pitch lever,” he corrected her.
“I’m about to die and you’re correcting me on the correct labels for your instruments?”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were talking about my instruments,” he said, laughter in his voice. “I have other names for them.”
“You’re such a dickhead,” she muttered as she opened her fingers and looked through them, then slowly dropped them to her lap as he started talking, pointing out landmarks.
“Wow!” she said as they flew over the stunning landscape. Her heart was still thumping in her chest and her palms were sweaty where they now gripped the edges of the seat, but she couldn’t take her eyes off what was before her.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
Annabelle couldn’t take it all in. She saw sparkling expanses of water and huge towering trees. Land rolled into hills and dipped into valleys. It was spectacular, amazing, and she could feel her smile getting wider with each new sight.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, Ethan. It’s amazing.”
“Maybe now when I tell you to trust me you should give it a shot.”
“Is that Tillerby Lodge?” Annabelle saw a long, low building to her left. It sat close to a lake, surrounded by trees, with a mountain at its back.
“It is, and I think you can relax your fingers now before you lose the circulation.”
“Ooooh!” Annabelle squealed like a small child as he circled lower for her to take a closer look. She saw horses running across the pastures, and then she found a person. Whoever it was raised their hands high, and she waved back.
“It’s like…like—”
“Flying,” Ethan inserted.
