“Yes.”
A huge grin spread over Mattie’s face. And if that wasn’t shock enough, Mattie suddenly embraced him, her lithe arms wrapping securely around his neck. Although the McAdamses were demonstrative, Mattie was more likely to affectionately punch one of her brothers on the arm or slap him on his back. This hug, however, was inherently feminine, and its simple sweetness sank into Leo, reaching his core. If she’d slugged him instead, it would have come as less of a shock.
He’d just begun to ease into the gesture when she pulled back. His fingers, which had been slowly unfurling, snapped back against his palms, his blunt nails digging into his calluses. He barely stopped himself from squeezing his eyes shut, as if he could push the unwelcome yearning from his body. But such a reaction would do nothing other than alert the forever-eagle-eyed Vera or Aida to his helpless want.
Mattie cleared her throat, appearing a little unsettled herself. Obviously, she hadn’t planned for the impromptu hug any more than he had. And Leo didn’t want Mattie feeling off balance. So he reached forward and patted her arm. Awkwardly. He thought he heard a truncated snicker from Vera, but when he glanced in her direction, she looked as sober as a military judge at a court-martial, although perhaps a tad too somber. Otherwise ignoring the bemused heiress, he turned his attention back to Mattie and gave her arm another light brush.
It felt odd touching Mattie...and wonderful. It didn’t matter that the pads of his fingers grazed her long-sleeved cotton work shirt instead of flesh or even thatheknew he wasn’t doing this quite right. It felt intimate to him. Given the way Mattie’s eyes widened ever so slightly, the gold hues almost subsuming the blue-green flecks, she understood the significance of the gesture.
Almost terrified by that thought, Leo dropped his hand, as if he’d placed it directly in the path of steam escaping from a boiler. He flexed his fingers, almost feeling the scalding pain.
“Well,” Vera said, breaking the uncomfortable silence weighing down on Leo and Mattie, “I think I will leave you two to figure out how your routine will look. All this talk of maraschinos and flying has made me thirsty for an aviation cocktail.”
Vera whirled around to the rest of the group. “Girls, are you thirsty?”
Ignoring the chorus of responses, Mattie gave Leo one of her wide grins that showed she’d discovered her equilibrium again. “Perhaps we should go somewhere quieter than the practice field? Maybe down by the lake?”
A white beach, blue water, a fairy-tale pink castle...they all spelled romance. He should refuse. But this was Mattie—practical,sensibleMattie. She’d only offered the most logical place. They could even draw loops and maneuvers in the sand. Unlike him, she didn’t harbor secret romantic feelings. If Mattie felt any stirrings of longing, she wouldn’t hide them. She’d act on them. Openly. Honestly. Boldly. Just like she did everything in life.
But heaven help him if Mattie ever did develop a liking for him. Because if she set her sights on him, he doubted he could withstand her fiery assault. He could dodge German Albatroses and their incendiary bullets, but he very much feared that he lacked the skills to outmaneuver a determined Mattie McAdams.
The warble of a loon wafted across the blue water, punctuated by the sharp call of a gull circling overhead in its never-ending quest for food. A more fortunate osprey dived gracefully into the water, reemerging with a silvery fish flopping in its talons. Avian beauty had never failed to entrance Mattie, and she’d always known that she would join the feathered creatures in the sky. But what Mattie hadn’t realized was that it wouldn’t just be physics holding her back but also her gender—especiallyher gender.
“We should zoom toward each other when we begin our competition,” Mattie suggested as she rested her back against a sun-warmed rock. Leaning forward, she drew the maneuver in the sand. It wasn’t a particularly complicated one, but she didn’t like to sit still. Plus, sketching with a stick brought to mind childhood and gave her a blissful reprieve from her worries over her family’s financial troubles.
“Like a mock dogfight?” Leo asked. Unlike her, he sat stiffly in the sand, his shoes still on, as if part of him rebelled at the very notion of unwinding.
Mattie drew two matching circles. “But with more theatrics. I thought we could charge at each other, then flip backward into identical impressive loops.”
Leo leaned forward, the movement stretching his white cable-knit jersey over his shoulder blades. The sight distracted Mattie, and for one mad moment she wondered what would happen if he gave in to the hot summer day and removed his shirt.
Heat that had nothing to do with the overhead sun flooded Mattie. Thankfully, Leo remained oblivious. Instead, he reached for her stick, the gesture hesitant, almost shy. It reminded her keenly of the thin, scrawny adolescent he’d been, so eager to fly but reserved all at the same time. His fingers, warm and calloused, brushed against hers. The slight roughness made her want to shiver. Somehow, she managed to suppressthe shake but not the odd awareness swirling through her like a dust devil over parched land.
Leo cleared his throat, as if he, too, had felt the wild madness and was trying to expel it. He rolled his shoulders before he began scribbling his own pattern in the white sand. “We could try this. It’s something I saw a lot in the war when each pilot was jockeying for the advantage of a higher ceiling. I could come up behind you, like I was about to strafe your tail with bullets. You pull up and loop backward so you’re now the one chasing me.”
For the second time that day Mattie found herself wanting to throw her arms around Leo. She didn’t understand this sudden need to pull him close.
“How about when I am upside down over you, I drop something. A flower or something,” Mattie suggested. “A twist on the man being the one to shower a woman with posies.”
“Red rose petals—not real ones but paper,” Leo said. “They’d show up in the sky. Most will probably just blow away, but the visual effect would still impress.”
“Vera willloveit, especially since red is her signature color.”
Leo groaned. “I hope she won’t want you to dump a bunch of cherries on my head.”
“Just pray they aren’t maraschinos. That would definitely get sticky.”
Leo chuckled, low and faint. The rare sound seemed to seep straight into Mattie’s heart and fill each chamber near to bursting. She hadn’t heard him laugh since Alfred’s death.
“Please don’t give Vera any ideas.” Leo shook his head. “Or you’ll need to figure out a gadget that can mechanically wipe red food dye from my goggles.”
Mattie stretched back against the rock, enjoying both the external and internal heat spreading through her. She wanted to stay here, in this cove, where her old friendship with Leo was magically reemerging like not one but two fabled phoenixes ready to soar together.
“It’s nice.” Mattie dug her hand into the hot sand until her fingers scraped the coolness below. She kept it there, loving the contrast between the two layers, thinking how it brought to mind her personality and Leo’s. One all flame, and one all ice.
“What’s nice?” Leo stretched out his feet ever so slightly.
“Sitting here with you, not arguing.” Mattie tilted her head back and traced one of the fluffy clouds with her eyes. “Working together again after all these years.”
