“Like it? It was…beyond words.”
He tapped the screen of his cell phone. “I think it’s going to be a hit.”
Every musician hoped for a hit.Who knew? Maybe this would be his.
Unfolding a bill from a roll of cash, he slapped a twenty on the table.
She hadn’t seen him use anything but cash.Who didn’t use plastic these days? Maybe he didn’t own a credit card.
“We’re splitting the check.”
The words of his song rattled around in her head, still surging in her heart, lodging deep inside and stirring up warmth.
He smirked. “Not anymore.” He grabbed her wrist. “Come, let’s see about that flight.”
He pulled her from the booth and dragged her outside.
In less than an hour,she found herself strapped inside a helicopter, holding hands with a grinning fool who had paid way too much for the one-hour flight—except the flight they were taking was nothing like the advertisement on the brochure.
Instead of flying over the lakes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the pilot skimmed the valleys and ravines. They found their waterfalls, tumbling sprays that no hiking paths would have ever reached. Water spilled down steep gorges and impossible canyons, casting brilliant rainbows in the fading afternoon light.
She leaned into Ash and hugged the hard muscles of his arm. She would have done more, but the seat harness only allowed so much movement.
The pilot kept flying long past the scheduled hour. After the waterfalls, their aerial guide took them down twisting canyons and over narrow waterways that stole her breath.
He dipped and soared, performing wild maneuvers that had her stomach flipping. Each new turn would bring a squeal of delight. This was all Ash; she was certain. Aerobatics were definitely not a part of the standard package.
And it worked like magic—until the sky began to darken with stormy looking clouds.
“Sir,” the pilot spoke through the headsets, “a storm is coming. We have to cut it short.”
Cut it short? How long had Ash booked the helicopter? The sun was almost ready to set.
Oh, a sunset.
Damn, he was a romantic.
“I understand.” Ash’s voice crackled through the headphones.
The pilot turned the helicopter around, and they landed as the first snowflakes drifted down. The weather report hadn’t mentioned snow.
What would it be like to be snowed into a cabin with Ash? Maybe she’d get a chance to find out.
The pilot helped her out, taking her headset and hanging it on a hook over her seat. “Sorry about cutting it short.”
“No problem.” Her grin stretched the muscles of her cheeks. “That was spectacular.”
Ash hopped out, disentangling himself from his headset and laying it on the seat.
“My buddies aren’t going to believe this,” the pilot said.
Ash gave a quick jerk of his head, and the pilot clamped his mouth shut.
“Thank you,” she said. “But you’ve officially ruined roller-coaster rides for life.”
The pilot puffed his chest out. “Glad you had a good time, miss.”
Skye gave Ash a peck on the lips. “Thank you, too.”
