Page 58 of Plane Passion

Millie took a deep breath. “We were having a perfectly pleasant conversation about flying, and then he had to go and make a comment about women drivers. And then he made a joke about lady pilots, and I just stormed off. And here we are.”

Beth was silent for a long moment. “You’re right. Men are worthless,” she said at last.

Thank God for Beth! Someone who understood.

“But they have their uses,” Beth continued. “And can you really blame him for parroting what everyone thinks? And it isn’t only men who share his views. Closed-mindedness is a disease of our age. Do you think it would have taken us nearly this long to win suffrage if every woman in the country had joined the cause? But no. It was only a portion of us fighting the good fight. My dear, you are a trailblazer, proving what women can do. They haven’t seen it done before. Is it any wonder the world thinks women can’t fly?”

Beth was right, of course. Turk was hardly unique in his views. In fact, she couldn’t think of a single man aside from Ernie she’d managed to convince of her perspective.

“You’re right, but men are still infuriating.”

“Is Ernie Pritchard infuriating?”

Millie could hear Beth’s grin through the phone.

Ernie was the most infuriating man of all, even if he was coming around to her point of view. Who else could leave her so restless and unsettled? He got under her skin, no question. And God help her, she liked it.

“Yes. Yes, he is.”

Beth laughed. Millie wanted to strangle her.

“And how furious does he make you?”

Clearly, Beth was trying to goad her into admitting something, but the Ernie conversation wasn’t one she wanted to have over the phone. Millie bit her tongue.

“Your silence speaks volumes, my dear. When you come home, we’re going to have a nice long chat about Ernie Pritchard over martinis, and you’re going to tell me everything.”

Clearing her throat, Millie said, “I should go. I have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets. For now.”

“See you Monday.”

“Goodbye.”

Millie pulled the piece of paper with Ernie’s number on it out of her pocket and stared at it. So tempting. So very tempting.

No. She wasn’t going to give into this…this…thing between her and Ernie. Naming it would make it feel too real. Men were worthless. All of them. No exceptions.

She stuffed the paper in her pocket and stormed up to her room. Though she was on another floor, the room was nearly identical to the one she had shared with Ernie. It was impossible not to imagine him in the bed across from her, clad in nothing but his boxer shorts, waiting for her to give in to the inevitable.

If he was here, she would give in yet again. Perhaps it was a blessing temptation had been removed. Mr. Dickson’s punishment for Ernie was her saving grace. She needed to stay focused on breaking the Chicago record.

To escape the fervid images flickering through her mind as she looked at the beds, she hurried to the bathroom and ran herself a bath.

The steaming water leached away the last of the bone-deep cold from her flight, and she lay back and relaxed at last.

Of course, it would have been nice to relax with Ernie. More than nice. She closed her eyes and imagined him kneeling beside the tub, soap in hand, slowly cleaning and massaging every inch of her, starting with her feet, and working his way up. When he reached her head, he washed her hair, fingers moving across her scalp, releasing the last of her tension and sending shivers down her spine, despite the hot water. Then his slick, bubbly hands dipped down to her breasts, and⁠—

No. She was torturing herself. Ernie was a bad habit she had to quit. Fantasizing was only going to make it worse. Best to keep her mind on safer things.

Hell’s Stretch. She traced the route in her mind’s eye, following the landmarks from the maps she’d studied until her eyes ached. Her shoulders tensed, despite the steamy water. So much for relaxing. But she had to be ready. The morning would arrive all too soon.

21

Ernie couldn’t take it anymore. All week he waited, and Millie didn’t call. When he was out on the Boston route, he called home every day, checking for messages. Nothing. He had to see her. And so here he was, driving two hours to get to Heller in the wee hours of the morning on his day off.

Never had he felt like this about another woman. Everyone else paled in comparison. She hooked him the same way flying did. He saw an airplane at a fair and knew that was what he was meant to do with his life. Somehow Millie had uncovered some secret longing within him, and he felt like he could hardly draw breath without thinking of her.