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“Brynn, fuck,” I groan, burying myself in deep as I fall apart.

The turbulence dies down as we both try to catch our breaths and come down from the high of how fucking good that felt.

We stay like that, pressed together, breathing hard, nothing else on our minds but this. Then slowly reality starts to trickle back in, and I think about how long we’ve been in here. I carefully pull out of her, feeling the loss of the warmth and wetness of her body. I deal with the condom, and then turn Brynn around to face me.

She still looks a little hazy, but when I smile at her, she smiles back.

“Let’s get you put back together so we can get out of here,” I tell her. Together we put her appearance back to rights, smoothing down the mess of her hair and straightening her clothes.

I let my hands linger on her body as I do, feeling the soft warmth of her and soaking it up.

“Good as new,” she murmurs.

I can’t help but give in to the urge to kiss her right then and there. It’s hungry and deep, and my hands come up to cup her face. When I pull back, I drag my knuckles slowly down her cheek.

“My seat number is always going to be my lucky number after today.”

That makes her smile even wider, and she just looks flushed and sated and beautiful.

I’m about to suggest that we take turns leaving so it’s less suspicious, when the PA crackles to life.

“This is your captain speaking,” the pilot says. There’s a tension in his voice that cuts right through the warm haze of the moment. “Unfortunately, we’re having an issue with the aircraft, and we’re going to need to make an emergency landing. We won’t be able to make it to our final destination. So if everyone could return to their seats immediately to prepare for landing, we can get this thing on the ground. Thanks.”

5

BRYNN

The soft, hungry expression on Tate’s face shifts, and my heart lurches right along with it. All the warm, sated contentment bleeds right out of me, leaving behind cold dread and a shiver of terror. I had all but forgotten about my fear of flying, but it all comes rushing back on the heels of that announcement.

Any thoughts of sneaking back to our seats fly right out of my head, and we both leave quickly, rushing back to buckle ourselves in.

The pilot comes back over the speaker, but the only thing I process from what he says is that we’ll be making our landing in Ridgeview, Ohio. I have no idea where that is, or how far it is from Hope Falls, but none of that matters right now.

My heart is racing so fast it can’t be healthy, and my mind spirals with all kinds of ideas about what could be wrong. There’s an engine on fire. Someone’s hijacked the plane. We don’t have enough fuel and are racing against time before we drop right out of the sky. Each scenario is more elaborate and intense than the last, but with no idea what’s happening, my mind can’t help but try to fill in the blanks.

I realize I’m starting to hyperventilate a little and force myself to slow down and stop thinking so much. I tap out a rhythm on my thigh, counting slowly in my head. I force my breathing to match the pace, taking full breaths and letting them out before going on.

It helps a little, giving me something else to focus on, but there’s still so much commotion around us. Somewhere in the back, a baby is crying, and I can hear another parent trying to reassure their scared kid that everything is going to be okay.

“We’ll just get another flight to Grandma’s,” he says softly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

He’s definitely not talking to me, but I try to internalize the message all the same.

Everyone is buckled in tight and their faces are pale and drawn. Tate looks more serious than I’ve seen him since he sat down next to me, his hand clenched tight around the armrest.

He looks over at me when he feels me watching and tries to give me a smile. It’s nowhere near as bright and charming as it was before, but it does help a little to see him try.

“We’re going to be okay,” he says. His voice is low and insistent, and he holds my gaze until I swallow hard and nod.

“Yeah,” I make myself say back. “Yeah, it’s going to be fine.” I can’t help the way anxiety swims in my gut, making it hard to breathe normally. I open my mouth to say something else, wishing there was a nice, concise way to tell him that if something did happen to us and the plane drops out of the sky or crashes onto the tarmac in a fiery heap, I’m glad to have met him. Glad that we had that moment together before everything went to hell. But it’s too big a statement, and I don’t want to say anything about not making it out loud. So I just settle for a soft, “Thank you.”

He nods back and we both take deep breaths, bracing for landing.

It’s rough, but not as bad as it could be, all things considered. Anxiety, adrenaline, and the lingering remains of pleasure from before buzz through my body, and it’s a cocktail that makes me a bit nauseous.

The plane tires hit the ground hard, and there’s a noise like a screech that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. I force myself to keep my eyes forward, not looking out the window to see if there are flames or smoke or anything like that.

The plane is still going too fast, so I close my eyes, breathing shallowly. But in the end, we make it. We slow down to a stop, and everyone and everything seems to be in one piece.