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“What’s your name?” I asked, feeling the cabin seal.
I popped my ears and looked at her doing the same.
“Piper,” she answered. “Piper Mackenzie.”
Her breathing turned from fast to choppy, as if any second she was about to pass out.
Shit.
“Jonah Jeremiah Crew,” I offered my name back to her.
She couldn’t care in the least.
Her eyes were screwed so tightly shut that I could tell that it was likely paining her.
And, for some stupid fuckin’ reason, I felt the need to comfort her.
I wasn’t sure why.
I shouldn’t even be talking to her.
Yet, I couldn’t stop myself from trying.
“Are you on leave?” I asked curiously.
She licked her lips, and it caused my belly to tighten for altogether different reasons.
“No,” she admitted. “I am officially ex-Army.”
My brows rose.
“Why?” I asked, pushing.
She cracked open one eye and squinted at me.
“Why what?” she asked curiously.
“Why are you ex-Army?” I asked. “You’re young. You have a lot of good years in you.”
She frowned.
“I know that I could’ve stayed longer. Honestly, I only stayed the minimum, but being away from home was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. Plus, I was tired of being shipped off to places that I had no control of.” She frowned. “Why do you care?”
I shrugged.
“I loved the military,” I admitted. “I got to visit the world. Got to do things that I would’ve never been able to do otherwise. Got to meet all kinds of new people, and there was never a dull moment. Honestly, the Air Force was really good to me.”
“Air Force?” she asked.
I nodded.
“The Air Force is shit.”
I snorted at her fiery words.
“If you say so,” I shot right back, feeling the plane picking up speed.
Her eyes, that had both opened when she was listening to me talk, went a little wide.
She started to shut down again, but I reached for her hand like a complete and total dumbass.
Why, I couldn’t tell you.
Honestly, I already had her hand before I’d even made the conscious decision to reach for it.
And before I could take it back away, she curled her fingers around my larger ones like a lifeline.
She bit her lip and tried not to give away too much, but it was no use. I could tell that she was downright terrified.
“Listen, Pip,” I said as I squeezed her hand. “You’re not going to die. They’ve flown in this weather so many times that this is like an average day in the park to them.”
“You don’t know that,” she argued, sounding breathless. “It doesn’t even have to pertain to the weather, us going down. What if the pilot suffered a heart attack, and the co-pilot slipped and fell and hit his head, knocking him unconscious?”
Her hand felt good in mine.
Very good.
She was also nuts and had the imagination of a four-year-old—all creative and far out there.
“I do,” I confirmed. “The pilot and the co-pilot have done this thousands and thousands of times. If they couldn’t fly the plane, I could.”
She swallowed hard.
“What if a freak lightning strike takes out the plane?” she pushed.
“What if we land in Seattle and everything’s a-okay?” I countered right back.
She licked her lips and tried to think of something to say that wasn’t negative. I could practically see her wheels turning.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
I squeezed her hand just a little bit tighter and wondered how the hell I’d gotten myself into this position.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, sounding shaky.
Instead of telling her to fuck off like I would’ve any other person that had asked me that same question this week, I answered her.
I didn’t know if it was the paleness of her cheeks or the way she looked like she needed the distraction.
Whatever the reason, I told her exactly why I was there.
“Had some trouble in my hometown,” I admitted. “Needed to get away for a few days. Decided to help a buddy out and teach a class for him.”
“Where’s your hometown?” she questioned.
“Kilgore, Texas,” I answered, not thinking twice about giving the information to the woman.
It’d taken me a few seconds to place her, but the name ‘Piper Mackenzie’ had struck a memory in me from a long time ago.
“You live in Kilgore?” She paused. “That’s where I’m going, too!”
“I know,” I admitted. “It took me a while, but I finally figured out where I know you from.”
She frowned. “Where?”
“You made quite a name for yourself when you left,” he said. “Plus, you graduated top in your class from high school, then top in your class from boot camp. Your dad was talking you up when that happened. I had to take my motorcycle to him, and he talked my ear off about his girls for an hour.”
Her face flushed. “My dad is proud.”
He was. He more than was.
Her face fell, though, at the mention of her dad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
