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During the next twenty minutes, he taught her how to go through the checklist, and then he showed her how to start the plane. She hung on every word he spoke, and Ace was glad he was the one teaching her how to fly.
The thought of her in this plane with some other guy sent feelings through him he didn’t want to analyze. He was already beginning to think of this woman as his. It was a frightening thought, so he pushed it to the back of his mind and refused to focus on it.
They taxied out to the runway, and Ace spoke to her through her headphones. “Even when I’m the one holding the controls, make sure you follow along so you can feel how I’m maneuvering the aircraft. This will build positive muscle memory and lead to good habits from the beginning.”
“Got it,” she told him as the plane revved up. They got clearance for departure, and Ace pushed in the throttle and gazed straight ahead. He could feel Dakota next to him as she held her controls and looked through the front and side windows. She was loving every moment of her time in the plane.
They climbed easily into the clear blue sky. Ace was able to let go of his raging desire for a while as he instructed her on the basic motions of flying. She was a fast learner, and he knew she’d be doing her first solo flight by the time she had ten hours logged. He was almost bummed about that.
“You don’t want to rely too heavily on your flight instruments. You are training to become a pilot under the Visual Flight Rules, or VFR, so that means the majority of time you’re flying, you need to be looking outside the plane. A lot of students rely too heavily on the instruments, and if something goes wrong, they don’t respond quickly enough,” Ace told her.
“The view is better outside the windows anyway,” she told him.
He decided not to take offense to that. He knew what it was like to fly—when first learning, a trainee can be so in love with every aspect of flying, it feels like no one else exists.
“Exactly. There’s no need to look at the artificial horizon on your panel when you can glance out the window and see the real thing. Of course, your instruments are needed and incredibly helpful, but they are there to validate what you are already seeing. The FAA recommends that pilots’ attention be outside the cockpit ninety percent of the time.”
Ace could see that Dakota was getting too relaxed simply being a passenger. He couldn’t allow that to happen. She was born to be a pilot, not a passenger.
“Take over,” he told her, removing his hands from the yoke.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her fingers gripping the control wheel, her knuckles turning white.
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bsp; “You have to learn by doing,” he assured her. He didn’t tell her he could take over at a moment’s notice. He needed her to believe in herself. He leaned back, his hands going behind his head in a relaxed gesture.
Her eyes flashed to his before they quickly darted forward again. She held on to the stick tightly. She was keeping them perfectly level. He was impressed.
“I want you to bank left,” he told her.
“I can’t,” she said, the plane not veering an inch from its forward trajectory.
“You can do it, Dakota,” he said calmly.
He felt a shudder pass through her body as she tensed even more, but then she took in a deep cleansing breath, and the plane began turning left. Ace had a difficult time taking his eyes from her beaming face as she learned what it felt like to make a plane do exactly what she wanted it to do.
“I’m doing it!” Her excited voice through his headset was music to his ears.
“You’re doing a hell of a job,” he confirmed. “I want you to go in a 360-degree circle now.”
This time she didn’t argue with him. She made a much wider turn than needed, but as they made it around into a full circle, he knew she officially had the flying bug. She would never go back to feeling the same way about the ground again. Ace really liked that he had been instrumental in Dakota’s first hands-on flight.
They stayed in the sky for about two hours, and still, Dakota pouted when it was time to come back down to the ground. He let her descend then laughed when they missed the runway—twice.
He finally had mercy on her and took over the controls, bringing them in for a smooth landing. When they got back to the hangar and Ace stopped the plane, he turned to her and said, “Good job.”
The beaming smile she gave him took both his breath and his words away.
“You are so stunning,” he said, utter awe filling him.
“Thank you,” she said, though he knew she wasn’t talking about the compliment he’d just given her, but about the experience they’d just shared together. She was on such a high, better than any drug. There was nothing that compared to your first time flying.
Dakota launched herself across the tiny space between them, her arms circling his neck as she clung tightly to him. She thanked him over and over again. Ace didn’t hesitate as he put his arms around her and squeezed.
Her scent was enfolding him, and he wanted to be somewhere a hell of a lot more private than a public hangar. Dakota pulled back, and then her lips were only inches away from his. He wasn’t going to resist the temptation of her sweet mouth. Not giving her a chance to protest, he gripped the back of her neck and pulled her to him, his mouth covering hers in sweet, sweet relief.
Dakota gasped into his mouth, her lips opening to his hungry tongue. Then, like she did with everything in life, she embraced him with hunger and excitement. Her fingers dived into his hair as she pressed more tightly against him and kissed him back with as much hunger as he felt.
