Page 10 of Blue Moon

His words did comfort me. He seemed caring and sweet but looked like the ultimate bad boy with his tattoos and sexy smirk. Was his kindness an act? Or had I really just met my dream man? A gorgeous fighter pilot with a heart of gold had to be too good to be true.

“Okay—so when we go up in the air, I need you to breathe like this.” He took a deep breath. “Hick hick hick. Squeeze your thighs, and flex your legs and abs. Do it with me.”

I’ll be happy to do it with you. Hick, Huck, Fuck.

Damn, where was my mind? Was this a sexual thing or a flying thing? Not that I knew anything about sex or flying. I’d keep my comments and suspicions to myself.

I took a deep breath and squeezed my thighs as tightly as I did in my weekly Pilates class.

“Hick hick hick hick.” I sounded like a moron. I looked at Sawyer, who was doing this effortlessly. My eyes focused on his thighs and abs, and I wonder what he would look like naked. He clearly had remarkable control over his body. I bet he was incredible in bed.

Whatever that meant. I was still a virgin. It wasn’t a religious thing. I just wanted to be in love with the first person I had sex with. True fairy-tale love. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, it was. My college boyfriend had ended up coming out after we broke up. I was so happy for him to embrace his true self, but my joy and support for him didn’t ease my heartbreak. And the other men I’d dated at Stanford had all been so self-involved.

I focused my attention back on Sawyer. Even though he had been sweet to me so far, the presence of his tattoos and his overall confidence screamed cocky. Rough, raw, unrefined. Definitely didn’t look like one of the mild-mannered gentlemen I usually dated. Not that I had any luck dating sweet guys either. Most of them spooked after a date or two once they realized I recorded our entire courtship for my fans to see. Can’t say I blamed them. Dating me was intense.

“Sol, we’re going to be going three Gs. I need you to flex those thighs of yours and take a deep breath. Ready, hit it.”

He’d paused on the word thighs and was checking me out. Or maybe he was just making sure that I was doing the maneuver correctly. Either way, he was so charming right now. With all the lewd comments, dick pics, and creepy DMs I tended to get from randos on Instagram, it was a welcome change of pace.

I obeyed his orders and took another breath. I was going to take this maneuver seriously because I didn’t want to pass out, let alone embarrass myself in front of Sawyer.

After a few more rounds, he finally said I’d practiced enough.

“You ready?”

Nope.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I spoke through clenched teeth.

“You’ll do great.”

He led me out to a room where the other pilots were waiting.

I posed for some pictures for my required posts. This was a dream job—I couldn’t believe I was standing here next to these good-looking men.

Sawyer whispered to me, “Let’s go.”

I wanted to run away. But instead, I took out my phone and did what I was supposed to do.

I recorded a story.

“Hi, guys! We’re going up in the plane right now! Wish me luck.”

Sawyer grabbed my phone. “Hi, everyone. We’re excited to show you what the Blue Angels can do. Stay tuned.”

Wow, he seemed so natural talking to my fans. Maybe he’d be down for doing more stories. I made a mental note to suggest it to him later.

I quickly perused my DM’s, and, sure enough, my fans had heard him say I was beautiful. My messages were filled with questions asking if he was single, if we were going to date, if we had kissed. Poor Sawyer didn’t even know what he had created by that careless statement.

We walked over to the plane, where I took a few more pictures, and then Sawyer helped me into the cockpit. Sawyer caressed the nose of the aircraft, and, for a moment, I was jealous of the beautiful blue steel.

There were two cameras in the plane—one pointed at my face and one facing the back of my head so my fans could experience what I was seeing first hand. As much as I lived my life on camera, this was one experience that I didn’t want broadcast, but I didn’t have a choice.

Sawyer smiled at me from the cockpit. “Ready, Sol?”

“Yup,” I lied.