AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He laughed. “Yeah, it’s a good one.”
Mary Ellen looked at her watch. “Are you keeping an eye on the flight tracker? They should be landing soon.”
“I know.” Cameron switched tabs on his computer, and the flight map appeared, showing that the plane had just landed. “I scrambled to minimize that when you came in.”
She laughed. “Why don’t we go on down to the hangar to meet them. I know you’re dying to see Piper, and I can drag Connor and Lyle away for you.”
“Thanks. Let’s go.”
~ ~ ~
Piper let the steps down and stood aside for Connor and Lyle to exit the plane.
“Ladies first,” said Connor with a smile.
“Thanks, but in this situation, I’m your pilot, not a lady, and it should be passengers first.” She gestured for him to go ahead.
“You can’t deny you’re a lady,” said Lyle. “And we’re hoping that the lady will join us for a drink now we’re back.”
She shook her head. They were good guys, they meant well, but she wouldn’t want to go for a drink in any circumstances, and certainly not in these. “Thanks, but …”
“You can’t say no.” Connor gave her a pleading smile. “You’ll break both our hearts.”
Lyle looked up as the hangar door opened and Cameron appeared with Mary Ellen at his side. Piper’s heart leaped at the sight of him. He didn’t smile. If anything, he looked pissed. “Uh-oh,” said Lyle. “If the choice is a broken heart or busted balls, I think I’ll take the former.”
Connor nodded. “We were only being friendly, wanting to welcome you as a new member to the team.”
Piper frowned. She didn’t think they knew about her and Cameron. They’d agreed that it was probably better not to mention it.
“He can be a bit of a stickler about fraternizing with co-workers,” Connor explained.
“Seriously?” She was so surprised, the question came out before she could stop it.
Lyle laughed. “No, not really. He just doesn’t like it when it causes problems. He’s not a hypocrite. He’s done enough fraternizing himself.”
Piper sucked in a deep breath. Of course, he had. He was a womanizer, and she’d do well to remember it. “Are we going to stand up here all evening, or are you two going to go down the steps and let me close up?” Her tone was sharper than she’d intended, but the thought of Cameron and his female employees had jarred her.
She took her time putting the steps back up and closing up the plane. Cameron and Mary Ellen were talking to Connor and Lyle. She wished they’d all just go inside. When she couldn’t delay any longer, she went to join them.
Mary Ellen smiled at her brightly. “It’s good to see you back. How was it?”
She nodded. “It was good.”
Cameron was looking at her, questioning with his eyes whether she was okay.
She smiled. “We had fun, didn’t we guys?”
Cameron scowled as the other two agreed.
“What’s the news on Gene, Cam?” asked Lyle. “Do we get to keep Piper for longer?”
Piper met his gaze, wondering how he’d answer.
“Gene’s going to be out for a while. It’ll be up to Piper how long she stays.” He raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged. “There’s a lot to figure out, isn’t there?”
“There is,” said Mary Ellen brightly. “And I for one hope that he can persuade you to stay. In fact,” she linked her arm through Connor’s and then through Lyle’s, “I think we should make ourselves scarce and leave Cameron to work on persuading her to stay.”
