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“You betcha,” Jax said easily, grinning, as the entire plane began to taxi forward.
Mary felt a flutter of fear in her chest as they started moving faster, rolling along at a break-neck pace… and suddenly surged smoothly off the ground with zero resistance. The ground was there… and then suddenly there was nothing!
Gaping at how smooth, how effortless this was, she couldn’t help but look out the side windows, marveling at how different it was from flying on a jumbo jet versus this tiny little plane. There was no long taxi, no lumbering down the runway, no turning several times before accelerating hard to lift off… it was like the plane did as Jax directed. He wanted to take off, so they did.
It was that simple.
“Cessna 631, turning southbound… Flyboys, changing to channel nine,” his voice crackled quietly in the speakers, rattling off information.
“Copy that, Ghost. Have a nice flight.”
She watched as he flipped the dial on the tiny radio mounted in the massive dash panel before them full of buttons, dials, and gages.
“… And now it’s just us,” Jax announced easily. “Our escape begins. How are you holding up, Mary?”
“This is incredible…” she admitted, smiling. “It’s so effortless, like a bird soaring, you know? Everything looks so tiny. How high are we?”
“About thirty-five hundred feet. We’ll stay around this range the entire way. Do you want to take some pictures? If you see something and you want a closer view, just let me know and I can have us descend. You are in charge, so just say the word.”
She reached for her purse, tucked between them, to get her phone out, before looking around outside once more. Taking a few photos of the land below, one incredible shot that had a few ponds, the wing, and the horizon in it, she turned to take one of Jax.
He immediately closed one eye and stuck out his tongue, looking in her direction so fast that she burst out laughing at how playful he was. She took the photo – and another one as he started chuckling, grinning at her.
Then, surprising herself – and him – she turned to take a selfie with him.
She saw his eyes widen for a split second before he moved easily to be in the photo right behind her, their headphones bumping and making a clacking sound that had her laughing again. He quickly kissed her cheek, then looked at the plane’s gauges, before turning to smile for the camera again.
“Don’t you need to fly the plane?” she questioned openly.
“We’re good. Take the photo – and I want a copy, please.”
Nodding, she took the photograph… and turned to kiss him quickly, snapping another photo as their lips briefly touched, before sitting up and twisting back around in order to text the two photos to him.
“I want the kissy one too…”
“I already sent it,” she smiled knowingly, feeling a little shy.
“Woman, you can kiss me anytime you want – and I hope you know that. That single sweet kiss just turned my brain to mush.”
“Better not have,” she countered, chuckling. “You’re my pilot.”
“Quit worrying,” he chided easily. “I may have exaggerated slightly, but I can fly this thing with a blindfold on… want to see?”
“No!”
She heard him start laughing softly and saw his endearing smile, realizing he was teasing her. Without another word, he held out his hand to her and she took it easily, wanting the contact and to share this moment with him.
“That’s my girl,” he said softly, watching her with a tenderness that was staggering, and made her almost giddy on the inside as he pulled her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles, before setting their clasped hands on his leg. “Let’s just enjoy these stolen moments while we can.”
A few hours and several photographs later, she saw the ocean and felt herself light up intensely. She had never been to the ocean, and this was going to be a first for her.
“Alright, we are here…”
“Where?” she stared, looking for a runway and feeling confused. Being a pilot was not something she was cut out for if she couldn’t see a runway in front of them, but Jax was descending like he meant business.
“Jax? Jax… where’s the runway?”
“It’s a grass one… and we are fine. My friend owns this land. Ace purchased the property for this reason alone. He’s planning on building a house nearby someday, and…” she felt the wheels touch the ground and braced herself for a bumpy landing – only to be pleasantly surprised. “We’re down. See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
