Chapter 4

FOUR

Huxley

“Storm has passed,” I say as soon as Cora walks into the kitchen.

“Huh?” She asks sleepily, and all I can think is fuck, she’s so adorable.

“The storm passed, and I was thinking… you said that you were bored and didn’t have anything to do. Well, what if you came to Semper Fly with me today? I can take you up for a tour.”

“You don’t have any tours already booked?” She asks me, and I shake my head.

“Not until the New Year.”

She bites on her bottom lip, and I can see her debating it in her head.

“Alright,” she agrees, and it feels like I just won the biggest prize.

She trusts me.

“Great. I’m ready whenever you are.”

“I’ll just go get dressed,” she says, turning and backtracking to her room.

She doesn’t know it, but I put her in the master bedroom. I just couldn’t stand the thought of her living in our house and not being in our bedroom. I’ll tell her soon enough.

She’s back downstairs a few minutes later, and I pass her a bowl as I head for the door.

“Thanks! This stuff is my favorite,” she says as she takes a big bite of the yogurt parfait.

“I know,” I tell her without thinking, and she frowns for a second.

Understanding dawns in her hazel eyes, and I’m sure that she’s figured out just how crazy in love with her I am. Part of me is eager for her to know the truth, for it to be out in the open so that we can both deal with it. I just need one of us to say it out loud, but when she opens her mouth, that’s not what comes out.

“Because the fridge is full of yogurt and fruit, huh? Sorry about that, I won’t buy this stuff in bulk next time.”

“What? No… no, it’s fine,” I say as I lead her over to my truck.

Disappointment hits me, but I push it aside as I help her into the passenger seat and climb behind the wheel. I’m alone with my girl, and we’re going to spend the whole day together. I’ll just have to show her how much she means to me.

It’s a short drive over to Semper Fly, and I park out front. We’re the only ones here, probably because Kip is at home with his girl. It’s quiet as we head inside, and I lead her past our offices and over to the hangar.

“You’re sure that this is safe, right?” Cora asks me as I lead her over to my helicopter.

“Yeah, visibility is good this morning, and the chance of icing is low. We’ll be safe.”

She nods, and I help her into the seat, passing her a pair of headphones so that we’ll be able to hear each other.

“I’m going to do a check, and then we’ll be good to go,” I tell her, and she nods, looking around at all of the buttons while I go to check out the helicopter.

I finish my check and climb inside next to my girl. I slide my own headphones on and look over at Cora.

“Ready?” I ask her, and she nods.

She looks nervous, but also excited as the roof parts, revealing the bright blue sky above us.

“Whoa,” she whispers, and I grin as I start the helicopter, the blades whirring loudly above us.

I clear our flight with the nearest tower, and off we go. I still get the same almost giddy feeling as we take flight. When I first decided to join the military with Kip, I was kind of hoping that we would pick the Air Force. I always liked flying, and I think that if I hadn’t joined the military, I would have become a pilot.

We went into the Marines, though, and I wound up being Kip’s partner. He was a sniper, and I was his scout. I watched his back, just like I did when we were growing up. I can’t say that I regret my choice now. We were trained in so many different things, and I love my life now.

“Whoa!” Cora exclaims as we start to fly over the forest and towards the mountains. “It’s beautiful.”

Her voice sounds tinny in my ears, and I smile over at her as we fly through the crisp winter sky. I point out a few landmarks, giving her the same tour that I do for all of my clients, and by the time we land and climb out of the helicopter, we’re both grinning, high off the thrill of flying.

“That was so much fun! Thanks for taking me.”

“Anytime,” I tell her as I shut down the helicopter, closing the roof and wiping down the windshield of the helicopter.

Cora’s stomach growls and I bite back a smile.

“Hungry? Want to go out to lunch with me?” I ask her, and she nods.

“Sure. What are you hungry for?” She asks.

“I’m good with whatever. What are you in the mood for?”

“How about tacos?”

“Sounds good. Felix’s?”

She nods, and we head out of Semper Fly and over to my truck. I open the passenger door for her and soon enough, we’re on the way toward town to Felix’s taco stand.

We’re here early enough, so we walk right up to the counter to place our order and then take a seat at a booth in the back of the restaurant.

“My New Year’s resolution is going to be to stop coming here so much,” Cora says as she pops a chip and some salsa into her mouth.

“Why?”

“Cause I eat here at least once a week.”

“It’s good,” I agree, and she snorts.

“Too good.”

Our food is dropped off, and we both dig in.

“What about you?” She asks. “What are your New Year’s resolutions?”

“I don’t know if I have any of them. Not yet, anyway.”

“You still have a few days to figure it out.”

“Not many,” I say when I realize that New Year’s Day is in two days.

“Do you usually do resolutions?” She asks me, and I shake my head.

“I think the last time I did it was when I was in middle school. What about you?”

“That’s becoming our catchphrase,” Cora says with a giggle, and I smile. She’s right, we do say that a lot.

“I’m curious about you,” I tell her, and she blushes slightly.

“You shouldn’t be, I’m boring.”

“You could never be boring.”

Her blush darkens, and she clears her throat.

“I try to do resolutions every year. This year, my word was growth, and I just tried to learn a new skill and grow as a person and in my career. I think I did that.”

I nod and watch as she polishes off the last of her taco.

“Want another?” I ask, nodding at the two tacos on my plate.

“No, I’m good. I’m going to eat all of these chips and salsa, though. Fair warning to take more now if you want any.”

I laugh and grab my next taco.

“What other resolutions do you have for next year?” I ask her.

“I’m going to try to lose some weight, make more?—”

“Why?” I interrupt her.

“Why do I want to lose weight?” She asks with a frown.

“Yeah.”

“Well, to…lose weight… I mean, look at me.”

“I am. You look hot.”

Cora’s face flames red hot, and she stares at me in surprise.

“I…” she trails off and never finishes her sentence.

We finish lunch and head back out to my truck to make the drive home.

“Want to watch another movie?” I ask as we head inside.

“I need to do laundry and clean my room. Maybe later?”

“Sure. I’ll be around.”

She smiles and heads back to her room, and I watch her go. Maybe her cleaning up is a good thing. It gives me time to figure out how to show her that we would be perfect together.

Now I just need to figure out how exactly to do that.