He, naturally, seemed completely unperturbed by her presence, or anything else, for that matter, sitting square in his seat, face forward, head back against the headrest. He looked as if he might even be enjoying a little nap.
But she knew better.
Or did she? Had she ever been sure what was going on behind those deep, all-seeing eyes?
Air controllers at Davao City airport have cleared us for takeoff. If you-all wanna fasten your seat belts, well be getting underway in a few minutes, she announced in her this-is-your-captain-speaking voice, pausing to check that the two mens bags had been properly stowed in their compartments. We should be in Zamboanga in about an hour and fifteen minutes. She threw Tony Whitehall a smile and a wink.
She didnt look at Cory, but to her great annoyance, felt a distinct prickling sensation between her shoulder blades as she continued up the sloping aisle to the cockpit, an awareness of eyes watching her with unfathomable intensity
From his seat Cory could see clearly through the open cockpit door. He watched as she ran through her preflight checklist, and try as he would to deny it, felt a little burr of admiration, even pride, begin to hum beneath his breastbone. Hed never flown with Sam at the controls before.
The baseball cap had been replaced by a bulky set of white headphones that left her sun-streaked hair in the kind of sweaty disarray hed always found particularly sexy. Sexy even now, cut short like this, shorter than hed ever seen her wear it. Her strong hands and long-boned fingers moved nimbly over the complicated array of dials and switches in a way that brought back vividly the no-nonsense, straight-ahead way shed always had about her, even when theyd made love. The way shed had of touching him that was uniquely hers, without shyness or hesitation, with a certain bold edge and a hintjust a hint of wickedness.
And it was that more than anything, he thought, that had ignited the fires in his blood back then. Maybe that part of her had connected with the secret danger-lover and thrill-seeker within him, like two live wires touching
Come off it, Pearse. Its over. It was over long ago.
One after the other, the twin engines fired with a deep-pitched growling sound that hummed in his bones and put him in mind of old black-and-white war movies, or something hed watch on the History Channel. The plane sat vibrating in place while the engine rpms climbed and the growling changed in pitch and intensity. Then it slowly began to move forward.
Cory felt his own pulse pick up speed as he watched the hands that had once stroked him to feverish arousal skillfully manipulate the throttles while she steered the plane in a tight right turn onto the runway, then tight left to straighten out. He saw her reach down with one hand to lock the tail wheel in place. The growling sound continued to grow in volume and intensity and he could feel the vibrating now in his belly as the plane began to accelerate down the runway.
Cory felt his own pulse pick up speed as he watched the hands that had once stroked him to feverish arousal skillfully manipulate the throttles while she steered the plane in a tight right turn onto the runway, then tight left to straighten out. He saw her reach down with one hand to lock the tail wheel in place. The growling sound continued to grow in volume and intensity and he could feel the vibrating now in his belly as the plane began to accelerate down the runway.
Tearing his eyes away from the open cockpit door, he glanced over at Tony, who looked back at him and hummed the first few bars of Off We Go, into the Wild Blue Yonder, grinning like a madman. He felt his stomach drop and his body press heavy into his seat, and he jerked his gaze to the window in time to watch the scorched grass and palm trees and tin-roofed buildings drop away under him.
Hot damn, said Tony with a gleeful chortle.
Cory didnt reply. He leaned forward to stare through the window as Davao City came into view, slowly spreading out below him, with the glittering blue of the water beyond. His stomach dropped and the earth tilted as the plane banked sharply, and when it slowly rotated back into position, he could see Mount Apo draped in haze on the horizon.
And still the plane climbed steadily, the deep growling of its powerful twin engines creeping into his bones and invading his brain until he almost felt as if he were a part of the plane himself, as if he were the one laboring skyward with the sun in his face and the wind solid beneath his wings. He felt a soaring, lifting inside himself, too, to think of the woman hed held soft and naked and trembling in his arms, in control of such awesome power.
He found the notion damned excitinga pure turn-on, in fact. Which surprised and unnerved him more than a little.
When he felt the plane level out and the engine growl ease off to a steady purr, Cory unbuckled his seat belt. He got a look from Tony when he got up and stepped into the aisle, but something Tony saw in Corys face must have warned him, because whatever it was hed been about to say never got said.
Sam glanced back at him as he stepped through the radio operators compartment, lips curving in a smug little Sammi June smile he remembered well. He couldnt see her eyes because of her sunglasses. He wished he could have seen them, though he wasnt sure why. Was he remembering the way theyd once lit up at the sight of him, wondering if the glasses were hiding that same glow now?
Wishful thinking, he told himself.
She tilted her head toward the right-hand seat. Hey, Pearse-have a seat.
He eased past the controls and settled himself gingerly, his fascinated gaze sliding over the bewildering array of gauges and levers and dials to the view through the wide rectangular windshield. Wow, he said.
Sam said lightly, I guess this is a first. She threw him a smile. Youve never flown with me before.
With you at the controls, you mean. No, he said, gazing once more at the hazy horizon, remembering other times when shed seemed unknowingly to echo his thoughts. I guess not.
There was a pause before she asked, with a slight edge of impatience, Well, what do you think?
He hedged, naturally, since there wasnt any way he could have told her the truth. Which was that hed lost the ability to think the moment hed set eyes on her, standing there beside the old World War Two airplane, wearing the arrogance that had always captivated him so, that was like her very own signature perfume.
In that first moment, the years since hed last seen her had evaporated and it was as if shed never been gone from his life or his mind, not for an instant. It was all there, in total recall-her face, her body, her voice, her laughthe way her skin felt, its texture and heatits softness and its tiny imperfectionsthe freckles, the way she smelled, the way her hands felt touching himthe way she tasted.
Of the airplane, he dryly asked, or you?
She laughed, that husky chortle hed always liked. The plane, of course. Once again her smile quirked sideways. Me being a pilot isnt exactly news.
I never had a problem with you being a pilot. You know that.
Yeah, right.
He shifted in his seat and changed the timbre of his voice, the way driving a car he might have shifted gears to gain traction through a muddy patch. Somehow I never would have pictured you flying World War Two prop planes for a dumpy little back-water charter outfit in the Philippines, though. The last I heard, you were crewing on passenger jets to China. How in the hell did you wind up here? He let go of an incredulous huff of laughter. Im still trying to get my mind around the coincidence of that.
She shrugged and said lightly, Long story, as she reached to tap some dials and gauges, an activity that, as far as Cory could tell, produced no changes whatsoever in the planes behavior.
Weve got time.
Sam felt herself tensing up; she couldnt help it. It was the calm, almost gentle way he said it that got to her-hadnt it always?
As the old resentment flared, she fought the urge to glare at him, kept her eyes fixed on the horizon and said sweetly, I dont know, I guess it must have been my childish lust for adventure. Isnt that what you called it?
And she couldnt help the little glow of satisfaction she got from the silence that followed, even though voices were hissing and moaning in dismay in the back of her mind. Ooh, what did you wanna go and say that for, Samantha June? You dont wanna dredge up all that old stuff again. Thats water under the bridge, honey-childyou should just leave it be.
She could feel his eyes on her again, that quiet, steady gaze that made her squirm because it seemed it must see right inside her.
You could have warned me, he said mildly.
Now she looked at him, her lips curving in an evil grin. Deprive myself of the look on your face when you saw who your pilot was? No way.
He chuckled and shook his head, and his eyes found hers even through the shielding lenses of her sunglasses. Same old Sammi June. Always got to be on top.
Something thumped hard in her belly. She kept the smile, but it no longer felt like part of her face. More like the clay mask again. You used to like that about me.
He held her eyes for a long, intense, awful moment, then eased his shoulders back in the copilots seat and exhaled, sounding weary. I used to like a lot of things about you, Sam.
Damn you, Pearse. Damn Will, too, for requesting me for this assignment. And damn me for being stupid-no, arrogant-enough to think I could handle it. What was I thinking?
What were you thinking, Sam? How about that youre a highly trained professional, with the skills and guts it takes to do this job?
So, do it already. Focus, Sam. Do your job. So you had an affair with the man once upon a time. Forget it.
An affair. She cringed at the word. It made the whole thing with Cory soundfrivolous. Fleeting. Bittersweet and nostalgic-rather old-fashioned, really. Like something youd read about in an old diary.
But it wasnt just an affair, dammit. I loved you, Cory Pearson. You were the love of my life. And you broke my heart. No-you tore out my heart, tore it into itty-bitty pieces and stomped them in the dirt! God, how I hate you for that.