Page 14 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

JANNA

I couldn’t stop the thrill of excitement that tore through me.

I loved the excitement. The flight had been good.

Easy. Even a little boring. I had seen the storm clouds.

I wasn’t quite as naive as Dalton seemed to think I was.

Alaska and storms went hand in hand. I was used to crosswinds and drastic temperature changes.

While thunderstorms happened in Alaska, it was typically the snow and hail that gave us problems. I knew thunderstorms were part of the package.

And as a pilot, I needed to know how to deal with them.

Laser was in my ear giving me updates. Yes, the storm was coming in fast but it wasn’t all that bad. I had definitely flown through worse. I felt the thunder more than I heard it.

“Three o’clock,” Dalton said.

“What?”

Before he answered, he talked into the comms and let Laser know there was smoke.

I immediately scanned the area to see what he saw.

And then I did. It was just a slim tendril of white.

I probably would have missed it. My focus was on the horizon and making sure I didn’t fly directly into the storm and get us electrocuted.

But I supposed that was why Dalton was one of the best. It was easy to miss the soft haze that looked like gauzy cotton being stretched out. It could have been a low cloud hovering near the treetops, but it wasn’t. I hated that I probably would have missed it.

Dammit. I wanted to impress Dalton and I missed my chance. But I couldn’t dwell on it. I needed to make sure I didn’t miss anything else. I carefully banked away from clouds while I scanned the area below.

I listened to the clipped words between Laser and Dalton through the headset.

It was pretty cool how they seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking.

They weren’t even talking in full sentences.

It was more like words with no verbs or connecting words.

I didn’t interrupt and just kept on my path back to the airfield.

I would wait for Dalton to tell me what to do.

It was not the time for bullshit. I got that.

“Alright,” Dalton said and for some reason I knew he was talking to me. Maybe it was the tone or maybe the odd sense of calmness in his voice. “We’ve got a fire. Do you see the smoke?”

“I do.”

“Head toward it and drop a thousand feet. Let’s get eyes on that blaze. We’re going to mark coordinates. We need to note hazards and accessibility. We know there aren’t any structures but we’re going to call in high-priority areas.”

I nodded before remembering he couldn’t see me. “Copy.”

I turned the plane and aimed the nose at the smoke that was already thinning in the wind.

If Dalton hadn’t seen it, it could have burned for days before anyone saw it.

The dude was good. I dropped us down fast but clean, easing into a controlled dive that flattened out as the smoke rose in thin spirals.

Even as we closed in on the area, the smoke tendrils widened and darkened. It was picking up fast.

I knew the area was dry. I had done my research on the snowpack in the area and read everything from the so-called experts.

Everyone had their own opinions and predictions.

But the last three years had been relatively dry and I knew there had been almost no mitigation, which was a disaster waiting to happen.

Was I staring at the beginning of the disaster?

A shiver of fear coiled low in my belly. I didn’t want that. Yes, I wanted to fly and pinpoint fires, but I didn’t actually want there to be fires. I supposed it was like becoming a doctor. You wanted to fix people but you didn’t actually want people to be sick or hurt.

“How are you in storms?” Dalton asked calmly.

I snorted. “Have you ever been to Alaska?” I replied. I couldn’t resist the snark. The situation felt too serious for a minute there. If I started being all malleable and meek, he would think something was wrong. I didn’t want him to think I was freaking out. So, there had to be some sarcasm.

“No.” His clipped reply almost made me laugh. Why did I feel the need to poke him all the time? Someone should have taught me better about poking a bear. Or a beehive. Or anything else with a wild, dangerous animal.

“Well, the answer is yes,” I said. “I know my way through a little weather. I told you, I’ve flown through blizzards. Some thunderstorms. I’m not a total noob.”

“A what?” His tone said he was both disgusted and confused.

“A newbie. I’m not a newbie. Can we please just figure out what to do here? You can insult me later.”

“Alright then,” he said. “Pay attention. I need you to do what I say, when I say.”

“Copy,” I said.

I slid into that zone. It was like flipping a switch in my brain. Every sound grew sharper. My breathing slowed. I could still feel the thrum of adrenaline pounding in my chest, but there was no fear. I was born for the job.

Dalton coordinated the call to base while I adjusted altitude again, giving him a better visual from the right side of the plane. “Spotter One to base,” he said. “Fire is roughly two acres and spreading. Requesting immediate tanker support. Coordinates coming now.”

I fed him our position and he relayed it.

There was a small part of me that was feeling the pull of adrenaline but I kept it on the backburner.

Adrenaline was great and all but it also made a person jittery.

I couldn’t be jittery. The storm had come and it had started to rain.

I knew how to keep cool when nature got pissed.

When I woke up this morning, I was prepared for training.

My dad always told me to prepare for anything.

Prepare for the unexpected. An actual fire wasn’t really unexpected.

“Let’s keep circling,” he told me. “They’ll need you to guide them in.”

I acknowledged the command. “Copy.”

I was tempted to look over my shoulder to get a better look at his expression.

I wanted to see his approval even though I told myself I didn’t need it.

But maybe I did want it. Just a little. I kept my eyes on the sky while Dalton continued to coordinate with Laser and then Chief was on the comms. It was awesome.

I loved being part of the rescue team. I wasn’t down there spraying water on the fire, but I was still part of it.

“Tanker One, begin approach. Janna, bring us eastward, keep that pocket clear. We’re marking the southern ridge as the safest drop zone.”

I did as instructed, calling out speeds and angles. The first retardant drop hit clean, covering the area in red. I had watched plenty of videos and even seen the process from the ground a few times, but it was so different being in the air while it happened.

“That’s it. We’re done here. Let’s go home.”

We headed back in silence. I landed with barely a bounce and followed the signals from the guy directing me where to park the plane.

Once the plane rolled to a stop, I cut the propellers.

The wheels were chocked. I was keeping my shit together but now that we were on the ground, the reality of the situation was sinking in.

I climbed out of the plane and hit the tarmac. Chief met us with a grin on his face.

“You kept your head up there,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Good instincts.”

“Nice flying,” another pilot added as he passed by.

A couple of the crew tipped their heads. I felt the respect. That was what I wanted. I wanted all these people to look at me like I was one of them. Like I belonged with them and wasn’t an interloper cosplaying as a pilot.

Dalton was talking to Pickle but I noticed them look over at me a couple of times. Were they talking about me? Of course, they were. I hoped Dalton was proud of me. I felt like I did a good job and everyone was telling me I did, but I wanted to hear it from him.

I looked over and saw Cheryl walking toward me with a grin that could light up the whole damn airfield.

Her red hair was pulled back in its usual no-nonsense ponytail.

She wasn’t wearing her flight suit. She was wearing tight jeans and a tight shirt that showcased her ample chest. She looked every bit the badass I’d come to admire.

“Janna!” she called out. Before I could even respond, she closed the distance between us and pulled me into a tight hug. It was unexpected but not unwelcome. I felt like I’d just been welcomed into some kind of secret club.

“You did good up there,” she said as she pulled back. I was pretty sure I saw pride in her eyes. It felt like I had won the lottery. “Really good. I mean it. You kept your cool, followed instructions, and handled that storm like a pro. Not everyone can do that their first time out.”

“Thanks,” I said, my voice a little shaky despite my best efforts to sound calm. “It was intense. But honestly? It felt amazing.”

Cheryl laughed. “That’s how you know you’re in the right place. If it doesn’t get your blood pumping, you’re doing it wrong.”

“Laser!” Someone called out from inside one of the buildings.

“I have to deal with that. I just wanted to say good job.”

“Thanks, Cheryl.”

But even as I smiled and nodded and accepted the back pats and high fives, something inside me began to unravel. My hands were trembling again. I needed space. Everyone was talking and I was able to slip away.

I found the bathroom, locked the door behind me, and sat down hard on the toilet lid.

My entire body was shaking. The tears came fast. It wasn’t from fear or anything like that.

It was more about the adrenaline letdown.

I played it cool, but I had been just a little scared up there.

I wouldn’t be scared in the future but today was just supposed to be about me showing Dalton I actually knew how to fly.

I was not expecting to actually do the job.

But now that I had done it, I knew I could. Trial by fire, I mused.

I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth to muffle the sound.

The tears streamed down my face as I tried to keep myself together.

I could hear voices beyond the door. They were all out there, celebrating, debriefing, moving on like nothing had happened.

And here I was, locked in a bathroom stall, falling apart.

“Get it together,” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling. “You’re fine. You’re fine.”

But I wasn’t fine. My heart was still racing, my body still thrumming with the adrenaline that had kept me sharp up there. Now that it was over, it felt like a dam had broken inside me. All the fear, the pressure of proving myself had broken free and it all came crashing down at once.

I wiped at my face with the sleeve of my flight suit, then leaned back and tried to take a deep breath.

It was no use. I blamed hormones and the stress of packing up and leaving my apartment in Alaska.

It was excitement of getting my dream job.

Happy tears. Scared tears. Everything I had been feeling the last year decided this was the moment to spring free.

It was like all the emotions I’d been holding back saw the crack in my steely veneer and rushed forward.

I couldn’t let anyone see me like this. Not Cheryl, not Chief, and definitely not Dalton. They’d think I couldn’t handle it. They’d think I wasn’t cut out for this. I didn’t want to explain it was just a very normal emotional breakdown. Mine just happened to be coming at the exact wrong time.

“Stop it,” I hissed under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut. “You did good. You did good.”

But the voice in my head wasn’t convinced. It whispered all the things I was too afraid to admit and a choked sob escaped my lips.