Page 3 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

DALTON

I was ready to snap. I stared at the woman who clearly thought she was bigger than her boots. She stood with her hands on her hips, chin lifted like she was ready to throw down. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders. Light blue eyes stared at me with anger flashing.

She looked five-foot-nothing and pissed off.

I stared at her, momentarily thrown by the contrast. Fiery as hell. Gorgeous, too. And brave in that stupid kind of way only someone brand new and too green to know better could be.

“Excuse me?” I asked, letting go of Tyson and focusing my attention on her. “You want to try that again?”

“I said,” she repeated, loud and clear, “why don’t you back off before you pop a blood vessel? You don’t get to rough people up just because you’re an asshole.”

I glanced over at Chief, who had half a cookie in his hand and seemed mildly entertained. I arched an eyebrow at him, questioning him. Like who the fuck was this little thing trying to take me on like she was a boxer? Chief just shrugged like it was my mess to clean up.

“I’m an asshole?” I repeated.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you guys, but there’s no need to get physical. You’re trying to shake that man’s head right off! It just makes you look like a fucking jerk!”

“I am a fucking jerk! But let me paint you a picture about who the real asshole is. I flew a full goddamn payload over a fire zone and couldn’t drop a single ounce of water because this clown didn’t check the hydraulic system like he was supposed to.

” I jerked a thumb at Tyson, who was now retreating into the nearest hangar like he wanted to hide. “You know what that means?”

She folded her arms across her chest, which only made my eyes drop to her tits. Nice. “I guess that means you had a bad day?”

I leaned in, smelling something sweet and tart, like strawberry pie.

“My day isn’t going to be nearly as bad as the firefighters on the ground that have to try and save the forest. It means someone could die.

When we screw up, it’s not just a bad Yelp review, sweetheart.

It’s lives lost. It’s property destroyed.

Livelihoods in ash. Pristine forest land reduced to charred remnants.

This job matters . So yeah, I take it personally when someone half-asses their work. ”

Her eyes narrowed, mouth twitching with anger.

Her perfect, plump, pink lips pressed together for a split second.

“You think you’re the only one who cares about doing this job right?

Fine. But this isn’t the damn Roman Empire and you’re not Caesar.

You don’t get to rule with fear just because you’re bigger than everyone and have a bad attitude. ”

I blinked. She was full of venom and heat.

Her voice was shaking just enough to tell me she was either terrified or furious.

Maybe both. Either way, she was standing her ground, even if she had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

There were few men who had the balls to stand up to me, especially when I was pissed.

And right now, I was furious.

“You don’t know me,” I said tightly. “You don’t know shit about what I do. And you obviously don’t know shit about what we do here.”

“I know I already don’t like you. And I do know what you do here because I do it, too!”

God. I should have walked away. But something about her—the fire in her voice, the challenge in her eyes, the way her chin tilted up like she could take me in a fight—had me hooked. I was either going to fuck the woman stupid or load her in my plane and drop her in the middle of the forest.

“All right,” Chief’s voice drawled from behind her, mouth full of cookie as he shook his head. “Everybody cool your jets before someone does something stupid.”

“Too late,” I muttered.

“No shit,” the blonde bombshell shot back. “Stupid was three minutes ago.”

I stepped back, exhaling hard through my nose. Chief strolled up with the same unbothered swagger he always used, chewing like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“She’s right, Dalton,” Chief said, nodding at the girl. “This was a training run. That’s why we do training runs. To find the broken shit before the mountain’s on fire.”

“It is going to be on fire,” I reminded him.

He waved a hand. “The ground crew is already in the area thinning brush. And it gave Pickle a chance to take his shot. Save the glory for some of the other guys.”

I spun toward him. “I told them the valve was sticking! A week ago!”

“I know you did,” Chief said, keeping his voice calm. “And I logged it. That’s on the shop crew, and believe me, Tyson’s going to hear it from me. But you want to yell, you yell at me . Not the guy holding the wrench.”

The adrenaline was still buzzing under my skin.

I couldn’t shake the image of flames licking trees and no way to put them out.

Fire was lethal. It didn’t give a shit who or what it burned.

I rubbed a hand over my face, shooting the new chick a dirty look.

She had the good sense to take a few steps back as if she just realized I outweighed her by a hundred pounds and was a hell of a lot meaner than a hornet in a nest that had just been kicked.

“You can’t keep letting this crap slide, Chief,” I growled. “What if we would have had a ground crew surrounded? What if that was someone’s house?”

“You can’t keep treating my crew like punching bags,” he snapped back, raising his voice for the first time in months. Everyone around us went quiet. I could feel the eyes on us.

Chief and I had had our differences in the past but we usually kept them behind closed doors. I knew I was a hothead. I could lose my temper in under two seconds. I never tried to hide the fact I was an asshole. In fact, I made sure everyone knew it for a fact.

The crew, pilots, mechanics, and the little blonde were all watching us.

People from the other hangars had come out to see what was going on.

I didn’t particularly like drawing attention to myself right then but it was too late for that.

We were in the thick of it, and honestly, it was probably a good thing we got this shit cleared up now.

I wanted the whole crew to know I wasn’t going to tolerate anyone half-assing their work. Not when there was so much on the line.

“You’re a hell of a pilot, Dalton,” Chief said.

“But that doesn’t make you a god. We’re a team here.

And if you go rogue every time something goes wrong, you’re not helping—you’re just making noise.

It’s hard enough to get good quality people out here.

I don’t need you running everyone off because you’re in a shitty mood. ”

My jaw clenched so hard it hurt. “Whatever. Maybe you should hire better people. I’ll have to come on shift a little earlier to check my own shit, is that it? Fine. I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

I was about to excuse myself with the perfect exit after my blowup when Chief stepped in front of me.

He brushed crumbs off his shirt. “If you’re done throwing your tantrum.”

“I wasn’t throwing—” I started, but he held up a hand.

“You’re still on duty.”

I blinked. “The hell I am.”

He ignored me because we both knew he was right.

I wasn’t off duty. In fact, I still had another ten days in my rotation.

We did two weeks on, and if things were slow, we got two weeks off.

In August, we were just on. We worked sixteen-hour days, seven days a week. We all agreed to sleep in December.

Chief turned toward the ball of piss and vinegar wrapped up in one of the prettiest packages I’d seen in a long time. “Dalton, meet Janna. Janna, Dalton. You’ve technically already met, I guess, but let’s pretend it wasn’t with him trying to murder Tyson.”

I glanced at her. Janna . The firecracker had a name.

“She’s the new spotter pilot,” Chief continued. “Fresh hire. And since you’re grounded for the rest of the day thanks to your busted release valve, I need you to take her over to the simulator and bring her up to speed.”

“No,” I said immediately. “Absolutely not.”

“Dalton.”

“I’m not a damn instructor. I’m not babysitting.”

“You’re not babysitting. You’re training someone who’s going to be flying up there with you while you’re chasing fire.

That sound like something worth doing? You just threw a fit because people around here aren’t working up to your high standards.

So train them. Let’s see if you can do a better job. ”

“She can read a manual,” I snapped.

“Manuals don’t teach teamwork. Manuals can’t teach technique.”

“She just called me an asshole!”

“She wasn’t wrong,” Chief muttered. “You will work with her. And if I hear one more word of argument, I’ll ground your ass indefinitely.”

That got my attention. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” Chief said. “We all help each other here. That’s how we all stay alive. You’re not above that. None of us are.”

Janna stayed silent through all of it, though her expression flickered between satisfaction and regret.

She probably hadn’t meant to start a war her first day, but it was too late to take the shot back once it was fired.

I looked her over. She was young. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if she was old enough to have a pilot’s license, which I decided to point out.

“How old are you, anyway?” I asked, crossing my arms and giving her a onceover. She looked like she’d just graduated high school, not like someone with any real flying experience.

She was a tiny thing. Now that there was a good ten feet between us, I could get a better look at her.

She was barely over five feet. Long blonde hair that was just a little too pretty for someone in our line of work.

Her makeup was nominal, but she had that look of a spoiled, pampered beauty queen.

While she looked youthful, she also looked sexy.

All woman. Soft curves. Definitely a woman.

Her eyes narrowed, and she squared her shoulders, clearly ready for another round. “I’m old enough to know how to act like a grownup,” she shot back.

I smirked, despite myself. She had guts, I’d give her that. “Old enough to fly a plane, though? That’s the real question.”

“I’ve got my license,” she said. “And I’ve been flying for years. Just because I don’t look like some grizzled old pilot doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Chief stepped in before I could fire back. “She’s qualified, Dalton. And she’s here to learn. So quit being a pain in the ass and do your job.”

I glared at him but didn’t argue. He had me cornered, and we both knew it. If I wanted to keep flying—and I did—I would have to play along. For now.

“Fine,” I muttered, turning back to Janna. “Let’s get this over with.”

She didn’t move right away. Her eyes were still locked on mine like she was trying to figure me out. Or maybe she was just deciding whether to punch me in the face. Either way, she finally nodded and followed me as I stalked toward the simulator room.