Page 6 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

JANNA

T he water nearly scalded me, but I didn’t turn it down. I was too hot and I should have been in a cold shower, but the heat was what I wanted.

I stood under the stream of the shower, hands braced against the tiled wall, eyes closed as steam rolled around me like smoke.

I had a feeling I would be seeing smoke everywhere for the next week.

The simulator had been intense. I expected training, but that shit had nearly wrecked me.

The heat. Dalton, or Herc, I had no idea what to call him.

His constant presence just standing there and judging me had made it so much worse.

But I got it. He wanted me to feel the stress.

I hadn’t expected the simulation to feel so real.

The lack of visibility had been terrifying.

I had flown through snowstorms, but the smoke was so much worse.

The way everything felt so tight and urgent.

I’d been tense the whole time, like my body couldn’t tell it was just a drill.

That first run directly into the side of the mountain had scared me more than I wanted to admit.

Every time I crash and burned I felt his irritation. Like he was pissed that I sucked. And it wasn’t that I sucked.

The simulator had shown me things I’d never experienced before.

Flying through smoke wasn’t like flying through clouds or even a snowstorm.

It was alive, shifting, deceptive. The heat rising from the fires below created invisible walls of turbulence that could slam you sideways without warning.

The sweat had dripped down my back as I fought to keep the plane steady.

It wasn’t even a real plane. In real life, I would have been tossed around in the air.

I turned my face up to the spray, letting the water wash away the lingering anxiety.

The truth was, I’d been scared. Really scared.

Not just of crashing in the simulation, but of what it meant for the real thing.

Those flames on the screens represented actual fires I’d be flying over.

Real smoke I’d have to navigate. Real people on the ground counting on me to get it right.

And Dalton had known exactly what he was doing.

He’d thrown me into the deep end on purpose, watching me struggle and fail and struggle again.

Part of me wanted to hate him for it, but another part understood.

If I couldn’t handle the simulator, I had no business being up there when lives were on the line.

The worst part wasn’t even the crashes or the heat or his constant criticism. It was that moment at the end when I’d finally nailed the smoke drop and looked up to find him staring at me with something that definitely wasn’t professional interest.

I wasn’t imagining it. The way his eyes darkened.

The way his shoulders went still. Like if I moved too fast, I might scare him off or provoke him.

I had been around plenty of men. I knew when they were thinking about sex.

And that dude definitely had sex on his mind.

I wasn’t sure if it was sex with me or if I was just the woman that happened to be in front of him.

I honestly thought he was going to kiss me.

And dammit, I would have let him. Hell, I would have been all in.

I had been riding the adrenaline high of not getting killed in the simulator.

Even now, my body still felt the hum of arousal.

Maybe it was being around so many hot guys, but I was all revved up.

I closed my eyes, let the water trail down my back, and let myself imagine how it could have gone.

Maybe he wouldn’t have walked away. Maybe he would’ve stepped right up behind me, pressed that hard, demanding body against mine, and whispered something rough in my ear. I knew it would be naughty and dirty.

And of course it would turn me on. I was the good girl.

Sweet. Smiley. When I wanted people to dismiss me, I pretended to be a silly girl that didn’t have more than two thoughts bouncing around in my skull.

But the woman that hid under that silly veneer was dying for some real sex.

Not missionary. Hot. Heavy. Commanding. I wanted a man like Dalton to use his big body to dominate me.

I imagined his mouth on mine—angry at first, like we were still fighting, but quickly shifting into something hungry. Possessive. I could imagine his hand sliding up under my shirt, touching my skin. Mine sliding under his tight shirt and touching all that hard muscle.

I bit my lip as my hands started to wander, one sliding down my stomach while the other braced against the shower wall. I couldn’t help myself. The thought of his hands on me was too vivid, too tempting to ignore.

In my fantasy, he didn’t just kiss me—he devoured me.

Those big hands would grip my waist, lift me like I weighed nothing, press me back against the simulator wall while his mouth worked down my neck.

I could practically feel the scrape of his stubble against my skin, the heat of his breath as he found that sensitive spot just below my ear.

The room had been hot, just like the shower. Just like him.

My fingers found the spot between my legs that was already aching for attention.

I had to press my other hand against my mouth to keep quiet, just in case Laser came back to the room.

The walls weren’t exactly thick, and the last thing I needed was my new roommate hearing me getting off to thoughts of the resident asshole.

But God, what an asshole he was. The kind that would probably talk dirty while he fucked me senseless.

Tell me exactly what he was going to do to me in that rough, gravelly voice that made my stomach flip.

He’d be the type to make me beg for it, make me admit I wanted him even though I couldn’t stand him.

My breathing got heavier as I worked myself closer to the edge. Water cascaded over my shoulders as I imagined what it would feel like to have all that muscle and heat pressed against me. How his hands would feel gripping my thighs, spreading me open, taking exactly what he wanted.

The orgasm hit me hard and fast, my knees nearly buckling as pleasure rolled through me in waves. I had to bite down on my knuckles to keep from crying out. My whole body trembled as I rode it out.

When it was over, I stood there panting, letting the water wash away the evidence of my momentary insanity. What the hell was wrong with me? The man was insufferable. Rude. Arrogant. Everything I should hate in a guy.

But apparently my body didn’t give a damn about my brain’s opinion.

I quickly finished washing up, trying to scrub away both the sweat from the simulator and the lingering heat from my fantasy.

By the time I stepped out of the shower, I’d almost convinced myself it was just adrenaline.

Just the stress of the day and being around all these testosterone-fueled flyboys.

Almost.

I wrapped myself in a towel and padded barefoot into our shared room. Laser was sitting there, all calm and casual, flipping through something on her phone, still in her flight suit with the zipper pulled down to mid-chest and a Red Bull can wedged between her thighs.

I froze for a second, caught like a kid sneaking out after curfew. Did she hear anything? I was pretty sure I’d been quiet, but maybe I had let out a moan.

She looked up and grinned. “You survived.”

“I did. Literally and in the simulator. It took me six or seven tries, but I finally survived.”

She laughed. “You started right in the deep end.”

“No shit. Is it really like that?”

“Yes. Not always. But sometimes. Herc can be…”

“An asshole.”

Laser made a face. “Understatement.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning. “But I did survive.”

“Seriously though,” she continued, watching me. “You okay? He can be a lot.”

“I’m fine.” I shrugged. “I got the hang of it. Eventually.”

“I’m guessing that’s not what he said.”

“No,” I admitted. “His feedback style is somewhere between drill sergeant and honey badger with no fucks to give.”

Laser laughed. “That sounds about right.”

I collected the clothes I had pulled out and went back into the bathroom.

I wasn’t shy, but I didn’t think full nudity was appropriate an hour after meeting someone.

After getting dressed, I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed a towel over my damp hair.

Laser took a long sip of her Red Bull and tilted her head.

“You didn’t punch him, so that’s already better than my first run-in with him,” Laser said. “He does make a person get a little crazy.”

That made me laugh. It was nice, having someone like Laser around. Someone who got it. “He’s very intense.”

“Herc has high standards and does not mess around when lives are on the line,” she said. “You would think he was Chief. But honestly, when you’re up there, it’s nice to know Herc is the guy you’re flying with.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” I agreed.

“You hungry?” she asked. “Let’s get a beer and wings. I think you deserve it after the simulator.”

“Beer sounds good,” I said. “Let me get ready.”

Dalton hated me, but I was glad to have at least one ally. I had a feeling he was going to blame me for his lust for me. And I knew he’d been lusting after me. He could pretend not to like me, but he didn’t have to like me to want to fuck me.

I didn’t like him either, but I wanted to ride him like a bike on a bumpy road.