Page 5

Chapter 4

I hate when people can’t let go of the past—debt collectors are the worst.

“You want to tell me what’s in that case?” Mari glanced at Bradford as they talked over their headsets. He’d hired her last-minute to fly him to pick up something at a tiny airport in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t have any other contract jobs today, though the truth was she’d have made time in her schedule for him or any of the employees of Redemption Harbor Security.

They worked in gray areas helping people who needed it and couldn’t always turn to law enforcement. They made their own rules and that was something she respected.

“I mean I could, but this way you have plausible deniability if you’re ever questioned about it.”

She was pretty sure he wasn’t kidding. “Fair enough. So…have you been fitted for your suit yet?’

“For what?”

She glanced at him to see if he was messing with her, but he looked blank.

Frowning, she concentrated on flying her little plane. They were about thirty minutes from New Orleans and the air traffic was going to get heavier soon. “Seriously? For Chance and Berlin’s wedding. ”

“Oh. Right. No, the fitting isn’t for a couple more weeks. What about you?”

“Berlin said we can basically wear whatever we want. But Violet suggested that we stick to a color scheme.” Berlin had also let Mari know she’d love it if Mari wore her hanbok if she wanted, but she was worried it might be too formal for their wedding. She’d decide later.

“Suggested?” Bradford’s tone was dry.

Violet had been the wedding planner for Magnolia’s wedding and was intense. Mari and the others had only known her for a few months, but they really liked her. Violet was good at her job and took it seriously. “She very politely ordered us.”

Bradford snickered and glanced out the window of her 1973 Piper Arrow. Her first plane was pretty much her first love if she was being honest with herself. Which was pretty sad, so she ignored the thought. “Sounds about right.”

“So are you and Violet in touch outside of wedding stuff?”

“Since when are you so nosy?” His jaw went a little tight, only making him even more handsome.

He was rough around the edges, with tattooed sleeves, dark hair, perpetual scruff on his face and a very “bad boy” vibe. She could totally see him and the prim and proper Violet together.

“Just making conversation with my friend, that’s all.”

He snorted. “You’re such a liar. Did Berlin put you up to asking? Because she has it in her head that Violet and I are ‘perfect for each other.’” His expression said he thought otherwise, and she’d gotten to know him well enough to realize that if he was interested in someone, he’d go for it. So it was a no go on Violet.

But fine, she had told Berlin she’d be sneaky and ask. So much for being sneaky though. “What? You’re ridiculous. So, for real, what’s in the case? Is it like, a human head?”

He sort of sputtered. “Seriously? First of all, a human head wouldn’t fit in a briefcase that size.”

“It would if it was liquified. Or if it’d been cremated.”

He gave her a look she could only describe as horrified. Then he opened his mouth, shut it, then looked out the dash window.

She grinned to herself. Then she pressed the radio button and made the call to ATC.

It was Wednesday—a whole five days since she’d seen Colin. Not that she was counting. Though her sister-in-law Carmen had mentioned that he’d been over for dinner at their place. Which wasn’t really news, considering Colin and Evan were best friends. She swore she’d never be rid of the man.

Thankfully there weren’t many planes on the taxiway and she steered them into the hangar with ease. Once they were inside, they both got out and rolled her plane to its spot, then reversed it in neatly.

By the time she’d finished her post-flight check, he seemed to be over her liquified head talk. “Will I see you this weekend?” he asked after she’d finished.

“Hopefully. I told Berlin I’d try to make it to their barbeque. But I’ve got flights on Thursday and Friday. My Friday one is pretty standard but sometimes my client needs me to come back Saturday to pick him up early so…” She shrugged. As a contract worker she was flexible with her job. Hell, she was pretty sure it was a prerequisite for pilots to be flexible. And she was paid for her on-call time so it was a win-win for her.

“All right, well I’ll be there.” He looked as if he wanted to say more, but they both turned at the sound of someone approaching.

She resisted the groan that wanted to escape. Colin was headed their way, his stride determined. And why was everything about him all tall, sexy and capable? He was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt, for the love of pizza. But he wore them really, really well, his T-shirt stretching across his muscular chest and thick biceps. Ugh.

“Come on, universe,” she muttered to herself.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just…don’t look or anything but this guy I know… Never mind.” Because she couldn’t explain their complicated history in less than twenty seconds and Colin was going to be by her plane soon.

Bradford kept his gaze on her and nodded understandingly. “An ex, huh? Should I fake-kiss you or something? Make him jealous that you’re with all this?” He motioned down the length of his body, his expression just a little smug.

“Eww.”

His eyebrows kicked up. “Wow. Okay, hurtful .”

“I just meant a hug is good. And he’s not an ex—”

She found her face squished up against his hard chest as Bradford pulled her into a big hug. And fine, she didn’t hate that Bradford was objectively good-looking.

But Colin was, ugh, so annoyingly handsome that it didn’t even matter. No one held a candle to him. Never had. Over the years she would almost convince herself that she’d built up his looks in her mind, but then she’d run into him at her brother’s house and had to face reality.

Bradford stepped back and grinned down at her. “I’ll see you this weekend,” he said right as Colin stepped up to them. He looked at Colin once and nodded politely before stalking off toward the hangar’s bay door, his briefcase in hand.

And apparently she was never going to find out if there was indeed a cremated head inside.

Colin watched Bradford stride away for a couple seconds before he looked back at her. And frowned. Even his frown was sexy, that full mouth making her wonder what he would taste like if they ever kissed. Among other things. And that just annoyed her to no end.

“Who was that?”

“Uh… Why are you here?”

For a moment she thought he would push her on who Bradford was, but he let it go. “I hear you’ll be flying Jeremy Ackerman?”

Oh, that was what this was about? “Yeah, on a temporary basis anyway.” He’d reached out and asked about hiring her.

Since he’d annoyed her so much she’d added what she considered a “jerk tax” to her price, almost doubling her normal rate. And he hadn’t balked, which made her think she should have raised it even higher. But she’d also made it clear that they were on a trial period. If she was going to be flying him back and forth to North Louisiana a couple times a week they’d be spending a lot of hours together. It should be pleasant for both of them. If it wasn’t, he could find another pilot.

Thankfully he’d been chill about the trial period. So she was chalking up that first day she’d flown him to weirdness. Sure she could hold a grudge but she was able to put things aside for solid jobs.

Colin shoved his hands in his pockets, the little frown pulling at his mouth drawing all her attention to said mouth. Why did his lips have to be all pillowy (was that a thing?) and inviting?

Oh wait, he was talking. “I’ve heard some less than positive things about the guy.”

“Less than positive?”

“That he might be into some shady shit,” Colin said bluntly.

She stared up at him, waiting for more. “That’s it?”

“I mean, there’s more, but yeah, essentially. I looked into him when I thought he might end up being a client and he’s been investigated by the Feds. ”

“I know.”

He blinked in surprise.

“I looked into him too. But the investigation was dropped and I won’t be helping him transport anything. I’m simply flying him to meetings.” She also knew that Ackerman worked with a well-respected aviation company out of Colorado that did most of his domestic flights. “I have a very limited working relationship with him. But thank you for your concern,” she added because she wasn’t sure if this was a good faith type of warning or something else.

Hoisting her small backpack up, she took a step in the opposite direction and Colin fell in next to her.

“Did you really come all the way down here to warn me about him?”

“I was grabbing lunch at the airport and saw you land.”

Oh. She wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse.

“But I’d planned to reach out to you anyway.”

“Well I’m a big girl and can handle myself.”

He let out an exasperated sound as they stepped out into the bright sun. “I know that, but you’re still Evan’s sister—”

So that was what this was about. “Look, I don’t need another brother trying to look out for me, especially you,” she added, then felt a little mean. “It’s hard enough being taken seriously in this field.”

He stared down at her in confusion as they walked toward the parking lot.

“How is this a surprise to you? I’m a woman in a wildly male-dominated field… Never mind, Colin.” She wasn’t going to explain something so basic to him.

“I wasn’t thinking about it like that. But yes, I know how hard it is for you—or I can see how hard it is for women in general. It’s bullshit what you have to put up with. But that’s not why I’m down here talking to you. I just wanted to give you a heads-up that he might be shady. That’s it. And I would warn any of my pilot friends about things that could affect their career or person, so this isn’t a gender thing.”

“We’re not friends.” She kept her tone neutral as they reached her Jeep. She didn’t want him to think he had any power over her whatsoever, or that she cared one way or another what he thought of her. He’d made his opinion of her known years ago.

“We were at one time.”

He was a few years older than her, but yeah, he wasn’t wrong. They’d been friendly at least.

She sighed, not wanting to get into it. She had a lot of stuff to do today and an early flight in the morning. “Thank you for the heads-up about Ackerman.” She cleared her throat, deciding to smooth things out between them because the aviation world was small. “And I’m hearing good things about your company. If I hear of any potential clients that might be a good fit, I’ll send them your way.”

He scrubbed a hand over his dark hair, his forearm and biceps flexing with the movement. “Thank you and I’ll do the same. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Technically you didn’t ask a question.” She opened her Jeep’s door. “And I really have to go. I’ll see you around.”

Unlike last week when she’d slammed the door on him, today she shut it normally and tried to tune out his presence—which was basically impossible.

But she didn’t look in her rearview as she left, refusing to give in to the annoying impulse. Especially since he’d shown up to warn her about a potential bad actor.

It was hard to get annoyed about that.

Even if she wanted to go on holding her grudge, she knew it wasn’t healthy. She was never going to trust Colin, but she could let her own baggage go. For herself . There was no point in holding on to it anymore.

And it wouldn’t hurt to have a professional relationship with the man. From everything she’d heard, his new company was doing well and clients liked him. Having more relationships in the aviation community was never a bad thing.

“I’m letting this go,” she said into the quiet of her Jeep. For her own sanity.

Sighing, she steered onto the highway and headed home. She had stuff to do including visiting her old high school to talk to some of the juniors and seniors about the possibility of aviation as a career. Hopefully she would inspire a few young women to follow her lead.

She needed to be focused on that and not obsessing over the very sexy and capable Colin Lockhart.