Page 14 of Praise Me: Pilot (Praise Me Daily #6)

Joel

I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of her.

Haylo’s face is the one thing I want to see while sitting in the pilot’s lounge at Nashville International Airport, waiting to fly to Barcelona. Other pilots and flight attendants filter in and out of the private lounge, but they’re all a blur to me.

Instead, my mind replays images from the last twenty-four hours. Haylo walking beside me in the moonlight, bundled in my arms in the hotel room, face tearstained. That mischievous look in her eye the entire time she was determined to seduce me. The bliss on her face when I took her in the pool.

Some time and distance from the perfect distraction of her has given me time to reflect—and here is my conclusion.

If I’m going to be with Haylo—and I sure as fuck am—then commercial piloting isn’t the right profession for me anymore.

For two main reasons. One, I will not be capable of spending this much time away from her.

She’s burrowed herself into my heart so deep in the space of this weekend, I can only imagine what more time together will do.

Turn me into even more of an obsessive madman, that’s what.

I’m looking forward to it. Two, my time away makes my girl feel nervous and insecure. I flat out won’t have that.

I’ve got some ideas forming that will keep me close as possible to her, but my first order of business is speaking to Phil.

Leveling with my friend is about more than respect.

About more than honesty. The newly awakened authority in me that exists only for Haylo demands a full claim.

Now. I don’t care if Phil is her biological father, I want her to be solely mine.

I want the rights. I want the trust, the bond, the… everything.

Phone in hand, I call Phil, the line ringing three times in my ear before he answers.

“Hey, man! I can’t really talk. I’m in Logan, about to work a flight to Barcelona.”

That shocks a sound out of me. “I’m flying to Barcelona out of Nashville in an hour.”

“No shit?” He laughs, relaying the coincidence to someone in the background, probably his co-pilot. “Well, cervezas are on me tonight. I’ll see if my date can bring a lady friend for you.”

My stomach sours. “No, thank you, Phil. I’m not interested.”

“Come on. I owe you for covering for me with Haylo. Let me show you a good time.”

Based on the announcements being made on the other end, I don’t have much time to make my confession.

He’s getting ready to board his plane. I could wait until we’re face to face in Spain before explaining that I’m a willing victim of love at first sight, and the target is his daughter, but I can’t seem to hold back.

This feeling for her is huge and expanding inside of me by the second.

I need to say something, need to make it known that she’s mine, or I’m going to go insane.

“Phil, I’m in love with Haylo.” My heart beats rapidly at the sound of her name. “I’m in love with your daughter.”

A brief pause. “What the hell did you just say?”

“I think you heard me.”

An incredulous sound. “If this is a joke, it’s not funny, Joel.”

“It’s the furthest thing from a joke.” I stand up and pace in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the tarmac, possession thickening my voice.

“Don’t hold your breath for an apology from me, either.

An apology insinuates a relationship between Haylo and I is wrong. It’s not. It’s right for us.”

“She’s eighteen!” he sputters. “She’s my daughter!”

“And you neglected her.” Something lethal snaps in my blood. “She’s mine now. In every way. I’m going to alter my life to make hers happier, which is what you should have done a long time ago.”

“Fuck you, Joel. I can’t believe you betrayed me like this.”

“You can think of it as betrayal, or you can remember that I’m a man of integrity and honor who will move heaven and earth to make that girl happy. You can congratulate me for meeting the love of my life, instead of hating me for this.”

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it. I want her birth certificate and social security card sent to me immediately. Medical records. Anything that says her name on it.” There is a primal roar in my chest trying to rip me wide open. Haylo is my responsibility. Mine. “Her beginnings and ends are all mine now.”

His breath suspends itself. “How did I not know you were like this?”

“I wasn’t like this until her.” A twisted part of me enjoys adding the rest. “Trust me, she loves every fucking second of it.”

Phil hisses a curse. “You bastard,” he chokes, hanging up the phone.

A mere second passes between the call ending and my alarm going off on my phone, letting me know I’m due at the terminal.

I’m replaying my conversation with Phil and thinking of Haylo while I walk, roller suitcase in tow behind me.

I’m imagining her coming down the stairs on Christmas morning in my T-shirt, squealing at the mountains of presents under the tree.

How I’ll fuck her among the discarded wrapping paper an hour later, reveling in her spoiled wet pussy, the flushed happiness on her face.

I’m so wrapped up in fantasies of Haylo, I assume I’m imagining the prickle of awareness that climbs the column of my neck when I walk past a young woman in an oversized dress down to her ankles and a red wig.

She’s not even facing my direction, and I know, I know it in my bones that the woman is Haylo.

I’d know her in a pitch-black desert.

What is she doing here? In disguise, no less?

She’s in the waiting area for my flight to Barcelona.

Relief overflows inside of me like a waterfall. I don’t have to be away from her, after all. At least not this time. But if this is the relief I feel when she’s close by, my decision to move my profession closer to Haylo is only cemented.

Why would she disguise herself on one of my flights, though?

She’s reassuring herself, isn’t she?

That I’m nothing like her father.

I hide my smile on the way past the check-in desk, feeling Haylo’s gaze on my back. If this is what she needs to do to feel more secure, then I’m all for it. I’ve got nothing to hide, plus there’s a bonus of having Haylo with me in Barcelona?

Consider me a happy man.

The fact that her father will be there as well?

We’ll cross that bridge when we arrive at it.

Haylo

I don’t fly on airplanes all that often, mainly because I grew up resenting air travel and the big, metal machines in the sky that were constantly stealing my father and leaving me lonely back on terra firma. But flying isn’t so bad, I guess.

For one, I’m bumped up to first class for no discernable reason.

Just a random upgrade , said the pretty flight attendant, flashing me a smile.

I think of turning it down, because an upgrade will bring me closer to the cockpit and what if I’m outed in front of two hundred people as a stalker in a wig? A video of the whole ordeal would probably go viral. I’d be a meme by tomorrow morning.

In the end, I can’t pass up the chance to be closer to Joel, though.

Where I can suss his behavior out, of course.

He emerges from the cockpit pre-flight to speak with the crew, which consists of one man and two pretty, polished women that are way more age appropriate for Joel.

He’s nothing but professional with them, however.

Even when one of them laughs at something he says and lays a hand on his forearm, he politely removes her hand and steps out of her reach, returning to the cockpit.

My stomach gives a jealous gurgle.

“All the hot ones are taken,” mutters one of the flight attendants to the other.

“ Is he taken?” her co-worker says back, out of the side of her mouth. “As long as he’s been flying, he’s never gone out partying with the crew. No hookups that I know about. But he’s never mentioned a girlfriend, either. There’s still hope.”

“No, there isn’t. He just told me he’s engaged to an angel.”

The flight attendant’s shoulders slump, but there’s a charmed tilt to the corner of her lips. “Lucky bitch.”

“Yup. Guess we’ll spread the word that Captain Sizzle is off the market.”

My stomach gurgle dies a quick death. I sink down into my big, comfortable seat with a smile. At least, until my phone vibrates with a text from Captain Sizzle himself.

Joel: I miss you, angel.

Haylo: I miss you, too.

J: How bad?

H: BAD

J: I was thinking, you could have come to Barcelona with me. We’d only have had one night there, but any amount of time with you is worth it.

H: It won’t take much convincing to spend a night in Spain with my boyfriend.

J: I’m flying in ten minutes. How fast can you get to the airport?

H: Haha.

J: Turn on your location. I want to know where you are at all times while I’m gone.

H: Okay. I’ll turn it on...soon!

J: Now, Haylo.

H: You turn yours on!

J: Done.

I’m chewing my lip so furiously, it’s going to bleed soon. Turn on my location?

He’s going to see that I’m on the back of the plane.

H: I don’t know how to turn it on.

J: Haylo.

H: Yes?

J: Nice wig.

I phone falls from numb fingers. Joel knows I’m on the plane. He’s known all along.

No wonder you got upgraded, silly.

With a mounting sense of dread, I slide the wig off and tuck it beneath the seat in front of me, then retrieve my phone from the aisle. Thinking for a minute, I finally text back.

H: Would you believe this is just a coincidence and I’ve had this trip planned for months?

J: No, but I’d believe you’re here to guard your heart.

J: But that’s my job now, angel. Trust me to do it.

Before I can respond, Joel’s voice comes over the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are headed to Barcelona, Spain this evening and I’m going to do everything I can to make the ride extra smooth for you folks.

Especially since my fiancé is on board and I’m deeply in love with her. Even in disguise.”

Heat springs up behind my eyes as a round of applause breaks out on board.

Joel is in love with me.

Deeply.

I’m beginning to relate. I’m letting myself love him.

And with him at the wheel, I’m getting less and less fearful of a crash landing.