“Coffee and chocolate-chip cookies.” He liked chocolate, she remembered. “I, um, owe you a drink, remember? There wasn’t any cream—”
“Black is fine.” He took the food from her. “Thanks.”
Okay, she was done now. “I’ll be going back.”
“Come on up,” he said at the same time.
Kane motioned to the other seat. “Sit up here for a while.”
Serena stared at the high-tech-looking instrument panel with a small computerlike device between the two pilot seats. Not a lot of space up here.
She glanced at the cabin. Safer, back there.
“Plenty of room,” Kane said. “This baby’s simple enough for one pilot, but it can be flown by two.”
“I can’t fly.”
His attractive mouth curved. “But you can sit, right?”
She crawled into the seat and peered out the window. The one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view took her breath away. Clouds blanketed the sky as far as she could see. She couldn’t tell where the ground was or where the sky ended. Forget about locating the horizon. “Wow.”
The word described how she felt inside. Every nerve ending tingled. Her insides buzzed.
Being up here, cocooned in the small cockpit with Kane and cut off from the earth below, made all her problems seem a world away. A world she wasn’t in any hurry to return to.
“Fasten your seat belt,” he said.
The harness-style seat belt went over her shoulders and around her waist. She had trouble buckling it. Kane reached over to help her. The warm skin of his hands brushed hers, sending tiny shocks down to the tips of her fingers.
Nothing. It meant nothing. “I’ve got it.”
“Sure?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure about anything. Still she nodded and clipped the buckle in.
“Most of the weather is behind us,” he said. “It should be smooth flying. We might even make up some time.”
“Good.”
But it wasn’t. Not really.
Serena wasn’t ready to return to Boston. She wanted this time, a time with no lies, no expectations to uphold and no responsibility a little while longer. The bridal show in Seattle had been stressful, but also successful. Coming off that high, she was still literally flying, and she’d never felt such freedom as she did now.
Was that what Kane liked? The freedom? The ability to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted? She could definitely understand that appeal now.
She glanced his way. “So…do you like to fly?”
He gave her a look.
Okay, dumb question.
Serena would try again. “How long have you been flying?”
“Since I was sixteen. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.”
“Why did you choose to be a charter pilot and not an airline pilot?”
“I thought about doing the corporate gig, but it’s too much like working for a bus company. My grandfather bought a business jet. When he offered me a job as his personal pilot, I jumped at it. I flew for him for six years, until he got sick.” Kane’s mouth tightened. “He doesn’t travel anymore.”
Her chest tightened. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? I got my hands on this plane for next to nothing and my grandfather’s instructions were to make my own way in the wild blue yonder. That’s what I’ve been doing.”
Serena envied his go-where-the-wind-carried-him attitude. She’d planned out her entire life. Rarely did she go out to eat without reservations.
“How often do you fly?” she asked, wanting to learn more about him. Something about Kane Wiley intrigued her in a way she’d never felt before.
“All the time.” He patted the yoke. “This baby isn’t only how I make my living. It’s where I call home.”
“Home.” She thought about her painstakingly decorated flat in Boston. “You and me. We’re very different.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
Serena nodded.
He was rootless, a wanderer, free. She was tied down by her business, responsibility, expectations.
But at this moment, for as long as it could last, Serena wanted to enjoy the flight and this time with Kane, in spite of their differences and because of them. She wanted a taste—a nibble really—of what his life was like.
“You’re such a free spirit,” she said.
“I like to go where I want to go.”
“And Boston?”
“A layover,” he said. “Nothing more.”
“Isn’t your family there?”
“My dad.” Kane pushed a couple of buttons. “We don’t always see eye to eye on things.”
“My sister is like that with my mom and dad. That’s made things…difficult.”
For all of them.
“What about you and your parents?” he asked.
“I get along fine with my folks.”
She’d made sure of that.
“Lucky.”
Serena nodded. But feeling lucky had nothing to do with her parents and everything to do with the sexy man sitting next to her. She held back a sigh.
A button lit up on the instrument panel. Kane immediately noticed it. Sat straighter. Furrowed his brow.
Her heart jolted. “Is something wrong?”
“Nope, but I need to take care of that light.” He studied the instrument panel. “Would you mind going back to the cabin and fastening your seat belt?”
“Sure.” She unbuckled the harness and squeezed out of the seat. “I’ll see you later.”
He nodded, pulling out some kind of manual.
Serena returned to her seat and buckled her seat belt. Leaning back, she blew out a puff of air.
What had she been thinking? Doing up there?
That warning light had been a sign, a reminder that she was better off earthbound. She
