Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Ryker explains the preflight checklist and I nod along even though I’m pretty sure I won’t remember half this stuff. Still, I love seeing the way his face lights up as he talks about his plane and the things he gets to see when he’s in it.
“And we’re done,” he finally concludes a few minutes later.
“We can go now?” I want to clap my hands together like a little kid. When I was young, I always liked going on the scariest rides at the amusement park. There was something thrilling about going up so high that it felt like I might bump into the sky.
He helps me into the cockpit, and I’m surprised by how tiny it feels. Maybe it’s because I’m squished next to Ryker and his hulking frame. He’s so close that I can feel the heat from his body.
He slips a headset on. I expect that he’s going to push a button and we’ll start going, just like a car. Instead, he spends several long minutes running through a verbal checklist. I don’t interrupt and try to wait patiently. Then finally we’re cruising. I watch the wheels eat up the runway and lean forward.
He keeps the rudder of the plane in the center line and pulls back on the throttle. I notice the way his biceps move, the way he handles everything so confidently. He’s in his element here and it’s amazing to get to see. He looks happy and I wonder if I’ll ever have the chance to find something that makes me this happy.
As the Cessna ascends into the sky, my breath catches in my throat. The farms below us are dots on maps of green. I’m pretty sure the tiniest brown dots are horses in the pastures. I’ve seen aerial shots of the earth before, but it’s nothing like being above it in an airplane. I feel like I’m shouting as I say into my headset, “I’d want to live in the cockpit if I were you.”
He chuckles, a rich throaty sound that warms me all the way through. “There’s no place like it.”
As we fly, he points out landmarks. I don’t know how he recognizes some of this. But he shows me the river that flows along the Taylor Ranch and points to where the waterfalls are on the Scott Ranch. He also points out the mountain ridge on the horizon. “That’s Mount Courage. Rumor is we have the grumpiest mountain men on earth living there.”
I didn’t realize that there are men out there grumpier than Ryker. I chuckle at the thought and when he asks me about it, I point out the cloud formation up ahead.
“That’s a cumulus cloud,” he says before launching into an explanation of the different types of clouds. I should probably remember some of this from my science classes, but I don’t. Maybe I would if the teacher had been as growly as Ryker is.
When I ask him to make a turn in the plane, he does it. He moves the Cessna as easily as if we were driving a car.
“That was incredible,” I tell him again once we’re down on the ground and inside the hangar. He’s running through the post-flight checklist. But he keeps pausing to grin at me. It’s funny how sharing his hobby has made me feel so much closer to him.
“I’ve showed you something about my life. Why don’t you tell me something about yours?” He asks as we walk back to his truck. The early afternoon sun is beating down on my back and making me sweaty.
I’m not exactly an open book, but with Ryker, I want to be. I want him to know everything about me, the same way I need to know everything about him. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you get into computers?” He asks and briefly scans the open hangars. I think he’s looking for Howard again.
My stomach drops. I played on an old computer my dad gave me for a few days. It didn’t take long for him to see that I was mastering it quickly. Too quickly for a child or even an adult. I was gifted and he decided to hone that gift into a weapon.
We arrive at the truck and instead of answering, I gesture for Ryker to lean down. When he does, I press a kiss to his cheek. Or at least, I mean to. He quickly turns his head.
Tingles zip down my spine as I seal my lips to his. He tastes like home.
I expect Ryker to pull away, to push me off. But he doesn’t. No, this big strong man sweeps his tongue into my mouth. He teases and plays with mine. His stroking only makes me long for other ways that he could touch me.
When Ryker groans into my mouth, the vibrations tickle my throat. His hands slide along my hips, and he pulls me into his arms. I want to stay with you forever.