“It’s not icy,” Linc said with a smile.
“Oh, Jesus.”
“Relax. I make this flight a few times a month. It’s cake.” He grazed his hand along my lower spine.
“Sure. That propeller might make brownies, it’s so small.”
“I prefer double fudge.” He ducked his head and pushed me along.
“For what?”
“For the brownies you’re so interested in,” he said over his shoulder as he headed to the front of the plane.
“Where are you going?”
“Well, someone has to fly this thing.”
I followed him to the front of the plane. “Are you kidding me?”
He nodded to the seat behind the co-pilot seat, which was empty, thank you very much. “You’ll have the third best seat in the house. Once we’re out of the city, you can switch spots with Joe.”
“Joe?”
“Miss.”
I twisted around and my eyes traveled up. A rarity for a woman over five-nine. Joe was a big dude.
“Hi, Joe.”
“Miss Kane.” It didn’t sound nearly as snarky and hot when he said it. I wasn’t sure what to think of that one, so I was pretty much done with thinking.
I sat down and buckled my seatbelt.
“Good, we’ve got that level of trust at least.”
“Oh, I don’t trust you. I made a promise, and I don’t go back on promises.”
“Then you’d be the first woman I’ve known to do so.” His voice was flat, all teasing gone.
I frowned, but before I could say anything else, the engine fired up to a deafening roar. I gripped my seat and closed my eyes. There was a big difference between riding on a jet and a plane that might or might not be able to make a water landing. I wasn’t up on my plane knowledge.
It was probably a good thing. Facts and figures would only make me throw up at this point.
I slammed back in my seat as we turned on the runway and gained speed. My eyes opened of their own volition when we started our climb. I’d never been one to close my eyes against fear.
Frozen in fear with my eyeballs wide open was more my speed.
“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck,” I chanted.
We seemed to bank left a bit and the plane shuddered before climbing again. I slammed my eyes shut. Yay for self-preservation taking over for fear and anxiety.
Finally, the plane seemed to even out and the engine went from roar to purr. Joe and Linc spoke in some sort of shorthand language that spoke of gauges and readings, along with mumblings to a tower using call signs that made my heart pound.
All the while, New York City got smaller and smaller in the distance. The city had been home for a long time. It felt so big and crazy, but New York as a state was far bigger than my little corner of the world. We went from lights nearly everywhere to a darkness so profound my gut bottomed out. It was worse than flying over water. There were no random mountains and valleys to get lost in if there was a water crash.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been staring out into the inky darkness when Joe tapped me on the shoulder.
I blinked up at him and accepted the large yellow headphones with the microphone.