purse.
“I could teach you.”
But suddenly, Ruth wasn’t sure what exactly Noah really wanted to teach her. The easy grin spreading across his face hit some turbulence. A jittery feeling erupted in her stomach that had nothing to do with the upcoming flight. Forcing oxygen into her lungs, she held it for a few seconds. As she released it, she pretended that all her fears rode the current of air she expelled from her body.
“Or maybe not.”
At Noah’s one-eighty attitude adjustment, she yanked off the wrapper and thrust the cinnamon flavored stick into her mouth. Then she started to search for an Internet connection on her BlackBerry to check her e-mails, even though she knew she was probably still in a dead zone.
“Please wait until we’ve landed before you turn it on.”
“Right.” Heat crept to her cheeks. Ruth knew the rules.
She stared out the front window at the stretch of concrete as Noah set the plane in motion. Sitting up front gave her a much different perspective—to both pilot and the responsibility of flying a plane.
“Are you all set?” Noah’s voice resounded in her ears again. The intimate tone surrounded her, the headset no barrier for her fragile heart.
“Ready when you are.” Ruth squeezed her stress ball as Noah taxied onto the runway. The silent prayer she whispered every time she flew in an airplane crossed her lips. Bad idea to sit up front. The not-so-distant mountains loomed ahead like a plane-eating dinosaur. Whose brilliant idea was it to build an airport so close to a mountain range?
“Relax, Ruth. Everything will be okay. I’ll keep you safe.” Noah reached over and squeezed her fingers. “I promise.”
Minutes later, Noah’s hands strangled the yoke as the plane accelerated, the whiteness of his knuckles becoming a familiar sight with Ruth around. I promise? He wanted to cram those words back inside his mouth. He’d been saying the wrong things all day.
He hadn’t kept Michelle and Jeremy safe.
He’d failed his own wife and son. He’d probably find some way to fail Ruth if he allowed himself to care for her.
In the corner of his vision, he saw her mouth chewing double time. He remembered her lips. Wide and generous. Made for kissing. He’d been a fool to touch her hand in comfort.
Concentrate. The plane wasn’t going to fly itself.
At least he could control the plane and make sure he got Ruth back to the Scottsdale airport in one piece. The runway fell behind them, the surge he felt at every take-off crammed out all other emotions. A temporary calm seeped into his body with the increase in altitude.
“So, Noah, how did you learn to fly a plane?” Ruth’s voice crackled in his headset, popping his peaceful vision.
“My dad taught me.” He banked the plane north and slightly west. The woman had gotten inside his head while his guard was down. She didn’t belong in there any more than she belonged inside his aircraft. He shouldn’t have let her remain up front.
“Really? That’s neat.”
The softness in her tone threatened to draw him out. If he let her. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
He did.
“So your dad’s a pilot, too?”
“Yes. But he’s retired now.” Thinking of his dad calmed him.
“That’s cool how you followed in his footsteps.”
“He thinks so, too.” Noah’s own questions gelled into his mind. He didn’t want to know, didn’t need to know, yet the sentences tricked their way into the stillness of the airplane. “What about you? Where you always a—” He paused a second, barely keeping the word vulture from passing his lips. “Coordinator?”
“I started as an O.R. nurse and then transferred to the ER. I came to the donor network just over two years ago.”
“Interesting. What made you change?”
Ruth toyed with her bracelet. “The opportunity to do more for humanity.”
Humanity. Right. As if that made her profession morelikable. More agreeable. More necessary. Ruth’s moment of silence added another
“I could teach you.”
But suddenly, Ruth wasn’t sure what exactly Noah really wanted to teach her. The easy grin spreading across his face hit some turbulence. A jittery feeling erupted in her stomach that had nothing to do with the upcoming flight. Forcing oxygen into her lungs, she held it for a few seconds. As she released it, she pretended that all her fears rode the current of air she expelled from her body.
“Or maybe not.”
At Noah’s one-eighty attitude adjustment, she yanked off the wrapper and thrust the cinnamon flavored stick into her mouth. Then she started to search for an Internet connection on her BlackBerry to check her e-mails, even though she knew she was probably still in a dead zone.
“Please wait until we’ve landed before you turn it on.”
“Right.” Heat crept to her cheeks. Ruth knew the rules.
She stared out the front window at the stretch of concrete as Noah set the plane in motion. Sitting up front gave her a much different perspective—to both pilot and the responsibility of flying a plane.
“Are you all set?” Noah’s voice resounded in her ears again. The intimate tone surrounded her, the headset no barrier for her fragile heart.
“Ready when you are.” Ruth squeezed her stress ball as Noah taxied onto the runway. The silent prayer she whispered every time she flew in an airplane crossed her lips. Bad idea to sit up front. The not-so-distant mountains loomed ahead like a plane-eating dinosaur. Whose brilliant idea was it to build an airport so close to a mountain range?
“Relax, Ruth. Everything will be okay. I’ll keep you safe.” Noah reached over and squeezed her fingers. “I promise.”
Minutes later, Noah’s hands strangled the yoke as the plane accelerated, the whiteness of his knuckles becoming a familiar sight with Ruth around. I promise? He wanted to cram those words back inside his mouth. He’d been saying the wrong things all day.
He hadn’t kept Michelle and Jeremy safe.
He’d failed his own wife and son. He’d probably find some way to fail Ruth if he allowed himself to care for her.
In the corner of his vision, he saw her mouth chewing double time. He remembered her lips. Wide and generous. Made for kissing. He’d been a fool to touch her hand in comfort.
Concentrate. The plane wasn’t going to fly itself.
At least he could control the plane and make sure he got Ruth back to the Scottsdale airport in one piece. The runway fell behind them, the surge he felt at every take-off crammed out all other emotions. A temporary calm seeped into his body with the increase in altitude.
“So, Noah, how did you learn to fly a plane?” Ruth’s voice crackled in his headset, popping his peaceful vision.
“My dad taught me.” He banked the plane north and slightly west. The woman had gotten inside his head while his guard was down. She didn’t belong in there any more than she belonged inside his aircraft. He shouldn’t have let her remain up front.
“Really? That’s neat.”
The softness in her tone threatened to draw him out. If he let her. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
He did.
“So your dad’s a pilot, too?”
“Yes. But he’s retired now.” Thinking of his dad calmed him.
“That’s cool how you followed in his footsteps.”
“He thinks so, too.” Noah’s own questions gelled into his mind. He didn’t want to know, didn’t need to know, yet the sentences tricked their way into the stillness of the airplane. “What about you? Where you always a—” He paused a second, barely keeping the word vulture from passing his lips. “Coordinator?”
“I started as an O.R. nurse and then transferred to the ER. I came to the donor network just over two years ago.”
“Interesting. What made you change?”
Ruth toyed with her bracelet. “The opportunity to do more for humanity.”
Humanity. Right. As if that made her profession morelikable. More agreeable. More necessary. Ruth’s moment of silence added another
Similar Books
