𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭 || ᴊᴇɴʟɪsᴀ

𝐬 𝐞 𝐯 𝐞 𝐧 𝐭 𝐞 𝐞 𝐧

Mama chattered the whole way to the airport. Her main theme was that we—emphasis on both Lisa and me—should come back and visit real soon. Mama hugged me for what seemed like hours then planted multiple kisses on the top of my head and forehead. “Call me when you get home.”

“Sure will. Love you, Mama.”

“Love you too, baby.” Mama released me to grab Lisa. “Thanks for visitin’ me.”

I’m not sure if Lisa was concerned or not by my mother’s enthusiastic hugging. It didn’t seem so. She looked at me over Mama’s shoulder. “Thank you so much for having me, Connie.”

“Was my absolute pleasure. Ya’ll take care now. Safe trip home.”

Once we’d stepped through the door, I turned to give Mama a final wave. Lisa wandered toward the admin area. “Give me a moment? I just need to arrange paperwork.”

I took a seat while Lisa did whatever Lisa had to do, and checked the markets.
“Ready to go?”

My head snapped up at her question. “Yep.”

We headed out onto the tarmac toward the hangar, so close our hands were brushing. It would be so easy for me to slip mine into hers. To interlace our fingers. It wouldn’t be the first time. She often pinned my hands over my head while her lips were on my neck, thighs and hips grinding against me. I swallowed. If she hadn’t been in uniform and we weren’t in public, I may have seriously considered taking her hand.

“Thanks for being so adaptable with the whole Mama thing. I’m real sorry, I know she’s full on.”

“No she’s not. She’s great. I really enjoyed myself.” She smiled, so sweet and so sincere that I was suddenly even more desperate to kiss her. We stopped by the jet, and Lisa cleared her throat, an unusually nervous gesture for her. “Thanks for letting me come along this weekend,” she said quickly, as if she wanted to get the words out before she could think about it. “I liked spending time with you and your mom.”

“You’re welcome. I know she liked spending time with you as well.”

“And you? How did you feel about it?” She looked away from me, opened the side panel on the jet and input the code to let the stairs down.

I studied her profile. “I liked it too but honestly, that was one of the hardest weekends of my life. Having you around but not being able to have you.” Giving in, I reached over and trailed my fingers over her forearm.

It tensed under my touch. “I…I really can’t. Not now.”

“I know, I know. Work first,” I grumbled, extracting my hand. “What if I just helped myself while you’re flying me home?” My hand brushed over my breast. The pulse in my groin was reaching fever pitch, nipples painfully hard inside my bra.

Lisa turned to look at me with a pleading expression. “Then I’d be able to hear you and we’d be a plane crash statistic. Please, just let me do my job.” The words were clipped, almost strangled.

She was right, I was being unfair. I removed my hand—dammit to hell—hiked my laptop bag back onto my shoulder and grasped the railing with my free hand.

“Go on up, while I keep an eye on things,” she said quietly.

While Lisa organized refueling, I responded to emails and confirmed appointments. I was all too aware that once we left South Carolina, we would likely leave something behind. There’d be no more outings, no lighthearted family time. It’d be back to the simple meal, television and fuck routine we’d perfected. And I hated the thought.