Crash Landing. Lori Wilde
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“You can do it. I’ve watched you fly passengers in and out for the last two weeks. You’re an excellent pilot.”
He had been watching her? Sophia’s cheeks warmed. His flattery was dangerous. Damn this desire to show off her piloting skills and prove him right. “Thank you very much for the compliment, but the gas tanks on a plane this size only hold so much fuel. We would have to stop to refuel.”
“So we stop. Let’s go.” He opened the pilot’s door of the plane and motioned for her to hop in.
She stepped over to shut the door. “You are a very annoying man.”
“How much?” He took out his wallet, started pulling out several one-hundred-dollar bills. “Two thousand do it?”
Sophia blinked. Two thousand dollars? That would pay off her debt from mechanic school. “You will pay for the fuel, as well?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“You are a desperate man.”
“Yes, yes, I am. I’m also a rich one and I always get what I want.”
“Not this time.” Sophia folded her arms over her chest. “On top of everything else, there is a tropical depression brewing in the Caribbean.”
“It could easily go way north of Florida.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“When is it expected to hit landfall?”
She shrugged. “Weather is unpredictable, two days, maybe.”
“Two days?” he blurted. “We will be in Key West long before that.”
“The storm could hit sooner,” she said, arguing with herself as much as with him.
“Or later.”
“True.”
“It might even dissipate altogether.”
“I am not in the habit of gambling with the lives of my passengers.”
“Look,” he said. “You can check the weather along the way, if the storm moves faster than expected I’ll admit defeat and take it as a sign that Scott and Jackie are meant to be.”
“Can you accept that?”
“You’re the pilot. Once we’re in the air, you’re in control of that plane.”
Hmm, interesting admission for someone who seemed to be something of a control freak. Could she trust him to keep his word? “It’s not as simple as jumping into the plane and taking off. I’ll have to make a flight plan, get permission to fly into the airspace of the other countries along the way.”
He had run out of cash, but he was now tugging out a plethora of credit cards. “Three thousand.”
Sophia moistened her lips. How high was he willing to go?
Lunacy. It was sheer lunacy to even consider flying him to Florida, but the part of her that loved a challenge wanted to give it a go. See if she could do it. If nothing else, she would learn what she and El Diablo were really made of.
Priorities, Sophia.
It was a lesson her mother had repeated to her often. She did have a tendency to put adventure ahead of responsibility. Besides, she was supposed to go over to Emilio’s house for a cookout tonight. In fact, this was the night she’d decided to have “the talk” with him. Then again, what would it hurt to delay breaking bad news?
“Mr. Martin, I will happily fly you to Libera with my current passengers and there you can catch the next plane to Florida,” she offered.
He looked uneasy. “That solution doesn’t work for me.”
“Why not?” Puzzled, she canted her head, studied him intently.
“I do not have to explain myself to you.”
“You don’t have your own jet? A rich man like you?”
“I do have my own jet, but that’s none of your business.”
“Oh,” she said. “I get it. You don’t want anyone tracking your whereabouts.”
He seemed relieved. “Yes. Your discretion in this matter is very important to me. Can I trust you?”
“Of course.” If she couldn’t keep a secret she would have been out of a job a long time ago. Her sister Josie was the only person she could confide in about such things.
The couple from Argentina that she was supposed to fly to Libera arrived at the plane. A bellhop in a golf cart with their bags in the back followed behind the couple.
“Here are my passengers, Mr. Martin. I’m sorry about your dilemma but—”
Gibb pivoted on his heel to face the male passenger, a distinguished-looking gray-haired man in his mid-fifties. “How much for you to take another bush plane to the airport?”
“Pardon, señor?” the man asked.
Gibb waved the cash at him. “How much? I need this plane.”
“You are not thinking rationally, Mr. Martin,” Sophia pointed out. It surprised her that the cool blond American could be so filled with passion. To the couple, she said, “He is trying to stop a wedding.”
“Ah, amor,” said the woman. “Isn’t that romantic? He wants to claim his woman before she marries someone else.”
Sophia noticed that Gibb did not bother to correct the woman’s erroneous assumption.
The Argentinean wasn’t losing out on the opportunity. He plucked the bills from Gibb’s hand and tucked them into his pocket. “The plane is all yours, señor.” He put an arm around his wife’s waist. “How can we stand in the way of true love?”
“You’re willingly giving up your seats? You could miss your connecting flight while waiting on another bush plane to arrive.”
“We are flying standby,” the Argentinean said. “If we miss one flight…” He shrugged. “We’ll catch another.”
The bellhop gave them a ride back to the lodge in the golf cart.
Gibb held out both arms. “Problem solved. Let’s hit the road, Amelia.”
“My name is Sophia. Sophia Cruz.”
“Amelia Earhart reference not doing it? I thought every woman pilot loved to be compared to Amelia.”
“That’s presumptive and sexist. See, I know big words, too.”
“So you don’t like Amelia Earhart?”
“You did not remember my name, did you?”
“So I forgot your name,” he admitted sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“My dog apologizes better than that.” Okay, so she was stretching the truth a bit. Her dog died last year. Her heart twinged at the thought of Trixie. She’d had her for fourteen years and missed her deeply.
“Dogs are all about apology. Which is why I don’t have one.”
“Why? Because you hate creatures who have more love in their little toe than you do in your entire body.”
“No,” he said. “I actually love dogs, but I’m never home and I’d have to apologize to the poor thing for hiring someone to take care of it and then I’d feel guilty. Well, you see where I’m going with this.”
“Not really.”
“Doesn’t matter. Can we do this thing?”
She should say no. The sensible thing would be to say no. Most anyone else would say no. He was pushy and arrogant and exasperating, but at the same time, a thrill ran through her at the thought of flying all the way to Florida. Still,