Friendly Skies Page 23

  Jason reached out and pushed her sweaty hair away from her face.

  “What have you been up to that made you so sweaty?” He asked softly with a sly smile, just a hint of innuendo.

  It had been designed to lighten the moment, but it had the opposite effect on her. She suddenly desired him more than anything in the world.

  “I was running,” she said quietly. She was afraid to move, afraid to do anything to break this moment. “How did you get here?”

  He smiled broadly, “Well, I’m a pilot, you see, and I happen to have a plane….”

  “Jason,” she interrupted, “you know what I mean. Wait, did you fly the Cessna here? Was that you I saw flying overhead?”

  She was shocked. He would have had to fly most of the night to arrive in the morning, and he would have needed to stop for fuel at least once. She looked closer and realized he looked a little tired. He hadn’t slept.

  “Judy,” he said, closing the distance between them.

  He took her in his arms, kissed her, pressed his whole body against hers, as if he wanted to melt into her. She returned the feeling, kissing him wholly and completely, feeling the hardness of his body through the thin fabric of her running shorts and tank top. Her body responded to him like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he said.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered in his ear. “I can’t believe you are here. What made you come here?”

  “I had to get my girl.” He said it so simply, like it was perfectly obvious.

  She was head over heels in love with this man, and she let it wash over her. She wanted to spend every moment of her life with him. She knew with certainty that she wanted to wake up to Jason in her bed every day, and she would do anything to make it happen.

  As if reading her mind, he whispered, “I need to be with you, Judy. I can’t be apart from you anymore.” He ran his hands up and down her back. “I don’t care if it’s Seattle, or Southern California, or rural Illinois. As long as we are together, it will work out. Please don’t send me away again.”

  Judy heard the pleading note in his voice and she felt terrible for causing him pain.

  “I’m so sorry I pushed you away,” she said. “It was the wrong move. I know that now.”

  She said all of this mostly into his chest and neck because she didn’t want to let go of him or be even the tiniest bit away from him. Being in his arms was like suddenly feeling the heat of a fire after spending so long in the cold.

  He suddenly pulled away from her and looked at her with determination. He held her hands in his and he slowly got down on one knee, never taking his eyes from hers. He let go of one of her hands to reach into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small velvet box. Holy shit.

  “Judy,” he began, as she trembled, “Will you marry me?”

  He then let go of her other hand so he could open the box. There inside was a beautiful, simple, one-carat, round-cut solitaire. She didn’t have to think.

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  He slipped the ring on her finger, stood up and kissed her tenderly and slowly.

  “It’s settled then,” he said. “No matter where we end up, we will be together.”

  He slipped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck.

  “Jason,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “I have one question, though. It’s sort of important.”

  “Hmm,” he said, not moving an inch, not even letting her go enough to look at her expression. He needed to be close to her.

  “How do you feel about having kids?”

  She was anxious. This was a big deal. If he didn’t want them, they’d get through it, but she needed to know.

  He whispered deeply in her ear with the trademark huskiness in his voice that blew her shorts right off, “I think we should start right away.”

  Acknowledgements

  Big thanks to my beta readers! Amy, Tammie, Debbie, Shawn D., and the fabulous women of Not-Your-Mama’s-Romance-Novels Book Club—you are the best and should probably do this professionally. Much gratitude to the folks at NY Book Editors for showing me how to grow as a writer, and AuthorPackages.com for helping me get this thing off the ground. I couldn’t have come this far without my husband and daughter, giving me unending love, support and inspiration along the way. And finally, a shout out to Seattle winters for being so dark and dreary that I had no choice but to find a hobby.