know how to feel about that.
“Silas.” I searched his eyes and he searched mine. “This scares me.”
“I know,” he said. “Me too. But I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go from here.”
“It’s too soon. I think we need to stay firmly in the friendship zone right now. Neither of us is in our right minds. We’re both…”
“Fucked up,” he finished for me.
“Exactly.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it was weak. I turned and kept walking.
“So,” Silas to my back. “Dinner at seven?”
Ugh, talk about persistent! “Fine,” I responded, setting off a series of sparklers in my tummy.
We got to the crew room and Silas opened the door for me. As I walked past him I got a warm whiff of his natural scent and for a split second I was transported back to that shower stall, weak knees and all. My steps slowed, and I traced a hand along the wall to keep me steady. Keep walking, you idiot.
This was going to be a long day.
After work, Silas and I changed into casual outfits and met each other in the crew room. I was unreasonably nervous and awkward.
I pulled up my GPS. “Where’s this restaurant?” I’d never driven Silas before.
He shook his head. “I’m taking us.”
“Do you have a car here?”
“Not yet,” he said, and then flashed me a devilish grin. “My friend is letting me borrow our transportation.”
I eyed him warily.
“Let’s go,” he said. We walked side-by-side through the airport to one of the small terminals I’d never been in, and then a side door where he had to use his badge to open it.
“Silas?” I asked as he walked us into the brisk evening. Parked in the hangar were eight tiny, private Cessna planes.
“Don’t worry.” He took my hand, and I let him lead me to a man with a clipboard. They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
“She’s all ready to go!” the man said.
Silas thanked him and when he looked down at me I felt my eyes bulging.
This mini aircraft was our transportation? He hadn’t stopped grinning.
“You can fly this?” I asked.
“Of course.” He helped me climb up into the small cabin. There were two seats in front and two in the rear. A four-seater plane that smelled like new leather. My heart began to pound as he climbed up and sat in the pilot seat, flipping switches and putting on his headset. He patted the seat next to him and I slid into it, staring around at the cockpit. I’d stood in cockpits, of course, but it was strange to be sitting in one of the seats.
“Are we really getting cheesesteak?” Because now I was hungry.
Silas laughed. “Buckle up. We’re going to Philly.”
“Seriously?” I laughed, but his words also sent a nauseating burn through me. It was impossible to hear the word Philly without thinking about the first night I’d met and talked to Shawn at that hotel in Philadelphia. I stared out the window, forcing those thoughts away.
Once I let myself relax, it was neat to watch Silas in his element. Okay, perhaps “neat” wasn’t the word. It was full-on sexy to see him concentrating, an absolute expert at something that was completely foreign to me. Listening to him talk to the tower gave me shivers. And when it was time for takeoff I had to hold back squeals. This didn’t feel like the bigger planes. Every movement and shift and bump was experienced in this puddle jumper. When I giggled he grinned over at me.
“You good over there?” he asked. All I could do was nod and smile like a fool.
I allowed myself to unabashedly stare at Silas as he flew. There was something so sexy about a man with a talent, watching him in the comfort zone of his expertise. My eyes took in his hands, whether relaxed on the yoke, or pressing buttons and touching gears. Then my eyes moved up his sexy forearms with their dark hair, and the bottom of his bicep that appeared beneath his shirt sleeve. Without my brain’s permission, my naughty eyes drifted down to the crotch of his jeans, my lungs spazzing at the sight of the bulge there, knowing exactly what he was packing. Not that long ago, I’d rubbed him through his track pants. I’d felt him in my hand and inside me. But I hadn’t seen it and now I was dying of curiosity. He’d been really thick at the base.
“You sure you’re okay?” he