Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
He jerked his chin up and said, “Happy flying.”
I was more than happy to get in the back.
It gave me an uninterrupted view of him as he did all the pre-flight and then takeoff things.
Things that I had no clue what he was talking about, but they sounded crazy sexy anyway coming out of his mouth.
As he took off, he explained exactly what he was doing to not only me, but Iris as well.
Iris who was freakin’ obsessed. She had so many questions and it had me smiling huge the entire time from the back seat.
“Beau,” I said into the headset that was covering my head.
“Yeah, darlin’?” he asked, flicking his eyes back to me for a few seconds before returning it to the sky.
“What did you used to fly in the Marines?”
The grin that stretched the side of his face that I could see was nothing short of beautiful.
“Used to fly the KC-130J Hercules.” He smiled.
Apollo was right. He loved talking about flying.
He talked for the next hour about what he did in the Marines, and I could’ve hit myself for not asking him before. I felt like this was an integral part of him that I’d never known about. A part of him that I should’ve known about.
“How long will this flight be?” I asked.
“Well.” He winced. “It’ll take us a bit to get back. I’ll have to stop three times, maybe four depending on the weather. But probably closer to eleven hours.”
“Whoa,” I said. “That’s a long time.”
It proved to be a longer trip, but not by much.
Twelve and a half hours later, we touched down in Montana.
It was the best flight I’d ever taken.
Beau flew us over the Rockies, and he flew us around them to show them off at all angles. Then he flew to all the spots that Iris pointed out along the way. When we stopped first in Kansas, he took us to a small diner to grab a bite to eat while they refueled the plane. The next stop just in the base of Wyoming, he took us to a milkshake hut where we stuffed ourselves with sweets.
The final stop was home.
Or, where the plane called home.
It was a hangar that was right outside Beau’s home. A building that I’d seen every day for the last few weeks but hadn’t thought to question what it was housing.
Iris hadn’t slept the entire time, her eyes wide and alive in a way that I’d never seen them before.
As we watched her skip her way back to the house, through a foot of snow I might add, I couldn’t help but say, “I love you for so many reasons, but one of the top ones is the way you love her.”
He ran his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. “You two gave me a reason to live these last eight—nine—months. I love you, too, you know. More than I ever thought possible.”
I leaned my head against his chest as we walked side by side into the house.
Iris was still chattering away about altitude, wind speed, knots, and whatnot.
“You’ve created a monster.” I pointed at him.
He winked. “I’ll nurture this particular monster. I could use a flying buddy.”
As I lay down that evening in Beau’s arms, having made love to him quietly and slowly until we were both exhausted and on the verge of sleep, I made a simple wish.
One that was pretty damn simple. I wanted forever with this man. Iris and I deserved to be happy. Protected and loved in a way that only Beau could provide.
TWENTY-NINE
You had me at ‘we’ll make it look like an accident.’
—Beau to Magnolia
MAGNOLIA
“Are you sure?”
I tapped him on the belly with my toe from where he was standing at the end of the bed. I was still in bed, having not gotten up with him when he’d informed me he was about to go get some grocery shopping done for the winter storm that was set to hit tonight after he dropped Iris off at school and went to his own school to sign some paperwork for next year.
He’d planned on doing it tomorrow, having wanted to spend the day with me in bed being lazy.
But the winter storm had forced him to abandon that idea.
The winter storm was likely about to snow us in. At least for a day, if not two.
And since I didn’t know a damn thing about Montana and their winter storms, I chose to let him do his thing and tell me how it was going to go.
That meant that he was headed for supplies and running all his errands today.
But the way he made tomorrow sound, I was a little bit excited to be snowed in with him.
I didn’t think there’d be anything more beautiful than looking out Beau’s big front windows and seeing the mountains covered in snow.