Filthy Scrooge

“Enjoy the scenery. It’s dark, but there’s a lot to see.”

“I’m good here.”

“Mr. Murdock would like you to join him.”

“And Mr. Murdock gets what he wants?” I asked.

“Something like that.”

I unbuckled and moved into the cockpit. The plane was small and made me think of movies where tropical islands and crash landings were the only ending. Only in my crash landing there would be twenty degrees, snow, and hypothermia.

I fitted my headphones over my head.

“How many scenarios have you put together in your head, Miss Kane?” His voice buzzed into my ear. Deep and sardonic with far too much sex appeal for one person. The longer I was in this plane, the more I was sure that I was making a huge mistake.

I pulled the microphone up to my mouth. “Dozen or so.”

“I figured at least twenty.”

“I like long, sprawling death stories in my head instead of short flashes.”

He laughed into the mic and my skin went on high alert. Having him right in my ear like this probably wasn’t a good thing. In fact, I was sure it wasn’t.

“I’ve only crashed once.”

I gripped my seat and locked my gaze with his. “Then maybe you should keep your eyes on the…sky, or whatever.”

“We have at least two parachutes.”

“Oh, God.”

He laughed and reached over to tug on one of my curls. “Relax. I only crashed a simulator. And that was my first day.”

I batted his hand away. “Jerk.”

He shrugged. “You’re completely safe. I have over three hundred hours logged and Joe has thousands. He happens to have a cabin a few miles away from mine so we share the ride up.”

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“How adorable. You have three parachutes though, right?”

“Probably more like five.”

I took a deep breath. Jumping out of a plane wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, but I kinda liked my life. I’d do what I had to.

“I won’t let you get hurt, Miss Kane.”

“Good to know.”

“Unless you’re into that sort of thing, of course.”

“Har-har.”

His gaze remained on the dials of the board in front of us, then out the window. We drifted into an easy silence. Trees and shadowy mountains were interspersed with small towns with lights as bright as a beacon. Were we that close to the ground?

I was sort of afraid to ask, so I didn’t.

When he suddenly banked to the left, I gasped. The jerk laughed and did it again.