Pride filled her. Anyone could do this, but she was doing it and that felt special.
‘Let’s try a turn. Move the control gently to the left. Again, nothing abrupt. Too sharp and too far and you’ll flip us over on our back.’
‘Yikes.’ Emma let the controls go, suddenly terrified at how easily this could turn to catastrophe.
Nixon’s hands were instantly in charge of his controls. ‘Steady.’
‘You frightened me.’
‘Good. You need to be wary all the time.’
‘Handing back to you,’ she told him. ‘I prefer to relax and enjoy my flight.’
‘Emma Hayes, I don’t believe you’re chickening out that easily. Not the strong, brave woman of these past few weeks.’
Heat blasted her cheeks at the compliment, but it was nothing compared to the heat between them. Her hands seemed to reach for the controls of their own volition. ‘Talk me through the turn.’
His low, measured voice instructed her as required, allowing time for her response while watching dials, wings, the nose, her. His calm approach gave her confidence.
Concentrating harder than she’d ever done for anything else, she turned the plane to the left, and kept turning because Nixon didn’t tell her to straighten up. She held her breath, took a quick glance out of the window to see the land below moving in a circle. ‘Ready to straighten any time you tell me.’ Thump, thud. Her heart was leaping in its cage; excited, happy.
‘A few more degrees and we’ll be back on line.’
‘I’m doing a complete circle?’ How cool was that? Dealing with a cardiac arrest was going to seem tame after this.
‘Watch that the speed doesn’t pick up when you straighten. Keep the wings level. That’s it. You’re a natural.’ Nixon slapped his hand on his thigh, his fingers tapping a soundless tune.
She wished it were her thigh those strong fingers were resting on. Her muscles tightened anyway, and her skin prickled with need as though he were touching her. If only she could let go of the controls to place a hand over his. Laughter bubbled up and out of her throat, filling the small cabin. ‘This is awesome. Thank you so much for bringing me up here. It’s the best time I’ve had in for ever.’ She’d left her problems on the ground and was having unfettered fun with a man she couldn’t get enough of. No wonder her heart was singing.
‘We’ll do it again.’
Truly? She couldn’t wait. ‘I’ll hold you to that.’
His laughter died away as a thoughtful expression expanded across his face.
Emma waited to hear whatever was going on in his mind, but he remained silent. ‘It’s okay, I understand if you don’t get the chance. I’m usually fairly busy at the weekends too.’
‘Stop it. I can’t wait to take you up again.’ His smile melted her. ‘I haven’t had a day like this, ever. You make me happy, Em.’ He swallowed hard, stared outside for a moment, then focused on flying, taking over the controls and checking everything essential to a safe landing. Pressing the talk button, he spoke to Queenstown Air Traffic Control. ‘Bravo Juliet Foxtrot on approach, three kilometres out, two thousand feet and descending.’
‘Bravo Juliet Foxtrot, cleared for landing, out.’
‘Cleared for landing,’ Nixon repeated back before glancing across to her. ‘You ready?’
She nodded, and watched the ground slowly come up to meet them at a steady rate. The touchdown was so soft it was as though they were still above the ground. Taxiing back to the aero club went too fast, and suddenly they were there, the prop slowing, stopping, and Nixon was pushing his door open, fresh air infiltrating the cabin and diluting the heat, the smells, the excitement.
‘Welcome back to earth.’ He smiled softly, again wakening her in places she hadn’t known were still alive.
‘I can’t thank you enough.’ But she was going to try. The time had come to move this forward to a whole new level, to express the kiss that had been building up since take-off. All or nothing. And nothing was no longer an option.
Unclicking her seat belt, Emma leaned over the gap between them, her hands on his upper arms, her lips seeking his. Pressing her mouth to his, she breathed deeply, gathered in his man scent, his heat, his vitality, and kissed him with everything she had.
Nixon stilled, sat tight under her onslaught.
Unable to help herself, Emma kept kissing him, her tongue beginning to explore his mouth. He tasted better than she’d imagined.
He moved closer, took over the kiss, his lips savouring hers, his tongue dancing with hers. His arms wound around her, drew her as close as possible in the awkward space they shared. The kiss moved to a depth she’d never experienced before. Nixon tasted of mint and heat and male. Under her hands his muscles were tight, strong, and knocking her heart out of shape. Her muscles were liquid as they pinged with heat.
Then she was set back, those wondrous lips gone, her mouth destitute.
‘Sorry, Emma. I shouldn’t have done that.’
‘You didn’t start it. I did.’
Not that she’d put any thought into it—it had just felt so natural, so right.
‘I shouldn’t have continued kissing you back.’ His hands gripped the now useless controls in front of him.
‘Fine.’ If he needed space he’d get it. Using her elbow, she shoved her door wide and dropped to the ground, slammed the door shut and strode across the grass to the four-wheel drive to wait until Nixon was ready to take her home.
She was glad she’d kissed him, and stopping had been out of the question. Damn but could he kiss. Her toes were still curled and her blood hadn’t returned to a normal pace. Might never. As for her heart—messy. Like putty, it had been moulded into a new shape far too easily. Now she had to find a way to straighten it out so she could face Nixon and not go into emotional overload, or do something more embarrassing than kiss him. What could be more embarrassing than that? Ah, well, there was always…
Nixon was taking his time topping up the fuel. That long body stretched across the front of the plane as he held the nozzle in place reminding her how he’d walked beside her yesterday as they’d headed up the hill in Sunshine Bay. Long, confident strides as if he were on the prowl, sexy as all be it, stirring her deep down whenever she’d glanced at him. No wonder she’d kissed him. She’d been buzzing all morning. It had had to come out somehow and what better way than in a kiss? She hadn’t known a kiss could lift the lid off so many banked-down emotions.
Behind her the locks on his vehicle pinged as he headed over. Climbing in, she waited to be driven home, probably in laden silence that said they were back to where they’d been after their last disagreement in the park.
The four-wheel drive rocked as he climbed in, then the engine roared to life and they were heading back to town.
Emma wanted to talk to him, about anything, except that kiss. She would not apologise when it had turned out to be the best kiss of her life. ‘What are you doing this afternoon?’ she asked, her voice a bit squeaky and high.
‘Em.’ He slowed at an intersection, turned onto the main road. ‘Don’t get mad at me, but we can’t do this. It’s not that I didn’t like kissing you, it’s that we cannot get involved.’
He liked kissing her. Not all was lost. ‘Because we work together?’ That would be a ridiculous reason. ‘Or because you won’t give us a chance?’ That would be tricky but with patience and need on both sides they could work it out.
‘You’re not ready.’
That could be true, and it could be totally wrong. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘Recently you had a baby for someone else and are still coming to grips with all the emotions involved. You can’t really know what you want yet.’
Her mouth dropped open as anger flared. She forced it away. Nixon deserved her truth. All of it. ‘You’re right. And you’re wrong. My emotions are extreme at the moment but they run true. I miss Grace in my arms even though she’s not mine. My body wants her while my head and heart are working to
let her go.’ Her hands were clenched on her thighs and didn’t relax when Nixon briefly covered them with his and gave her a squeeze. ‘As for us, I have no idea where or how far we’re headed. I only know…’ she loaded her voice with honesty ‘…I want to find out. To do that I’m prepared to take some chances.’ Then a little imp got hold of her tongue. ‘For the record, I kissed you, I didn’t propose.’ Careful. That’s enough.
Nixon braked sharply for a red light, his fingers tapping in an annoying way on the steering wheel. ‘I still think it’s too soon for you.’
‘I think you’re using me as an excuse not to let go and have some fun for a change,’ she dragged out over a mouthful of disappointment.
‘You might be right, to a point.’ Green light, and he pulled away. ‘I don’t want a relationship that I can’t walk away from at any moment. I told you what happened to my family and the result is I’m ultra-cautious about getting close to anyone. I could hurt you, Em, and that’s not happening.’
More than honest. The lack of hope was obvious. She turned to see him clearly. ‘When I kissed you I wasn’t asking for a lifelong commitment. It happened. I’d had a wonderful time with you and I was buzzing. It happened,’ she repeated, suddenly at a loss for words. Sensible ones anyway.
‘Tell me, do you want more children?’ he asked.
‘Yes, one day, with the right man.’
‘Is this a new thing, or have you felt like that for a long time?’
I see where you’re going with this. ‘For the past nine months I’ve been focused on having Abbie’s baby, and doing it without breaking my heart or hers. I did that, and there are no regrets.’
Nixon turned his head her way and started to say something.