A Kiss in the Dark (31 page)

Sedona rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. If my butt was two centimeters wider, I wouldn’t be able to fit into this seat.”

Angel laughed, a low, rich sound that slid along her senses like melted chocolate. “The seats are supposed to be snug,
mina.
That way, you don’t slide around. Nelson showed you where the air-sickness bags are located, right?”

Grimacing, Sedona nodded. “Yes. Please don’t do anything that will make me have to use one.”

“I’ll try. Here’s what will happen. We’re going up with two other jets. Splatt will be piloting one, and my buddy Tuna will be in the other one. We’ll begin by doing some basic maneuvers, and then we’ll segue into a mock dogfight.” He tapped the side of her helmet. “You’ll be able to hear me through your headset. Listen for my instructions, and remember to breathe. You’ll be fine.”

She drew in a deep breath and smiled. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.”

Angel grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, before shoving his own helmet down over his head and climbing nimbly into the cockpit. There were several more minutes of tense anticipation for Sedona as he meticulously checked and rechecked his controls, and then she heard his voice in her ear, the sound so close he might as well have been curled up around her.

“Okay, Flygirl, here we go. The canopy is coming down. We’ll accelerate to 350 knots, and then go into a vertical 14,000-foot-per-minute climb, and level out at 12,000 feet.”

Sedona watched as the glass canopy slowly lowered, near enough to her head that for a brief instant she was certain it was going to hit her. She expelled the breath she’d been holding, and tried to control the nervousness that caused her heartbeat to pulse hotly in her ears. The canopy closed with a whoosh and a click. Then it was just her and Angel, cocooned together in the cockpit of the Coyote.

Glancing out through the glass, she watched as two of the maintenance crew pulled the blocks from beneath the wheels. The jet throbbed once as Angel kicked the engines into gear and they roared into life. Then they were slowly moving forward, taxiing onto the runway as a crew member guided them.

“And here we go.” Angel’s voice was calm, assured.

They began to accelerate down the flight line until the surrounding countryside was nothing more than a blur, and then
bam!
They weren’t just airborne, they were rocketing straight up into the stratosphere.

Whatever Sedona had expected, it wasn’t to be pinned against her seat back by the sheer force of their upward momentum. She’d been to Walt Disney World once, had experienced the g-forces of the Mission to Mars ride, but nothing could have prepared her for the sense of helplessness she now felt.

Her heart was slamming in her rib cage and her entire world was reduced to the tiny bubble she sat in, her gaze locked with desperation onto the back of Angel’s seat and the small bit of his helmet that she could see.

“Okay, now we’re leveling out. Give you a chance to enjoy the scenery. How’re you doing back there?”

“Good,” she squeaked.

And they
had
leveled out. Sedona could actually lift her head enough to peer through the glass at the earth below. It was the loveliest thing she’d ever seen—sweeping carpets of brown, beige and occasional green, and at the very edge of the horizon, shimmering under the sun, she could actually see the ocean. She was just beginning to relax a tiny bit when another Coyote drew alongside them.

“Are they supposed to be that close?” she squealed, her voice sounding frightened, even to her own ears.

“That’s Splatt,” Angel responded, sounding relaxed and unconcerned. “If you look out the left side of the canopy, you’ll see Tuna.”

Sedona looked, and sure enough, there was another Coyote on their left flank. As she stared, the pilot gave them a thumbs-up and she could have sworn he grinned.

“Okay, here we go,” Angel said. “We’ll accelerate into a vertical climb, invert into a 360-degree roll, and then drop out through the bottom. Ready?”

Sedona closed her eyes for a brief second. Damn, the maneuver sounded deadly. “Okay.” Her voice was breathless.

“Take a deep breath, squeeze your legs, and…here we go.”

Sedona knew a moment of sheer terror as she was pressed back into her seat, and then her head seemed to lift free from her body. Her eyes rolled back in their sockets and blackness fluttered at the edge of her vision.

When she opened her eyes again, the Coyote had leveled out.

“Are you back with me?”

Angel’s voice was calm and steady.

“Did I leave?” A vague feeling of nausea settled in the pit of her stomach.

“You blacked out, but just for a moment. It happens, nothing to worry about.” Angel’s warm assurance filled her ears.

“Oh, God, I’m going to be sick.” She grabbed the air-sickness bag and to her shame, discovered bananas really
did
taste the same coming back up. She clutched the bag in her hands and tried to concentrate on drawing in deep, cleansing breaths.

“Okay, now?”

She could hear the concern in Angel’s voice, and the last thing she wanted was to distract him. She needed him to be one hundred percent focused on his flying.

“Yes,” she assured him, trying to sound normal. “I’m good.”

“Okay, great,” Angel replied, “because now comes the challenging part of the ride. We’ll do a mock dogfight with Splatt. First we’ll be the chase plane, and then we’ll switch and be the ones chased. Ready?”

Sedona closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, and tried not to think about the fact she was shooting through the sky like a bullet, completely at the mercy of Angel’s piloting skills.

“Three, two, one…fight’s on.”

The next forty minutes were the most horrific of Sedona’s life. At times, they were upside down and Sedona completely lost sight of the horizon. Twice, she experienced tunnel vision, and nausea threatened once more.

Angel pressed the Coyote through a series of maneuvers that made her briefly consider pulling the ejection handle—anything to get her out of this torture chamber and back onto the ground. She gritted her teeth and endured the seemingly endless flight as best she could, but just one thought kept pounding through her head: she was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.

While she’d truly wanted to ride in a Coyote, the reality was she couldn’t handle it. She’d been fooling herself to think she could. The Coyote was sleek and beautiful and powerful, and completely out of her league.

Just like the man who piloted it.

“Okay, Flygirl.” His deep, warm voice penetrated her thoughts. “We’ll head back home now. A hard brake to slow us down and put us into landing pattern, and then we’ll be on the ground.”

Sedona fought to maintain consciousness as the braking maneuver exerted yet more g-forces on her already exhausted body. She hardly felt the wheels touch the ground, and closed her eyes with a grateful sigh. Finally, they drew to a stop and a half dozen or more of the maintenance crew immediately converged upon the jet. The canopy opened over her head, and Crew Chief Nelson’s smiling face appeared over the edge of the cockpit.

“Welcome back, ma’am.” He grinned down at her. “Have a good flight?”

Casting him a baleful look, Sedona reached up with trembling fingers and fumbled with the fastening of her helmet. Nelson brushed her hands aside and with deft movements, removed the helmet and released the safety harness.

“Easy,” he said as she pushed herself to a standing position.

Sedona swayed. Her legs wobbled and her head floated about two feet above her shoulders. She flung out an arm to support herself, and the crew chief gripped her firmly by one arm and helped her out of the cockpit and down the ladder.

“Easy does it.” He looked sharply at her. “You okay? Maybe you want to go sit down somewhere.” Without waiting for a response, he turned to a nearby crew member. “Heilmuller!” he barked. “Accompany Ms. Stewart to the ladies’ room, please.”

Suppressing a groan, Sedona looked up to see the perky maintenance officer standing to one side as she prepared to help shut down the Coyote.

“Not feeling well?” Heilmuller asked sweetly, her eyes dancing with devilry. “Well, it just goes to show, you really do need the right stuff in order to sit in one of these babies.” She extended an arm to Sedona. “I’ll walk with you to the hangar. There’s a couch in the bathroom where you can lie down for a few minutes and get your land legs back under you.”

“No, thanks.” Sedona ignored her arm. “I’ll be fine, I just need a minute.” No way was she going to toss her cookies in front of the sweetly smug petty officer.

“Okay,” Heilmuller said, stepping back. “Have it your way.”

She turned away, but not before Sedona saw the speculative gleam in her blue eyes. She was only vaguely aware of Angel pulling himself out of the jet and speaking briefly with the crew members. She didn’t wait for him, but instead forced herself to walk toward the hangar. Her legs felt like Jell-O, and she was just barely keeping her stomach in check when Angel fell into step beside her.

Sedona cast him one sideways glance. He had his helmet tucked beneath his arm, and his face bore an expression of both satisfaction and pride. Sunlight glinted off his black hair, and she could see her reflection in the mirrored lenses of his aviator sunglasses. His flight suit, with its bulky survival vest, made him seem even bigger, if possible. He looked incredibly handsome. He could have been on the cover of
Life
magazine as the epitome of the all-American hero.

Swallowing hard, she ducked her head and continued walking.

“Hey, hold up a minute.” He caught her by the arm and drew her to a halt on the tarmac. “You okay?”

Sedona tipped her head back to look at him. “Yes, thanks. It—it was a great ride. Thrilling. Really.” She laughed weakly and held up the air-sickness bag. “I even have a souvenir.”

She would have pulled away from him, but he refused to let her go. He yanked his sunglasses off, his dark eyes reflecting both concern and bemusement. “Listen, getting sick isn’t uncommon. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I just—I’m not feeling well.”

“That’s normal,
mina.
Your body isn’t accustomed to the stresses of a flight like that. But you did great.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Angel blew out his breath in exasperation. “What the hell is it, Sedona? Were you expecting something less intense? Was it too much for you?” He spread his free hand in a gesture of apology. “I’m sorry. Maybe I got a little carried away. It’s just that you seemed to be doing so well back there. I didn’t realize you weren’t enjoying yourself.”

Sedona felt a tightness in her throat and chest. She had to say it and be quick, before she started to cry. “That’s just it, don’t you see?”

“See what?” He was clearly puzzled.

Sedona spread her arms. “I’m completely out of my element here. I thought I really wanted to go up in that Coyote, and I appreciate you making it happen for me, I really do. But the truth is, I hated it. It
was
too intense. It was more than I could handle.”

“Okay,” he said, and he smiled at her, a smile that was tender. “So it was a little more extreme than you were prepared for. It’s no big deal. It typically takes months of training to be able to do what you just did.” He tipped his head down so that he was at eye level with her. “You. Did. Great.”

Sedona made a sound of frustration and pulled her arm free. She began walking toward the hangar again, with Angel striding alongside. “I can’t do this, Angel.”

“What can’t you do?”

“Any of it. All of it. Us.
You.
”

“Now hold on just a damn minute.” This time there was no escaping his grip as he caught her by the wrist and spun her around. “How is this about us? I thought we were talking about the Coyote ride.”

Sedona stared at him, feeling a familiar burning sensation behind her eyes. “We were. But don’t you see? Being up there just made me realize what it is you do for a living. Guys like you—you’re not normal.” She gestured jerkily toward the jet, where Petty Officer Heilmuller’s derriere was displayed to full advantage as she leaned deeply into the cockpit of the Coyote to secure the ejection seats. “You’re better suited to somebody like
her.
”

“What?”
His voice was incredulous and there was no more tenderness in his expression, only bewilderment and the beginning of what might have been anger.

“Don’t you understand?” Sedona searched his eyes. “I can’t be with a guy who takes the kind of risks you take on a daily basis, Angel. That little jaunt through the clouds scared the hell out of me. Maybe right now you’re just doing test flights, but at some point you’re going to be recalled to combat duty, and I don’t know if I can handle that. Just the thought of you doing that…with the enemy firing at you…”

Sedona turned away abruptly and swiped at her eyes.

When Angel finally spoke, his voice was hard and rough, and his accent more pronounced. “So what are you saying,
mina?
We’re through?”

She shrugged, not looking at him. “I think it’s for the best, don’t you? I think we both knew this was going to happen eventually. I mean, how long do you think you’d be happy with someone like me?” She laughed humorlessly, recalling Mike Sullivan’s mocking words when she’d first discovered the existence of the Membership. “After all, my idea of excitement is finding a mint on my hotel pillow.”

“Sedona.” He placed his helmet on the ground beside them and moved forward to grip both her shoulders in his hands, turning her to face him and searching her eyes with an intensity that left her breathless. “Christ. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but if you think you can’t make me happy, you’re
wrong.
You do make me happy.”

“Angel—”

“I’ll admit,” he rushed on, “when I first saw you in the workout room, my intentions were, well, less than honorable. I figured we could have a good time together while we were here, and then go our separate ways after the inspections were done.” His hands tightened on her shoulders. “I swore I wouldn’t commit myself to a woman while I was still on active duty. But you know what? I
like
being with you.” He chuckled ruefully. “Okay, I
love
being with you. I can’t wait until the day’s over so I can be with you again. Doesn’t that mean anything?”