Coffee and Cockpits (30 page)

She shook her head frantically. “Me neither.”

The Maître-d who’d kindly ignored our entire private moment, was behind the tiki bar, mixing some fruity cocktail. I raised my voice. “I’m afraid we’re not feeling well. We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Not waiting for his answer, I grabbed Nina’s hand and bolted out of the restaurant.

L
iam laughed as we ran. I didn’t care I was barefoot. I didn’t care we were running down a potholed street in the pitch darkness. All I cared about was being alone with the man who set fire to my soul.

I let my head fall back and giggled at the absurdity of us bolting from a restaurant because we were so desperate to have each other. I was drunk on lust. Hallucinating on need.

Liam looked at me, his icy eyes glowing in the dark. He wrenched me to a stop, his chest rising and falling hard as he crushed me against him. I sucked in a breath just as his mouth connected with mine. I was ready for him, like I was every time. I opened my lips under his. 

I tangled my fingers in his glossy hair, pulling him closer. Bruising both of us with the passion he erupted in me. I wanted to crawl inside him and sate myself.

Liam growled as we attacked each other. His tongue massaged mine and his taste seeped into my being. We took turns taking possession. He grabbed the back of my neck, not letting me go. I whimpered as he pressed his hard body against me.

We stumbled, and I tripped.

Our mouths ripped apart as he caught me mid-fall, his legs splaying wide to keep our balance. We panted, looking at each.

Then we laughed.

I struggled to speak around my giggles. “You have no self-control. Shame on you for attacking me on a public road. Shoeless no less.”

He chuckled, wrapping an arm around me, snuggling me to his side. Every part of me that loved Liam rolled onto its back to have its belly rubbed. The sensation of being tucked into his side—protected and cared for undid me, and I left myself unravelled behind us—strewn along the road like a bundle of ribbon. Getting tangled with the warm breeze, never to form into the same person I had been.

The small shack of sparkling lights and paper lanterns faded into the darkness as we darted down a small sandy bypass and appeared on the beach. Even in the night-wrapped world the beach was a sparkling jewel. The water glowed with the silvery sheen of a crescent moon and reflected the stars glittering above as if it were a perfect mirror. The gentle lapping waves distorted the starry night, making it seem like another dimension. A watery world where nymphs and mermaids reigned.

He straightened, pulling me with him. “I know I should be in awe of the view, but my brain is fogged with nothing but thoughts of you naked.”

I sucked in a breath as Liam’s lips trailed down my throat. Was I supposed to say something? Probably, but all thoughts skittered in lieu of an undying, relentless burn that would turn into a forest fire and consume everything if Liam didn’t deliver on his promise he started in the restaurant.

I swayed into his touch, closing my eyes. Then wrenched them open when Liam stopped.

He smiled, touching my cheek. “I made a promise to myself to tell you about what I want in my future over dinner. I ruined the over dinner part, but perhaps I can tell you during a stroll on the beach?” He kissed me before adding, “Before we go for a swim, and I get you naked.”

The thought of not having him kiss or touch me in that very moment was hard, but I smiled. I wanted to know everything about him. I threw my high heels into the sand, smiling. “Let’s walk and talk.” 

His fingers laced with mine, and we headed down the sugar-soft sand to the water’s edge. The waves lapped, kissing our toes as we ambled in the silvery light.

Liam didn’t say anything.

I looked at him. Why had he gone silent? My heart hammered. What if it was another reveal like Charlotte? I didn’t think I could stand another heartbreaking admission.

I squeezed his fingers. “Are you going to tell me? Or wait till we’ve patrolled the entire beach?”

His lips tugged into a half-smile. “Just trying to get my thoughts in order.”

My heart fluttered. Why was it so hard? “Liam, this isn’t going to be another—”

“No.” He laughed. “It’s just difficult as I haven’t told anyone. Not even Joslyn.”

I was honoured he wanted to share something so personal, whatever it was. “Just do it quick. Blurt it out.” I kicked a wave, sending droplets raining.

He sighed. “Okay. Here goes.” Giving me a wry smile, he said, “I want to quit Kiwi Air.”

That was completely unexpected. “What? Why?” My eyebrows raised to my hairline.

“I want to move away from New Zealand. I’m sick of the cold, the lacklustre weather.” He frowned, warming to his cause. “I don’t want to fight with traffic, or be told where to go. I want—”

“But if you don’t fly, what are you going to do?”

He blinked. “I didn’t say I was going to stop flying.” He gave me a secretive look. “I just want to quit commercial.”

I couldn’t understand what was going on. “So…”

He laughed. “I want to open my own airline.”

“
What?
” My mouth hung open. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is? All the paper-pushing. The rules and legalities.
Why
do you want to do that?” I shook my head. “Flying is about freedom. Not shackling yourself with liability.”

I squeaked as strong arms wrapped around me, plucking me from the sand. He kissed my neck. “I’m going to open my own airline somewhere hot like Tahiti. I’ve looked into it, and flying charters isn’t as hard as if I wanted to buy a bunch of Jumbos.”

My heart sank. Here I was thinking the worst that could happen when we returned to work was dealing with the rumour mill, when in reality, Liam was going to leave. Why did he make me feel so strongly for him? How dare he do that when he knew he was leaving?

I stiffened in his grasp. “When are you quitting?”

He allowed my body to slink down his. “I don’t know. It’s just a dream at this point.” His eyes delved into mine, a twinge of embarrassment in their depths. “I know it sounds stupid. Probably won’t happen. Just a wish. Forget I said anything.” Letting me go, he walked ahead.

I’d hurt his feelings. Damn. I didn’t mean to, it was just all so… sudden. My own mind churned with what it meant. I let him go, trying to unscramble my thoughts. What exactly just happened?

I followed, but a few paces behind.

A few moments later, Liam spun around. “I’m sorry. I’ve never told anyone, it kinda came out wrong. I did tell you for a reason. I didn’t tell you to hurt you.” He sighed. “Can I start again?”

My chest ached at the thought of him leaving, but I nodded.

He looked at the moon. “I’m sick of life telling me who I should be; how I should act. Ever since losing Charlotte I know how precious life is, and I want to do something I love. Something that I’ll look back on when life is at an end and say, ‘I’m proud and happy’. Not slog through shift work and never do what I want.” He waved his arms, encompassing the beach. “
This
is what life is about: enjoying the special places on earth.” He came forward, stopping a breath away. “
This
is what life is about. You and me. Emotion.
Connection
.”

My eyes tightened. “Then why make me fall in love with you and leave?” My heart raced.
Oh God, I was so stupid
. He was telling me this for a reason.

The rush of knowledge tingled my blood as he took my hands gently. “I knew you from afar and I was already half in love with you before we arrived in Samoa, but something is pushing us together. Something beyond our control. How else do you explain the overwhelming knowledge we belong together.” He stiffened, adding, “I know that sounds crazy and frankly scary when we’ve only had a few days together, but it feels like years. I’ve never felt so sure of anything before. I’m not going to pack up and quit, not after what I feel for you. For the first time ever, I’m enjoying living. I don’t suffocate with how unfair the world is that I’m still here and Charlotte isn’t. Thanks to you, I’m not berating myself every moment for being able to fly, when she’s six feet under in a coffin. You freed me, Nina.”

My stomach clenched, taking in his passion. The Samoan evening cocooned us in heat and a smidgen of panic filled me. He carried all of that around inside? How did he think I’d freed him? I’d done nothing but fall in love. It was a huge responsibility to be such a poignant person in his life.

Swallowing my thoughts, I touched his cheek. “I’m happy you’re healing, but it’s not me who helped. By talking with Nikolai you’re finally able to move on. It’s what you should’ve done many years ago.”

He shook his head, running hands in his hair, glistening with moonshine. “You aren’t listening. The crash. Samoa. It’s all like it was meant to happen to let me face my issues. I know I’m being way too forward and should wait to see how our future pans out before telling you my dream, but time feels borrowed. Like any moment I’m going to wake up and none of this will be real.”

He sucked in a breath before finishing, “I want to open my own airline in Tahiti. And I can’t do it alone.”

My heart jumped into a gallop. Was he going where I thought he was?

“I want someone by my side to help with the running, the flying. To live in paradise and enjoy life in a different way. To be free. Together.”

My palms pooled with sweat. I loved him, but this… this was too much. Too soon. It didn’t matter that my feelings for him were as strong,
it was too soon.
Everyone would think we were nuts—that our relationship was doomed to fail just like the drunken Las Vegas weddings between strangers. I couldn’t change my life so suddenly. I needed time to think. Plan. Make sure what was between us was true, and not just an intense infatuation. “Liam. I—”

He gathered my hands. “Nina, life is too short not to try. I know that now, and I don’t intend to waste another moment not doing what I’ve wanted to do since my wings were pinned to my blazer. I’m asking you to invest in us. Invest in a future that could be anything we wanted.” He swallowed and the sincerity in his voice buckled me. “Would you come with me? Would you be my co-pilot?”

M
y heart bolted with a herd of wildebeest, waiting, almost in pain, for Nina’s answer. Had I gone too far? Shit, I came on too strong. I’d spilled everything. No filter—I’d verbalized things I should probably have kept to myself. Oh fuck. Would she laugh at my stupid ambition, and refuse to be a part of it? Would she run from me and my insane reaction to her? Even I questioned why I felt so strongly. I wasn’t lying when I said it seemed as if something pushed us together. I had no choice but to be swept along in the torrent of feelings. If it was the island doing strange things to me, then so be it, but I’d never been more certain of anything in my life.

Her face was a picture of stunned disbelief. “You want me to come and work for you?”

I shook my head. “Not work
for
me.
With
me. Be a joint partner.”

She sucked in a breath.

My lungs stuck together. If she said no, I had no clue how I’d live through the shame. Not only would she be saying no to my offer, she’d be saying no to me.

“I can’t. I’m not a commercial pilot. I can’t carry passengers.” She paced away, staring at the moon. “I don’t know what to make of all of this. It all seems so far-fetched. You need an exorbitant amount of money to open an airline. How do you plan to do it? Why me? Why tell me now?” She sighed. “I literally can’t fathom it. Would you rent aircraft or buy? Which airport will you operate out of? Will you hire more staff, or just have a small number of charters?”

She kept mumbling under her breath about plans and forecasts. Things I’d already thought about. I had folders full of information; reams of info on the French Polynesian law and visa requirements. I even had a guy willing to gift me three propeller aircrafts in return for fifteen percent of the profit for the first six years. I’d had everything worked out for years. The reason why I hadn’t gone any further was because I didn’t want to do it alone. I wanted to do it with the woman I would share my life with. Share my business with. Share
everything
with.