Chapter 24
"I thought you wanted to take things slow?" Mac is normally a morning person. Ready to go at any moment, cheery, chipper, bubbly - unlike me. I hate mornings, no amount of military training could ever make me enjoy crawling out of my nice, warm bed to greet the World.
When she opens the door it's clear by the messy bedhead, squinty eyes and overall expression of annoyance, that I've disturbed her slumber. Damn. But, why does she have to look so cute? And why the hell does that red terry cloth bathrobe beg for me to strip her out of it? I take a breath and grin while she steps back and lets me in.
"I come bearing gifts." Coffee and some sundried tomato bagels she adores, that I hold up but Mac merely squints at the white paper bag and scrunches her nose. "And we are taking it slow." I give her a peck on the lips and that look of annoyance only grows.
We shouldn't take things slow but given how we got together, going from zero to mach three. I believed we needed a reset. A starting over to fix a few things, to actually go on dates and completely put a ghost to rest.
And the dating game has been sweet and fun. I've gotten to know things about Sarah MacKenzie that I never knew and there are just so many nuances Mac's yet to learn about me. Slow seemed like a good idea until yesterday afternoon when she left work and I realized my weekend would be spent alone - a stipulation to not spend the night together which I now realize was plain dumb.
"It's O-five hundred...barely." She's right, it is and the sun won't be rising for quite a while.
"Well, I came here for a reason but you need to get dressed. Jeans and a long sleeve t shirt will do." Not that I don't love to sit here and stare at her wearing that robe and the pajamas beneath. "Oh and you don't need to put on any makeup...Besides, you're pretty hot without it."
Mac snorts and that annoyed expression manifests even more. "Where exactly are we going at this hour?"
She's suspicious and I can't blame her one bit. I'm sure that beautiful mind of hers is searching back to the last time I picked her up this early. I meant to get her out of the office. to play hooky and get my sexy partner to let loose. I never expected a broken airplane or poachers or bullet wounds. She never set foot on Sarah since and I intend to fix that today.
I raise up another bag, the large gift kind.
A pink with white polka dots type with white tissue paper sticking out of the top and little yellow airplane keychain dangling from the handle.
Mac takes it from me and I can't help but smile as she tears through the neatly spaced paper the girl at the store arranged that soon becomes a pile on the coffee table. Dark brown leather finally makes its grand appearance as she holds up and stares noticing the leather name tag that was heat pressed and stitched by hand.
Lt. Colonel MacKenzie - USMC is emblazoned in silver, above it an Eagle, Globe and Anchor. "It's a bomber jacket." I say as her fingers pass over her name and rank as if seeing it for the first time. "Like mine, but it's cut for a woman's body. You know, you have curves."
And she raises a brow when my hands draw out an hourglass figure in the air. They suddenly drop to my side and I feel like a total moron.
"Why would I need a bomber jacket?" That eyebrow hikes up a little more and a protest lives and dies on her lips once she realizes my reason.
"Come fly with me. No mechanical issues, no poachers, no running around the woods. Just come fly with me."
"Harm, I don't- " Mac's wide awake now, her hands grip the leather so tight it's audible. She bites her lower lip and I follow the motion with my eyes, hiding back a blush at how cute I find that.
'Say yes.' I think to myself and get near the point of pleading for her to come with. I begin to find an alternative, to suggest that she could relax at the hangar while I give Sarah a spin, but flying today would mean nothing without Mac being there. "Say yes."
She lets out a heavy sigh and nods. "Give me twenty minutes...And that bag better have sun-dried tomato bagels, that's the only way you'll bribe me out of here."
"Sun-dried tomato bagels and that hazelnut coffee of theirs."
Mac is halfway towards her bedroom door when she turns and rushes towards me. Her body crashes into mine and I have to steady my legs so that the two of us don't fall to the ground. Out of habit my arms fold around her as our lips meet in a feverish kiss that leaves me a little dazed.
"I knew I loved you." She says, coming to her toes to press another kiss against my lips before disappearing into her room.
I should follow and I do - my legs taking on a mind of their own stopping just a breath away from the partially closed door. There's a gap she's left, six inches of space that points into her room where I catch Mac's reflection.
Immediately, I turn away and blush at the quick view of matching pink underwear. God, I've seen her in less but am surprised how much this woman turns me into a silly teenage boy with more than just a crush.
"You can come in, you know." She's caught me and with a hand on her door frame I stop myself. I should have known the open door was an invitation and it's one I want to take but, I don't. Mac's too special for me to fuck this up again.
"I'd better not...slow remember?"
"Yeah...slow." She sighs and I'm not sure who's more disappointed, Mac or me.
I likely have a database in my head of every sound Mac makes when she laughs which is why I know this is my favorite one. Carefree. Whimsical. Alive. It sounds like music and my heart soars higher than any aircraft ever could.
It didn't take her long to remember how to fly. She took the stick like a natural although I heard the trepidation on the edges of her voice, a slight shake of her breath over the headphones. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that she closed her eyes for a moment and then gave herself to the wind and the sky.
She followed my instructions, took Sarah up, down and looping through puffy white clouds. Mac asked me to try more advanced maneuvers and I refrained from trying to intentionally scare her like last time. "See that clearing? We're gonna make a pit stop."
"Everything okay?"
I bite back a chuckle, clearly the memory of a mechanical issue years ago is fresh in her mind. I turn the plane gently, avoiding any technical mabeuver that may save us time in effort to keep Mac calm. "Everything is perfect. Just stopping for lunch. That bag packed behind you is for a picnic."
The touchdown is perfect in a clearing I'm familiar with that has plenty of space for takeoff. I helped her out of the plane pretending I didn't notice how my hand skims over the bare skin of her waist from where her shirt came up. I catch her blush when I take a moment to admire the fit of the jacket and how sexy it looks with blue jeans.
"C'mon, I want to show you something."
Without question Mac follows me out of the clearing and through a well driven trail. I carried a backpack with water and food while we hiked for about twenty minutes to a gurgling creek that was majestic by its own right.
The sun peeks through the trees above and it's warmed enough that we both strip out of our jackets after spreading a sheet across the mossy ground. Lunch is simple, sandwiches, fruits and cheeses with sparkling water that I cool by the water's edge.
"You've brought girls out here before haven't you?" She asks and I blush at her implication of an amorous trip with women willing to spend a night "roughing" it with me. "Pops may have hinted about a new pretty girl and an overnight trip on Sarah. He didn't buy the 'partners' thing."
No one did and I may consider killing him slowly for mentioning my tawdry past. "Maybe a time or two and one time it was because it got too dark and I couldn't fly back at night. She was pissed, roughing it wasn't Maria Elena's style."
She seems amused rather than upset by my past transgressions and as she plucks a grape from the bowl of fruit, Mac stops and looks away. "Did you ever bring Diane here?"
The catch in her voice is noticeable and I give her a tight smile while a memory flashes in my mind. I would have had to kidnap Diane to bring her on my plane. Like Mac she disliked air travel; unlike my beautiful partner Diane wasn't the type to venture out of her comfort zone. She was dead set on making people do whatever she wanted without considering repercussions.
"No. She never flew with me. I think she hated planes more than you do."
Mac's touch is warm when her hand squeezes mine. Our fingers thread together and as I stare at our joined hands, the simplicity makes my heart feel a little lighter. "After today I don't think I'll hate planes anymore. Thank you. Thank you for taking me back up. I know I can be stubborn."
My heart flutters again and I can't resist the urge to kiss her. I lean in and Mac meets me halfway, when our lips meet its electric and easily my favorite thing in this world. She tastes sweet like grapes, tart like strawberries and I wonder if there will ever be a time when kissing Mac wouldn't feel this good.
My hand finds bare skin which had taunted me earlier right where her long sleeved t-shirt had untucked itself. My other hand slides down Mac's jean clad six, squeezing gently so that I catch a moan with my mouth.
I want more. I crave so much more of her. A fantasy of stripping every last stitch of clothing off this woman and loving her until there's nothing left of me, plays fleetingly behind closed eyes.
This trial can be heavily trafficked on the weekends as it is the path which leads to waterfalls. While we're in an area away from prying eyes, I wouldn't want to risk it. The gentleman in me much prefers to wait until there's a nice soft bed beneath us and plenty of time to reconnect.
With one last kiss I pull away and instantly see the disappointment in her eyes. "Wait."
"I don't want to wait, Harm. There's no point to it. You'll be promoted next week. We'll be the same rank again and if no one likes this thing between us, too bad because I love you."
She loves me. Sarah MacKenzie loves me and I know I'll never grow tired of hearing her say that. When I fish through my jean pocket, Mac gives me the oddest expression if not a little trepidation once I take her hand and press warm metal into her palm.
"What is this?" She asks, her eyes dropping down to find a set of old goldwings. They are my most prized possessions, the same given to me by Tom Boone when I first became an aviator.
"I wanted to give you something that means a lot to me." My fingers trace over one wing and then another. Through the years I've tried to keep them as polished as possible but given their age, the wings still appear worn with a few knicks in the corners. "These were my dad's."
Mac shakes her head. "I can't have these...They mean too much to you."
"So do you." I close her palm over them and once she tries to give them back again, I stop her. "I love you but I'm not ready for marriage. I'm not even sure how a guy gets the guts to even propose to a girl like you but... I'm committed, to you. To us. I wanna be with you and no one else."
Words I didn't realize I could say come out far too easily and any apprehension melts away as Mac's hands frame my face. "I wanna be with you too and no one else."
When we kiss it's like wildfire, building until it's an uncontrollable infero and I'm unable to think about a single woman who has ever made me feel like Mac does. She humbles me, brings out the best in me. I'm in love with her. I've absolutely fallen and I never want to stop the freefall.
It's when we hear other hikers on the trail that we step apart, barely because her hand is on my cheek and the other is threaded with mine. "I love you." She says and comes to rest her head over my heart while my arms wrap around her. "I guess falling in love ain't so bad."
"No it isn't." I say and hold her a little tighter. From the corner of my eye I swear I see a figure of a woman. She's dressed in Summer whites and the familiar scent of Diane's perfume hangs in the air. Her smile is genuine, not that coy smirk often reserved for me.
"Bye Harm. Thank you." Diane is solemn when she speaks, disappearing as quickly as she appeared so that I'm left to wonder if she was a ghost or a figment of my imagination. Whatever the case, I feel lighter. The instant she left a weight I hadn't known I was carrying falls off my shoulder like a knight removing heavy armor.
I'm free and when Mac's lips brush mine again the idea of taking things slow makes little sense anymore. "C'mon, Mac. Let's head home."
We'll never make it back to Washington. A sudden storm had us pulling into a small town just a half hour away from Blacksburg where a quaint bed and breakfast welcomed us.
So what if the door to our room barely closed before Mac was in my arms? So what if she stole the very breath from my lungs when she kissed me? So what if our discarded clothes left a trail of denim and leather to the edge of the bed? So what if the power went out so that when we made love it was by fire light? So what if I claimed my love for her over and over between kisses to her body?
So what if I fell in love? I think I love the feeling of falling.
The End.