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    “Yes, Dad. He should be fine. Why don’t you have a
seat, Mr. Bennett?” I asked Drake in a sweet tone of voice. His head swiveled
back towards me when I said Dad. Looked like that had surprised him. Just
wait for the next shocker. Flight attendant, my ass. Not that I have
anything against them, but I hadn’t spent years training to be a pilot for some
asshole to pass judgment on me for no reason at all.

 
    “Why don’t you go ahead and get settled in the
cockpit?” Dad asked me. He recognized that sweet tone of voice of mine and knew
I was pissed about something. He might not know what had happened, but he knew
me well enough to know it was best to remove me from the situation.

 
    “Sure, Dad. I’ll see you up there.”

 
    “Cockpit? She doesn’t need to be up there with you
during the flight. She’s welcome to stay back here with me instead. I’m sure it
would be more comfortable for Alexa,” Drake offered.

 
    “Well, that might make co-piloting the plane a
little difficult,” my dad responded. Damn, I really wished I could have seen
the look on Drake’s face at that news. I couldn’t help myself as I glanced back
over my shoulder. Yep, that was a look of total shock. His jaw had dropped and
he was looking at me like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Served
him right for making assumptions. I deliberately left the cockpit door open so
I could eavesdrop on their conversation.

 
    “I’m sorry, sir. Did you say she’s your co-pilot?”

 
    “I sure did. And she’s a damn good one. Trained her
myself. I’m lucky that my daughter shares my interest in aviation.” I heard the
air of satisfaction in my dad’s tone as he replied. There wasn’t much he liked
more than the opportunity to brag about my flying. “Now, you’d better buckle up
so we can depart on time. We should have a tailwind on the flight out, so I
expect that we’ll land in less than two hours.”

 
    “Yeah, okay. Thanks. I do need to make it to
Greenwich on time or else I’ll be late for my mom’s birthday party. Last thing
I want to do is piss her off.” That explained our morning run-in at the store.
He had been buying a card for his mom.

 
    “Anything you’d care to explain to me?” I heard my
dad ask from behind me as he entered the cockpit.

 
    “Nothing much, Dad. Just someone I met through
Jackson. He’s one of his frat brothers,” I replied.

 
    Dad looked at me quizzically. I could practically
see the wheels turning in his head. “Seemed like there was more to it than that
when I walked in.”

 
    “Nah, he just mistook me for a flight attendant and
got my back up a bit. Nothing to worry about, Dad.” I eased his concerns as we
went through the pre-flight checklist.

 
    “That’s not usually enough to light your fuse. But
if that’s the story you’re sticking with, I’ll let it be for now. We’ve got
bigger fish to fry at the moment. Let’s hit the air, sweetie.” Dad winked at me
and then focused on our takeoff.

 
    Everything went well with the flight, and we landed
in Greenwich right ahead of schedule. I let my dad take care of our passenger,
in the hope that I could avoid seeing him again until we left for home
tomorrow. There was just something about Drake that pulled me in, even as he
pushed me away.

 
    When I deplaned, I expected him to already be gone.
I was surprised to hear his husky voice from behind me as I hefted my bag onto
my shoulder. “Alexa, I’m glad I was able to catch you before I had to leave.”

 
    I turned to look at him as he was speaking. His
dark eyes gleamed as he gazed at me. “You are?” I asked.

 
    Drake nodded his head at my question. “Yeah. I wanted
to apologize for earlier. I know I acted like a jerk. Jackson’s my frat
brother, and he would be pissed if he knew how I treated you before.” He
grinned at me as he was explaining, his lips turned up on one side in a sexy
little smirk.

 
    “Yeah, I don’t