Wyatt

A colorful radar screen was never a good thing.

But we could make it to Beaufort Valley Ranch without any problem.

Unfortunately, though, the storm had taken a turn and no one was going to be leaving by car, plane, or train anytime soon.

I told myself not to be happy about this.

But it wasn’t taking. I was fascinated by the girl sitting next to me.

Her long brunette hair was pulled around to one side and she’d clipped it there. Her big green eyes were framed with long lashes. And her lips were rather pouty at the moment. I wondered what it would feel like to kiss her.

She was wearing black jeans, but otherwise, she was dressed professionally. A cute little black suit jacket. A white blouse. And I hadn’t missed the red bottoms on the shoes.

This was not an ordinary girl.

She had no luggage, yet she was obviously a high class woman.

I entertained myself for a moment inventing all sorts of background stories for her.

Maybe she was a flight attendant. She knew enough about airplanes. Actually more than most flight attendants. She could read a flight plan.

So she knew too much to be a flight attendant. And her shoes didn’t fit. Flight attendants didn’t make enough money to buy shoes like that. Did they? Maybe I was out of touch.

Maybe she had a pilot boyfriend. Now that definitely fit. That would explain her knowledge of planes and her shoes. And she happened to be here with a dog. In a private terminal. But where was the boyfriend?

I should just ask her.

And normally I would have. I was considered by most to be a straightforward kind of guy.

But this particular situation was different.

Ainsley didn’t seem to want to tell me anything.

And I felt obligated to respect that. She was a passenger. Not a date.

And that’s where things got sticky.

I was actually interested in her.

And that hadn’t happened to me in a really long time.

I thought I had developed an immunity to women.

I was certainly used to them throwing themselves at me.

But it wasn’t happening.

Now this aloof girl had my attention and she didn’t even know and didn’t even seem to care.

All she wanted was to get out of Aspen and get to Houston.

It didn’t seem like too much to ask. And I’d thought to put her on a plane out of there.

It occurred to me that I could turn the plane around and fly it straight to Houston.

It was possible. Hell, I had one of the best private jets on the market.

But I had an obligation. Just like she probably did.

And even if I didn’t have an obligation, I secretly wanted to take her home with me.

The problem was I didn’t know what I was going to do with her.

Bringing a pretty young lady home with me did not fit with my plans. Much less being stranded at the ranch with her.

Ainsley

We were getting close to our destination. Wherever that was.

Some place in a valley. I wasn’t close enough to read the screen to see that actual destination.

And my cell service hadn’t come back on, so I wasn’t able to look it up using the flight number.

I was flying blind, so to speak.

And depending on Wyatt to get us someplace safe.

As we began our descent, I had a good view of the land below.

It was absolutely stunning.

The green valleys were surrounded by tall majestic mountains.

As we hovered closer to the ground, I saw a herd of what looked like wild horses running below.

I’d never been a on a horse. Houston born and raised.

I’d ridden a lot of airplanes, but never a horse.

Under other circumstances, I could see this trip as being an adventure.

But instead, I was faced with uncertainty.

What was I walking into?

It could be anything.

I ruled out serial killer. Airplanes were too high profile to use for serial killings. Just didn’t fit.

My best bet was that he either worked for some big company or was a high-powered mogul in his own right.

I wondered what kind of ranch he had. If he even had a ranch.

I looked over at him from beneath my lashes.

He wasn’t a cowboy, at least not the traditional type.

He was wearing a pair of blue jeans. A white shirt. And a black tie. Like me, he was dressed in partial pilot’s uniform. Instead of cowboy boots, he wore regular dress shoes. Like a city boy would wear.

At the moment, he was wearing dark shades and although they gave him a definite sex appeal, I was not a fan.

I liked being able to see a person’s eyes.

I’d left my own shades in my plane. Hopefully they would still be there when I got back to my plane. I’d left my shades and my cap.

As we began the final descent, Beau sat up and let out a single bark.

I looked over and my gaze met Wyatt’s.

I’d flown animals before, but never one like this.

Beau almost seemed to know his own way around airplanes.

In this rare moment, I really wished I was more like my sister, Madison. She would have known the dog’s story.

Maybe he was some kind of special rescue dog.

I honestly had no idea. Because I hadn’t bothered to ask.

I determined to work harder at finding out things about my passengers. Even if I didn’t think they were any of my business. Turns out you never knew when knowledge about something might come in handy. Like now. I wanted to know about Beau, but, of course, he couldn’t tell me. For all I knew, I was taking him to some little old lady in Houston or maybe to a kid with a terminal illness.

“What’s his story?” Wyatt asked.

Yep. I definitely needed to make a concerted effort to get know a little more about my passengers.

Wyatt

After a smooth landing, if I did have to say so myself, I taxied to my private hangar where I kept my plane.

Though it was a bit hard to believe, Ainsley was the first woman I’d brought home with me.

I usually stayed in town. With them.

I preferred to keep my privacy private.

Yet bringing Ainsley here seemed almost natural. I actually wanted to show her my place.

Being private and living alone was nice, but sometimes it got a bit lonely.

Watching my theatre sized television alone lacked something. Namely companionship.

The thought of curling up with her on my leather sofa and watching a movie had an undeniable appeal.

She didn’t say anything as we landed and I pressed the garage door app on my phone that let me into the hangar.

Once we’d taxied inside, I hit the remote on my phone again to close the door.

I wondered how she wasn’t just a little bit impressed. I was still impressed and I’d lived here for over a year.

Most would consider it a long commute. But for me, getting to work was more fun than being at work. And that was saying a lot.

Not too many people got to live their dreams.

The three of us, me, Ainsley, and Beau prepared to exit the plane. Ainsley and Beau waited patiently while I went to the back and gathered up my duffle bag.

I’d asked her about Beau, but she’d just shrugged noncommittally. I don’t think she knew much about him.

I decided that he was her pilot boyfriend’s dog.

I’d never seen a dog who seemed so comfortable in an airplane.

So while knew absolutely nothing about Ainsley Richards, I’d invented quite a fictional life for her.

I sort of actually hoped I was close to the truth because it was a good life. Reality could be so very harsh.

I deftly batted away any negative ideas I had like maybe she was homeless and the dog had escaped from a shelter. They were helping each other survive.

Hell, even my negative ideas had a positive spin on them.

After securing the plane, I opened the door and we all three exited the plane.

It was a bit of a walk to the house, but Ainsley didn’t seem to have any trouble walking in her designer shoes.

Instead, she watched the clouds over the mountains.

“It’s going to snow,” she said. “in the high country.”

I followed her gaze. “Not just up there,” I said. “It’s going to snow down here, too.”

“And you don’t have any deicing equipment for your plane.”

“Wasn’t something I ever thought I’d need.”

She looked me in the eyes.

“I guess you haven’t lived here very long then.”

Ainsley was good. I had to give her that.

We’d no more than landed and already she’d figured out that I was not a Wyoming ranch native.

Impressive.