Elena looked at the pamphlet. It was a conference that hosted workshops on how to improve your writing and start your career as an author. “I don’t know, Kat. I don’t think I’m ready.” Elena was terrified of pitching her book and even more terrified of being told her writing was crap.
“Babe, you are one of the toughest people I know, and you are going to chicken out now? Listen, this is all about learning the craft and networking. If you decided not to pitch, then fine, but at least go and see what it is about. That is of course if you still want to pursue a career in writing?”
“Of course I do,” Elena said. She had always dreamed her love stories would inspire others to follow their dreams or at least uplift them for a bit and transport her future readers to another world where they could find their happily ever after.
“Then go to the conference,” Kat insisted.
Elena looked back at the flyer. It 'd be good to go, she thought, but the price alone made it a little hard for her to afford. “I don’t know, maybe next year.”
“Aha, I knew you would say that. Listen I know the cost is a little high, and you just started your new position, and I also know you are too stubborn to accept any help from me, so I pulled some strings.”
Elena wasn’t surprised by this. Once Kat had something in mind, she wouldn’t give up until she did it. “Really? And what would those strings be?”
“I called the conference coordinator, and they said that if you could teach a workshop on military aviation, you could attend for free. Apparently, there are a lot of writers who want to write about sexy military pilots, and a workshop would help them.”
Elena sighed. “Kat, I told you, just because I was in the Air Force doesn’t mean I know how to fly planes.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Of course I know that. But the cutie that you were stationed with does.”
“Who—Daniel?”
“Who else? Is there another cutie around here other than your Alex I don’t know about?” she teased.
“I don’t think so.” If Alex found out Daniel was teaching a class for her, he would lose it.
“But you don’t have to worry about it because I already asked him.”
Elena almost came out of her chair. “You WHAT?”
“I knew you would say no, so I already asked him.”
“How the hell did you get a hold of him?” Elena was mortified but not surprised by her friend’s bold actions. “You know what—never mind, I don’t even want to know how.”
“You’re welcome, by the way.” Kat got up to leave and turned around at the door. “Remember me when you are a rich and famous author.”
“Wait. What did Daniel say?”
“He said yes.” Kat smiled. “Just like I knew he would.”
Kat walked out of her office, and Elena was left with a problem on her hands. She put her head on her desk. Alex is going to kill me, she thought. She knew her friend meant well, but she tended to put her in difficult situations. She got up from her chair—only one thing could lift her spirits right now: food.
Elena walked over to the break room. She had tried to be good this last month and curb her sweet tooth, but it had been a battle she had always lost. She stared at the pink box of donuts sitting on the counter screaming her name. She knew she shouldn’t, she should just walk away and chew some gum, but an apple fritter would sure make her feel better right now. She reached into the box.
“That bad of a day already?” Elena looked up to find Alex there.
She immediately let go of the donut like it was a cursed talisman. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she lied. She casually wiped her now-sticky fingers against the back of her pants, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
He smiled with a teasing laughter in his eyes. “I just wanted to stop by and say goodbye to my beautiful girl before I take off for California.”
In that moment, Daniel walked into the break room.
Elena smiled unconsciously at the sight of him. He walked right past them toward the fridge without even a “good afternoon”. She was disappointed at herself for expecting a simple hello from Daniel. She ignored his behavior and tried to focus back on Alex. “So, when are you coming back?” she asked a little distracted.
“It’s a quick flight, so I should be back tonight. How about we meet for dinner at that new sushi restaurant?”
Elena swore she had gained weight since dating Alex; this man definitely shared her love of food. “Sounds wonderful,” she said her tone a little louder than normal.
Alex grabbed her by the waist and leaned in for a kiss. “You smell delicious.”
“I hate to interrupt you two lovebirds, but John wants to talk to both of us, Elena.” Daniel was holding a can of soda in his hand. The sides of the can were dented by his strong grip on it. He refused to make eye contact with her but instead challenged Alex with his rude stare.
Alex rolled his eyes. “Somehow you always seem to have perfect timing,” he said.
Elena’s eyes widened knowing this would not go over well with Daniel.
“Well, I don’t know how it is in your country, but here in the States when we are at work, we work.”
“Oye que le pasa a este tipo?” Alex said furiously. “What the hell is his problem?” he took a menacing step toward Daniel.
Holy shit this was about to get ugly. Elena quickly stepped in between Daniel and Alex. Elena placed her hands on Alex’s chest, trying to hold him back.
“English, please,” Daniel continued egging him on. “That’s another thing we do here. We speak E-N-G-L-I-S-H, understand?”
Alex grabbed Elena’s arm. “Get out of the way, Elena, I’m going teach this kid a lesson.”
“Wait no, Alex, please calm down.” Elena pushed him back.
“Yeah, why don’t you come and teach me a lesson,” Daniel continued. “This should be fun.”
“Daniel, shut up and leave,” Elena snarled. He was going to get them all fired.
Daniel stared at her, and his eyes were filled with anger. He turned and stormed out.
Elena faced Alex with glaring and reproachful eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“With ME?” Alex asked surprised. “That pendejo has a thing for you.”
Elena refused to believe Daniel held any feelings for her, but she couldn’t deny the complexity of her situation any longer. “Alex, it doesn’t matter how he feels. What matters is what I feel for you.”
“Well, maybe you might want to tell him that because apparently, he hasn’t gotten the message.”
“You need to calm down. Please, you have a flight you have to get ready to go on, and I don’t want you to leave angry.”
Alex was fuming and pacing like a caged animal. “Elena, if he provokes me again, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“I’ll talk with him.”
“No. I don’t want you to talk with him.”
Elena was starting to get angry herself. Alex’s possessiveness was starting to get old. “Listen to me. This is what Daniel wants, okay. He wants to get under your skin, he wants you to go after him, and whether you like it or not, we both need this job right now, so you need to put your emotions in check and just learn how to work with him. Your family relies on you sending them money. Are you going to let Daniel get in the way of that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then just ignore him.”
Alex looked at her. “Okay. I’ll try this your way,” he said. “But my patience goes only so far, querida.”
Elena sighed in relief. “I know.”
“I got to get going.”
“Okay, be safe, and I’ll see you tonight.”
With Alex gone, Elena quickly ran to her desk, grabbed a notepad, and headed to John’s office. Daniel was already in there, sitting down talking with him. Elena knocked on the open door.
“Come in, dear,” John said. “I was just talking to Daniel about a promotion opportunity I wanted you both to work on together.”
Elen
a looked over at Daniel who didn’t even acknowledge she was there.
“There is a yearly Business Aviation Convention in Las Vegas. Daniel and I normally attend, but I have to admit, I don’t have the stamina I used to anymore. Elena, as the marketing director, I will naturally need you there to manage and coordinate all the logistics and Daniel will be going along with you to lend his expertise. I would like to focus on expanding the routes we service, and I’m sure you both will do well.”
Elena had mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, she was excited about the idea of going to Vegas to expand the business—and see Vegas of course. On the other hand, why did she always have to promote the business with Daniel? When did he become her partner? Why couldn’t Alex come with her? And how in the world would she explain this to Alex now? She knew she couldn’t let her personal life compromise her professional one, but this was getting more difficult to handle by the second. “I think it’s a great idea, John,” she said. She turned to Daniel. “Your schedule seems to be pretty busy; are you sure you will be able to go?”
Daniel turned and smiled at her. “It will be no problem at all. All my flights have been shifted to Alex so that I can attend the expo.”
Elena could feel the blood rushing to her face and her temper rising.
John handed her a folder. “Here is the information from past expos. Review them, and then we can meet again to address any questions you might have before you leave.”
“Of course.” Elena grabbed the folder.
Daniel and Elena both stood up and walked out of the office. “Hey,” Elena called after Daniel. He ignored her and kept walking. She quickened her pace in her high heels. “Don’t you dare ignore me.” She grabbed his arm.
Daniel turned on her. “Listen, I don’t know about you, but I have a hell of a lot of work to do, so if you don’t mind.” He motioned toward her hand that was holding him back.
“Oh no, you are not getting off that easy. You don’t get to play all high and mighty with me. We are going to take care of this NOW.”
“Well if you insist,” Daniel snarled. He followed her back to her office.
“Close the door, please,” Elena said with a note of authority.
Daniel sighed closing the door. “Anything else?”
“What the hell is going on with you?”
Daniel shook his head like he had no idea what she was talking about. “Nothing, how about you?”
“Daniel, enough with the games. Why are you egging Alex on?”
“Listen, I’m not interfering with you and your boyfriend’s little relationship, but you might want to keep the PDA at home.”
“Why can’t you ever be amicable? One moment you want to start over again and the next you are the same old jerk you were seven years ago. I guess people don’t change much after all, do they?”
“I guess not. Are we done here?”
“No, we are not,” Elena said. “My friend Kat approached you earlier and asked you for a favor.”
“Yes, she did. And I told her I would help but I didn’t think you would accept my offer.”
“Then you were right.” Elena hated sounding this cold toward Daniel, but he put her in such a bad position.
“Well, the offer still stands if you need the help.”
“Thank you, but I’m sure I won’t be needing it.”
“Suit yourself.” He turned and walked out of her office, slamming the door in the process.
Elena winced at the loud bang. She looked at her desk and picked up the flyer Kat had given her. She wanted to go—if not to pitch then at least to learn more about writing, but she couldn’t afford six hundred dollars right now. She wished she could ask Alex, but he was scheduled for a flight that day. How hard could it be to teach a class anyway? She had worked around enough pilots to be able to talk about it. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out her manuscript, To Defy the King by Elena Garcia. It had taken her three years, but she had finally finished the manuscript last week. She had fallen in love with her historical characters and wanted nothing more than to share their love story.
She put the manuscript back in the drawer and closed it with resolution. She would do it. She would try to teach the class as best as possible and chase her dreams.
Chapter 20
“So how fast can an F-16 go and what type of missiles does it carry?” one of the ladies in the audience asked.
Daniel sat in the back of the crowd of at least one hundred women. He leaned back in the chair waiting to see what answer Elena was going to come up with to get out of this one. She had been doing pretty well—until now.
“Well, um, I used to be a pilot on a big carrier plane, so I’m not quite sure how fast an F-16 would go, but I’m sure it goes pretty fast.” She laughed nervously. People in the crowd were sighing, and some were starting to leave.
“Nine hundred sixty-four miles an hour,” Daniel yelled from the back. Everyone turned toward his voice. He was easy to spot since he seemed to be the only male in a room filled with women. He could see Elena searching through the audience for the voice.
“Can whoever said that please stand?” Elena asked.
Daniel stood up and looked at Elena. She was about forty-five feet away, but she seemed like she was right in front of him. Despite their last argument, her eyes lit up when she saw him, and he smiled. He knew she was probably just relieved not to continue this farce she was carrying on with; he admired her for it, though. She was tough and didn’t let anything get in her way.
“Thank you, sir, for your answer. Can you tell us how you came across this information?”
A look of intimacy was shared between them. “I’m an Air Force F-16 pilot. I used to be active duty, but I’m a reserve pilot now.”
“And could you tell us what type of missiles are loaded into the F-16s?” Elena continued.
A young girl approached him and handed him a microphone. He put the mic up to his lips. “They can carry different types of missiles; the ones I flew were armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow.”
Women in the audience started to write down notes. Another lady raised her arm. “What do pilots wear under their uniform?”
“Not a damn thing,” Daniel replied. The room erupted in laughter. He continued to answer the crowd’s questions for another twenty minutes. Elena stood at the front with a smile on her face, and that was all he needed. He could be here all day long answering questions as long as she was happy. He knew he was on her shit list right now, which was not unusual, and he needed to make it up to her somehow. He admitted he hadn’t been very nice to her these last couple days, but seeing her together with Alex had made the worst part of him come out. The worst part of it was that Daniel knew Alex was the good guy that Elena deserved, but Daniel was selfish. He wanted Elena to be happy with him, not some Casanova from Argentina. Right when he thought he could redeem himself and become a different person for her, here came this guy, who in another world he would be good friends with, and swept her off her feet. Daniel had decided to distance himself from Elena to give her the space she needed. He had said they could be friends, but he never wanted to be friends with her. He couldn’t stand to be near her and watch her with someone else. Daniel wasn’t that big of a man, and he knew it.
After the workshop had ended, everyone started to leave. Daniel leaned against the wall in the back of the room watching Elena interact with a couple of ladies by the podium, and he admired how well she carried herself. As the crowd around her drew down, he made his way toward her. She excused herself from the ladies she was talking with and turned toward him. “So I guess this is when I say thank you,” she said.
“I guess it is.”
She took a deep breath of defeat. “Thank you.”
Daniel knew how much she hated conceding to him and the feeling was mutual. “I bet that was hard,” he joked.
She chuckled. “Harder than you can imagine.”
“Listen, I’m sorry for the other day. I shou
ldn’t have intruded.”
“I bet that was hard,” Elena mimicked.
“You have no idea.” He grinned.
“Well, I have to get going to the next class.” She grabbed her purse. “Thanks again.”
“You’re welcome.” Daniel watched her as she walked out of the room. He sighed. What was he going to do about this woman? He looked over at the podium and saw a folder sitting there—she must have forgotten it. He picked it up and opened it; it was her manuscript. He flipped the first page over:
This book is dedicated to my brave parents who faced the eye of the hurricane together through life’s challenging trials and came out victorious. Through a depression, poverty, death and everyday struggles but most of all a deep love and commitment to one another, the story of their life is one that I have learned from. I hope to one day be as strong as the young woman my father taught me to be and the loving and forgiving individual my mother has instilled in me.
This love story is dedicated to them.
* * *
Daniel sat there and read through the first few chapters.
Tristan’s arrogant, deep-blue eyes haunted Isabela. She held out her chin, refusing to let him intimidate her. “Why do you care what fate becomes of me?” she snarled. She would rather die a thousand deaths than fall under his hands.
Without warning, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her up from her seat. “You test my patience, my lady. Would you rather I leave you to the soldiers to be ravished and killed or do you detest my touch so much?” His threat lingered on his lips. “I told you once before, I protect those subordinate to me and right now you are my prisoner…”
Daniel stiffened.
I protect those subordinate to me.
Those had been the same words he had told Elena so many years ago. The more he read, the more he realized she was writing about them. How could she deny what she felt for him when the words were right in front of him? He closed the folder with renewed hope.
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