“It depends on the wind currents. I actually got permission from a few property owners for launching, and before I came to get you, I checked the wind patterns to see which location would work best for the area where I want to set down. Now we’ll have to see if I actually get to land where I want. You can’t guide a balloon to land where you want it to; it follows the air flow around it, so you have to know wind patterns before you launch.”
“Really? I didn’t feel much of a breeze when we got into the truck, so is it possible we’ll go up, and right back down in the same place again?”
“No.” Vince chuckled as he changed gears, resting his wrist on her knee, but keeping his hand on the gear shift. “It may seem like there’s no real breeze here, but if you get up a little higher, the currents change and there will be wind. And though I checked the wind patterns, the guys on the ground will still have to follow us because I never know for sure where I’ll end up.”
“That’s why it’s called a chase car,” Sage piped up.
“Right.” Vince took them around another corner and shifted down. Once they were going at a normal speed, he moved his hand back to Cami’s knee, setting it there lightly, heating her bare skin.
“Gage and Jeremy talked like they usually crew for you,” Sage said.
“Yeah, we’re all commercial certified hot air balloon pilots and take turns going up. We have a few local kids who like to crew with us. Two of them are working on getting certified as well.”
“Do you have to take formal lessons?” Cami asked, trying to focus on his words, and not on the hand on her knee.
Vince turned onto a dirt road. “Not like when you want to pilot a plane. There’s a written test, then you have to work with a licensed instructor, and log a certain number of hours and stuff. It depends on what level of certificate you want. Kids can get a commercial certificate when they’re only eighteen.”
“How incredible. So how old do you have to be to become an instructor?” Eighteen seemed insanely young to Cami, but if they could drive a car at sixteen, why not, she decided. People were far less likely to crash in mid-air than on the twisty mountain roads.
~*~
It was getting light already and Cami spotted Joel standing between a red SUV and his Jeep in a meadow.
There wasn’t much time for questions as Vince greeted everyone and made introductions. The guys pulled the equipment out of the truck bed, and Sage said she was going to scout out some flowers.
“Don’t you want to watch the balloon get set up?” Cami asked.
“I’ve done it before, and it’ll be a few minutes before it starts to rise. I’ll be back soon.” She turned and headed toward a patch of color a hundred yards off.
“Hey, where are you going?” Joel called out to Sage.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay in sight. Just checking out some flowers,” she called back over her shoulder.
Cami noticed Joel didn’t seem to like Sage wandering away, and kept glancing back at her, scanning the surroundings every few minutes. What was with him? Once a SEAL, always a SEAL, she decided.
Turning back to the setup, Cami watched as they unfurled the balloon fabric from the huge canvas bag and pulled it out along the ground. She helped unfold it, so it lay more or less flat while Vince removed a huge fan from the truck bed and set it up.
“I guess it takes a lot of air to fill one of those things,” Cami said when she came back over to him, wishing she’d worn long pants. She burrowed deeper into her jacket for warmth.
“Those things are called envelopes,” Vince said with a grin. “And yeah, they take a while to fill. You want to take a corner of the envelope and hold it open for me?” When she lifted it so the air would blow into the fabric, a freckled teen named Cory grabbed the other side of the hole and helped hold it open. Vince yanked on a string and started the gas-fed fan.
The air rushed at Cami, and her hair whipped around her face and tangled behind her. The fabric jerked in her hands, rippling as the envelope slowly filled with air.
Vince set the fan to the correct angle, then turned back to the basket behind him. He and Joel lifted the burner into place on top of the basket and fastened it, before leaning it onto its side, so the burner would face the balloon. They shifted it closer, then Vince returned to the fan to check the angle.
It did take a while to get sufficient air into the envelope, but it wasn’t as bad as Cami had expected. Even so, she was freezing by the time Vince directed the first burst of flames into the envelope.
Once he started heating the air, it didn’t take long for the balloon to become upright. The crew surrounded the basket, holding on to keep it on the ground as Vince helped Cami inside.
Sage wandered back, her bag slung over one shoulder again. “It’s a beautiful balloon, and a great day for a ride.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Vince said as he vaulted into the basket. He checked the business radio in the instrument panel to make sure he could speak to the ground crew. “We’re good to go. Catch you all when we land again.”
Chapter 13
The guys hopped off the edge of the basket and it started to rise, bobbing up above the ground and gaining altitude quickly. “What if the radio hadn’t worked?” she asked.
“We have walkie-talkies for backup, they’re good up to two-thousand feet, but the radio is better.”
Cami waved to Sage and the others as the distance between them quickly lengthened. She peered up into the bright jewel tones of the envelope above them as the sun broke over the top of the mountain and radiated light down on them. “It’s gorgeous. How long have you had the balloon?”
“A couple of years. We might make it through next summer with this envelope, if we’re lucky, then we’ll either have her overhauled or replaced. They rarely make it more than five-hundred hours. It’s better here than some places because we’re cooler, but eventually the heat from the burner takes its toll.”
“And what about the rest of this stuff?” She gestured to the basket and instrument panel. “What’s all this equipment for if you can’t steer the balloon?”
“I can steer it, if I want to go in the direction the wind allows.” He pointed out the altimeter, compass, and fuel gauge for the burner, and showed her how to work the business radio so he could chat with the chase crew.
The fresh morning air called to Cami as she soaked in the beauty of the valley. She was fascinated as Vince pointed out the local sights, and found she was more impressed than ever when she saw the DiCarlo resort from the air—it was spectacular. “We should get a shot of the resort from up here for the website.” She leaned forward on the basket and stared out at the world below them.
“Good idea. I bet Jeremy would be happy to take one next time he comes up.” He stared at the grounds. “So, has anyone told you about your resident ghost yet?”
“We already have a ghost?” Cami was amused. “I thought someone was supposed to die there before you could have ghosts on the property.”
“Yeah, well, the property existed before the DiCarlo empire bought it, didn’t it?”
She nodded her acknowledgement. “So tell me about the ghost. Has it been around for long?”
Vince smiled and leaned toward her, his voice lowering theatrically. “There’s a legend of a Mexican family mining in the valley who struck it rich. When local vandals learned about the find, they went to the house—which was supposed to be situated right where the hotel is now—killing the wife and children while the husband was away, and stealing all of the gold before torching the place. The husband returned home to find his home in ashes and the charred remains of his family inside, a tomahawk sticking out of his wife’s head. He reportedly spent the rest of his life and then his death, haunting the property, a broken man.”
Cami hoped the story wasn’t all that well known—just the thought made her shiver. “That’s a little creepy. So have there been reports of sightings over the years?”
“Plenty of them. And they’ve i
ncreased since your father broke ground on the hotel. One of the local crackpots claims the construction has disturbed the dead.”
“I wonder if it will hurt or improve our room bookings if the story gets out to guests.” Was there a way to use it to their advantage, since it was lingering around anyway? She dismissed the idea—it didn’t exactly work well with the company reputation and would definitely cause issues with the normal clientele.
“Not too worried, then?” Vince asked.
“I’m taking a positive attitude. I doubt it will make headlines in hotel news unless we make a big deal over it. Our guests rarely care much about local legends.” And if anything popped up, she’d bury it.
“Glad to hear it.” Vince reached out and slid a curl behind her ear.
Cami touched her mussed curls and tried to make order of them with her fingers. “Now I know why Sage wanted her space while the fan was on,” she joked. “I’ve got to be a mess.”
Vince just smiled. “You look fine, happy.”
“How could I be otherwise?” she said as she met his eyes and felt a shiver of attraction shoot through her. She wondered if this was more than a passing flirtation and decided to test it. “I have a confession to make.”
“A confession? Sounds heavy. Don’t tell me you like Greek food.” His face was so serious, it threw her for a second.
She felt the corner of her mouth twitch at the way he’d responded. He always kept her guessing, doing the unexpected. Cami found him intriguing and more than a little alluring. “Yes, I do, but I didn’t know it was a sin requiring confession. I’ll keep it in mind.”
He took her hand in his. “I’ll appreciate it, and forgive you for your unhealthy addiction to Gyros, if that’s the problem.”
She leaned in and lowered her voice slightly. “It’s worse—Moussaka.”
He tipped his head away as if it was a blow to his sensibilities. “Don’t tell me. I might not get over it.” He smiled and rubbed his thumb across her palm. “So what dastardly thing have you done requiring confession?”
She studied him, intrigued by all the sides making up the man, and knew she’d barely scratched the surface. “You may have gathered, I’m not entirely thrilled with the things I’ve learned about my father in the past couple of months.”
“Couldn’t blame you. It’s an awful lot to deal with.”
She blew out a breath. “Okay, so I’m going to try not to stumble around on this too much. Normally I wouldn’t admit this, but at the moment I’m pretty big on straight-up honesty.” She hoped she didn’t offend him—that the way she ended the confession would make it more palatable.
“Honesty’s always a good thing.” He’d moved closer. Had he moved closer? She wasn’t sure. He must have inched in.
“My father has always pushed me on guys who had flash and power and were upwardly mobile. He favored post-graduate degrees and suave exteriors. Maybe because that’s what he was—all suave exterior.” She tasted the bitterness in her mouth and swallowed it back. “Sorry. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive him for his serial affairs, even if I become as tight with the other daughters as he wanted.” She doubted that would ever happen.
“I understand.” Vince’s voice softened. “It’s a big thing to handle all at once, and the vow to love, honor, and cherish doesn’t have an amnesty clause if you suddenly decide you want a piece on the side.”
“Right.” His words soothed her. “So I meet you, a little unkempt, two-day beard growth, down digging in the dirt, and though I could tell from the first that you were a great guy, you’re so unlike anyone I’d ever considered dating before. When I came out onto the patio the other day, it was with more than half the thought that you were the type my father wouldn’t want me to spend time with.”
He leaned back. “Really?” His expression showed amusement rather than offense. “What was the rest of it?”
She pursed her lips. If she was going to be honest, she might as well go for broke. “You’re handsome, appealing in a rough-edged way. Polite, great with your niece, and hard working. All good qualities.”
He nodded, but kept his thoughts to himself—if you didn’t count the almost predatory grin sneaking onto his lips.
She rushed to finish, “And then I spent the day with you, and discovered you’re well informed, funny, bright, great with people. The rough edges only make you more appealing. So if you’re not offended by my comments, I find I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better, and it has nothing to do with what my father would think.” Or Trent, but she wasn’t about to get that honest. Not today, anyway.
Vince took a lock of her auburn curls and twisted it between his fingers. “Well, as long as we’re doing confessions, I have one as well.”
The intent expression in his eyes made her nervous and she tried to soften the mood. “Oh? Do you have a strange fascination with belly dancers?”
His quick grin flared. “Yes, but most straight guys do, so it’s hardly strange or worthy of confession. Actually, I was going to say I spent a lot of time one-on-one with your father when we were developing the landscaping plan for both the house and the hotel.”
“Not surprising, considering how much he loved gardening. He planned the yard at his home as well.” She remembered him showing her the latest layouts every few weeks as he refined them, followed by regular updates on the improvements once work began.
“He mentioned it, and he talked about you a lot. All of his girls, actually, but especially you.” His voice went low and a bit husky and his gaze captured hers, making it impossible to look away.
“Really?” The thought her father had spoken of her so much pricked the cold shell she’d been trying to keep wrapped over her heart, and she didn’t want that. She forced herself not to move away from Vince despite the emotional step back she took after his announcement.
He ran his fingers down her arm to her elbow, and back up to the edge of her capped sleeves. “Yes, in fact, he went on and on about how much alike we were in our dedication to serving our clients, and willingness to think outside the box. He talked about your abilities with PR, and in charming even the most difficult guest. He made quite a case for you, enough to remove all doubt he’d like to see us together.”
Completely the opposite of what she’d thought, and how did she feel about that? Manipulated again? There wasn’t time to process her emotions. “Really? So you just fell in line? And so did I.” She muttered the last as she finally put some space between them. Worse than she’d imagined. Her father was behind Vince’s interest in her. George couldn’t stop himself from meddling, but this wasn’t at all like the other times he’d suggested she befriend someone.
It was a small basket, though, and there wasn’t much room to move around, so even with the shift away from Vince, they were still close. He slid nearer, blocking her into the corner, a hand on the edge to keep his balance, eyes solidly on her. He went on as if she hadn’t interrupted. “I admit, my first thought was you must be very plain if he had to make your case. Either that or you weren’t very good at personal relationships.”
Cami made a humming noise indicating she was listening. She wasn’t sure how else to respond. His nearness made her chest tight and the scent of his cologne had her pulse racing.
“I Googled you, found a photo from a news item. My thought was, man, the woman has a face on her.” He slid a finger down her cheek.
She felt a light warmth of pleasure in her chest at his words, but fought to appear unaffected. “Funny, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t born with a face. Most everyone is issued one en utero.”
He refused to be distracted. “So I thought, hey, maybe she just shows well in pictures. Jeremy has some serious skills with a computer, so I know what can be done with a little time. But then I met you, and you wore those great heels that made your legs look about a mile long, and this sweet smile though I could sense you weren’t really happy to be there. And the face was even better in person than it was in photos.�
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He inched closer, ran his fingers under her chin so it tipped up to him. “I thought it must be a faulty personality, because the outside package sure is amazing. But last night you played with my dogs and were sweet with my niece and parents, you chatted and laughed with my friends and ate that diet-killer deep fried candy bar. I realized your dad wasn’t trying to foist you off on anyone. I have the funny feeling we might make a nice fit.” He shifted closer, and his mouth hovered a breath away from hers until her lips tingled and ached for contact. “So I hope you aren’t going to step back, just to defy your father.”
“There’s nowhere else to go.” She meant it literally, as her back was to the wall of the basket, but that wasn’t all. Deciding she didn’t care if Vince dug holes in the ground and barely scraped by, she leaned in and brushed her lips across his.
He tipped his head to the side and pulled her closer, taking the kiss deeper. One hand speared into her hair, while the other cradled her cheek, a gentle taste, a growing quest to learn more. She slid her hands around his waist and clung.
Vince lightened the kiss and stepped back. He glanced at the instrument panel and hit the burner again and it filled the air with a roar for several seconds. “I better not forget where we are. We need the altitude if we’re going to find a good place to land.” His words sounded calm and unaffected, if you ignored the husky note to his voice.
Cami sucked in a breath, trying to settle her whirling mind. His kiss was unexpectedly more than she’d experienced before in a first kiss. Friends, books and television said first kisses could be like that, but this was the first time she’d ever felt her knees go soft. She let her mind settle while he added altitude to the balloon so it would catch a different wind current.
“How are you doing?” he asked after a moment, his smile growing.
A Perfect Fit Page 7