Stay with Me

by Jules Bennett

  “You can fly,” she informed him. “I’ll just enjoy the view.”

  He raked his eyes over her once more and Olivia braced herself for another of his comments. But after a moment, he nodded and headed back toward the plane. She pulled in a deep breath and marched ahead. She didn’t want to think about the last time she sat in the tiny leather seat. She didn’t want to flash back to the first time her father let her have the controls. And she certainly didn’t want to spend more time in Jackson’s company than she had to because . . . well, just because.

  Olivia opened the passenger door, used the step on the wing, and climbed inside. That familiar scent surrounded her. The leather, the oil, the metal. There was no dodging the assault of memories. She gripped her hands in her lap as she waited for him to start the engine and do a final check.

  Nerves swirled inside her. Not from flying, never from that. She’d actually loved the sport. So many people assumed the worst because the only press aviation received seemed to be when they crashed. But flying was safe, it was beautiful, peaceful. It calmed her in ways she couldn’t explain.

  But right now, being back in the plane she’d learned to fly in, the plane her father had babied for years, was a bit difficult. Not to mention being inches from her sexy rival worked over her nerves pretty well too.

  “You’ve taken great care of her,” Olivia stated, needing something to break the tension.

  “She’s paid my bills, so it’s only fair I pamper her.”

  He maneuvered down the runway, radioed his takeoff information through the headset for any surrounding planes to hear, and got into position. The engines roared to life, and then they were jetting down the paved lane flanked by bright blue lights. Within seconds, they were airborne and Olivia looked out her side window. The tiny town of Haven was breathtaking, all glistening in various shades of light.

  Jackson was right in saying the night was the most beautiful, the most peaceful. She’d taken this plane out a few times when she’d needed to think or when she just wanted to get away. Her time alone in the plane was limited considering she didn’t get her pilot’s license until she was sixteen, but she’d fallen in love even more once she got behind the controls.

  “I wasn’t aware you’d brought an entourage when you came to town.”

  Jackson’s words sliced through her thoughts. “Jade and Melanie are hardly an entourage. They’re my best friends.”

  “I remember you and Jade were always together. How did you meet Melanie?”

  Olivia focused on the town below and not the way Jackson’s aftershave or cologne seemed to mess with her senses. Couldn’t he just smell like grease and sweat? That would make this so much easier. But no. She was enclosed in this tiny space with a man who smelled sexy and had charm dripping off nearly every word.

  “We actually met at a marathon a couple years ago,” she replied. Melanie’s history was her story to tell, so Olivia wasn’t getting into all of that. “She twisted her ankle right before the finish line and Jade and I ended up carrying her over it so she could finish. We’ve been friends since.”

  “Impressive,” he muttered. He turned the plane toward Savannah. “So what is it you do in Atlanta?”

  Olivia adjusted the mic on her headset. “I’m an accountant for a marketing firm, but I’ve been doing some work in PR as well.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  Olivia clasped her hands in her lap. “It’s not boring. I stay busy and I have a very important position.”

  “Staying busy and being needed isn’t the same thing as doing something you love,” he retorted.

  “I enjoy nice things, so I like my income.” That may have been a vast understatement. “And I enjoy working somewhere that recognizes my talents.”

  “So you need material things and praise with your job?” he asked.

  Olivia gritted her teeth. She wasn’t shallow. She wasn’t. Couldn’t she be proud of the hard work she’d done? Why did he have to make her feel remorseful for having goals and reaching them?

  “You won’t make me feel guilty for my lifestyle.”

  When his whiskey-smooth tone didn’t come back through the headset, Olivia glanced back out the window. She couldn’t deny that she missed this. Flying was ingrained in her blood and no matter the person she was now, she was still the daughter of Paul Daniels.

  “You remember Cash and Tanner?”

  His abrupt question had her turning in her seat. “Of course. Tanner was in my grade, but Cash was a couple years younger. How are they doing?”

  The lights from the panel illuminated Jackson’s face. That hard-set jaw with just enough scruff to make her wonder what it would feel like beneath her palm . . . No. She wasn’t wondering. She didn’t want to reach out and see how he reacted. What in the world was she thinking?

  Maybe being confined in this small space was a bad idea. There was nowhere to go and she was literally at his mercy.

  “Pretty good,” he replied. “They have a plane in one of the other hangars. They went in on a Beechcraft Piston a few years ago. It’s pretty nice.”

  She’d had no idea anyone else occupied the other hangars on the property. Her father had rented the space to recreational fliers, but Olivia never thought about Jackson doing the same.

  “Do you have other renters?” she asked.

  “A few. I have one guy who was going to leave town, but he ended up falling in love and is staying.” Jax’s laughter came through the headset. “I admit, I’m the one who set them up. But I’ve since learned they knew each other years ago. She was his late wife’s nurse or something. It was an interesting story. Still, if I hadn’t reconnected them—”

  “You’re a regular Cupid,” she stated dryly. “What about other renters?”

  “I still have space for two more, but aviation is a dying sport. I have a few teenagers who are interested in getting their license. They’ve talked to me about getting hours in and already started their online training. We’ll see if they stick with it.”

  Olivia knew some people loved to fly, but once all that power was in their hands, they froze up. Some people scared themselves on landings or even takeoffs. She’d loved every minute of all the rush, the freedom. But the push-pull relationship with her father had tainted her love of the sport.

  This entire airport had left a bad taste in her mouth when she’d left, and she hated to admit it, but the longer she was here, the more she was remembering the reasons why she loved it as a child.

  She pushed aside the sentimental thoughts and returned her focus to the conversation. “Sounds like you’re not doing too bad.”

  She hadn’t meant to let that slip out. She didn’t want to start getting invested emotionally into this situation. That wasn’t smart business sense and she definitely knew better.

  “I do all right.” That low, rich voice filled her headset. “As long as I can provide for my daughter and do what I love, I don’t care about extra.”

  Guilt slithered through her. Had he purposely thrown his daughter into the conversation to make her second-guess selling?

  Olivia couldn’t bear other people’s crosses. She had her own issues and her own life to get on with, and she planned to get on with that life as soon as she put this portion of her past behind her once and for all.

  “So you have your teaching license?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I didn’t necessarily have the urge to teach, but I’m always looking to learn more and better my skill. Things just fell into place, plus the extra money is nice. I have to watch the hours because of Piper and my regular flights.”

  A single father was not someone she had experience with. She wasn’t sure what his life must be like. Olivia didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s schedule. When she wanted to do something, she checked her work calendar first and that was all.

  Oh, no. She was shallow.

  “Why haven’t you flown since you left?” he asked.

  Olivia stared at the controls in front of her. The urge
to grab hold was strong, but she fisted her hands in her lap. Everything before her was the past, not her future.

  “Probably for the same reasons you’re not married.”

  Silence settled over the airways and she wondered if she’d stepped over the line. Obviously, she had, but she didn’t want to delve into her issues any more than he did.

  After a moment of tension-filled silence, Jackson’s gruff chuckle came through. “You really don’t want to talk about this, do you? Fine. I’m not married because when I was in the air force my wife gave birth while I was overseas. When she decided she didn’t want to be a parent, I knew I had to give up my career and step up to the plate. She was a heartless mother and signed her rights over as she rushed to get out of town. So, I’ve been a little too busy to date, let alone remarry.”

  Olivia stared at the horizon where the darkness met the city lights. She wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t fully expected him to open up, so that was shocking in itself, but the picture he painted was heartbreaking.

  His wife had left him and a newborn baby? She wanted to compare the parallel childhood she had to his instance, but she’d been eighteen when she’d walked away from her father.

  “Nothing to say?” he asked. “You don’t want to share with the class your little secrets?”

  Olivia tucked her hands beneath her legs. Part of her wanted to feel those controls once again, part of her wanted him to land this thing because she couldn’t handle being wrapped in all these memories.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she murmured. “But no, I don’t want to share anything. I just want to sell this airport. I can’t have this in my life.”

  “Wanting to cut those final ties? I guess being a city girl now you’re more concerned with promotions, getting to the top of that corporate ladder, and forgetting your roots.”

  Olivia knew anything she said would only make her sound like she hated this place, so she remained silent.

  “I guess it’s easier to move on than it is to water those roots, huh?”

  Swallowing that lump of remorse, Olivia refused to answer. No, she didn’t want to revisit the past. Obviously, that was the entire point of trying to get out from under this burden.

  “You can buy my half,” she suggested, as if that solution would wrap up this mess in a neat package.

  “In a perfect world I would. But I have bills to pay and no extra cash.”

  “How about a loan?”

  “My wife pretty much destroyed my credit while I was overseas. I’m still digging out of that mess.”

  Who was this woman he’d been married to? She left a newborn baby and had demolished Jackson’s finances all while he was fighting for their country. What was wrong with people?

  “I’m sure there’s something we can work out,” she murmured, more talking to herself than anything. She refused to believe there was no way around this.

  “Why don’t I get the property appraised and let’s take it from there.”

  Jackson started their descent and part of Olivia was thankful their time was drawing to an end. The other part, the one she wished would shut up and get out of her head, wanted to learn more about the man who stood in her way. She wanted to know what happened after she left, how his relationship was with her father. Most likely Jackson was the exact child her father had wanted. With his love of aviation, Jackson made the perfect replacement once Olivia was gone. Hell, Jackson had been perfect while Olivia had still lived here. Maybe that was just another reason why her father stayed at the airport so often—he’d had someone to bond with.

  Olivia couldn’t deny the hurt. She couldn’t deny that when she’d secretly wished her father would put her ahead of everything else, but instead he’d turned to the skies, to Jackson.

  “You can do what you want, but you’d be wasting your time.” His voice came through seconds before he tapped the control and announced his landing. “This is my life, Livie. You wouldn’t like it too much if someone showed up at your place of employment one day and told you to give everything up.”

  “This isn’t the same thing,” she argued.

  “It’s exactly the same thing, I just reversed the scenario.”

  He wasn’t going to make her feel guilty. Hadn’t she already had that pep talk with herself? The whole single father, ex-soldier, small-town hunk was too damn appealing on levels she couldn’t even address in her own mind. She refused to let him get to her, but that grip she had on the control was starting to slip. If she didn’t watch herself, she’d lose more than just this sale.

  As he lined up with the airstrip, Olivia’s trained eye instantly went to the lights to the left of the runway to make sure all three were green for a safe landing.

  “You’re a great pilot,” she found herself saying. “You can tell you have a passion.”

  “I would’ve still been in the air force had my life not taken a different turn,” he explained. The plane made a gentle bump as the wheels hit the pavement. “But Piper is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  “Not every parent would have given everything up like that.”

  “I never walk away from what’s mine. Not even when my marriage was falling apart. I would’ve stuck it out to make things work.”

  Olivia didn’t understand that type of dedication. She’d never been shown such devotion or love. She couldn’t help but wonder if he loved his wife that much or if he was just determined to give his daughter the best life he knew how. No matter, she didn’t need his whole backstory. She didn’t need to know what made him tick to move forward with her plans. Selling this airport was nonnegotiable.

  “Let me buy your half, Jackson. I would make it worth your while and give you enough until you found something else.”

  He taxied around the runway, slowing the plane down and letting the engines cool. Olivia waited on him to flat-out refuse once again. It seemed to be their song and dance. But she wasn’t giving up . . . then again, neither was he.

  “Not everything is a business decision,” he finally stated. “You don’t even bother getting to know someone before you try to turn their life inside out. You know the young boy I used to be. You see me as some sort of replacement for you in regard to your father. If you only knew how he was after you left, you might not be in such a hurry to sell his legacy.”

  The unwelcome burning in her throat had Olivia swallowing hard. Those emotions she’d once thought buried kept creeping up at the most inopportune times . . . and even more so since she’d been back. Living in her childhood home, sleeping in her old bedroom, and dealing with Jackson really thrust her into dealing with things she’d rather run from. But she’d been running long enough. She was a big girl now—time to act like one.

  “You only saw my father’s side of things,” she explained. “I’m sure you think you know the situation, but I promise you don’t.”

  As they neared the hangar, he slid off his headset and placed it between them. Bringing the plane to a complete stop, he turned to face her.

  “Then tell me,” he stated, as if things were that simple, and that open, between them. “Tell me what it was like. Because I assure you that you also don’t know all the sides of the story. You have no clue that your father kept those little overalls you used to wear as a toddler hanging in his office behind the door until he died. You have no clue that he was sick when you left, and you can’t possibly know that he busted his ass to hold on to this when his medical bills had become so much that he almost had to sell. He stayed at the airport more than usual because he didn’t want you and your mother to see how run-down he was from the illness.”

  Shock flooded her as Jackson eased the plane back to the front of the hangar. She sat in utter silence, letting his words penetrate her mind. Once they were parked, he shut the plane down and abruptly exited as if he had nothing else to say to her. Olivia let him go, because she truly had no clue how to respond.

  Tears pricked her eyes and she knew s
he was at a point where she was going to have to get some answers before she could fully move on. She was going to have to revisit that time when she’d left, and Jackson was going to have to fill her in because, no, she’d had no clue her father had been sick.

  And that bit of information just changed the dynamics of this entire situation.

  Chapter Five

  Jax didn’t give a shit what Olivia did. He’d put the plane up later. She could call a friend to come get her or she could come in and ask him. But right now, he just needed space.

  It wasn’t a stretch to say that Paul Daniels was like a father to Jax. With both of Jax’s parents deceased, he’d grown up with his grandfather, who was wonderful, but he was older and tired. Paul had been amazing, teaching an eager Jax everything he’d known about planes and flying.

  Jax had started tinkering after school, and then that turned into the weekends and summer breaks. He’d learned to fly a plane before he knew how to drive a car and he knew much more about the engine in a Skyhawk than he had about the one in his old Mustang.

  But when Paul had gotten sick, Jax wondered why he hadn’t told his wife and daughter. At the time Jax had only been thirteen, so he didn’t feel it was his place to step in and say anything. Paul had his reasons, stating he didn’t want them to stay out of pity. He’d been a proud man, a man of integrity and compassion. Jax absolutely hated that Livie thought the worst of her father. The man would’ve done anything for her, but in the end, time had run out.

  Jax paced the empty hangar, raking a hand over his hair, then rubbing his jaw. The bristles scraping against his palm reminded him he hadn’t shaved in a couple days. Having Olivia show up had thrown him off, and he was never thrown off his game.

  Something about the hoity-toity city woman he’d once had a school-age crush on had set him into overdrive. Part of him wanted her to get the hell out and never return, just leave him alone with his business. But the other part, the strictly male part, wanted to kiss the hell out of her and mess up that perfect persona she portrayed.