Tequila

by Rebecca Sharp

  “I don’t want to hold you back, Shay,” I rasped, searching her eyes to make sure she heard how serious I was.

  “Flying might be in my blood, but you’re in my heart.” She licked her lips. “I know you won’t hold me back… but I need you to hold me forward, Logan.”

  My heart thudded against my chest.

  For her, I’d do anything.

  But especially that.

  “I think I can do that, gorgeous.”

  “Good.” She tugged on my arm. “Then let’s go,” she insisted with a look that sparkled with desire. “There may be some… other things… I put in your bag next to the blankets.”

  “Yeah?” I growled. “Like what?”

  “Things that make your clothes fall off.”

  My chuckle faded as we climbed into the cab of my truck and I took us higher.

  “Who would’ve thought, I came to Colorado to learn how to fly, and now, six years later, I came back to learn how to fall…” she murmured, wiggling her naked curves against my side in a way that made the last two times I’d orgasmed inside her tonight seem like a distant memory.

  My fingers trailed lightly against the soft skin of her arm, making sure not to dislodge the quilted blankets covering us and keeping in the warmth.

  I smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, saying, “Not sure if it’s still considered falling when you find love at twelve-thousand feet.”

  She tipped her head up and stuck that delicious pink tongue out at me before angling her mouth for another kiss.

  “You’re right,” she conceded. “I guess I found love like I did everything else—higher, farther, faster.”

  “Mmm,” I hummed, sealing my lips over hers for several long seconds before I murmured, “I’d say you found love sky-high in Colorado.”

  “And all thanks to tequila.”

  A year and a half later

  I looked around the hangar, each and every F-16 it housed under my command. The doors were cracked open, and I knew crowds were waiting outside.

  Waiting for me.

  It wasn’t my first time back in a plane in over a year, but it was the first in front of a crowd of people.

  I watched the news crews realize I’d walked into the hangar, bringing their cameras up to film their intro segments.

  I looked down and pressed a hand to my chest.

  My suit fit just a little differently now. Maybe because I was prouder of who was underneath it than I was with what emblems, patches, and awards sat on top of it.

  I spun on my heel, hearing a small squeal echo through the large, mostly empty chamber.

  My face split into the biggest smile as Logan walked toward me, carrying our nine-month-old baby girl in his arms.

  “You ready?” he rasped as he got closer.

  I nodded, reaching for my sweet baby who had her daddy’s rich brown hair and tequila-tinted eyes. I hoped that meant she’d inherit her fearlessness from me.

  “Now I am,” I said softly, wrapping my arm around the both of them and tipping my face up for a kiss.

  His lips lingered on mine until the squirming little cyclone in his arms wriggled between us.

  “I know, you want to get down,” he grunted adorably, giving me another kiss before stepping back as some of the reporters approached me.

  “Captain Daniels,” the boldest began. “How does it feel to be commander of the Viper team again?”

  There were subtle implications in the question, but I chose to ignore them.

  “I’m grateful for the opportunity, but mostly I’m just glad to be back up in the air,” I replied with a smile.

  “Has your decision to fly changed at all since having your daughter?” A different microphone was put in front of me.

  I glanced back at my girl giggling as her very large daddy crouched in front of her, letting her test her feet out.

  “Not yet,” I told him truthfully. “Though I won’t be on any more combat missions, flying is in my blood, so I don’t see that ending any time soon. I want my daughter—I want every daughter out there watching today—to know that she can do anything she sets her heart to. Being a woman doesn’t have to stop that and being a mother doesn’t have to stop that either.”

  “Do you ever stop and think about how the flood of Estes Park changed everything for your career?” the first man asked.

  I grinned and laughed to myself.

  After I rescued Megan, the diabetic girl, the story had caught in the news like wildfire. Maybe because I’d already been in the news for having my command taken away. Maybe because they’d come looking for an angry and bitter woman ready to give them drama, and instead, they got someone who continued to do what was right, no matter the cost.

  Either way, the story spread all over the country. I was interviewed by most major news stations and rarely asked a question about my demotion.

  About a month later, I’d found out I was pregnant.

  When I’d told Logan, he’d pulled me against his chest and asked if I was ready for another adventure. And, of course, with him, I always was.

  So, my arm healed but my stomach grew. And two weeks after that dramatic change to our future, I got a call from Commander O’Shaunessey.

  “I know this was never your intention when you did what you did for that girl,” he began. “But because of your exemplary service and the way you’ve represented this force and your country, the panel has overturned your removal from the Viper team leader position and would be honored to have you back at the head of the pack, if that’s what you want.”

  I’d been in shock.

  And Logan had been the first to tell me I should do it.

  Of course, I had to tell the Air Force that I would be happy to accept, however, I wouldn’t be able to start for another nine months. And they’d agreed.

  I’d done a lot of different things in the meantime, including teaching a few classes at the Academy while Logan and I figured out another new plan.

  Higher. Farther. Faster.

  Two months later, we’d moved to South Carolina—for the time being—and kept Logan’s house for vacation, or maybe for forever.

  “Not really, no,” I said with more of a laugh. “I think about how that flood changed a lot of important things for my life.” I looked over my shoulder. “It brought me my husband. It gave me our daughter.” I had to force my attention back to the question. “But my career?” I sighed. “My career has been to serve my country and the people in it, and that has never changed.”

  The slow nods of respect from across the handful of reporters.

  “Good luck today, Captain,” they murmured and then switched their attention to Commander O’Shaunessey who’d just entered the hangar with the rest of the team.

  When I looked back to my husband and our girl, my heart swelled.

  There were a lot of ways I’d pictured my Mountain Man over the years, but the sight of him holding our daughter topped them all.

  “You want to see Mommy’s plane?” I gushed, pulling her into my arms.

  Logan pressed a kiss to my head as we walked toward the F-16 that had Captain Shay ‘BaE’ Daniels written on the side of it.

  With Logan, there had been no steady climb. Everything between us always went from zero to soaring, and that night when I returned to Estes Park had been no different.

  We’d slept and made love underneath the stars at twelve-thousand feet, tipsy on tequila, and drunk on love.

  “You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever known,” Logan rasped into my ear as he stood behind me, his hands resting lightly on my hips and holding me against him while our daughter smashed her palms against the side of my plane. “We’re so proud of you.”

  I hummed and swayed against him, feeling how hard he was even through my G-suit.

  I’d come to realize in the last several months of being back out in the sky that my husband was incredibly turned on by the sight of me in all my flight gear.

  Our attention shifted from each ot
her as the hangar doors drifted open, the noise from the crowds filtering in.

  “Alright, sweetheart, let’s go so we can watch Mommy.” He lifted the little weight from my arms and I turned to give him one more kiss. “Show ‘em who’s boss,” he instructed with a not-so-subtle tap on my ass.

  I smirked. “I always do.”

  “I love you.”

  I reached up and kissed his lips. “Love you, too.”

  And then I pressed my lips to my baby’s forehead, soaking in her warmth and scent and how much I absolutely adored her. Of all the heights I’d ever gone, being her mother had brought me the highest.

  Logan had wanted to name her tequila.

  In order to marry him, I had to assume he was joking.

  Instead, we realized we’d found each other, we’d found love, and we’d found our future and her sky-high in Colorado.

  “I love you, my sweet Skye,” I murmured against the soft tuft of her hair.

  I stepped back and put my helmet underneath my arm, ready to be a hero for my daughter and all the little girls out in the crowd today.

  The kind of hero that fought for what she wanted and didn’t let stereotypes stand in her way.

  The kind of hero who did the right thing whether or not the world was watching.

  And the kind of hero that could, would, and did make mistakes, but didn’t let that stop her.

  Higher. Farther. Faster.

  I blew a kiss to the two loves of my life and began to wave as the crowds of onlookers went wild.

  I wasn’t super. I wasn’t special.

  My name is Captain Shay Daniels and the most important kind of hero I would ever strive to be was real.

  The End

  Did you know this story was based on a song?

  The inspiration for this novel came from country artists, Dan + Shay’s song, Tequila!

  Some songs seem to have a story behind them, and that is the premise for my Country Love series.

  This collection of full-length standalone novels is based on some of my favorite country songs. They are all unconnected stories, so there is no reading order and no cross-over characters—just unique plots and great characters with their roots in country music.

  Want to see the full collection?

  Check it out on my website here!

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  Have a song that you think would make a great story?

  Put in your request here!

  As mentioned, this book was initially inspired by a country song, but the events of the story are based on real-life disaster that occurred in Estes Park / Boulder / Big Thompson Canyon in 2013.

  A devastating rainfall created flooding that cut off Estes Park from the rest of the world for several days. A state of emergency was declared. Homes and lives were lost.

  Several of the scenes in this novel—like the pavement collapsing from underneath Shay and the power lines being mistaken for snakes—came from harrowing tales from flood survivors.

  The narratives I read struck me with the harsh reality of a disaster that was completely out of our control. They struck me with the way people came together to help neighbors and strangers alike. And I knew I had to write a story about love found in the most devastating and deadly of circumstances.

  I hope you enjoyed Logan and Shay’s rescue romance!

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  Hey there!

  So, you want to know a little bit about me and my writing? Awesome! Even though I write *a lot*… writing about myself always proves to be difficult. I wonder if my ‘About Me’ could just consist of memes… that would be fantastic!

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  Okay, okay. That’s enough about me. Let’s move onto my books. I (currently) write contemporary and new adult romances. My first book was published in the Fall of 2016 and I haven’t slowed down since. I love strong heroines and bad boys that turn out to be good men. There will always be a happy ending because I just can’t stomach anything else. Let’s see… Happily Ever Afters? Check. Hot alphas? Check. Feisty heroines? Check.

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