Page 21 of Solitary Man

I grinned at him. “Morning…again,” I said, unable to resist the reminder of the way he’d woken me earlier.

His cheeks reddened. “I’ll be leaving soon. Deliveries.”

I straightened. “Deliveries?”

“I need to pick up supplies from the general store and drop ’em off to some of the isolated properties.”

“In your plane?”

“Yep.”

I mean, I knew he made his living doing deliveries, but up until a few days ago, I’d assumed it was in a truck or something. “I thought you weren’t going back for a month?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I go when I’m needed.”

“You’ll be gone all day?”

His body went rigid, like he’d tensed every muscle. “A night, maybe two.”

“What?” My heart thumped harder. There was no hiding the horror in my voice. I didn’t want to be here alone. I didn’t want to be here without Cash.

He frowned, obviously surprised by my reaction.

“Can I go with you?”

His gaze slid down to my mouth. “Lots of flying.”

He’d picked up on my fear, obviously. I’d rather that than be here alone with my own thoughts. I knew myself. The memories would overtake until my mind had me hearing things, seeing things. I wouldn’t sleep. I’d lie there frozen in terror.

“Is there any other reason, besides my fear of flying, that you wouldn’t want me to go with you?”

He shook his head.

I released a relieved breath. “Okay, I’ll pack for a couple of nights, then?”

His color was high again, and under that beard his lips had curled up. He was happy I was going with him.

“Leaving in twenty,” he said, then headed back outside.

I quickly packed, and when I went outside a short time later, Cash was walking around the plane, checking things off on a list. I didn’t want to interrupt while he was so focused, so I stood back and waited. One of those large, rough-skinned hands swallowed the pen he clutched as he jotted something down. My gaze moved across his shoulders, over his back, and down to his thick, muscled behind. I shivered.

I’d never seen a man like him. Cash was built like a warrior from medieval times.

He glanced up when he finished, and there was no missing his surprise. He hadn’t seen me walk out, he was so engrossed in his task.

“What were you doing?” I motioned to the list in question.

“Preflight checklist.” Reaching through the open door of the plane, he tucked the clipboard holding the list into a pocket behind his seat, then came to me and took my bag, putting it in as well.

I moved closer to him. I always wanted to get closer to him. “So how many properties are we delivering to?”

His gaze slid to me, then down to my mouth. “Four.”

I licked my lips, and his gaze grew intense. Suddenly, I wanted to climb my mountain-sized husband and kiss the hell out of him. Somehow, I resisted. “I know it’s a paying job, but are some of these people your friends?” I was curious. I wanted to see him with people he was close to, people he had an actual history with.

His forehead puckered. “Yeah. And the last drop-off is for my cousins, Beau and Hank.”

“Oh, really? So I’ll get to meet some of your family?”