Release Me

you’re very, very good.”
    “To have all this power beneath me?” I say, pitching my voice low and breathy. “I think that’s incentive.”
    Beside me, Damien groans. “Jesus, Nikki. I thought we were trying to avoid a traffic accident.”
    I laugh, feeling sexy and powerful. It’s one hell of a nice feeling.
    Despite not going close to three hundred miles per hour, it takes almost no time to get to the Santa Monica Airport. Damien pulls up in front of a hangar beside a futuristic-looking jet with wings that seem to extend forever from the belly of the plane and bend upward at ninety-degree angles at each end.
    “Wow,” I say. I glance around and see an older man with graying hair and a beard striding toward us. “Is that Grayson? Is he the pilot?”
    “That is Grayson,” Damien says. “And he’s the mechanic, flight guru, and all-around grease monkey. Good morning, Grayson. She all ready to go?”
    “That she is. Great day for it, too.”
    “Grayson, this is Nikki Fairchild, my date for the afternoon.”
    “It’s a pleasure,” he says, shaking my hand.
    “How long have you been flying?” I ask him.
    “Over fifty years,” he says. “My dad used to take me up in his Cessna when I was a little thing and let me control the stick.” He passes a clipboard to Damien, along with something that looks like a test tube. “She’s fueled up and ready, but I know you’re going to give her your own once-over.”
    “My bird, my responsibility.”
    He takes the clipboard, then walks to the plane. He checks the pressure in the tires, then circles the jet, pausing occasionally to open something so that liquid can drip into the tube.
    “What’s he doing?”
    “Checking for water in the fuel and for fluid in the lines,” Grayson says. “I’ve been prepping planes for him for five years now, and he’s never once not double-checked me.”
    “Isn’t that a little annoying?”
    “Hell, no. It’s the sign of a good pilot, and Damien Stark isa damn good pilot. I ought to know. I’m the one who taught him.”
    “Pilot,” I repeat, as Damien returns and passes the tube back to Grayson. “You’re flying?”
    “I am,” he says. “Ready?”
    I glance at Grayson, who chuckles. “You’re in good hands.”
    “Very good,” Damien says, but I have a feeling he’s not talking about flying. Or, at least, not about flying in jets.
    The access stairs are already down, and Damien gestures for me to go first. I climb up and find myself in a cabin so fine it makes commercial first class look like prison. I aim myself at one of the seats, only to feel Damien’s hand on my arm holding me back. “We’re going left,” he says, and I follow him into the cockpit. Still polished and shiny, but this is a workplace, not an area to kick back with music and a cocktail.
    He gets me settled into my seat, then gives the belt a tug, making sure I’m nice and snug before seating himself. “Why not let Grayson fly?” I ask. “Isn’t it a shame to forgo all that luxury and have to do all the hard work?”
    “I have comfortable chairs and cocktails on the ground. Flying is where the thrill is.”
    “All right,” I say. “Thrill me.”
    His grin is wolfish. “I intend to, Ms. Fairchild. In the air, and when we’re back safely on the ground.”
    Oh …
    He puts on a headset and checks in with the tower. Then we’re taxiing to the runway and Damien is maneuvering the plane into position. “Ready?” he asks, and I nod. I hear the power build before I feel it, and then suddenly we’re moving, racing down the runway. Damien’s hands are on the wheel, firm and in control. And then he pulls back and I feel the ground fall away beneath us. I’m leaning back in my seat and we’re flying.
    I gasp. “Wow.” I’m no stranger to commercial airplanes, butsomehow the whole experience is different when you’re sitting in the copilot seat.
    We climb for a while, with Damien talking back and forth with the tower. Then we level off. When I look out, I see the California coastline far below us, and the mountains rising in the distance. “Wow,” I say again, then rummage in my purse for my iPhone. I take a few snapshots, then turn to Damien. “I wish I’d known we were going to do this. I’d love to get some real shots.”
    “I doubt you could get anything decent through the glass. Grayson keeps it clean, but it’s still going to cause some distortion.”
    He’s right, and I feel a little better about the missed