Three Little Words

After we showered—together, fun!—we packed our things, stored our luggage in a little room off the lobby, and skied until mid-afternoon. I paid the bill at the inn and signed the credit card receipt without flinching. It was a lot, but not as bad as I’d expected. Carolyn had given us a “friends of the inn”

discount. Still, it wasn’t something we could do every week.

Damon drove us back to the airport in the Bronco and helped me load the plane.

“Are you sure you won’t take a tip?” I asked. “Something? Anything?”

He shook his head but then his eyes betrayed him. I turned and followed his gaze, and he grinned shyly when I looked at him again.

“You wanna go flying sometime?” I asked.

“I couldn’t…”

“Nonsense. We’ll do it next time we’re here.” I shook his hand to seal the deal. “In the meantime, you wanna help me do the preflight inspection?”

“Could I?”

“Sure, c’mon.”

Christy beamed and watched while Damon followed me around the plane and listened intently as I explained what I was doing.

“And that’s it,” I said when we finished. “We’re ready to fly.”

“Seems simple enough,” he said.

“It is. It’s just habit and routine. You have to stay focused, though. You can’t pull over in the sky if something goes wrong.”

He nodded seriously.

“I’ll teach you more next time,” I said. “Sound good?”

“Yes, sir.”

I held out my hand again. “It was nice to meet you, Damon.”

“You too, Mr. Hughes.”

“Dude, I’m only a few years older’n you. Call me Paul.”

“Okay. Paul. It was nice to meet you.”

Christy joined us and gave him a kiss on the cheek that left him blushing.

“We’ll see you next time,” I said as he moved away from the plane to stand out of the way.

“That was very nice of you,” Christy said when I helped her onto the wing. “You’d make a good teacher.”

“You really think so?”

“Mmm hmm. You’re patient and you don’t talk down to people. Well, except me,” she added with a mischievous grin. “But that’s ’cause I’m short… or under you.”

My eyebrows flew up.

“I thought you’d like that.”

“What,” I teased, “you being short?”

“No. The part where I’m under you.”

“Mmm, I like that a lot. We’ll have to do it again tonight.”

“Yes, please.”

I waved to Damon and then climbed into the cockpit. Christy followed and I secured the door behind her.

“Ready, my sexy little copilot?”

“Yes, sir, captain, sir!”

On Monday Trip gave me an exhausted look as we changed into our workout clothes.

“I don’t know if I can do this today,” he said.

I chuckled with a complete lack of remorse or even sympathy.

“I’m serious, dude. Wren wore me out this weekend. My back is sore. My legs are sore. My arms. My shoulders. My neck. Even my jaw. Hell, I’m sore in places I didn’t know I had.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” I teased. “But if you aren’t going to lift, I’m going to do free weights. You can spot me. Hold on, you can spot me, right?”

“I think so. But don’t go crazy.”

“Yeah, all right.”

He tagged along and chatted as I went through a chest, shoulders, and arms workout. I’d forgotten how much I missed free weights. I’d also forgotten how many core muscles I used when I didn’t have a machine to guide the weights for me. Not surprisingly, I was fairly worn out myself by the time I finished.

After the gym we stopped by the boarding house. The crew was making good progress, although they still had a long way to go. We chatted about it on the way back to our own house, where Trip headed for his stereo and I went upstairs to shower.

Christy burst into the bedroom right as I bent to open a drawer for some clean sweatpants.

“Ooh, hello, Mr. Cute Butt!”

I shot upright and turned.

“And hello, Mr. Penis. Have you had a good day?”

“He says yes. A little lonely, but better now that you’re here. How was yours?”

“Good. But much better now. I like coming home to our room. Even better when my sexy boyfriend and his penis are here.”

“You just like saying ‘penis.’”

“Mmm hmm. It feels good in my mouth.” She tossed her things on the bed and twirled into my arms. I lifted her into the air, and she wrapped her arms and legs around me. I didn’t know how far she’d let me take things, but I shut the door firmly with my foot, just in case.

“Oh?” she said. “Do I need to ask what you’re thinking?”

“I’m always thinking about it. So are you, and you know it.”

“Guilty as charged. Sometimes I can’t wait to get home to see you.” She grinned. “My sketchbook lately is full of doodles… of you.”

“Just my face?” I teased. “Or other parts as well?”

She blushed. “Remind me to wring Wren’s neck for telling you about my secret sketchbook.”

“No, I think it’s kinda cool. I told you how I feel about dicks in general. I don’t mind looking at them. So… I’m curious to see this sketchbook of yours. Again, I mean. And I want to know about the guys behind the penises,

so to speak.”

“You are so strange sometimes. Most guys… Well, you aren’t like most guys.”

“Um… no.”

“And that’s why I like you. No, I take that back. That’s why I love you.

I’m head over heels.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”