Fly Away - a fighter pilot story

Chapter 18 - The Wolf

A/N:  If smut is not your tea, you can skip after half of this chapter. ;)

"Thank you for this amazing day. It has been one of my top ten.", I tell Dave as we sit together on the couch on his patio. His arm is wrapped around my shoulder and my head leans against his chest. We are watching the sun set behind the mountains.

"Only top ten? Wow... Now I am hurt.", he jokes and puts a kiss onto the top of my head.
"But tell me about them, I am intrigued."

"Do you want me to start with number ten or with number one?"

"Number ten, so I know what I need to do, to get higher up."

"Is this some sort of challenge for you?" I look up and he smiles at me.

"I always aim to be on the top.", he says and moves his hand from my shoulder to my neck and starts to massage it.

"That feels good.", I say and close my eyes enjoying his touch.

"Yeah, I heard that I have talented fingers. Sit up and turn your body around a bit, you are in desperate need of a massage in your neck and shoulder." I do as he ordered me to, and I can feel his hands starting to work through the tight muscles.
"Now let's get back to your top ten days."

"Well, number ten was when I got accepted to the Academy. I was a good student, but still, it's the United States Air Force Academy. It's not that easy to get into it. I was jumping up and down in my room when I opened the letter and read it." I can hear him chuckle behind me and slightly slap his leg.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but I just have the picture of you jumping up and down in my brain and couldn't help myself. I will try and behave myself now."

"I hope so for you, and you can use a little more pressure. I don't mind the pain." I can feel him leaning forwards and his mouth close to my ear.

"Oh, you like a bit of pain?", he asks me, and I need to clear my throat. This caught me off guard.

"Anyways, number nine was the day I took my qualification for the F-16."

"How did that happen? Your assigned plane is a Raptor. Wouldn't it make more sense to transition you to a F-35?"

"It would make sense, if I were to transition. However, I needed to learn to fly the Viper. It was the beginning of my deployment in Kuwait almost a year ago and my plane had some technical issues during the landing. I think I even killed a bird or two while landing. Anyways fixing that aircraft and getting specific spare parts is insanely difficult. You might think that they have everything in stock, but that wasn't the case. I remember one of the commanding officers handing me the book to the plane with the words, 'You were able to fly a Raptor in four months, you will get this in no time', right after landing. I already knew a little bit about the basics of the Viper as it was the first airplane on my dream sheet and had really looked into it while training. So, getting acquainted to the Viper wasn't as bad as to the F-22, but still complicated and very, very humbling."

"Did you have to fly combat missions with the Viper?"

"I accumulated overall hundred flight hours in it and twenty of those were combat hours, before they were able to fix my plane. It was mostly escorting high value transport and some close air support. But let's move on. Number eight was the day you took me flying. On that day I realized that I am still capable of doing it. I am not a quitter, but I was close to giving up on myself."

"I am in that list twice. I feel honored.", he says and kisses my left shoulder which lets me shiver. Not because the chill air around us, but because of the sensation of feeling his lips on my body.
"I remember that look on your face after that flight. There was this light in your eyes. Tell me about number seven."