Hightower Affairs 2: Bedding the Secret Heiress by Emilie Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

over-the-top lifestyle is like something you’d see on TV. None of them had jobs until after college. Even then, they were hired by the family firm, so there’s no chance of getting fired for poor performance.”
    He sipped his bourbon. “Don’t you work for your father?”
    He was really determined to see her in a bad light, wasn’t he? “I didn’t initially. I started with odd jobs for other pilots and owners around the airport. Sweeping hangars, washing and waxing planes and cars. My dad made it very clear that if I did sloppy work, it would reflect badly on him.
    “Then from the day I turned sixteen until I was certified as a flight instructor I worked in food service. I realize asking ‘Do you want fries with that?’ isn’t anything to brag about, but at least I learned how to earn and manage money and work with the public.”
    Despite his relaxed posture his alert eyes assessed her over the rim of his glass. “You didn’t go to college, did you?”
    “Trent has been sharing stuff from my personnel file again.” The rat. “I have an associate’s degree from community college, and—”
    She bit her lip and studied her hands. She wasworking on a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida, but if her father’s life insurance didn’t pay up, she might not be able to afford to finish it. So close, and yet so far from attaining her goal. Getting her degree was more important now than ever. If Falcon Air failed, she’d have to find another employer, and the major airlines required a four-year degree.
    And then there was Uncle Lou. At his age he’d have trouble finding another position, and he’d invested all his savings into Falcon. She might need to make enough to support both of them.
    “And?” Gage prompted.
    She wasn’t whining to a stranger about her money problems—especially one who’d probably parrot her words to her half brother. Her situation would only reinforce her half sibling’s opinion that she was here to take a bite out of their inheritance. Time to talk about someone else.
    “You seem very familiar with traveling in the copilot seat.”
    Gage held her gaze long enough that she began to doubt he’d let her change the subject. Finally, he lifted one shoulder. “I used to fly with Trent.”
    Surprise made her sit up straighter. “Trent has his pilot’s license? But he always uses a full crew when he travels. He never takes the controls.”
    She knew because she’d been cursed with him as a hypercritical passenger on her first dozen flights.
    “He works en route.”
    “If he’d take the controls now and then, maybe he wouldn’t be so uptight. I can’t imagine being content to sit in the back and let someone else have all the fun.”
    Gage’s eyes narrowed. “You could have a point. He used to love flying.”
    “You should mention that next time you report in.”
    The arrival of their salads kept him from replying. After the server left, Gage picked up his fork. “Tomorrow we’ll rent a couple of motorcycles from the Harley dealership and tour the area.”
    Excitement inflated inside her like a balloon. She popped it. Was this like demanding her presence at dinner? She had to comply? “I don’t want to spend the cash.”
    “I’ll cover it.”
    “Renting requires a motorcycle endorsement on your license.”
    “I haven’t ridden in years, but I have it.”
    She studied him. Gage, with his perfectly fitting suits and immaculate haircut, looked far too sophisticated and uptight to climb on the back of a bike and roar down the roads with the wind whipping at his clothes. Not that there weren’t thousands of executives who rode motorcycles, but Gage had an ever-present tension in him that hinted he never loosened up. “I don’t believe you.”
    He extracted his license from his wallet and offered it to her. “I couldn’t afford a car in college. I rode an old bike.”
    She snatched the small card from his hand. Yep. He had the endorsement. She noted