Lost in Her by Sandra Owens Read Free Book Online

in a black notebook to notice him. He paused and studied her. She was a tiny thing, maybe an inch or two over five feet. Her pale blonde hair formed a curly cap around her head, again bringing cherubs to mind. The olive-green T-shirt and tan cargo pants did nothing to hide a curvy body.
    “Hello, cherub.”
    Her back straightened, and she lifted her face, her blue-gray eyes widening at the sight of him. She was even prettier than he remembered. At her confused expression, he shrugged. “I’m your new student.”
    She grabbed the notebook and stared at it for a few seconds. “You’re Ryan O’Connor?”
    “In the flesh. It’s nice to meet you, Charlene Morgan.”
    “Ah . . .” Wariness flashed in her eyes. “How did you find me, and more importantly, why?”
    Why had he thought she’d be pleased to see him? It had been a mistake to come. “Listen, this was a bad idea.” He reached for his wallet. “Let me pay up, then I’ll take myself off.”
    The last person Charlie had expected to see again stood in front of her, holding out a credit card. When she’d seen his name as her first student of the morning, she hadn’t connected Ryan O’Connor with her Ryan. All she’d thought was that he was her third new student of the past two days, and that David would probably be busy planning another emergency landing for her for the free promotion. Heat spread over her cheeks when she realized she was staring at Ryan like an idiot while he continued to hold out his card.
    “Ahem, it’s nice to meet you, too.” She reached out to shake his hand and ended up with his credit card. That was beyond awkward, she thought as she lifted her gaze to meet his. Dang, he had beautiful eyes. They reminded her of the emerald green of the gulf when the sun shone on it, except they had tiny streaks of orange in the green. Never having seen eyes colored like his, she couldn’t help staring.
    “It’s called heterochromia.”
    “Huh?”
    An amused grin appeared on his face. “It means my eyes have more than one color.”
    “Oh.” What was wrong with her? She’d never been this flustered by a man before. “Well, they’re very pretty.” Sheesh, now she was telling him he was pretty. What next? Would she blurt out that she’d had an erotic dream about him a few nights ago and then admit to waking up hot and bothered?
    “Charlie?”
    There was another thing—his voice. It was low and rumbly, and if that wasn’t bad enough, his Boston accent about slayed her. She could listen to him talk all day.
    “Charlie!”
    “What?”
    “Are you going to run that?”
    She glanced at the card she’d forgotten she was holding. The smart thing to do would have been to give it back to him and send him on his way. The man was just too potent for her peace of mind. But the thought of him walking out that door, never to see him again, made her stomach feel funny, and not in a good way. If she could perform precision spins and snap rolls, she could surely handle a mere man. Except there was nothing mere about him.
    “We’ll run it after your lesson,” she said, handing it back to him. Decision made, she headed for the Cessna, not giving him a chance to respond. She was too afraid he already regretted finding her and would decide to leave.
    His footsteps sounded behind her, and she let out the breath she’d been holding. Normally, she spent the first part of a new student’s lesson in the classroom before taking them for a brief introductory flight. There was no way she could sit next to him, alone in a room, and speak coherently, so . . . change of plans. Put her in a plane and nothing else mattered. She could ignore hot men who invaded her dreams. She hoped.
    As she went through a meticulous checklist—more thorough than usual considering her recent mishaps—Ryan followed closely, asking intelligent questions. It seemed he had prior experience with planes, and curious, she turned to him.
    “You’ve done this before?”
    He eyed