Did that get your attention? Good J Here’s a little
story about how my fear of flying led to sex on an airplane.
I’ve been afraid of planes my whole life.
Well, that’s not entirely true. But my fear of flying was formed on my first
flight.
When
I was nineteen, my grandmother took me on a high school “graduation present”
trip to Rome. I was a little nervous getting on the plane in New York City, but
the overnight flight was fine until we started our descent into Leonardo
DaVinci airport. The 747, as I learned later, did a common ‘step landing,’
which entailed descending a few thousand feet, gliding, then descending a few
more thousand feet, on its approach to landing.
Trouble
was, every time the plane sank those thousands of feet on its glide path, I was
convinced we were going to crash right to the ground. And since I’ve never been
very good with roller coasters, the rolling, dropping, wavy motion of the plane
had added to my stress level and made me sick to my stomach. The minute I’d
felt a sour taste in my mouth, I’d known I was in trouble.
The
flight attendants ordered everyone to buckle their seatbelts for landing, but I
unhooked mine and scrambled into the aisle, making a mad dash for the bathroom
in anticipation of throwing up. I never made it. A flight attendant at the back
of the plane blocked my desperate beeline down the aisle and literally shoved
me into an empty seat in one of the last rows, ordering me to buckle up for the
landing.
That’s
where a good Samaritan came to my rescue. Blond hair, blue eyes. I’d seen him
get on the plane in New York carrying five tennis racquets, and wondered who he
was (since I’m a big tennis fan myself). Now he turned out to be my savior. He
urged me to put my head between my knees and just breathe. I remember shaking
with the effort not to get sick in front of this gorgeous guy, when I felt his
hand gently stroking my back, trying to calm me. Of course, with his other
hand, he slipped an air sickness bag between my knees, but it turned out I didn’t
need it.
His
advice worked. The plane had landed without me making a scene.
This real life event has inspired my
latest story, Fear Of Flying. They always say to write what you know, right?
In
this contemporary romance, I gave my heroine, Jessie Jordan, a fear of flying
and wrote her story based on many of the other real-life experiences I’ve had.
A
job as a book publicist? Check. On a nationwide book tour with a travel writer?
Check. Winter de-icing of plane wings and bouts of white-knuckle clear air
turbulence? Check!
Pretty
much everything in this book is true, except that I changed the tennis player
on my plane into an ex-military travel writer. Regan Quade’s lust for Jessie (this
is where the sex on a plane comes in) helps make this story one wild ride!
Here’s
the blurb:
“You’re
never going to die in a plane crash…”
A mysterious
fortune teller’s prediction plays right into book publicist Jessie Jordan’s
biggest fear. A difficult childhood has left Jessie determined to control all
aspects of her life, but she can’t control airplanes…
Travel writer
Regan Quade also has control issues. A devastating event during his time in the
military has scarred him into believing he needs to remain single. He can’t
risk being responsible for anyone else’s life.
But during a
nationwide media tour to promote Regan’s newest travel book, Jessie’s fear of
flying prompts Regan to help calm her anxiety in a shocking – and highly
intimate! – way.
The sudden change in their relationship unleashes their mutual attraction, but Jessie doesn’t know if there’s any way to pierce the wall Regan’s built around his heart.
This story was a book of my heart. It practically wrote itself!
How about you? Any fears you’d like to
share? I’d love to hear!
Leigh Court
No comments:
Post a Comment