“I’m sorry to hear about that.”
“Your parents are still together, right?”
That question caught her off guard. “Yes, they are.” Alicia’s father still took her mother on surprise trips every birthday and anniversary. Sometimes, they weren’t much, but even staying in a hotel a few towns away and pretending to be tourists was better than sitting around home and waiting for something fun to happen.
“I’m rather envious of that. Most of the couples I know who are my parents’ age have either divorced or only stay together out of propriety. There’s nothing like respect there, whether emotionally or physically. What I mean is that there is a lot of infidelity,” Danica was quick to explain. “I don’t want that in my life. I want someone I can see myself being happy with forever. I would divorce before I cheated.”
The plane was definitely moving. Alicia wondered if she should buckle up. For takeoff or what Danica was saying? Who knew? “You have a lot of honor in your relationships.”
“Honor? I suppose so. All I know is that I don’t want to go through the hassle of marrying someone and keeping them by my side unless I was willing to make it work. Ironically, I’ve met quite a few women like me lately. Perhaps there is a surge of lovesick wives emerging who can’t imagine anything but their monogamy.” Was that a smile tugging at her face? “It would be nice to think about. That even the biggest player can meet the woman of her dreams and settle down to eternal happiness.”
Things were seriously starting to come together. The wistful longing for “the one.” The plans to create a happy home through a happier marriage. The constant talk of honor and dues. Danica Moreau, for all her intimidating qualities, wanted the same things Alicia did. They both wanted a loving, long-term monogamous relationship that would culminate in them creating the family she never got to have growing up. Forget all the conspiracies regarding her mother – in the end, it was about familial happiness. And sexual happiness, Alicia supposed.
“You take everything very seriously,” Alicia pointed out.
“Yes, I do.” Her arm curled around Alicia, fingers stroking her bare shoulders as they poked out from her red top. “I invest seriously. I love seriously. I make my plans seriously.”
Alicia grinned against her chest as Danica took her over on the couch. “What are your current plans, Ms. Moreau?”
She smiled against Alicia’s throat. “My current long-term plans are to secure more business transactions for my family and to make you my wife. Every business decision I make right now has you guiding it, whether you know it or not.”
There goes that marriage talk again!Alicia didn’t know whether to laugh, full of fanciful daydreams, or to tell her to slow the hell down. “What are your short-term plans?”
Danica’s hand clasped her girlfriend’s thigh. “To get into these blasted pants of yours.”
What Danica wanted, she frequently got. That included getting into Alicia’s pants as she inducted her into the Mile-High club, with no bindings or blindfolds involved. As for getting her as her wife? Alicia would entertain those fantasies for a while longer. Like her, however, she took such deliberations seriously. Even if Danica got down on one knee right now and asked Alicia to marry her, she wasn’t sure she would say yes. There was still too little she knew about her. Too much at stake.
Chicago would be a good opportunity to get a better look at the mind and soul of Danica Moreau. Until then, Alicia would have to be content with getting more acquainted with the physical side of things. At least the flight would go by quickly!
Chapter 2
Alicia had been mistaken about flying into Chicago Midway Airport. She exclaimed her mistake as they touched down on some otherwise unmarked runway outside of the city center.
“Why would we fly into such a busy place like that?” Danica gathered her things while confirming last-minute details with Ms. Sarah Clayborn.
“You said we weren’t flying into O’Hare…”
Danica gave her an incredulous look while one of the flight attendants opened the plane door. “There are more than two airports in Chicago, I can assure you, Ms. Colbert.”
Oof. Danica was calling her Ms. Colbert in front of everyone.
She must have caught on to Alicia’s embarrassment. “This is a private airstrip. Most of the other airports are too busy or too small to accommodate a jet as large as ours. We’ll be driving into the city center.” Was that smile forced, or what? Even Ms. Clayborn was on the verge of rolling her eyes. “Everything has been taken care of.”
Of course.Of courseeverything had been taken care of. What was Alicia thinking?
“Thank you for flying with us, Ms. Moreau,” said the snotty flight attendant. Her nicer coworker was nowhere to be found. When she turned to Alicia, she looked her up and down, sniffed, and said, “Thanks for flying.”
Ouch.
Alicia waited until they were in the back of a limousine with Ms. Clayborn and a bodyguard. “What is that flight attendant’s problem?” Alicia whispered in Danica’s ear. “She was pissy ever since you said I was your girlfriend.”
The bodyguard and Ms. Clayborn pretended not to listen. They may have been a few feet away in that huge limo, but Alicia didn’t doubt that sound traveled well. Hopefully, it didn’t travel too well on the plane. Alicia would die. She didn’t care if these people knew what Danica and her girl were doing in private, but she didn’t need evidence piling up.
“Her?” Danica said drolly. “She’s nobody. I used to see her before you and I met.”
“By ‘see,’ I’m guessing you mean something more casual than what you and I have been getting up to.”
“Indeed.”
