“Fuck you, dude,” I hiss under my breath.
Maybe in our next interaction, I won’t make an ass of myself.
4
Nate
The first concert was in Los Angeles. It would’ve been a long and boring flight if I didn’t have watching Olive to occupy myself. It’s obvious that she and Cade are friends. I could see them laughing and joking as they worked in the kitchen area. Olive genuinely smiling is almost as arousing as watching her walk. She just has this glow about her.
We had a rocky start, but I’m determined to rectify that. I don’t want to admit how much having that smile directed at me has become a need and not a want.
Now, two days later, I’m still just as obsessed. It’s like the days I didn’t get to see her have only amplified that feeling. I only got a quick glance at her across the lobby one time and my body reacted the same as it did the first time I saw her.
I see my opportunity about an hour into our next flight to Seattle. Cade is at the back of the plane, and Olive isalone. Mumbling to Ian that I’m going to the bathroom, I make my way toward the front of the plane. I haven’t worked out what I’ll say when fate intervenes, and the opportunity literally falls into my lap.
Just as I’m almost even with her, Olive whips around suddenly and trips on an open lower cabinet door. A gasp leaves her full lips as she falls into my waiting arms. I pull her body flush with mine to help stop her momentum so we don’t both go down.
“Oh my god!” she cries out as she wiggles against me to right herself and back out of my grasp.
Her body feels entirely too enticing against mine, and I’m trying to control my body’s natural reaction so she doesn’t feel how much I’m affected by her. I gently set her a few inches from me to give myself some relief, jaw clenched.
“Olive, are you okay?”
As I say her name, her head snaps in my direction. Lips parting, she draws in heavy breaths. She’s stunning.
“I, uh, yes, I am,” she stammers, smoothing down her skirt.
Remembering how we got into this proximity, I glance down at her shin, where she could’ve hurt herself when she tripped. She has black pantyhose on, so I can’t see her skin. “Do you need to look at your leg? You hit it pretty hard.”
She bends over and gingerly presses on the front of her calf. Squatting before her, I reach out to feel it. She tenses as my hand touches her, taking a soft, wheezing breath. After I probe around, I look up at her. She’s still bent over, which puts our faces within inches. It would take almost no movement to just?—
“Uh, everything okay up here?” Cade’s voice breaks our trance. We both stand quickly and take small steps back.
The laugh that slips from the lips I want to taste soundsstrained. “Oh yeah, I just tripped on this dumb cabinet door I left open.” She flings her hand in the direction of the offending door. “And this nice man caught me before I face-planted.”
Cade turns to me, his expression part amused, part inquisitive. “Well, lucky for this nice man.”
I point to my chest. “Nate. This nice man is Nate.” Then I turn and point to Ian. “And that’s Ian back there. We’re Miss Bell’s personal security for the tour.”
“So you’re a bodyguard?” Cade’s grin widens at his question.
I lower my voice a little. “We prefer personal security. Sounds a lot cooler.”
Cade and Olive laugh. My heart races as I lock eyes one more time with Olive. Her laughter quiets as her smile slowly fades into a bemused expression.
Before I overstay my welcome, I excuse myself to do what I pretended I was going to do when I first left my seat. This interaction seems to, at least, partially make up for our first encounter.
When I return to my seat, I avoid Ian’s intense stare. “I don’t thinkthat’swho we’re supposed to be protecting.”
I shoot him an annoyed look. “So I was just supposed to let her fall? I was right there.”
“And the way you were looking at her after was because…”
With a shrug, I pull my phone out of my pocket to feign nonchalance as my insides flip with pure chaos. “It’s kind of hard not to look at her. You can see her, can you not?” I mumble. Even as I say that, my stomach sours at the thought of anyone else looking at her at all, even one of my best friends.
Ian releases a dramatic sigh, turning back to stare out the window. “Dropping like flies. First, Jack, and now you.”
It’s a pretty far jump from meeting Olive a few days ago to what Jack has with Ella. But I don’t correct him. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t something about her that intrigues me beyond her killer curves and beautiful face. Though those things certainly don’t hurt.
