“Heismy brother?”
My mom nodded. And that was all I needed.
I slipped off the swing and stepped up to the boy—Shawn—who still had his arms open as he danced from foot to foot with impatience.
“I like hugs,” I told him.
Shawn crushed me to him so enthusiastically I let out a squeak.
“Don’t hurt her, dear,” the pretty woman said. “You two play while the grown-ups talk.”
My new brother grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the jungle gym. “What’s your favorite…what’s your favorite…” Shawn was so excited, he couldn’t even think of an ending to his question. “What’s your favoriteeverything?”
I smile at the memory. That was a good day.
“We had regular playdates. But his mom didn’t come after that first time. His nanny would drive him.” And it took me years to realize why I only got to see my brother every other week. Until I understood that this “dad” he occasionally referenced was someone who could have meant something to me, too. “When he got his license, he’d drive out to visit. He even offered to babysit me, but I was thirteen and I think my mom trusted me to be more responsible than him.”
By then I understood our strange family dynamic better. I realized that Mom let Shawn into our lives for me, but his presence was probably a harsh reminder of everything that had happened to her. Especially when he started to resemble Karl.
“I’m glad. That you know each other,” George murmurs. His eyes find mine, and I’m relieved to see most of the anger has eased from his face.
“Yeah, who knows what would have happened?” I offer him a grave head shake. “Shawn might have kidnapped some unsuspecting child just to have a sibling.”
He snorts. “He had me. And Tasha. And he went to school. Theydidn’t lock him in a tower.” George reaches out, drawing a circle with his thumb on the back of my hand until I flip it. Then he twines his strong fingers with mine. “He didn’t want just anyone. He wanted you.”
“Eh.” I shrug as my cheeks heat. “I’m not that special.”
George’s grip tightens. “Fuck anyone who’s made you think that.”
I blink at the intensity of his voice.
“This plane has seen celebrities and billionaires and politicians.” George stands from his seat and uses his hold on my hand to draw me from mine. His gray gaze bores into my eyes. “Both Shawn and I would agree that you are the most important person who has ever stepped foot inside the cabin.”
I swallow hard. Then I pierce the single breath of space between us, capturing the lips that say words designed to wreck me.
George grunts deep in his throat as I kiss him hard, dragging my tongue against his and trying to consume every bit of him. The world shifts, and I gasp into his mouth, realizing a second later that George has pressed me back against the entrance to the cockpit. His thigh slips between mine, my hands cradle his head, and my pounding heart threatens to escape my rib cage.
This man could crush me. But he only surrounds me.
A light flashes across my face, and I jerk away from George’s mouth in surprise. He stares down at me, his eyes heavy-lidded with arousal and his lips swollen and damp from my eager kisses.
“It was only headlights,” he mutters as his fingers press like a massage into my backside. “But we might want to relocate this.”
“How big is your back seat?” I ask, my voice breathless and needy.
George lets out a strained laugh, lunging forward to press a lingering open-mouth kiss to my neck, where I’m sure he can taste my thundering pulse. Wetness collects at my center, and I can’t stop my hips from thrusting against the granite of his leg. An irrational part of mybrain reasons that a cockpit is the perfect place for George to whip out his cock.
Why else would they have given that name to this part of the plane?
He pulls back with a groan, and I whimper in protest.
But the hot pilot grins and makes a tempting counteroffer.
“Would you like to see where I live?”
Chapter
27
