Tasha laughed at the look on his face.
“I mean, they obviously knew you’d been drinking. There was no hiding that when I took you home,” he added. “But the details? Nah.”
“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “But I think Uncle Alan might’ve guessed. I think you’re here on purpose—so that we’d have to talk.”
Thomas nodded. “Uncle Navy loves us both, pretty damn fiercely,” he said. “You more than me, of course.” He took a deep breath and said it, “And I do love you, Tash. I’ve absolutely loved you forever—you didn’t get that wrong. But you’re my little sister, you know?”
She nodded at that, too. “Sister. Right. I think, in my heart, I knew you’dsisterme. That’s why I took theSurprise-I’m-naked!approach. To show you up-close and personal that I wasn’t really a blood relation.” She laughed ruefully. “And five White Russians agreed thatthatwas a truly genius move.”
“Five White Russians always give shitty advice.”
“I’d apologize for putting so much distance between us for so long, but... I’m not really sorry about that. It took me years to get over you,” she told him. “I kinda needed the space. You know, to grow up and figure out who I was, if I wasn’t going to be part ofThomas and Tasha, like some creepy, pre-arranged child-bride thing.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Thatiskinda creepy. Grown man waiting on a child to turn eighteen, like it’s some kinda magic finish line?”
“Right?” she said, glancing up with a smile as the flight attendant materialized beside them to take her wine glass and inform them that take-off was imminent.
So whoareyou now?Thomas was just about to ask, when she added, “I still don’t fly happily. I’m gonna...” She put her headphones back on and started up her music, her knuckles going white from gripping her chair’s armrests as the jet thundered down the runway.
Thomas didn’t think twice. He just reached over and took her hand in his and let her hold on tight.
* * *
Tasha mentally kicked herself. Again.
It took me years to get over you.
She’d actually said those words to this man, and even as they’d left her mouth, she knew that she was screwed.
Ithadtaken her years to get over Thomas King. And all it took was one conversation—thisconversation, where he spoke to her so sincerely from his enormously generous heart—for all of her feelings for him to come screaming back to life.
It didn’t help that he looked so damn good. Instead of his winter blue uniform, he was wearing civilian clothes—a nicely tailored dark suit with a crisp white shirt and a royal blue tie, overcoat on his arm.
Over the years, he’d cut his hair shorter and shorter and somewhere down the line, he’d decided it was easier to just shave his head. It was a striking look—it somehow seemed to make him look both taller and more commanding.
His face had always, for her, been the definition of handsome, with his rich ochre skin and his gorgeous midnight brown eyes surrounded by thick lashes. When Tasha had first met Thomas, she was convinced that he was the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen. So it made sense that, all these years later, she’d still find him to be the most beautiful man in the world.
She’d gently pulled her hand free from his as the jet achieved cruising altitude. But she’d kept her headphones on for the entire rest of the flight, first pretending she was sleeping, and then—after refusing both a late night snack and the opportunity to nap in the fully appointed bedroom—she finally, truly fell blissfully asleep.
“You should’ve taken the bed,” he’d commented as the plane began its descent, as the flight attendant brought her a mug of coffee and she stirred back to life, adjusting a crick in her neck.
She looked at him questioningly, lifting her headphones off her right ear, even though she’d managed to read his lips. He repeated his words—the look on his handsome face broadcasting his wariness. Yeah, they’d talked and apologized, but it was clear that he still didn’t know quite where he stood with her. Were they friends again, or...?
“I didn’t think I’d really sleep,” she admitted, sipping the coffee carefully, but it wasn’t too hot. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, and she shook her head and forced a smile.
“My boyfriend’s mother is a literal queen, enough said, right?” It was the tiniest tip of the truth-iceberg, but Thomas nodded.
She sighed with relief as he allowed it to be the conversation ender she’d hoped it would be. She focused on the coffee, dropping her headphones back onto her ears.
She’d obviously dismissed him, yet after she finished and her mug was whisked away, Thomas still held out his hand, offering it to her for the landing.
Tasha took it, knowing that she shouldn’t, that the sensation of their fingers intertwining would—and did—make her foolish heart leap.
No, no, no, no,no, no, no...
She let him go as soon as the jet was safely on the ground, vowing never to do that again. Sister, sister, sister, brother, brother, brother, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, this man wasnother brother.
