“You’re the only one with a giant one,” I counter.
He snorts like a little kid who just heard a dirty joke.
“If anyone here isgiant,” he says in a conspiratorial tone. “It’s you,stud.”
“God, you’re ridiculous.” I shake my head at him, evenwith a smile I can’t make go away, and turn to look at the sunset too.
“That might be, but I’m still your boyfriend, so that says more about you than me, doesn’t it?”
“Shut up,” I mutter, but I still can’t stop smiling.
“Shit,”I hiss.
“What is it?” AJ’s fingers, which have been constantly playing with the fabric of my pants for the last three hours of the flight, squeeze my thigh none too gently.
“I have like thirty million notifications.”
We just landed in LA and I turned my phone on... I didn’t connect it to the jet’s Wi-Fi because I wanted just a few more hours with that peace AJ and the Quick Ranch gave me over the last week. I wanted to enjoy the last few hours before we have to come back to real life.
And clearly that was a mistake.
“Who is it?” he asks quietly.
I appreciate him trying to be discreet, but I’m sure the flight attendant isn’t listening in. He’s more than likely busy checking that everything is correct while we make our way to the hangar where Julia and her family are waiting.
“It’s Richardson.”
And God fucking dammit, I’m gonna have to get on a flight right away and it’s going to go almost exactly back the same route.
“In Kansas?” AJ asks. His shock is more than warranted, and I’m not about to give him any details, the Kansas Leopards are one of his rivals, but...
“Yeah, I need to fly out right away.”
I let out a sigh and make a call to my assistant, Jan, before I go back to reading all my texts.
“Take the jet,” AJ says, and interrupts the five trains of thought I have going at the same time.
“What?” I’m confused. “But it’s taking?—”
“Yeah, but it’s just a forty minute flight from home to Kansas. It’s still gonna get you there faster than if I take you home and then you go to the airport.”
He’s right, I know he’s right, but . . .
“Thank God you finally looked at your phone,” Jan’s relieved voice comes from the speaker of my phone.
“You’re on speakerphone,” I tell him on autopilot. “Hang on a sec, Jan. Are you sure?” I direct the question at AJ.
“Yeah, I’m sure the kids will be exhausted enough from the week’s fun that they’ll sleep all the way back and you can probably get some work done on the way.”
“That’s not why I asked. I mean, it’s a big favor?—”
“There are nofavorsbetween us.” The grumble in his voice and his cute as hell pout make me forget, even if only for a moment, that a young man’s life just changed in a second and it’s my job to help him through it.
“You’re right,” I tell him, and though some part of me still doesn’t feel like it’s real, I accept it without further question. “I’m back, Jan. I got a flight already, but pleaselet Richardson know I’ll call him in a few if he calls you again. I just landed in LA so it’s going to take me half an hour or so to fly back out.”
“Uh...” Clearly I’ve confused my unflappable assistant—and damn, I wish I could see his face right now. The king of organization just got bested. “All right.” He recovers quickly. “Most of what you need to know is already in your inbox, but I’ll put everything in a new email so you don’t have to go looking for anything, okay?”
“Thanks, talk in a bit.”
