Easier said than done.
My fiancé was kidnapped. Our wedding was ruined. I was kidnapped by my kidnapped fiancé, and now we’re flying in the freaking air in a tiny seaplane that my fiancé is flying—I had no idea he could fly, well . . . I suppose Katla did mention his pilot’s license, but . . . still—so color me shocked.
Yup, relaxing isn’t quite on my to-do list at the moment.
What kind of freaking life is this anyway?
I was selling bikinis earlier this year, I was in a happy place where wet nipples showed through white T-shirts. There weren’t people trying to kill me, and I didn’t have a fiancé who knows how to wield a freaking gun like he’s some secret operative ready to strike.
Not to mention, a fiancé who can FLY A PLANE!
Maybe focus on that.
Might get your mind off spine-chilling things.
Check out the way the veins in his large hands twitch as he grips the yoke. Or his powerful thighs spread, so his forearms can rest on them. Or how incredibly hot he looks wearing his headphones with the little microphone in front of his mouth.
Huh.
That seems to be working. The tension slightly eases from my chest as I say, “You’re good at this.”
“Good at what?” he asks.
“Flying,” I say. “Protecting. This whole James Bond-type personality I never knew you had.”
That lifts the corner of his mouth. “James Bond not so much.”
“Keller, you were able to survive torture, twist some guy’s head off, walk out of a prison undetected, and then fly around a plane as if it’s just an everyday thing for you. I thought I was marrying some Torskethorpe historian know-it-all, not the next greatest assassin.”
This time, he chuckles. “Not an assassin, nor did I twist a guy’s head off. Just snapped his neck.”
“Oh right, sorry.Justsnapped his neck. My mistake.”
He chuckles again. “Being close to the king, it was my responsibility to know how to protect him if needed. Lara, Brimar, and I took the classes at the same time. Self-defense, strategy. I took flying lessons as well as boating. Lara specialized in target shooting, rescue, and of course strategic hostage techniques. When I tell you I planned on dedicating my life to the king, I did. And I made sure of it with the classes I took and my education.”
“Well, it’s oddly hot.”
“Oddly?” he asks.
Trying to keep it light, because if I think too much of what’s really happening to us right now, I might hyperventilate, I say, “You’re not supposed to fall for the bad boy carrying a gun, but here I am, head over heels in love with you.”
“You fell in love with me before you knew about this part of me.”
“I mean, I knew a little bit about it. You showed your colors when we were in Harrogate, and Lara threw that broom at me, striking me in the head. I can still picture you in your briefs, the panic on your face. And then when the window crashed open, and you thought someone would steal me. That’s the first time I got to taste you, and I liked it.”
He glances over at me. “I liked it too.”
I smirk and snuggle in closer to his chest. “But now, it’s like you graduated from some secret spy class, and you’re showing me everything you have in your arsenal. It’s very hot.”
“Glad you see it that way.” He leans in and presses a kiss to my head. “I just want you to feel safe.”
“I always feel safe with you,” I say. “When you held me for the first time, it was like I finally found my haven.”
“Same,” he says just as we fly through a cloud. The visibility is impaired, but I just close my eyes, take a deep breath, and let Keller take the lead, because that’s what he does best.
* * *
“We’re goingto land on the water?” I ask as we approach the ocean beneath us.
