“We’re newlyweds. No will come looking for us,” he said dryly. “But I’ll leave you. Sleep well.”
She stared with bewilderment at the door he closed behind him.
* * *
A hand on her shoulder woke her.
Joy snapped her eyes open, completely disoriented to find herself in bed, the room lights dim, the white noise of the jet’s engines filling her ears.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.” Axel sat on the edge of the mattress and soothingly stroked his hand down her bare arm. It sent titillating tingles through her bloodstream that were deeply unwelcome when her defenses were still below zero. “We’ll be landing soon.”
She sat up, then regretted it. It put her too close him. She inched away. “I didn’t think I would sleep so hard.”
“No?” Was he laughing at her? Jerk. It had actually taken her a long time to fall asleep while she stressed out over marrying a stranger, one who could take her apart without any effort whatsoever, then walk away.
Eventually, she had stripped down to the T-back bra and boy short underwear she’d been wearing beneath her yoga clothes. It was more than she wore onstage, but she felt very naked wearing so little right now. Sensitive. And deeply aware of him on a sexual level.
An image of him flattening her to the mattress sprang into her head. It should have been accompanied by alarm, but the fantasy sent a golden heat spiraling through her, making her breasts feel heavy and their tips tight. An ache hummed to life between her thighs, carnal and wet. Receptive. Her skin called out to him, begging for his touch.
Embarrassed and confused by this potent, relentless attraction, she moved farther toward the middle of the bed. She glanced over to see an indent in the other pillow and a discarded blanket atop the wrinkled covers.
“You slept here?” That made her feel even more vulnerable.
And resistible. Unwanted, even. It was a lesson in how uneven this relationship truly was. She would have to guard herself more carefully against him.
“For a few hours,” he replied. His eyelids were heavy, his mouth relaxed. He was watching her in a way that said,I know what you’re feeling.
Mortification became a hot coal in the pit of her stomach while a guiltier heat throbbed in the notch of her thighs.
“Would you like to join me in the shower?” His voice was so low, she felt it more than heard it. It resounded inside her, making her heart thud.
“No.” It should have come out firm and strong, but it was thin and high. Strained but also defiant as she took back a little of the control she’d surrendered earlier.
His fingers twitched into a loose fist where his hand rested on his thigh, then relaxed. He rose abruptly, making her stomach swoop. “Wise. We’d be on the tarmac for hours.”
“You really take a lot for granted, don’t you?”
He only looked down at her with those flame-blue eyes. “Do I?”
He walked into what she’d already seen was a spacious lavatory, especially by airplane standards. It didn’t have a bathtub, but the shower could easily accommodate two.
Don’t think of it.
As the door closed behind him, her exhale burst out of her. She dropped her forehead onto her knees, wanting to run, but where? She was on an airplane a mile over the ocean. Or Britain, maybe, since they were getting close to landing.
Close to meeting her father.
She had so many mixed feelings about all of this, but now she had to confront her worries over meeting Otto.
Was he really as callous as Axel had implied? She’d read the contract he’d had Axel sign and practically memorized the letter from her birth mother. It did seem dodgy that Otto had known about her for three years but had only reached out to her a week ago, but maybe Axel was misrepresenting things. She’d only heard his side of it, and he’d blinded her with his generosity toward her and her adoptive father.
She knew Axel’s support wasn’t coming from the goodness of his heart. He was using her to one-up Otto.
Leading up to the wedding, she had told herself she didn’t mind because she was using him, too. She wanted better care for Paul. She wanted her family together in California. She wanted to dance.
And she wanted to meet her birth father.
What if Otto was angry with her, though?
