“My boss put me up to this. He’ll have to accept the consequences. So, when’s the flight, Miss Scarlett?”
I huff a laugh. “Don’t say it like that. You make me sound like I’m inGone with the Wind.”
The corners of his mouth tip down slightly, like he’s concentrating on me. “Alright, then, just Scarlett.”
“It says here we can book anytime before the end of the year.”
“Tonight, then?” he asks, dark and grumbly.
“Wow, you don’t miss a beat.”
“Don’t know how this auction stuff works,” he says. “And besides, I’m usually working… though for you, I’d take some time off.”
He says the last part slow and velvety and my heart skips a beat. “Well, you’d have to,” I tease to take off the edge. “I bought you fair and square, and you owe me.”
“Another time then?” he says gruffly.
I look at him. At the steadiness. At the one thing in this room that doesn’t feel dangerous.
It’s what I crave right now. More than going back to Cedarville and pretending I’m safe. More than waiting for the next show to drop… or worse.
“Tonight,” I say. “If we can catch a flight.” My stomach tightens, not from nerves… from instinct. The kind that says run away… even if it’s only for a day or two. The kind I choosenotto ignore, maybe for the first time in my life.
Because no one’s ever accused me of being spontaneous.
“I imagine we’ll have luck with a red eye. Though we won’t sleep much.”
“Sleep is overrated,” I tease.
“Am I driving us to the airport?” he asks. “While you work on those tickets?”
“Are you offering?” Sacramento’s a little over an hour away, the closest airport.
“That’s how that usually goes.”
“Well, okay, then. But can I ask a favor?”
“Anything,” he says, face serious, like he’s concentrating on every word I say.
“Could we swing by my place after yours so I can pack? Maybe you could follow me so I can leave my car at the house.”
“Done.”
I’m not used to men being so decisive or determined. “In that case, let me see what I can do about booking a flight.”
Chapter
Three
DONOVAN
The first drink makes sense.
The second one does, too.
By the third, I stop asking questions.
After all, this is a first-class, midnight flight to Las Vegas with the prettiest woman I’ve seen in a long time.
