He steps back, then pauses. “Try not to fall in love with me before boarding.”
I stare at him.
He gives me that almost smile again and turns away before I can recover enough to answer.
I stand there for a second after he leaves, and then I very calmly and rationally grab my bag, exit the lounge, get approximately fifteen feet down the corridor, and fan myself with my boarding pass like the genuinely unhinged person I’m evidently becoming.
Okay. That was absolutely something, and I don’t have the bandwidth for it right now. I’m also probably never going to see him again after this flight, and that’s completely fine. His scent remains lodged somewhere behind my sinuses, and he has that jaw and those hands and that specific quality of calm that somehow makes the wildness underneath it worse, but he’s gone now and I need to get on a plane and sleep for five hours.
I head to the counter near my gate and hand over my voucher to get my new boarding pass for first class. While the lady does that, I glance around, seeing no sign of Ace. Not that I should care, because I don’t. In no time, I grab my ticket and head on board.
Once I’m on the plane, I fasten my seat belt, settle back, and tell myself I am going to sleep from here to Oahu. No thinking about his voice, or the way his scent got under my skin, or the fact that I am apparently one charged look away from behaving like I’ve never met a hot man before in my life.
Easy.
3
ADELAIDE
“You really did charm the gate agent into sitting me next to you,” a devastatingly deep voice says.
I open my eyes from where I’m lounging in my seat.
Ace is standing in the aisle with a bag slung over one shoulder and a grin on his face that genuinely destroys my resolution to ignore him. Every flight attendant within visual range has noticed him. I watch it happening in real time, those quick little glances and the immediate pretending not to glance again.
He shoves his bag into the compartment above us and slides into the aisle seat beside me with that same loose, unhurried confidence, like every place he steps into just adjusts around him. Long legs. Broad shoulders.
“It was a boarding pass, not fate,” I tease.
His mouth curves. “You sure?”
I should let that go. Instead, I turn to look at him properly and say, “You do seem like someone who’d enjoy believing the universe is arranging women in your vicinity.”
His grin widens. “Only the ones with pink luggage and sharp mouths.”
Fire spreads through me. I really need to stop reacting to him like this.
He reaches into his jacket pocket. “Speaking of suspicious behavior.” He pulls out a small white paper bag and holds it up between us.
I blink at it. “What’s that?”
“My mystery gift.”
I laugh. “Okay?”
“I’m a man of depth.” He opens the bag and angles it toward me. “See’s Candies.”
I stare. “You bought candy?”
“The best kind.”
I peer into the bag and inhale the most delicious chocolate smell. I’m drooling already. “This is elite candy.”
“Correct answer.”
My stomach does a stupid little drop. “That is a very smooth answer for a man sitting in economy’s richer cousin, holding See’s.”
He laughs and jiggles the open bag closer toward me. “Take one.”
