‘Nina?’
God damn it, Hamish! He’s spotted me as he gets on the plane, and it’s at this point that I realize everyone else is booing the latecomer. I’d been so busy entranced by the feeling of Callum’s thumb on my lips that I hadn’t even noticed that we’d not taken off yet.
‘Dude, fancy seeing you here!’ Hamish is saying, oblivious to the fact that the majority of this plane is expressing their distaste at him.
‘Oh, hey, Hamish,’ I say weakly.
‘Is that all you’ve got?’ Hamish asks. ‘Come on, man, it’s been years! It’s so good to see you.’
‘Mm,’ I say half-heartedly as an attendant tries to show him to his seat. ‘Looks like you’d better go.’
‘Okay, but we’ll talk later, Nee. There’s so much to catch up on!’
I nod distractedly as he’s ushered away before turning back to Callum, who is now impassive.
‘Friend of yours?’
‘Old boyfriend,’ I supply.
Callum bobs his head up and down a couple of times before picking up a book to read as we take off. And I can’t help but wish Hamish hadn’t interrupted that moment.
The first meal is served and it’s the usual king prawns and Tim Tams and today, I can hardly eat because all I can think about is Callum. Every single move he makes is turning my insides to mush. Why am I so frisky today and what am I going to do about it?
By the time we fly over Eastern Europe, I have reached my own personal boiling point and become acutely aware that something has got to give. Callum makes even stretching look sexy. Every now and then, he interlocks his fingers and presses his arms forward and I’m telling you now, it’s hot as hell. Which is apt, because hell is where he belongs. Maybe in a slightly less extreme part of hell than I’d previously thought when I’d branded him a lecherous nepo baby, but still.
I am helpless as he pushes the sleeves of his sweater up past his elbows and locks his fingers together again in another stretch.
Those forearms are my undoing.
‘Do you want to get out of here?’ I whisper.
Callum turns to look at me.
‘I’m not sure that’s possible, Moss,’ he says, with the beginnings of a surprised smile. ‘We are on a plane, after all.’
The fact that I now love the way he says my last name is confirmation that I have lost all of my marbles. The time travel has truly got to me. It was an inevitable decline, really.
‘Oh ye of little faith.’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Out there,’ I say, gesturing past the curtain that’s been drawn right in front of our seats. Towards the empty space where we initially boarded, which marks the start of our premium economy section. There’s nothing out there but the staircase up to business and the cockpit beyond.
‘And what would you like to do there?’ he asks.
Do not sayyou.
I clear my throat. ‘I may have smuggled two jeroboams of champagne and a box of extraordinarily expensive chocolates onto this plane.’
Callum takes a moment to process this information.
‘You are just full of surprises, aren’t you, Moss?’
I smile. ‘You coming or not?’
‘Sounds like it would be rude not to.’
‘That’s good, because I need someone to reach the overhead lockers, take my bag out and grab one of the bottles.’
