“Yes?” I said, desperate to keep my temper in check because, even though it wasn’t her fault, I knew my whole day was falling apart.
The agent pointed over my shoulder. I turned?—
My mouth dropped open.
A man in a black suit stood to the side of the bank of counters, a sign bearing my name held in his hands. Rage flooded through my veins.
“That asshole,” I hissed under my breath, causing the ticketing agent to startle. I flashed her a polite smile and snatched up my passport. “Sorry about that. Thanks for your help.”
I jerked my roller bag along as I stalked toward the man with the sign. “I take it you work for Shawn Dunn?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’d like to offer you his plane so you can return home.”
I gripped the handle on my bag so aggressively my hand began to ache. How dare he cancel my flight, leaving me stranded with no other option? I glared out the windows beyond the man as I fought the knee-jerk reaction to instantly say no.
But I needed to get back to the office. I’d pushed back an important meeting, destroying the rest of my team’s schedule,so I could be in New York to terminate Scott’s employment in person. I couldn’t push tomorrow’s meeting a second time.
I spat it out. “Fine.”
The man took my bag and led me to a town car waiting outside, and a minute later it swept me away from the international terminal.
I scrolled to Shawn’s name in my contacts on my phone, preparing to call him and give him a piece of my mind. It was ungodly early, so it was doubtful he’d be awake, and the idea of rousing him from the dead of sleep was satisfying. But then I pictured him in bed, all shirtless and hair askew, with a days’ worth of stubble darkening his jawline, and there was an uncomfortable fluttering in my stomach.
What version of him would I get? Sometimes he’d send me things in German that I’d had to translate. They were always filthy, filling my body with steam, and it was the last thing I needed right now.
I put my phone away, took in a cleansing breath, and forced myself to cool down. My temper had caused me a mountain’s worth of problems in the past. I was determined not to let it happen again.
At the private airfield, a large, white jet gleamed in the runway lights. It was both impressive and intimidating. A perfect example of how different Shawn and I were in every way.
Despite my unease with wealth, excitement raced up my spine. I’d only flown business class a handful of times in my life, and every time that experience had felt novel and special. So, an entire private plane to myself? I could barely fathom what it’d be like.
I thanked the driver when he loaded my luggage into the open cargo hold and gestured to the compact set of stairs leading up to the open hatch of the plane. I eagerly climbed the steps but jolted to a stop the moment I was through the door.
Stupid.I should have known.
Any excitement I’d had died when I discovered the pair of warm, brown eyes waiting for me on board.
6
KARA
I fought hard notto lose it completely at Shawn’s victorious smile.
“No.” I wasn’t ready to face him so soon after what we’d done in the back of his limo. “No. You said you weren’t going back today.”
“My plans have changed.” He stood in the aisle between a desk and a seat that looked far nicer than anything I’d ever flown in before. He gestured to the space around him. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
I tore my gaze away, unable to look at him, all smug in his beautifully tailored suit. I glanced around as if searching for an escape route, even though I already knew there was one at my back. In any other situation, I would have thought the cabin was spacious, but it looked too impossibly small to contain Shawn Dunn. I couldn’t spend the next eight hours locked in this metal container with him.
He hadn’t given me time to regroup.
“No,” I said. “I’ll take a later flight.”
He latched a hand onto my wrist, stopping me when I tried to back up, and he pulled me shuffling forward, deeper into his plane.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said lightly. “You’re already here, and we’re ready to go.”
The pretty female cabin attendant I hadn’t noticed until that moment moved to the doorway and began to retract the stairs.
