Ah, so it’s Phet this time. Maybe I can drop by the pilot’s cabin when we land and say hi. If he’s got days off while I’m in Bangkok, we could even go for a meal.
I thank the flight attendant and take my seat.
“Why does she know your name? Is that normal for first class? But it’s not like there are only a few seats… so does that mean they know everyone?” Leo asks, watching me from his side with curious eyes.
“No. They do not know everyone’s name. However”—I take out my black and gold membership card and hand it to him—“they do keep track of their regulars.”
He inspects it like he’s never seen a plastic card before, his long fingers tracing the golden lettering of my name. They are very nice fingers and I know exactly how amazing they feel touching me with such purpose, how gentle and greedy they can be.
Swallowing hard, I grasp his hand, needing to feel him. His heat, his solidity. Just the simple contact unleashes a sweet hum of contentment within me.
“Are you afraid of flying?” he asks, putting the card down on the counter between us and letting me explore his hand freely. His fingers tangle with mine noncommittedly, relaxed and mine to touch as much as I’d like. “But you are a regular… so you must do quite a bit of it, no?”
Ah, he’s so adorably clueless sometimes. “I’m not afraid of flying, Leo. I just wanted to touch you.”
He flushes. It’s the first time I’ve seen him do it properly, and it makes me want to push him down and kiss him, the other passengers be damned. His fingers squeeze mine and he lifts our hands to his mouth, placing a kiss on my knuckles.
“I think I missed seeing you. I enjoy your company,” he says quietly as if it’s something he shouldn’t even think. And perhaps it is, given the nature of our relationship, but I am way past the point of caring. I haven’t figured out a way to make this work without us having to hide it, but I will. “And also, how big are the restrooms?”
I roll my eyes, which summons a grin to his face. The mirth reaches his captivating blue depths too, increasing the potency of his smile tenfold.
“Behave,” I warn, retracting my hand.
He pouts, crossing his arms in mock annoyance. “I do. But then you must go and ruin it when you say something romantic like that.”
I hum, absentmindedly scrolling through the movies catalogue. “Last time you accused me of teasing you too much, and now you are complaining I’m too romantic? You are a hard one to please. Has anyone ever told you that?”
He chuckles, propping his elbow on the counter and his chin in his hand as he watches me pretend I don’t notice he’s looking at me. But if I give in and let his pretty eyes hijack my senses, I really won’t be able to resist kissing him.
“Ooh, I can think of a few ways you can please me, Chai. All you need to do is ask.”
I really walked into this one, didn’t I? I haven’t forgotten him mentioning blindfolds and handcuffs and me roleplaying a cop, and while none of that is something I’d seriously considered before meeting him, I’ve spent a night or two toying with the idea.
Restraining a smile, I settle on a show about a guy winning some kind of future lottery to get sent into space along with a thousand randomly selected passengers. I think it’s for a colonization effort. “Don’t let your imagination run too wild. We’ve got a busy day once we land in Bangkok.”
Leo makes a disappointed noise, leaning back into his seat. “I’ll take a nap. Wake me up when food is here.”
Not five minutes later, he’s fast asleep.
Our hotel is near the venue for the conference. We drop our suitcases and head straight to a meeting with Abe, the guy from Herald Security that my dad appointed to help me. He’s been here for the past week, sorting out a few things for me.
“We are meeting with the organizers tomorrow afternoon,” he says when we’ve caught up on the progress he’s made. “They will tell us the final numbers for thepre-conference events, so we can sort out how many of our guys we need for that.”
I nod, skimming through the names and photos of those we’ve selected. Considering the high-profile of government conferences, it is of paramount importance that we stay on top of our game and account for every scenario. This is the biggest contract Herald Security has ever had and I simply can’t allow anything to go wrong, or no one will want to hire us. And if everything goes smoothly, we’ll turn into one of those go-to names that all important people want guarding them.
“How are we on equipment?” I ask, glancing at Leo, who’s standing by the door and carefully listening to our conversation. He looks a little on edge.
Abe pulls up a tracking app on his tablet. “The shipment of guns left Tokyo this afternoon. It should be here as scheduled. The cameras, detectors and monitoring devices are in the underground warehouse. We can start setting those up as soon as they confirm which rooms they will be using.”
I hate when people leave such things for the last minute. They make my job harder. But there is little I can do, so I decide it’s not worth stressing over it.
Another five minutes of crosschecking stuff and I send Abe off. Collecting all the documents in my lean briefcase, I turn the projector off and shift my attention to the window. It’s just about to get dark outside, the sky a fiery red that’s in the middle of getting swallowed up by dark blues. Traffic and noise spill inside past the swaying curtains, the humidity here even worse than the one we left behind in Japan.
“Should we grab something to eat?” I stand up and turn to Leo, whose frown is still present even if Abe isn’t here anymore.
“I guess.”
Someone’s in a bad mood again. I bet it’s because of the video call with Aran earlier. But how was I supposed to know he was in Kobe, visiting Goro?
