They talked about gun policy in the USA, their favorite animals, if pudding with skin was better than without, what they dreamed about, and what their first childhood memory had been. After twenty minutes, Jack felt like he knew everything and nothing about this woman at the same time.
He knew that goosebumps worked their way up her neck whenever he casually brushed his knee against hers or touched her shoulder with his hands — but not what her last name was. He knew that she liked to look at the shoes of people walking past and that she automatically wondered where they had been — but he had no idea what she did for a living. He knew that she loved peanut butter and even made it herself — but not where she came from or where she lived. And he knew that it was getting harder and harder not to touch her because her skin was soft and warm and perfect — but he didn’t have the first inkling why she was here, rushing off to LA.
Maybe that was exactly what made the situation so exciting and fascinating. Penny gave him insights into her mind but not her life. And that was okay. He had a lot of imagination and had already created his own image of her. In his mind,she was a math professor who had been invited to speak at a statistics lecture in Buenos Aires. She preferred to wear comfortable clothes in her free time, but definitely owned a lot of white blouses and staid skirts – reading glasses too! – to look professorial. Oh, yeah, and her mind was filled with equations and a lot of dirty fantasies. Okay, the latter was more of a wish on his part. But it was objectively true that whenever he smiled, she licked her lips and, hey, he was an optimist!
When the flight staff finally called their flight to board, he had almost forgotten why he was in New York and why he had been in a bad mood until meeting Penny.
“That was quick,” Penny remarked in surprise and turned to the gate, where a short line of customers with first- and business-class tickets was already forming.
“Yup,” he confirmed.Too quick. Reluctantly, he rose from his seat. He didn’t want to leave yet. He wasn’t ready to leave this strange acquaintance behind. But, to his surprise, Penny had also stood.
“Oh God, you’re in first class, aren’t you?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Yeah,” he answered slowly. “You too?”
That couldn’t possibly be true. College math professors weren’t paid enough to afford first-class.
Penny sighed at length. “I’m afraid so.” She pulled a ticket out of her pocket, glanced at it, and pressed her lips into a thin line. “Yep, of course, he booked me a first-class ticket. Typical.”
Jack stared at her, his mouth gaping. Was shecomplainingabout having to sit in first class? And who booked her the ticket? Her assistant?Didshe have an assistant? No. That didn’t make sense.
Shit, maybe she wasn’t single, after all. Maybe she was one of the six wives of a rich oil tycoon who had ordered her back to LA to finally fulfill her marital duties.
“You’d rather fly economy?” he asked before his imagination ran amok.
She shrugged. “Sort of.” She rubbed her face and cleared her throat. “You know I don’t judge anyone for what they spend their money on,” she added hastily. “People can do what they want. I don’t want to be judged for what I do, so I don’t judge anyone else. But my goodness, I would have been just as miserable in economy. I would see the money go for other things.”
Jack believed every word but wondered what “other things” meant. And he was glad that she wasn’t disappearing from his life quite yet. For months, he’d only been thinking about his family or work; the last half hour had been like a vacation from his life, despite his mind working in overdrive to reconcile the contradictory things he was discovering about Penny.
“Why did you book a first-class ticket if you’d rather be in economy?"
She waved her hand. “I didn’t book anything.”
“So, who did?”
“I’m afraid that’s a private matter,” she murmured, her gaze wandering down his shirt and pausing briefly at the old, faded fabric backpack he had slung over his shoulder. She frowned. “What kind of job do you have that you run around in a hoodie and jeans, your backpack looking like it’s the same one you had in 12thgrade — yet you fly first class?”
“Private matter,” he replied matter-of-factly. The backpack was indeed falling apart, but it had been a gift from his sister Anna, and he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away.
Penny grinned. “Of course. Well then, off we go to first class.” She lifted a jute bag from the floor, one he hadn’t noticed before, and strolled purposefully toward the gate.
Frowning, he followed, catching a glimpse of several serious-looking files peeking out from the bag…alongside a stick decorated with yellow and pink feathers and lots of rhinestones.
Who the hell was this woman?
Chapter Three
He was a businessman, right? Penny considered this.
Maybe he was one of those IT guys who were filthy rich but still ran around in sneakers, emulating Steve Jobs.
Jack wasn’t wearing sneakers though. He was wearing expensive shoes, ones that were making fun of his pathetic backpack when he wasn’t looking. So maybe not IT, but…a banker? Lawyer? CEO of a…crayon company?
Oh man, she had no clue.
Then again, he’d said that some weeks he felt like he was more in the air than on the ground. He flew first class, spoke well, and flirted subtly. Hehadto be a businessman, someone who knew how to get his way.
Actually, she wasn’t into men who wore suits all the time for work. They reminded her too much of her brother, who probably wore a tux to jog in as well as clean his apartment. Wait, what was she thinking? As if Gareth cleaned his own apartment! Ridiculous. She loved her brother, but his lifestyle wasinsaneat best.
