I was so wrapped up in our conversation, in fact, that I didn’t even notice the time pass. Before I knew it, the flight attendant was on the speaker letting us know that we were about to begin our descent.
“Shoot,” I said.
“Something wrong?”
I lifted my empty drink and jiggled the nearly melted cubes around. “Was hoping for another. Looks like it’s too late. Plus, I need to hit the girl’s room.”
As I shimmied in front of him to get to the aisle, I was happy that I’d worn the yoga pants that made my ass look the best—I didn’t mind at all allowing him a good view. Once in the bathroom, the door shut, I looked in the mirror.
OK,I thought, trying to calm myself down.You’re seated next to a guy who’s about the best-looking man you’ve ever seen in your life. This is almost too good to be true.
As I stood there, I knew for damn sure that I didn’t want our conversation to end once the flight was over.
I didn’t really need to use the restroom—all I’d wanted was a moment to collect myself. When I was ready, I headed back to my seat to see Val with two drinks in his hands. He stood up this time, letting me get past him.
“So, I worked out a deal with our flight attendant. Her name’s Anne, by the way.”
“A deal, huh?” I moved past him, brushing against his solid body and trying to ignore how turned on I was.
“Yep. Anne said that we can do another round, but we need to be buckled in with the tray tables up. I went ahead and spoke on your behalf, telling her that would be fine for both of us.”
I smiled. “I’m down.”
As we sat down and buckled in, Valentino handed me my drink.
I couldn’t help but grin, eager as hell to see what the rest of this flight had in store for us.
We tapped rims again and sipped our new drinks. The slight buzz from the first one still lingered, and a bit more whiskey sounded perfect. The two of us didn’t have much of a chance to speak before a chime sounded through the plane and the captain announced our descent.
Valentino tucked the drink between his legs, turning his attention forward onto the seat in front of us once again. Whatever good humor had been on his face vanished, his expression turning stoic and stony.
“You alright over there?” I asked. It was a stupid question. Valentino was doing his best to stay calm, but it was easy to see by the expression on his face that he was most definitely wasnotalright.
“I’m fine, actually,” he said. His tone was even and calm. “Statistically, you’re more likely to crash on the way up than the way down.”
“Is that right?” I asked, curiosity in my voice. “You’d think it’d be the other way around. I mean, when you’re going up, you’re goingup—away from anything you could crash into. I’d guess a crash on the way down would be more likely. After all, the landing gear could stop working or the pilot could lose visibility andbam, you slam right into the runway, or a mountain, or the ocean.”
Valentino blinked hard and slow. He was keeping it cool, but I could tell that my words were not helping.
“Uh, sorry. I’m sure your research is correct.”
“You’re more likely to crash on the way up than down,” he said again. “Twice as likely, in fact.” It seemed as if he was repeating the information for his own benefit as much as to inform me.
He sipped his whiskey, and I did the same, turning my attention to the window and placing my arm on the rest between us. We slowly descended, the plane sailing through the air as we broke through the cloud cover.
I knew I wanted to see him again, for sure.
In fact, I wanted to see him that night.
Would he be down for it, however? That was the real question.
Suddenly I felt a warm pressure on my right hand. I glanced down to see Valentino’s hand resting gently on mine, holding it for support as we descended. I didn’t mind one bit.
A wicked smile formed on my lips as I wondered what else he might be interested in doing with those big, strong hands of his, hopefully later that night.
Chapter 3
VALENTINO
