Anyone But Rich (Anyone But..., #1)(26)

Nick shot Rich a guilty look. “He’s manipulative, and to be fair, I read online that petrified eggs were supposed to be really hard.”

“You can both be idiots, but at least with Nick there, I know the damage will be minimized.”

“Fine, whatever. Deal,” Cade said. He waved for Nick to get in the car with him, and seconds later, I was standing alone with Rich on the runway and the kid in the suit who had finished loading all the suitcases.

I shook my head. “Iris and Miranda are never going to forgive me if I don’t go back to the car.”

“Tell them I kidnapped you. Or maybe blackmail?”

“No. The more they hate you, the harder they’ll be on me.” I felt like collapsing in exhaustion at the sight of him standing there. He looked so poised. So perfect. He was an unstoppable force, and he wasn’t going to quit until he got what he wanted from me. Little by little, his stubborn persistence was starting to charm me, no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

“But you’ll come?” he asked.

I almost laughed at how excited he sounded. Moments ago, I’d seen every ounce of the powerful businessman he could be—how he could intimidate and command with a flicker of his features and the tone of his voice. But the idea of my coming to the magic show with him made all of that melt away. I nodded.

“I’ll come. It’s still not a date.”

He reached for my hand, which I grudgingly let him take as he led me toward the small staircase leading inside the plane. “Jalen, take her coat.”

“Just take it off her?” he asked shakily. “What if she—”

“I’m fine,” I said, then paused. “Is he the pilot?”

“He’s my personal assistant. Sort of.”

“No ‘sort of’ about it,” Jalen said with a wide smile. “I’m his personal assistant. All the way.”

Rich cringed. “You’re making it sound weird now.”

“Sorry. I just mean I help him with anything he needs. Anytime.”

“We got it,” Rich said. He put his hand on my back to urge me inside the plane and to a seat.

The seat was comfier than an airplane seat had any right to be. Then again, it looked more like we were in a five-star hotel lobby than an airplane. Most of the windows were covered by delicate curtains, the floor was padded with carpets, and the interior walls were accented with dark wood paneling. “If you’re trying to impress me with your money, it’s not working. Mostly, anyway,” I said.

Rich sat in the chair beside mine, both of which swiveled. He twisted in his to sweep those calculating eyes of his over me. “I did say I was desperate, didn’t I? There’s no lame trick I won’t resort to, and I have plenty of lame tricks.”

I was about to respond when an older woman and a man boarded the plane. Rich shot up to his feet, jaw clenched.

“What are you two—” he started.

“Putting out a fire, it looks like,” said the man. He turned to me, and I thought I saw something familiar in his face. “I’m Harper King. This is my wife, Edna. And this”—he gestured to the door—“is the door. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.”

I straightened. I was a lot of things, and stubborn was one of them. The fastest way to get me to want to do something was usually to tell me not to do it. “It’s an airplane door. It doesn’t close on its own. And I don’t plan on leaving, so I wouldn’t need to worry about it anyway.”

Rich was watching me with wide, excited eyes. I could’ve laughed. I’d obviously chosen the right tactic by giving his parents some sass, not that I was trying to impress him.

“I want her off this plane. Now,” Edna said. I had trouble figuring out who she was speaking to because her nose was tilted up so high.

Jalen looked to Rich. “Am I supposed to—”

“No,” Rich said. “Thank you for visiting my plane. But Kira is just a friend. I’m still very much committed to Stella. Jalen, please help my parents down the stairs. They’re getting up there in years, and I’d hate for them to fall.”

“Rich . . .” Harper said. “This is a mistake.”

“Jalen,” Rich said again.

Jalen looked like he’d rather try to wrestle a pair of bulls than escort Rich’s parents off the plane, but he put his arms out and started ushering them toward the stairs. “If you’ll watch your heads,” he muttered.

Once Rich’s parents were gone and Jalen was up near the cockpit, I turned to Rich. “Stella? That’s the girl you were with at the party, right? Is she your girlfriend?”

“What?” he asked. “Don’t you follow the tabloids?”

“No. Believe it or not, I’ve done a pretty good job pretending you never existed until this past week.”

“Stella is . . .” He paused, and I suspected he was putting a great deal of thought into the words he chose. “She’s the reason you can stop suspecting I’m trying something devious with you.”

“So she’s your girlfriend?” I asked.

There was another long pause. “For about a month, so far.”

I thought back to the party. It hadn’t clicked, because I had thought I was looking at Cade when I first saw him with a woman at his side. It had been Rich, though, and the icy, princess-like woman at his side had been Stella. I was clearly doing a poor job of hating Rich, because a burst of jealousy spread through me. “That’s wonderful. And does your girlfriend of about a month know just the two of us are going to a magic show together?”