In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(14)

I was more stacked than her in the chest department, and mine were very much natural, but she had waaay more junk in the trunk. And I had to admit it was very nice junk. And she very much knew it.

She threw smiles over her shoulder at the crowd as she crouched nearly to the floor. Yep, she was backing that thing up.

I was rapping, “Call me big daddy when you back that thang up,” when Stephan caught my gaze from the crowd. He’d left his spot at the bar, where he’d been in close conversation with Melvin since we’d come out of the bathroom.

Ah, damn. I had interrupted them with my antics. He had finally gotten a chance to make his move, and I had distracted him. I felt instantly guilty.

He was giving me wide eyes. I could tell he was about ready to carry me home. He would not approve of operation ‘hot mess’, I knew for sure. He’d been acting as my protective older brother for too long to just idly stand by while I drunkenly embarrassed myself.

I was relieved when he didn’t immediately come and carry me from the stage. But my relief was short-lived as I saw him speaking earnestly to James. James was listening intently, nodding in agreement.

I got distracted by the lyrics screen as the the beat got faster for a moment. I substituted any words I couldn’t say that started with N with the word chicky. I thought it fit rather well into the song, and was mentally patting myself on the back when the song ended.

Melissa laughingly hugged me when we finished. She was breathless from all that shaking. Did she suddenly like me? Or was this some kind of a show for James’s benefit? With what I knew of Melissa, I suspected the latter, but I didn’t really care just then.

I approached the two tall men who looked to be having a serious conversation that I was positive was all about me.

James sent me a wide-eyed look. He looked shocked about something.

I stalked up to Stephan and bumped his shoulder with my own. “What are you telling him?” I asked him, my voice angry. “Go sit back down at the bar, Stephan. I am just fine.”

Stephan leaned down to me. He seemed visibly upset, and I was on alert at once. What the hell was going on with these two?

He hugged me, speaking into my ear. “Please don’t be mad at me. I know it’s not my place to butt in, but I just had to see what kind of a guy he is. I think he’ll treat you well. And if he doesn’t, I told him I’d kick his billionaire ass.”

I scrunched my nose up at him. “That’s why you thought I’d be mad at you?”

He didn’t look any less upset, so I knew that wasn’t it. He couldn’t look me in the eye, and he was trembling a little. He hated it when I was mad at him. He had serious issues with people being upset with him, and especially with me being mad. Issues that stemmed from some truly horrible things that had happened to him when he was a kid. I’d been his only family for years, so he feared my anger. He had this irrational fear that if he ever made me really angry with him, I would desert him, like his family had. I’d told him many times that it would never happen, but he still didn’t know how to cope with any kind of conflict.

He was shaking his head, and I could see a certain panic in his eyes that I dreaded. It did a great deal towards sobering me up. “What is it?” I asked him.

“I told him that you were a virgin,” he whispered in my ear. I stiffened. “I just didn’t want him to hurt you. Or to…have the wrong impression of you with the way you were acting. Please don’t be mad.”

I couldn’t seem to help it. I was instantly mad. I pushed him back, pointing at him. “Go. Back. To. Your. Seat.”

He obeyed, doing a pretty good impression of a ‘Charley Brown walk’ back over to Melvin. I had probably just ruined his whole night, but he had no right to share personal information about me. Especially not with Mr. Beautiful.

I turned back to James, glaring. “So, are you done yet? You can see now that this is not going to happen. My V-card should be more than enough of a reason to make someone like you run screaming in the other direction.” Maybe Stephan had found me a better final solution to this strange problem, I realized, even as I spoke.

The shock was long gone from his face. Now his face was carefully blank. The blankness didn’t quite reach his eyes, though. They were as intense as ever. “Come here,” he told me.

A few feet separated us. I closed the distance before I thought to defy him. He fisted a hand very, very carefully into my hair, pulling my head back slightly. He leaned down to my ear. “I’m going to ruin you,” he breathed. “I’ll be your first, and I’ll f**k you so thoroughly that I’ll be your last, too. You won’t want any other man after I’ve gotten my hands on you. Every last inch of you.” A shudder ran through my entire body at his roughly whispered words.

My brow furrowed. Had he somehow sensed I was a virgin even before Stephan told him? Is that why he was pursuing me? Did he have some weird fetish? “So you prefer virgins?” I whispered the question back at him.

His brows shot up in surprise. “I’ve never been with one, so no. But I can’t say I’m displeased with the notion. In fact, I love it that I’ll be your first.”

I didn’t even bother to tell him that he was assuming a whole lot right there. I was suddenly very tired. Tired enough to pass out. And we had to be up at five a.m to get ready for the morning flight. “I’m ready to go,” I told him. His face brightened instantly.