In Flight (Up in the Air #1)(39)

Stephan still had the Rolex box open, and was still admiring it as though he hadn’t looked away since I left. Melissa zeroed in on the jewelry immediately.

“What do you have there?” she asked, bending down to look before either of us could answer. She gasped more dramatically than either of us had. “Where did you get that?” she asked Stephan, her voice raised.

He grinned at her, and it was unmistakably smug. “It belongs to Bianca. James gave it to her. He’s smitten.”

She snatched it out of his hand suddenly, her face looking strangely furious. She sent me a scathing look, then studied the watch intently. She lifted it out of it’s case, looking at the back of the watch, and then the sides.

“God, it’s real.” She cursed. “It’s a platinum president datejust. Holy f**king shit.” She glared at me. “Do you have any idea what this is worth? Do you even know anything about Rolex’s?” Her tone was condescending, and I just kind of snapped. I was whipping my old busted watch off before I could think about it.

I snatched the watch out of her hand. I held my wrist and the watch to Stephan, so he could put them on me. For all I knew, James would be giving Melissa a call tonight, but until then, I was going to wear this Rolex, and she wasn’t. Stephan clasped it onto my wrist without a word, but I knew he was smiling.

“I don’t need to know much.” I waved my now weighted wrist at her. “Just how to wear one.”

She eyed me top to bottom, sneering in an ugly way.

“I don’t get it,” she muttered, storming back through the curtain. Maybe I would keep it, I thought pettily, if all I had to do was wave a hand now to make Melissa leave.

“What a crazy bitch,” Stephan said quietly.

I sent him a surprised look. He usually never spoke so harshly. I knew he was overprotective of me, and she had apparently raised his hackles as much as mine.

We got back to work after that, and thankfully, I was too busy to dwell on James for the duration of the flight.

I brought another bottle of water to 1A. The man that Melissa thought was a hottie was actually very polite and pleasant. He’d eaten everything I put in front of him, but only drank water. He had the feel of an Air Marshall to me, though he wasn’t one. Or rather, if he was, he wasn’t on duty.

He was constantly alert, glancing around the cabin often, and watching me a lot. However, I didn’t get even the slightest impression that he was interested in me on a personal level.

“Are you sure I can’t get you a glass of ice or a lemon with that?” I asked him, smiling. I was always more at ease with men who weren’t attracted to me.

He smiled back. “This is fine, but thank you.”

I continued down the aisle, checking with everyone to make sure they didn’t need anything. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. He’d had a small laptop out for most of the flight, but it seemed like he was watching the cabin more than the computer screen.

Strange, I thought absently.

Stephan and I sat down for landing a short time later. We were both staring down at my wrist.

“I know it’s embarrassing for you to talk about, but was he good to you, your first time? Did it hurt very much?” Stephan stunned me by asking. But his tone was serious and concerned, so I felt a need to answer him.

I met his concerned gaze squarely.

“There was pain,” I finally answered carefully. “But it was good. He was good. He’s incredible in bed. He does things…they aren’t necessarily normal things. Things that I love, though I’m not sure that I should.” I’d been deliberately vague, but I still somehow felt I’d shared too much, and I blushed, looking down.

He patted my hand. “There’s probably a reason you didn’t feel the need to be with a man until him. Maybe those things he does fulfill a need for you. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re all shaped by our childhoods. Accepting your preferences is not the same thing as being a victim. As long as you like what he does, and it doesn’t harm you, I say let go and enjoy yourself. You deserve it.”

I rested my head on his shoulder.

“You always make me feel better,” I told him. I wondered, with a startling amount of panic, if I would even get the opportunity to enjoy myself in that way again.

“Ditto, Buttercup.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mr. Desperate

We landed early. It seemed likely we would actually make it home on-time as the plane emptied.

My hopes were short lived, however, when we were informed that we were delayed for weather for at least an hour. Thunderstorms were blanketing our route home, though the weather in DC appeared nice and calm.

The main cabin flight attendants decided to venture out into the airport to kill time. We suddenly found ourselves with too much of it, whereas a minute ago we’d been in a rush.

I declined the invitation to join them, wanting to just sit down and check my phone in relative privacy. The pilots joined them. Stephan stayed on board with me, sitting in the first class seat next to the one I was lounging in.

I had my flight bag open on the ground in front of my feet. With trepidation, I dug my phone out, turning it on. I had one missed call, one voicemail, and two texts. I checked the voicemail first.

I had to force myself to keep breathing as James’s voice sounded in my ear.

“Hey,” he began. There was a long pause before he continued. “I don’t want you to think I’m a stalker or anything, but I’d like to hear your voice if you get some time to call me when you’re on the ground. I can’t stop thinking about you. I know you’re flying and your phone is off, but I still couldn’t seem to keep myself from calling.”