“What? A government employee working as a flight attendant? No. Believe it or not, I’m quite the catch in some circles.” Kreed turned around, walking backward, as Aaron caught up to him. He waggled his eyebrows before turning back around and stepping onto the airplane. A man he could only guess to be Roddy stood right at the door entrance. He couldn’t have been much taller than five-seven or five-eight with long dreadlocks and a bright smile greeting everyone, but when his eyes landed on Kreed, his grin grew genuine, just irking Aaron that much more.
~~~
Finally some kind of sign! The kid was jealous, no doubt about it. His body language, attitude, and biting tone in the comment he’d made, all rang true for a green-eyed monster. As Kreed waited to board, he knew he shouldn’t be so excited that Aaron was at least bi-sexual, but he was. Not that he could do anything about this knowledge, because he couldn’t, not while they were partners. But that didn’t matter. Someday would come. Eventually he could tap that guy’s ass and that was enough of a victory for right now.
“Woo, boy, it made my day to hear you were on my flight!” Roddy declared, reaching up to hug Kreed’s neck. Being based close to Dallas—the closest international airport to his home base of Louisiana—both Kreed and Mitch had gotten to know Roddy pretty well over the years. Roddy flew this route regularly. He was older, maybe had twenty years on Kreed, but he never hesitated to reach out, fold Kreed tightly in his arms, always giving him a good-natured, full body hug when he stepped on.
“I saved you each a seat. Who’s this?” Roddy asked, his face changing, becoming overly interested in Aaron before moving his excited gaze back to Kreed and giving him a wink. “Well, look at you. He’s a cutie. Let’s get you two settled.”
Probably because they were holding the line, Roddy ushered them both to two seats in first class. “Roddy, meet Aaron. How pissed off are the people you moved to coach?” Kreed asked, reaching up to lift an overhead bin. He placed his backpack inside then reached over to grab Aaron’s laptop backpack.
“They’ll live. They were very well compensated,” Roddy answered, giving a tsk and a solid roll of his eyes before moving his gaze back to Aaron for another onceover. “I like your friend. Is he always this quiet?”
Aaron didn’t let go of the strap, instead lifting his backpack to the compartment himself. He was particular about this bag, making sure it lay a certain way, and nothing got in the way, which meant crowding Kreed’s carry-on. “Hey, be careful. My Lush products are in there,” Kreed said, moving everything in the overhead bin so his backpack wouldn’t get too crushed.
“What’s Lush?” Aaron asked, shrugging off his coat, shoving it inside the bin as well.
“Boy, you don’t know amazing until you’ve had yourself some Lush,” Roddy added, helping Kreed with his coat, before tucking all the straps and things inside the bin.
“That’s right. You’re the one who introduced me to that stuff.” Kreed gestured for Aaron to take the window seat.
“Mmm hmm. You two need to take a seat. Help your boy with his seatbelt. I need to give the green light.” Roddy moved around them as Aaron scooted in first and Kreed took the aisle seat. It was far easier to stretch his long legs in the aisle.
“What’s Lush? Is it an alcohol?” Aaron asked, pulling the belt around his lap.
“No, bath products. It makes your skin soft,” Kreed answered, buckling himself in.
“What?” Aaron stopped in mid click.
“What?” Kreed asked after a minute’s pause.
“You’re really such a girl. Is that what you were doing when I was trying on all those clothes?”
“Yeah. I usually have to ship the shit in, but there was a store here. It’s relaxing. Sue me. Besides, I got you a fizzbanger bath bomb to try. You need to lighten up. Seriously, that scowl you wear all the time’s gonna cause premature wrinkles.”
Aaron just stared at him for several long seconds before he answered, “I think I heard about that stuff on Rooster Teeth. It was advertised for their mothers for Christmas or Mother’s Day or something like that.”
Kreed was right on the verge of asking what the hell Rooster Teeth even meant when a female flight attendant bent in toward him. “You need to buckle your seatbelt, sir. Hi, Kreed.”
“Hey, honey,” he said, but never looked up. He kept his eyes on Aaron’s disbelieving face. The flight attendant patted him on the shoulder and continued down the aisle. Aaron’s look conveyed the same hard time Mitch always gave him about his hygiene habits. Wait until Kreed took his night off and headed to the bathroom instead of the bar. Aaron was going to flip the fuck out. He slid his gaze to Aaron’s hands still holding the buckle. “Need help with that?”
“No…” Aaron still just paused, studying him like he’d never seen him before. After a second or two, he dropped his gaze to buckle himself in as the engines started. Moments later, the plane began to back up. “Everybody on here knows you.”
“I fly a lot with this airline,” Kreed said, still just watching Aaron. It wasn’t a hardship. He was the best-looking thing on this plane.
“It’s cool how you got us first-class seats,” Aaron said, his head turned away from Kreed, his gaze glued out the small window, forcing Kreed to have to lean in to hear what he said.
“Was that said with a hint of appreciation?” Kreed asked, moving his head back when Aaron turned toward him. It was hard to stay focused on the conversation when those blue eyes landed on his. Kreed forced himself to take a giant mental step backward at the realization he had no idea what he’d just asked that fine-looking man. In his entire life, he’d never had that happen with anyone, male or female.
“I don’t scowl all the time,” Aaron announced, and Kreed forced a laugh, still trying to remember where he’d left off the conversation. When nothing came to mind, he finally answered with a joke, hoping that saved him.