Virgin Flyer

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. I’m just…” He finally seemed to process what was happening. “I’m just going to miss you.”

The words were on the tip of my tongue, that I wanted more, that I wanted all of it with him. Even if he wasn’t ready, I would wait. But I couldn’t open up an entire conversation that I didn’t have time for right now.

“When I get back, we’ll—”

He nodded and kissed me hard on the lips, cutting me off and throwing his arms around my neck to squeeze tightly.

After he ended the kiss, I pressed more kisses to his cheeks and his forehead. “Please be safe,” I begged. “I need you to… I need… I need you to be here when I get back, okay?”

“Here?” he asked in confusion.

I messed with his hair. “Not here, here. Just…”

He threw himself at me again for another kiss and hug. “Okay. I’ll be here.” His shy grin was adorable. I kissed the tip of his nose and bit my tongue against three words that would change everything.

When the plane landed to pick me up, I was shocked to see it was Banks Consulting’s Gulfstream. Chris was the first person I saw when I boarded the airplane. He narrowed his eyes at me for a microsecond before continuing whatever conversation he was having with the two men sitting next to him. They all had Starbucks cups in their hands and slick laptops spread out over the table between them. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that he refused to acknowledge knowing me in front of his dude bros from work.

It wasn’t until we were at cruising altitude that I put two and two together that someone at Banks had specifically requested me on this trip the same weekend I just so happened to have been out of town with Teo. Was Chris really that possessive? And how would Teo feel if he found out about it?

I decided not to tell him regardless. I didn’t want to be the person who wrecked his view of his best friend even more than had already happened.

So I sat back and flew half a world away from the man I was falling in love with, leaving him at the mercy of my family and my ex-boyfriend while I played chauffeur to his own quasi ex.

It was going to be a long week, and being in close proximity with Chris Banks without losing my patience and my job was going to be an awfully tall order.

31

Teo

When I finally woke up for the day and realized Jack wasn’t there, I felt awkward. Would they still want me to stay the weekend? Did they still need my help with the renovation? Would it be weird with Ty there?

But as soon as I walked into the kitchen, Millie threw herself in my arms. “Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re here. Ty and Kirk are going skydiving all day, and my dad threw his back out somehow while taking the trash out this morning. So, I was hoping…” She drew the word out with a pleading tone. “That you would come with me to the hangar to help me organize some of the decorations for next weekend’s jump fest.”

Even if I didn’t like her as much as I did, I wouldn’t have been able to say no to the adorable pregnant lady. “Okay.”

She flashed me a smile and turned to the fridge to pull out a large insulated tumbler. “I made you an iced coffee. Jack said it’s your favorite. We don’t have a great coffee shop close by, so I hope homemade is okay.”

I stared at it before reaching for the glorious chalice of heavenly blessings. “You made me an iced coffee?”

She snickered. “Well, to be fair, Jack said it was our best chance at getting the most productivity out of you first thing in the morning.”

“He’s not wrong,” I muttered into the drinking spout on the lid. It was delicious, and I told her so. “I want you to be my sister. My actual sister would never do something so kind and benevolent for me.”

“Siblings are assholes. Anyway, I also got a gift card to the local baby boutique from one of my mom’s friends. I thought maybe we could stop by there on the way to work and see what they have. Are you up for a little baby shopping?” She bit her lip as if worrying she was asking too much of me.

“Millie,” I said as seriously as I could. “There are two types of gays. Those who enjoy shopping and those who don’t.”

Her face started to fall.

“You’re in luck,” I continued. “I happen to be a shopping gay. Pretty sure your brother is a non-shopping gay.”

“I can attest to that,” Ty said, shuffling toward the coffee maker. “I once dragged him to the big Macy’s in New York because I needed new clothes for a work thing. He lasted fifteen minutes, tops, before he suddenly had an urge for pastrami on rye. We’d eaten lunch an hour before.”