Holding her breath, she sidestepped the last few inches to her seat. As soon as her legs cleared his, a chill covered her calves from the loss of his body heat. Sitting, she stuffed her leather briefcase under the seat in front of her. The flashes of excitement skittering along her skin told her he watched her every move.
Studiously looking out the window at the airport employees bustling around on the tarmac, she reached for her seat belt, her fingers accidentally brushing his thigh. Biting her bottom lip to keep from making any more tell-tale noises, she pulled the belt across her lap and snapped it closed. After tightening it until it was snug against her waist, she watched the baggage handlers tossing suitcases into the belly of the plane. Her purple suitcase flew into the baggage compartment. Well, at least she'd packed all of her breakable items in her briefcase.
“Still bothers you, huh?” His voice slid across her skin like a warm breeze as he leaned closer to peer out the window.
“It's okay, there're only clothes in it.”
“Not your suitcase, this.” His warm hands covered hers, stilling them.
Unknowingly, she'd been tugging at the seat belt, some part of her needing to double-check it would hold. The car accident must’ve shook her up more than she'd realized. Despite everything, his concern touched her. It had been twenty years since her parents’ fatal car crash. She'd been trapped for hours, hanging upside down, secured to her seat by her seatbelt. It had saved her life.
“I'm okay.”
He gave her hands a light squeeze. “Good.”
The captain's announcement about expected weather conditions during the flight stopped any further exchange. Hank settled back into his seat and the little plane picked up speed, bouncing a bit as it barreled down the runway.
Blood pounded in her ears and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as that old familiar fear plucked her nerves. Man, she hated flying. Clutching the armrest in a white-knuckle grip, she forced herself to breathe in slowly, hold it a second and then exhale. Her stomach dropped as the plane left the ground and she squeezed her eyes shut. All Beth could picture was her mom's long brown hair spread wide across the ceiling of the station wagon, her mouth hanging open and the wet sound of her gasps echoing in the silent night.
“You know I've been fantasizing about you since I was twenty-two?” Hank's hand covered her smaller one. “I came home after boot camp and bam; my little sister's best friend had turned into a stone-cold fox.”
His words pulled her away from the terror of that night. Grateful, she squeezed his hand.
Lowering his lips until they nearly touched her ear, he hushed his voice to a throaty whisper. “I've spent a lot of time alone, thinking of how that ass of yours would feel in my hands. Hard or soft? How much would it bounce if I gave it a little slap?”
Her gaze jumped around the plane as a fierce blush burned her cheeks. Had anyone heard? “Shut up, people will hear you.” She glanced back and spotted two junior attorneys from her office three rows behind them.
“So?”
“So?” The single word came out louder than she’d intended, drawing the attention of the passengers across the aisle, exactly what she'd been trying to avoid. Smiling weakly at their irritated faces, she quieted her voice. “I do not want everyone to think that I'm the latest in your parade of women.”
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “Sure, I've dated a few women since the divorce, but I don't think you can call it a parade.”
A few? A few? If he called twenty-eight a few, then he needed to rethink his math abilities. “Do you want me to name them all?”
“So you've been keeping track, eh?” He sat up straighter in his chair, pride beaming from his hazel eyes.
Damn. He picked up on that. Flustered, Beth wished she could think of something to say to wipe that smug smile off his face but whatever brain synapses controlled her smartass comeback function failed. Her mind stayed stubbornly blank.
The light green flecks in his eyes disappeared as the irises darkened. “I've been chasing after you for weeks now.”
She fiddled with her skirt hem, not daring to make eye contact or he'd know ho
w much staying away from him cost her.
“Sure, I've dated other women, but they're not you—and I want you.”
His words slapped her across the face.
Don't cry. Whatever you do, don't cry.
Biting her lip, she said nothing.
“After Claire's party, I thought we'd turned a corner. But you're even more skittish around me than before. So, what's going to happen, Beth?”
A thunk reverberated under her seat as the pilot raised the plane's wheels. She'd give anything to be able to say yes to him even just once, but she'd already lost too many people to do that again. “Nothing is going to happen between us.”
The vein in his temple pulsated and his mouth formed a grim line. “Okay, I guess I have my answer.” He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “But I'm not going to stop asking.”