Weekend Fling with the Surgeon

more to say and wasn’t suffering from the same mental tug-of-war that she was. And not just the one with flying anxiety and logic that she’d be fine.

Ugh. She dug into her bag, pulled out a prescription bottle and took her anxiolytic tablet. Maybe she wouldn’t fall asleep on him this time. If she did, well, at least she wouldn’t have to sit in five hours of uneasy silence.

If she made it through the flight.

She’d done so well up to this point, not having a single panic attack while checking into the airport. Possibly because she was so distracted by the man next to her.

Think happy thoughts, she told herself over and over.

Unfortunately, her most recent happy thoughts all seemed to star Ryder.

After they boarded the plane, got settled into their seats, Ryder turned to her, his gaze full of concern. “You doing okay?”

Emotions hitting her that he’d finally looked at her, really looked at her, that his eyes revealed he wasn’t indifferent, she nodded. “I think so.”

“Good.”

But when the plane started moving, making its way toward the runway, McKenzie changed her mind, wondering if she was going to come out of her skin.

Breathing was difficult. Sweating not so much so.

Don’t do this, she ordered herself. She was fine. This was ridiculous.

Only sitting in the seat was becoming more and more challenging.

“You got this,” Ryder assured her, taking her hand. “Just take a deep breath and let it out slowly. You can do this.”

It was the first he’d touched her since they’d fallen asleep next to each other after a whole lot of touching and she almost cried out at the burn of his skin against hers.

McKenzie’s poor nervous system must have been on overload at the onslaught of sensations holding his hand added to her already hyped-up, under-attack neurons.

She stared at their entwined hands, tried to form words to ask him where they went from this weekend. That conversation would distract her from where she was, that she was about to fly.

Then again, his answers could trigger anxiety of its own.

The thought of not seeing him, spending time with him, hurt, but the thought of continuing what they’d started would cause pain unlike any she’d ever known.

“Your family is great, McKenzie.”

She knew what he was doing and appreciated his wanting to help her through the next few minutes. Then again, he could just want to save himself a whole lot of embarrassment if she gave in to her desire to claw her way out of the plane.

“I liked them.”

“They liked you, too.” Understatement of the century. “Nothing would please my mother more than if you were my real boyfriend.”

Ack. Had she really just said that? What was she trying to do? Pour gasoline on the fire and see just how hot her anxiety could burn?

McKenzie glanced up just in time to see Ryder’s dark eyes. She really should have just kept her mouth shut the entire flight home. Maybe that would be best for the rest of the flight before she said all kinds of other crazy things.

Things like that because of him what could have been the worst weekend of her life had actually been one of the best.

Things like that last night had exceeded anything she’d ever known and had set the bar so high that the thought of never reaching that pinnacle again was almost enough to make her cry.

Things like that if she didn’t know she’d only end up dumped down the road, she might want to pursue a real relationship with him.

But she did know. History had taught her well.

The pilot announced for the crew to prepare for takeoff. McKenzie automatically dug her fingers into her seat and braced herself.