It Wasn't Me (KPD Motorcycle Patrol 2)

“Well,” Jonah said as the flight attendant finally opened the door. “I just hope you realize that you exposed every single one of us on this plane to your sickness.”

She scrunched her nose up.

“I covered my mouth when I coughed,” she defended.

“Yes,” Jonah rolled his eyes. “Like that is really going to help anything at this point. We were in a sealed cabin with all your bullshit for over two hours. Hopefully we have some immune systems that can handle it.”

The woman’s face flamed.

That was when I decided to interfere.

Squeezing Jonah’s hand and bringing his attention to me, I said, “I’m ready to get married, dear.”

His eyes twinkled.

“Yeah?” he asked, then turned to the old lady. “Which chapel is your daughter getting married at?”

The woman blinked, then croaked, “Clover Hill on the strip.”

Jonah turned back to me and gestured his head for me to go ahead of him.

I did.

As we passed the old lady who’d stopped to repack her bag, he said, “I want to go to any chapel that’s not Clover Hill. I think we’ve been exposed to the plague enough.”

I choked at the lady’s outraged gasp.

“Oh. My. God.” I shook my head as we made our way up the gangplank to the entrance. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

My snicker was audible as he threw his arm around my shoulders. “I’m serious. If I can get out of here before I get anything, it’ll be a goddamn miracle.”

“That was pretty bad,” I admitted. “But at least we weren’t next to the crying, screaming kid.”

The flight attendant closed the curtains at some point, as if that would help, and offered us all sympathetic looks.

It wasn’t that I was upset that the kid was crying. I wasn’t. Kids cried. It is what it is.

What I was pissed about was the parents allowed the damn kid to throw a fit over not getting any more free peanuts.

At one point I honestly considered buying some for the little shit just to shut him up.

“You’re not lying,” he said. “There are some days that I want kids. Then days like today happen and I realize that maybe kids aren’t on my horizon.”

I snorted. “You and me both. I love my sisters. Love their kids. But Jesus, I’m so happy to not have to deal with the sleepless nights, the constant crying, and the other shit they tell me is awful on a daily basis.”

Jonah rolled his eyes to look down at me.

I felt my heart skip a beat at the look in his eyes.

“I’m sure it’s different when you have your own kids,” he said. “Not that I would know. I felt the same way about my brother’s kids when I was younger. And my sister’s kids. They’re all good now, but there was a time there where I honestly couldn’t stand being around them.”

My lips twitched.

“I’m glad it’s not just me,” I said.

“It’s not,” he said as we finally exited into the Las Vegas airport.

I blinked at all the light that was streaming in through the copious amount of windows.

“I don’t remember it being this bright,” I mumbled.

“You’ve been here before?” he asked, dropping his arm from around my shoulder to once again take up my hand.

“Yes,” I said, swallowing hard, trying not to think about how nice it felt.

He no longer had a reason to hold my hand, yet he was doing it anyway.

“What for?” he asked.

“Barrett-Jackson car shows, mostly,” I said. “I used to go with my dad every year before I went into the Army.”

He stopped in the middle of the busy airport and stared down at me.

“Is that why you’re here today?” he asked in surprise.

I shrugged. “Yes?”

Was that a bad thing?

The smile that overtook his face was breathtaking.

“That’s why I’m here, too,” he said. “Marry me?”

I snorted.

“You’re nuts.” I pushed his chest, loving the hardness that I found underneath the palm of my hand.

“Nuts about you.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it caused me to go off balance.

He caught me before I could fall.

Then pulled me tight into his chest.

“This is going to be great.”

I frowned. “Why do you look like you just hit the jackpot?”

“Because,” he let me go and set me back down on my feet with a slight jolt. “I’ve never met a woman willing to go to a car auction with me before, and to think that I just found you, in Germany of all places, just makes me all giddy and shit.”

“All giddy and shit?” I couldn’t help myself from repeating his words. “You sound like a teenage girl.”

“I feel like one, too,” he teased. “Let’s go.”

So we went. Out into the Las Vegas heat, and straight to a waiting taxi cab.

It was sticky, and honestly, it grossed me out.

“I usually get an Uber when I come,” he said. “But that seemed like it’d take too long. Where are you staying while you’re here?”