The smile she’d been bearing for the man in the wheelchair slides right off her face, and she looks at me with distrust as I come to a stop beside her. I glance down at the man, who looks up at me with a happy smile. I smile at him, and then turn back to Blue. “Hey…was over there with Dax, Bishop, and Brooke, saw you over here, and thought I’d say hello.”
“Hello,” she clips out, then pushes past me so she can reach the brakes. She releases them without even looking at me again.
I bend down, get in her line of vision. “So…what are you doing? Out on a group trip?”
“Yup,” she says as she straightens.
“Gonna introduce me to your friend?” I ask with a charming smile, cutting a glance to the man in the wheelchair who is still grinning back at me. I want to show her I’m a people person through and through and she can stop being mad at me for some stupid words—I don’t even really recall what I said that pissed her off in the first place.
“Sure,” she says with a sugary smile, but her tone puts me on edge. Bending to the side, she gets the man’s attention and says, “Billy, this is Erik.”
Billy looks up at me. He has vivid blue eyes sparkling with joy and vitality. He smiles bigger, and his head jerks a bit as he drawls out a word that looks terribly difficult for him to say. “Hi.”
Blue turns to me. Making a sweeping motion to Billy, she says, “Erik, this is my brother, Billy.”
There’s no hiding the stunned expression on my face. In a million years, it never crossed my mind he was a family member. I had not thought about her as anything other than a hot-as-fuck flight attendant who I would like to join the mile-high club with.
I recover quickly, though. I squat down by the armrest of his wheelchair. Since I know from observation he can’t quite extend his arm, I reach out to him and take his hand. I give him a shake that makes him laugh. “Nice to meet you, Billy,” I say.
Glancing up at Blue, I find her watching me like a hawk, completely distrustful of any word or move I might make.
Looking back to Billy, I tell him, “You were dancing pretty good there.”
He grins bigger, and his head rolls back and forth as if what I said really pleased him.
Squeezing Billy’s shoulder, I tell him, “Nice meeting you, buddy. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
Standing up, I give Blue a gentle smile and take a step back. With a nod, I tell her, “You two enjoy your day, okay? Nice to see you.”
Now she’s the one with the stunned expression. I see it on her face just moments before I turn and walk away.
I’m glad I have several steps to take before I make it back to Dax, though. My fucking heart is pounding like a jackhammer operated by a steroid-driven construction worker.
Christ…Blue has layers to her that I never imagined.
That’s not what’s got me wired, though.
I’m wired because I really want to fucking peel away those layers and learn more about her.
Normally I’m all about peeling off the clothes, but I want so much more than that with Blue.
And that’s a first for me.Chapter 2BlueI tug at the silver, blue, and green silk scarf that’s tied at my neck as I run across the tarmac. It’s part of my uniform so I’m required to wear it, but I can’t stand anything touching my neck. I spend a lot of time each flight tugging at the stupid accessory. I’ve never been able to wear anything constricting, which also includes sixteen-inch necklaces, chokers, or turtlenecks. It all makes me feel like I’m suffocating.
My foot hits the bottom step of the staircase that leads up to the plane door and I see Sadie standing at the top, grinning down at me.
“You’re late,” she calls out, tapping her wristwatch with a smirk.
“By maybe five minutes,” I huff out as I jog up the steps in my three-inch pumps, the same shade of navy in my scarf. While I might struggle each flight with the constricting silk around my neck, I have no problems whatsoever standing for hours in high heels.
“Five minutes my ass,” she replies as she places a hand on her hip and cocks it out. “More like fifteen minutes. The team will be boarding soon.”
Sadie is dressed in an identical uniform to mine. We have several different variations because the team’s owner, Dominik Carlson, can afford to dress his employees well. Today’s trip has all four female flight attendants to the Arizona Vengeance hockey team wearing a navy skirt that hits demurely at knee level with a very well fitted, white cotton blouse. Some of my coworkers wear theirs unbuttoned scandalously low, but my boobs are way too big to get away with that. I only unbutton the top two and call it a day. The outfit is complete with a navy blazer and the multicolored scarf, which matches the team’s logo.