Touched In Flight (Wicked First Love)

~ Five ~

For a billionaire, his mobile phone was like a gun. One call, one bullet – and careers could be ruined, millions of dollars spent, and entire businesses shut down. The send button was its trigger, and right now Nic was an inch away from not just pulling the trigger but raining fucking bullets all over the place.

Ayah was surrounded by jackasses.

He flexed his hands, striving for control. One call was all it would take, and this whole place would be closed down. He could have an entire army of detectives in here within minutes, figure out everyone’s identities, and have all of them fired from their jobs, no questions asked.

Mari smirked at the expression on Luuk Aafjes’ face. “So you’re sure about this? You really want to be one of the candidates?”

His expression became even colder, but to his credit he didn’t say any of the curses that were probably running in his mind. This Luuk dude sure was possessive, Mari thought. With a smothered laugh, she told him, she smothered a laugh. “Well, you need to fill out the badge with your name and stick it somewhere on your shirt.” She gestured to Emi, one of the waitresses, and gave her instructions as Luuk took out a pen and filled out his name badge.

When he was done, Mari said, “This is Emi. She’ll direct you to your place.”

The other woman, Emi, took over and she gestured towards the pool of speed date participants. “Sir? Would you follow me please?” Her tone was polite, but her face was agog with curiosity.

Yet another person who knew about him, Nic realized. Was that something to be happy about? He considered their reactions to him so far. Probably not.

There was a row of tables and bar stools in the middle of the café, with one row occupied entirely by females while the men were lined up opposite them. When the buzzer sounded, the men moved on to the next woman in line.

A swift look told him that the men outnumbered the women about 2:1, but most of them seemed clustered around...Ayah. It had him clenching his teeth together, the only way he could stop himself from snarling at the other men to stay away from his woman.

Emi pointed to the end of the line. “You will line there and wait for your turn. The rules are simple,” she informed him in her accented English. “You will hear a bell. It means you have one minute left to talk to your date. When you hear a buzz, you must move to the next woman – no time to say goodbye. You cannot ask for their contact details. We will give it to you if they allow us to. You must always be respectful. We will ask you to leave if you are not. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he bit out. Just the fact that he had to be issued a warning about respecting women had him bristling, not because he was offended but because it meant Ayah could be at risk of being offended by any of these fuckers.

When Emi left, his glance swung back to Ayah. She was smiling as she listened with seeming attentiveness to what her “date” was saying. Jealousy struck him like lightning, making Nic want to challenge everyone to a fight. No one had the right to make Ayah smile like that but him.

Her date said something else, and this time Ayah blinked before laughing out loud, the sound of it like the sweetest and most seductive melody to Nic’s ears...and no doubt to all the other men.

Nic closed his eyes. This was going to be one long fucking event.

AS THE BUZZER SOUNDED, Ayah did her best to surreptitiously look at her phone under the table, checking it for messages. But before she could unlock the screen, nimble fingers had swiped it out of her hold. Her head jerked up. “Mari!”

Her friend shook her head disapprovingly. “Concentrate!”

“But what if Luuk—-”

Mari’s glare became more evil.

She shut up. She would just explain to Luuk later if she ended up missing his call or text.

Her “fifth” date worked at the stock exchange, liked reading books, and had a cute smile. She knew right away that they would get along – as friends. Her sixth date was very handsome, and his dimples only added to his sex appeal. He was a lot of fun, teasing her outrageously about being the most popular girl in the event. He made her laugh, and she just knew they would get along, too – as friends.

It wasn’t as if she was comparing them to Luuk like Mari warned her not to, Ayah reasoned to herself. It was just impossible for her heart to get into this entire thing because somebody already owned it.

The thought had Ayah snickering privately to herself. Even to her own ears, it sounded very mushy.