He interrupts me. “I'll be on that plane to Miami. If you're not, then you're not the woman I thought you were.” He barely gets the words out and he jerks the door open and walks back inside.
I let it shut behind him and try to calm myself down. I don't even understand what is happening right now. How could he be so sweet this morning? Well, sweet for Bear, anyway. He brought me my favorite coffee and my favorite pastry. And now he's issuing demands and messing with my job. I don't understand any of it. But I'll be damned if he's going to control what I do here. I love living in Whiskey Run, and I'm not going to let him interfere with my job.
3
BEAR
I try to hide my smirk when I see Samantha walking down the aisle of the airplane. I had no doubt that she would come. It's in her nature, and she's not a quitter. There's no way she would bypass her responsibility. This is part of her job, and as far as I can tell, she loves this job. Plus, she’s not the type that could live with it on her conscience knowing she could help other women and then not doing it.
I scoot my legs in as she moves into the seat next to me. When she sits down, it's apparent how much bigger I am than her. I try to scrunch in my shoulders and arms so as not to touch her. Touching her is not a good thing. My body reacts just being close to her; touching her would be a whole new ballgame. I inhale deeply and then wish I hadn’t. She has on that soft floral scent that has my balls drawing in tight and my cock lengthening in my jeans. Fuck, let’s get the plane in the air already. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get some space between us. Not that I’m going to let her out of my sight or anything, but yeah, I at least need her out of arms’ length. It’s either that or I’m going to do something that will embarrass us both.
She huffs loudly as if she’s letting me know she hasn’t forgotten yesterday and hands me a file. Her words are very clipped, and it's obvious that she is still mad at me. “I'm here,” she says.
I nod and look at her. “I'm glad you came.”
She obviously expected me to say something else because her face softens, and then as if she catches herself, she instantly goes into work mode. I can’t really blame her for being mad. She’s tried to prove herself ever since she got to the team. And I know that I came across as an asshole by having Logan taken off the job so that I could go, but I'm not really ready to explain my reasoning yet.
I open the file and start to scan all the pertinent information of this mission. My name is Liam Smith. I'm thirty-five years old. I own a construction company. It then goes on to talk about my wife Samantha Smith. She's thirty-two. She's a stay-at-home mom to our two children. I keep reading and notice that we are on a vacation for our five-year anniversary.
I pat the pocket of my shirt and pull out the diamond ring I’ve had there since I boarded the plane. I hand it over to her with a gruff “here.”
She holds her hand out, and I drop the box in her hand. Her eyes go from me to the box and then me again. I nod my head, gesturing for her to open it. When she does, she gasps loudly before looking around at everyone that is sitting down and getting their seatbelts on. She ducks her head, holding up the ring as if letting the light shine off of it. She whispers to me, “This is so beautiful. Where did Nash get this at? It probably set him back quite a bit.” She takes it out and puts it on her finger. “Surely the jeweler will let him return it, though.”
I should probably leave it alone and let her think what she thinks. But that's not in my nature. “I bought it,” I say and watch her eyes widen.
To say she’s surprised is putting it mildly. She tries to take it off, and I put my hand out to stop her. My hand wraps around hers easily. I ignore the spark that shoots up my arm and watch as she shakes her head.
“But...” She shakes her head, her eyes wide. “What if something happens? I can't risk losing it.”
I squeeze her hand gently. “No. Please don't take it off. Nothing's going to happen.”
She tilts her head and says a little louder this time, “You don't know that. Anything can happen in this line of work. You know that, and I'm not willing to risk losing your ring. Why do you even have a ring like this?” She sits back, eyes wide, and gasps. “Oh my God, am I wearing your ex-girlfriend’s ring or something?”