Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
The car starts to move, and for now, I focus on the other important conversation we can have. “How far is the airport?”
“It’s a private strip,” Cole says. “About fifteen minutes.”
“This new pilot has slept his hours, right?”
He laughs. “I’m sensing you’re not a good flyer.”
“If you mean do I like sitting inside a big metal machine while some person I don’t know or trust, controls the wheel? No, I do not. And I already know that you’re a control freak. You don’t even like your files outside your office. How does it not bother you?”
“I’ll save us if we start to go down.”
I scoff and rotate to face him. “Do not joke about going down.”
His eyes meet mine, “I really will save you. I have my pilot’s license. My father was a pilot and I started flying when I was fifteen.”
“Did you really?”
“Scout’s honor, and yes, I was a scout. My father thought it would look good on a college resume, even though I was just a kid at the time. My mother thought it would teach me self-preservation and good manners.”
Now I laugh. “I saw those manners tonight,” I comment, lowering my voice, and repeating his words to Lance. “Who are you and why do I care?”
“An asshole gets asshole treatment.”
“You didn’t know that he was an asshole at that point, despite the fact that he is. You didn’t even know who he was.”
He reaches down and grabs my thigh, pulling me next him, and behind the driver’s seat, heat flaming between us instantly. His fingers flex on my leg and he leans in close, lowering his head near mine, his voice low, intimate, for my ears only. “I saw how he was looking at you. I knew he’d had you. I knew he still wanted you. I made sure he knew that wasn’t going to happen.” He cups my face, cheek pressed to mine. “I made sure he knows he has to go through me to get to you again.” He eases back, and even in the darkness and shadows, the flicker of passing lights illuminate the hard lines of determination on his handsome face and the heat of possession burning in his eyes. Perhaps I should push back. Perhaps I should worry that I will lose myself if I’m consumed by such a man, as I had that day on the street. But I’m not the same person, in the same situation.
I lean in and press my lips to his. He cups my head in that hot, possessive way he does, and kisses me to the point I really want to fuck him right here, in this car. And when he pulls back and gives me a smile, before sliding his arm around my shoulders to hold me close for the rest of the ride, I come to a conclusion: I’ve seen death and illness. Life is too short to feel what I feel with this man and walk away, especially when I trust this man, which is big for me after feeling betrayed by my father, and even Lance for that matter.
That’s the bottom line to me; trust is paramount. As long as I can trust Cole, I can do this with Cole.
Chapter thirty-three
Cole
The car turns into the airport, but my mind is momentarily back in my apartment, in the moment when I’d opened my door to find Lori standing there. I’d been certain she was going to resign. I’d needed her to stay.
Need.
That word used to be about sex to me, at least where women were concerned. I’d have sworn that to be the case with Lori this morning, but not tonight. Tonight I know I need this woman in ways that reach beyond how much I want her.
This is new.
This is a first.
She is different.
And if I could take Lori back to my apartment and keep her there for a week solid to figure out what that means and where this is leading, I would, but duty calls and I’ll settle for her in a private jet by my side. The car pulls inside the airport hangar and halts. I open the door and exit the car, offering Lori my hand, when any other associate would be exiting on the opposite side of the vehicle, kept at a firm distance.
Lori’s hand presses to mine and I help her out of the car, but beyond a quick glance at her mouth that really needs to be kissed again, and soon, I quickly greet the driver, tip him, and coordinate our bags with an airline staff member. I motion Lori forward, and we fall into step, side-by-side in our walk toward the private jet, where for six hours I will have this woman nearly all to myself, much like I did that night in my hotel room.