Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
The attendant flushed almost as red as me as she looked over the tickets. “I do apologize, Mr. Cavendish.”
“I don’t need your apology.”
The attendant could barely look me in the eye, and I squirmed in embarrassment and secondhand mortification for her. “Ms. McCulloch.” She swallowed hard. “I’m very sorry for my mistake.”
“It’s all right,” I assured her.
She took the tickets over to a desk where her colleague waited. The man drew her a dark look as he held the tickets under a machine that beeped. As Theo took the tickets from him, the male attendant said in a snooty voice, “Apologies for my colleague, Mr. Cavendish, Ms. McCulloch. She’s new. It won’t happen again.” He gave her another dirty look, and I felt awful for her as misery cut across her expression. “Please enjoy the lounge and the rest of your day.”
“Thank you for your shitty customer service,” Theo replied blandly. “Please do not enjoy the rest of your day.”
I caught sight of the flight attendant squeezing her eyes closed in dismay as Theo guided me past them and into the large lounge.
It was half-empty. There were different kinds of seating. Some bistro tables. Bench seats. Chairs with electrical sockets and side tables. Stools at high counters where people worked on their laptops.
In the center was a catering area with sandwiches and pasta, soda, water, juice, and coffee and tea machines. There were snacks and fruit plates.
I’d have marveled at what a business class ticket could buy you if I wasn’t currently annoyed with my companion.
“You embarrassed her,” I bit out.
Theo drew us to a halt at a table away from other people. “She embarrassed you first. All’s fair, love.” He stroked a tender thumb over my cheek. “Only I get to make you blush.”
I flushed even harder as I gritted my teeth in irritation. “That may be, but I didn’t want you to embarrass her for me. She was embarrassed enough by her error. And the way her colleague looked at her … I feel bad for her. What if she’s on a trial run and they let her go over this?”
Theo tugged my bag off my shoulder and placed it on the bench seating, a heavy sigh spilling from his lips. “You are far too nice, Ms. McCulloch.”
I frowned. “You can be nice. You’re nice to me.”
Cupping my face in his hands, Theo murmured against my mouth, “I’m not nice. Let me prove it.”
He kissed me hard and deep. Another inappropriate public display of affection.
By the time he released me, I was breathing hard, and I knew I was flushed bright red again.
“See?” The bastard grinned smugly. “Now, what do you want to drink?”
I pressed a cool palm to my hot cheek as I slumped onto the bench beside my bag. “Um … Diet Coke.”
“Anything to eat?”
“Whatever you think,” I mumbled.
Despite his good-natured teasing, I was still uncomfortable with the way he’d treated the attendant on my behalf. I knew he hadn’t been overly horrible to her (his last parting remark, however, was totally unnecessary), but as someone who’d spent her life being mortified by my shyness, by feeling constantly embarrassed by it, it didn’t sit right with me to put someone else in that position.
Yes, the flight attendant shouldn’t have assumed I wasn’t flying business class (and I was not going down the rabbit hole of wondering why she’d assumed that about me), but it was a mistake. She was new. She was learning. And yes, maybe I was hyperfocusing on the incident and blowing it out of proportion because of my own issues, but I couldn’t help it.
Theo returned with snacks and attempted conversation, but I was stuck in my head. Aye, Theo was nice to me. But was what I just witnessed a taste of what he was like with others? I knew he was kind to North, that he cared for North, but I didn’t know how he treated other people beyond me. We’d eaten out a few times and he’d treated the waitstaff with politeness. But we hadn’t had interactions with other people.
We’d been living it up in our little bubble together.
What if … what if I didn’t like who Theo was outside of our bubble?
Dread knotted in my gut.
I could feel Theo’s intense study as I nibbled, no longer hungry, on the snacks he’d brought over. Surprisingly, he didn’t push me to chat. Instead, he seemed to fall into his own grim contemplation.
Was he thinking what I was thinking?
I didn’t know why that made me feel worse.
Not long later, it was time to gather our belongings and head to our gate. Theo took my hand, his grip firm, unyielding, as we strode together out of the lounge. The two airline attendants were still there, and my hand flexed in Theo’s with uncertainty as he gestured the woman over to the desk so he could speak to them both.