Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
His lashes lowered, fanning his cheeks. Holding her hands at her back, he curled his upper body around her and spoke low into her ear. “Then I promise not to buckle beneath you.”
43
Charlee followed Jay up the portable airstair to the door of the rented jet. The exhausts of shuttle buses, private planes, and fuel trucks added to the heat wafting off the tarmac.
Could one of the bustling vehicles have a Craig in it? Not that she was in a position to notice something like that. She couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from the black leather stretching over the back of Jay’s thighs and cupping his ass with each lift of his muscled legs.
As he cleared the last step, he glanced over his shoulder and winked. “Like what you see?”
She pulled her lips between her teeth to suppress a grin. “You know I do, you arrogant ass.” She nodded to the oval doorway in front of him. “Watch your head. It might be too swollen to fit through.”
Turning toward her, he looked pointedly at his groin and pursed his lips. “You might be right.”
Warmth spread across her chest and threatened to reduce her to girlish laughter. She filled her lungs with the dusk air and anchored herself to his beautiful smile. She hadn’t been this relaxed in…well, never. If only she could tuck the feeling away in a place no one could steal it.
He squatted to eye-level and she felt his gaze in the spike of her pulse and the sudden desert in her mouth. He leaned in. “Keep looking at me like that and we’re going to spend the next six hours in the lavatory.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Actually, I think we’ll do that anyway.”
A shiver swept through her and her hand faltered on the railing. “Is the rest of the band onboard? I thought these jets had bedrooms.”
His head dropped and he groaned. “Fuck, Charlee.” He scrubbed a hand over his scalp, mussing the thick strands. “Yes, the guys are boarded.” He looked up at her out of smoldering eyes. “You can count on a bedroom in all our future rentals.”
They were staring at one another, ensconced in their own cosmos, when Tony’s voice floated up from the tarmac. “We’re on a schedule, Mr. Mayard.”
He rolled his eyes and grabbed Charlee’s hand, walking backward and leading her into the cabin. “Welcome to the Rolls-Royce of the sky. This twelve passenger jet will whisk us at a speed of Mach .80 for four-thousand nautical miles—”
“Twenty-three hundred nautical miles.” The man in the captain’s chair turned from the dash of blinking screens. “That’s our flight distance from New York to Los Angeles.”
Jay shrugged. “Fine. For twenty-three hundred naughty miles—”
“Nautical miles.” She laughed.
He bit his lip. “Who’s giving this tour?”
She forced a straight face. Clearly, he was unconcerned about Tony’s time schedule. “Right. Go ahead.”
Pulling her a few more steps forward, he cleared his throat. “To your right is the full-service galley.” He stretched out an arm to indicate the built-in wet bar, a grin accentuating his full lips as he opened drawers and lifted rollback covers.
Behind him, a leather couch, convertible tables, and swivel recliners sandwiched the cabin. Not much smaller than her Village apartment, the space easily accommodated the four band members, her and Nathan, and the two bodyguards.
At the rear, Laz’s gelled-up spikes sprouted behind the headrest of a backward-facing recliner. Beside him, two guitar cases were oddly seat belted into their own chair. Wil and Rio perched across the aisle, wearing ear buds, eyes glued to the devices in their hands.
“To your left is the cockpit. This cloud craft features a…” Jay flicked a finger at the high-tech digital control panel. “What’s running this thing?”
The pilot beamed. “An Oxford Romulus 2000 avionics system.”
The blood drained from Jay’s face, and his hands dropped limply at his sides.
She took a step toward the heaving wall of his chest and looked up into his wide eyes. “Get over it. Oxford Industries owns everything, especially in the aerospace industry.” She lowered her voice. “And it’s not like he can control the system from afar and send us hurtling to our deaths.”
A sweaty pallor cast over his skin. Something beyond Roy’s avionic systems was unsettling him. Unease coiled up her spine. “What’s wrong?”
He looked at his Chucks, lips a thin line, and shook his head.
The silence stretched on, fraying her nerves. Standing against him, she leaned back and raised her chin. “So that’s how it’s going to be? Soon as something bothers you, you’re going to close right up? You might as well walk away.”
Without looking up, he bent an arm around her waist and pressed her body to his. His mouth grazed her jaw, her cheek, and settled over her ear. “Told you I’ll never walk away.”