Page 77 of Dirty Rich Cinderella Story

“Consider this an order: Get up and get off the plane.”

“Fire me, but there are two sides of our relationship now. That means what happens to you matters to me. Employer or not, I’m still going with you.”

“Holy fuck, woman,” I growl. “This is not—”

She presses her lips to mine and I tell myself to stand her up and walk her off of this plane, but damn it to hell, this woman makes me crazy. Proven by the fact that I don’t walk her off the plane. I cup her face, and kiss her, a punishing, hard kiss, that ends with the yelp of the flight attendant. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “I just—I need to let you know we’ve been delayed another fifteen minutes.”

Lori surprises me by showing zero remorse for being busted by twisting around to look at the flight attendant. “Thank you, Katy,” she says. “Is it possible to get food while we wait? I haven’t eaten all day and I can’t fight with this man and win without some energy.”

She laughs. “I think you’re winning.” She tries to straighten up her face. “I mean, of course. Coming right up.” She disappears, and Lori turns back to me. “You don’t get to declare us all in, and then be half out, Cole Brooks.”

I cup her face. “Sweetheart, I have never been all in with a woman like I am with you.”

“I can help,” she whispers. “I want to help, and we can—”

“If I let you stay on this plane, you will do what I say, when I say it. Agree or I swear to you that I will carry you off this plane right now.”

“As it relates to the job, I agree,” she says.

My lips curve. “You had to clarify that, right?”

“Yes. I did.” She shoves on my chest. “Now tell me what happened on those calls.”

“There’s not much to tell.” I kiss her and release her.

“There’s something to tell,” she insists, both of us settling back into our seats. “You just tried to kick me off the plane.”

“Sometimes it’s just a gut feeling.”

“But you think the detective is out to get you?”

“I don’t think he’s an ally, that’s for sure.”

The flight attendant reappears with two boxes in her hand. “Each has finger sandwiches, cookies and chips. I can do something fancier in the air.”

“You’re a goddess Katy,” Lori says, accepting her box. “Thank you. Do you have bottled water?”

“I do,” she says, pulling one from her apron and offering it to Lori, before handing me my box as well as an additional water.

Katy departs and before she’s even shut the curtain, Lori has taken a bite of a cookie. “Isn’t that supposed to come last?”

“Why?” she asks.

I laugh. “Indeed. Why?”

“I’m a rule breaker,” she says. “You didn’t know that?”

“You’re a contradiction on that topic, sweetheart, but I like it.”

“I’m not a contradiction,” she says. “I simply choose where to be daring.”

“Such as my hotel room?” I tease.

“No,” she says sobering immediately. “What happened there wasn’t about a room or a night.”

She has my full attention and I lean closer. “Then what was it about?”

The flight attendant chooses that moment to reappear, “We’re a go for take-off this time. I don’t need to gather your items, but I want you to know we’re lifting off in ten minutes.”

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