Page 43 of The Plus-One Deal

I was about to wake her when my phone buzzed. Claire stirred at the sound and sat up, yawning. She swung her legs off the bed.

“Is that mine or yours?”

“Mine this time,” I said, and frowned at the screen. A bubble popped up, a text from my pilot. If we wanted to beat the rush, we needed to move it. He’d got us a takeoff slot, but only if we hurried.

“I said I’d fly some folks out with us, a few from New York. They were on budget flights, so they’d be stuck a few more days. Let me call the front desk and see if they’re ready. They should’ve been notified, but…”

“Go ahead.” Claire hopped off the bed, already grabbing her own phone. She hissed at something she saw on the screen. Then she was grabbing her clothes with one hand, snapping rapid-fire instructions at someone down the line. I got to work packing, though I was mostly done, all my clothes in my suitcase but the ones from last night. Claire had left some of hers draped over the chairs, and I considered for a minute if she’d be annoyed if I packed them. Then I checked the time on my phone and figured, screw it. I grabbed one of Claire’s skirts and smoothed it out on the bed.

“That’s great,” she was saying, still on the phone. “No, don’t start on that yet. Wait till I’m back. But tell Alice from sales— what are you doing?”

I didn’t realize at first that she was talking to me. I kept at my task, folding her panties.

“No, not you. Excuse me. I’ll need to call you back.Conrad!”

I jumped. Her undies went flying.

“What are you doing?”

“Packing your suitcase. We’ll miss our flight.”

Claire sputtered. “Aren’t we taking your jet?”

“Yeah, but there’s alotof flights that’ve been grounded. They’ve assigned us all takeoff slots, and if we miss ours, we’ll lose it.”

“Lose it? How long?—?”

“Come help me pack.”

She snatched up her remaining clothes and crammed them into her suitcase, then slammed the lid down and held it shut withher knee. I didn’t think it would zip with her clothes packed haphazard, but somehow it did.

“All right. Let’s go.”

I cast about one last time for anything we’d forgotten, but the room looked just about how we’d found it, except for the bed all mussed and unmade. I smiled at the thought of the night we’d spent there, not just the sex, but holding her after. Sleeping naked, entwined in each other’s arms. Then my smile faded. Last night was?—

“Conrad!” Claire snapped her fingers, and I shook my head.

“It’s ten minutes to the airport. We’ll be okay.”

“Not if there’s traffic, or another freak storm.”

“Another—” I stopped talking, seeing the problem. This was pre-caffeine Claire. The morning monster. Talk would be pointless till she’d had her fix. “There’s coffee downstairs,” I said. “We’ll grab some on our way.”

That seemed to calm her, and she took a deep breath. We headed downstairs at a more sedate pace, and found that our passengers had gone on ahead. We had plenty of time to get to the airport, which was a good thing, as Verity came running.

“Oh,thereyou two are! I was afraid you’d have left. I wanted to drop by and say goodbye last night, but Ken wouldn’t let me, with it being yourlastnight. I hope you took full advantage of your few hours of peace!”

I glanced at Claire and saw she’d gone bright red. So much for trying to play it cool. Verity giggled.

“You two are so cute. Ken was right — you’re just like us at your age.”

Claire made a strangled sound. “Our flight, uh…”

“Of course. I just wanted to tell you, it’s been a delight. We’ve had a wonderful time getting to know you, and I’m perfectly sure I’ll seeyouagain soon.” She took Claire’s hand and shook it, and Claire fairly glowed.

“I’m so happy to hear that. We had a lovely time, too.”

“We’ll do dinner, all four of us, some time next month. But you’ll definitely hear from me well before that. I’m very impressed with what you’re doing with Timeless, and I can’t wait to explore how I’d fit into that.”

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