Page 22 of Unravel You

“Me too. But it’ll be like when I lived withabueloandabuela, right?”

“It’ll be exactly like that. I’ll see you in five sleeps, okay?”

“Okay, Mom.”

* * *

The trip out East was filled with a lot of firsts for me. Of course, Derek had a private jet that screamed money and power. The inside was bigger than I’d expected with two rows of plush leather seats facing each other. We even had a flight attendant, who knew my favorite adult drink and the fact that I didn’t like flying.

“Here you go, Mrs. Cole.” She set a glass of champagne in front of me.

“Thank you.” I accepted the drink and didn’t even wince at the whole Mrs. Cole thing.

I went with it because at this point it was more effort to explain that I still hadn’t done anything to organize a wedding that was happening in less than two short months.

“I like the sound of that.” Derek sat across from me, flashing me one of his panty-dropping smiles. The second he clicked his seatbelt, the flight attendant set a glass of bourbon on his side.

“It’s like you said. It takes too long to explain that whole fiancée status.”

“I told you.” He leaned in to speak into my ear. “There’s a bedroom in the back.” Warm and soft, his voice was barely a whisper that caressed every inch of my body. “Maybe I can show it to you after we reach the required altitude.”

The blast of testosterone coming from him left me breathless and put all kinds of very bad ideas in my head. As it were, I had to spend my post workout kicking myself for not letting Derek help me out of my dirty clothes. It’d been too long since he’d been inside me. I squirmed in my seat and smoothed out my dress.

“I’d like to see it.” My tone was breathy and so not sexy at all.

I was out of my league when Derek turned up his seduction game. All I could do was try and keep up.

He reached over to run the back of his hand over my hot cheeks. “I should’ve brought you on a trip before now. No more wasting time. I promise.”

He winked, then sat back when the flight attendant came by to ask if we were ready for another refill. I muttered a “no, thank you,” but Derek overruled me. “She’ll have one more. It’ll help with your flying jitters.” He glanced at me, thoroughly amused to see me utterly undone and in full state of arousal.

“Tell me about the house. Or mansion.”

He chuckled, looking all satisfied with himself. Was this retaliation for leaving him hanging back at the house?

“Estate.” He raised an eyebrow, with a small and proud smirk pulling at his lips. I’d seen him spend thousands of dollars on a single bottle of wine without batting an eyelash. He didn’t put a lot of stock in money and all the things he had. But it was obvious he was proud of this newly acquired estate he’d apparently bought and meant for us to use for visits.

“Wow, estate. What made you want to buy it?”

“It was about to be condemned.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound so bad. My mind had already conjured one of those plantation-type homes with acres and acres of gardens and really green trees. “That’s amazing. You saved the property.”

“I did. We’ve been working on renovations for two years now. My great-grandfather landed the property in the late forties. New built, only ten years old. It was never really updated since then, so you can imagine the kind of shape it was in when Grams passed away. On top of that, the house sat empty for many years.”

The pilot left the cockpit and came over to shake Derek’s hand. I sat back and went through the motions as Derek introduced me. He assured us the flight would be a smooth one and that we would be there in three hours and fifty minutes. When he left, the flight attendant returned with fresh drinks and a readout of the menu for our trip.

I drank more of the champagne and squeezed my eyes shut as the plane hurtled down the tarmac. We took off, and I sank into my seat and thought of Max and his happy face when he said goodbye this morning. He was happy he didn’t have to miss school and excited to meet us in a week.

During the flight, Derek took more calls from the bedroom in the back while I pushed chicken around a plate of couscous salad. The closer we got to Atlanta, the more distant Derek felt to me. I got that he was nervous too, but it’d be nice to be in his arms right about now. Or in that bed back there. I peeked around the seat at the flight attendant who was busy cleaning up the galley, opening and securing latches. I got up, and when she didn’t turn around, I scurried toward the back of the plane.

I gripped the handle and froze when Derek’s voice filtered through. “Bridget. Stop. I wasn’t asking. Back the hell down.” The sound of his phone flying across the small room made my heart race.

What the hell was going on now? And why was I running back to my seat like some scared kid? This was Derek. If something was the matter with his ex-wife, I should know about it. The door opened just as I plopped myself on the seat, heart drumming in my throat. Derek sauntered straight to the galley, poured himself a drink, and knocked it back. Yeah, Bridget had that effect on him.

“What’s going on?” My small voice was barely audible over the rumble of the engine.

“Work stuff.” He sat next to me with a smile plastered on his face. His body heat blasted off him and filled the cabin. He was about to combust from anger.

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