Page 30 of Provoke You

“I bet my file was easy to put together. I mean, all you had to do was download my Instagram feed.” I shoved the hair away from my face, embarrassed by all my stunts on display for someone like Matt to find.

“It was easy. At first anyway.” He leaned forward. Sitting like this, we could be at any coffee shop on a date. Not forty thousand feet in the air, plotting to take down my own dad. “The real you is much more complex to figure out.”

“I’m an open book. If you ask, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I tell my followers that. And I mean it.” The look in his eyes gave me a surge of bravery. I reached out and placed a hand on his leg.

He ran his index finger down my cheek, then took my hand off his leg. I rolled my eyes. We were back to business. “I know. You’re transparent for anyone who wishes to look in. I like that about you.”

I glanced down at our intertwined hands. “I wish I knew more about you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“There’s nothing wrong with getting to know each other. I mean you’ll be gone in a couple weeks. It won’t matter what you tell me.” I stopped talking to swallow. Why did it hurt to think I wouldn’t be seeing him after Paris? I didn’t even know where home was for him. The cockpit door was soundproof. “For example, where does your mom live?”

He smiled down at our hands. “Atlanta.”

“Is that where you’re going?”

He nodded. “For a few days, but I’m still hoping to settle in New Orleans.”

“So you want to live in my hometown. Your family obviously has money.” I waved my hand around the cabin as proof. “You like kissing me. Explain to me again why we can’t get to know each other.”

“Because it can lead to more. And that would be a violation of trust. Your dad trusted me with you.”

“Technically, it was Jennifer.”

“It’s all the same.”

Always the marine. I pulled my hands away from his. I had to stop doing that with him. Even if he liked me, he still had a job to do. “Fine. So as soon as we land, we can go get Ben from his hiding place, get him to make me a proper heiress, and live happily ever after with our shiny new jobs.”

That got a chuckle out of him. “That’s more or less the gist of it. Though you skipped several steps.”

I rose and made my way to the galley to pour myself a wine. When I stepped back to pull out a cart, I bumped into Matt. The adrenaline shock was immediate, followed by an electric current when his lips touched my shoulder.

“It pains me when you make that face.”

“What face?” I turned around, keeping my hands on his so he wouldn’t let go.

“It’s not that I don’t want you.”

I got that we were on a mission here. But Matt felt like home, and I’d been away from family for too long. He worried about me. He cared whether or not I lived, which was something I knew for a fact was not a concern my parents had about me. Mom certainly never sent someone to ask me to call her and go see her. Dad didn’t even think to pretend to send me to Paris because Mom wanted to see me. He wanted me gone. Period.

I slipped my fingers into Matt’s dark hair and made a fist. His breath puffed out against my face, cool from the ice water he’d been drinking. I sighed and pressed my lips to him. If he wanted me to stay away, he would be on the other side of the plane. As it happened before, kissing him was like waking a sleeping titan. He embraced me, all hard muscle, hot skin, and soft lips. I ran my nails against the grain of his stubble. When he parted his lips, yielding to me, I touched the tip of my tongue to his bottom lip, then went deeper. He tasted like mint.

“You’re so smooth,” he said when I pulled back to catch my breath. He ran a hand up my arm and down my neck. “So beautiful.”

I kissed him again. I didn’t need words. I needed him. Unlike before, he didn’t yield to me. Instead, he cupped my face and let his smooth tongue do the exploring. Jesus, this guy was a thousand turn-ons, but what did it for me was the desperation in his breathing, ragged and for once, out of control. If he hadn’t been holding me, I would have melted off the plane.

The click of the cockpit door brought us back to reality. We were not alone. And definitely not in a place where we could do more. Matt practically leaped back to his seat. I could do no more than turn to the stowage and pour myself a wine. My cheeks felt hot. I stayed facing my glass until Chase went into the bathroom. When the door closed, I walked back to my seat across from Matt.

He had his laptop open again. I stared at his profile, same as before. Except now his cheeks and lips were red. I wanted to kiss him again, maybe gentler this time to soothe his mouth.

“You’re driving me crazy.” He met my gaze. His voice had a terse quality with a tinge of anger in it, but his eyes told a different story. He wanted me.

“I don’t exactly feel sane around you.” I smiled at him, and he returned the gesture.

Chase made a lot of noise coming out of the bathroom. If he knew what was going on, he didn’t show it when he sat next to Matt. “We’ll be arriving in a few. I’ll go on ahead and make sure the safe house is ready.”

I raised both my eyebrows. “A safe house?”

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