She takes a deep breath. "We're here already?"
"You'll be able to get into the bed once we're airborne. Just relax," Marsten says gently. Nixon nods, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.
Nixon allows us these liberties with her now, but it's taken a while. Before, she would argue with us about it, stating she could walk herself, or she could take care of things herself. Either she trusts us more, or she's just given in.
I like to think it's the former.
Marsten reaches over and hooks her seatbelt in. He takes a deep breath and turns to us, as he hooks himself in his seat and picks up his briefcase. "What is the update on Simmons?"
"Wait until we get in the air and have something to drink before you talk business. I don't want to fight with any papers while we take off." Haddon rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
My lips lift on one side. "I agree. Besides, Nixon has gone back to sleep. Do you want to talk about this twice?"
Marsten glances at Nixon, his lips tightening. "Fine." He puts the case under the seat.
"Would you like me to put your briefcase in the upper compartment?" The flight attendant asks, motioning to Marsten's briefcase with a smile.
Marsten glares at her. "I would prefer to keep it where I have it."
"Very well. I'm Catherine. If you need anything, just let me know. Your luggage has been loaded onto the plane, and we'll be taking off in fifteen minutes." Her smile falters just a bit at Marsten's hard gaze, before quickly strolling away.
Haddon chuckles. "Damn, man, did you have to act so mean to the poor woman? She was just trying to do her job."
"That's where we go wrong with these women. When we're nice, they think they have a chance with us. This way, we have them running as soon as they meet us." Marsten scoots back in his seat, straightening his suit jacket. I don't know why he feels like we need to wear a suit whenever we travel; we always have to change before any meetings anyway.
I have no clear argument, so I just do what he says.
Fifteen minutes later, to the second, the plane takes off.
Chapter Three
"W
ake up." I'm jostled from my sleeping position.
Opening an eye, I send a glare Marsten's way. "You know, I was supposed to be in my own bed, sleeping. Can't whatever you want wait until I've had enough sleep? We just took off, and we have a nine-hour flight. You can give me another couple of hours of sleep before you harass me." Turning my back to him, I cross my arms, closing my eyes.
"If we get this done now, then you can sleep the rest of the flight," Marsten half-cajoles, half-demands. "Just get up so we can get this over with."
I sit up in my seat, and he shoves a pen and pad in my hand. "Tell me what you know about this contract."
"I sent you everything I know about the contract, including the contract itself. You could have done this even without an assistant coming along," I huff. "I wish you would have just let Cadence come with you."
Drew tilts his head, his eyes curious. "You wanted us to take Cadence up on her offer?"
Hesitating, my head goes back. Fuckers. "You don't have to take her up on her offer to work with her. You could have politely declined and requested you keep it all business. After, you could have kept it all business."
The three of them give each other that look I can't decipher and then back to me. "If it were that easy, you would have had a vacation a long time ago. Please, just give us an hour, and then you can sleep the rest of the way if you want," Haddon pleads lightly. The green specks in his eyes sparkle at me.
"Fine." I roll my eyes. "What do you want to know?"
Arching my back, I lift my arms above my head, stretching. Finally, I feel like I've had enough sleep.
Drew looks down at me. "Welcome back, sleepy head. I thought I would have to wake you up to land. What time did you go to bed last night?"
"Around three." I yawn. "I was catching up on some of the television shows I haven't seen in a while. I was supposed to be off for the week."
"I promise you will get some days off soon; just work with us now," Drew promises as he gets off the bed. He reaches out his hand, and I take it. I move to the edge of the bed and put my shoes on. "I'm going to give you a little privacy to freshen up. See you out in the main cabin." He looks at his watch. "We land in an hour." He leaves the room, closing the door behind him.