Page 65 of Obsession

Opposites in so many ways.

“Come,” I murmured, gesturing to the helicopter. “We don’t want to be late.”

“We’re really taking this?”

“We really are. Unless you don’t like flying?”

“No, I love it. Like seriously frigging love it. But oh, my God, it’s been so long. And never in one of these!” She hopped up into the passenger side like a pro and set the box of lanterns between her feet, then she started tugging at the harness.

She went still as I leaned in to secure the straps. The side of my hand brushed her breast—and her hard nipple—and she sucked in a breath as I turned my head.

“Feel okay?” I asked, fixated on her mouth. She’d glossed it with a coat of barely pink lipstick and the shade made her lips look even plumper than normal.

“Y-yeah. Umm, not that this isn’t hella cool and all, but you’re not going to pull a Christian Grey, right? There’s an actual pilot that goes with this ride, isn’t there?”

I frowned. “You’re comparing me to a man who has his hired help clean his butt plugs?”

She coughed and covered her mouth with her hand. “Excuse me, what?”

“Or so I’ve heard,” I added. “I haven’t actually read it.”

But Jack had, due to some pushy ex-girlfriend, and he’d delighted in telling me that little factoid. Yet another thing he’d tossed at me to drive me insane.

The guy should have a degree in the art.

“Yes, there’s an actual pilot, and it’s me. If you don’t trust me to get you to Springfield safely?—”

“How many flights have you actually piloted?”

“Hundreds, beyond flight training, of course. It was one of my first indulgences, learning to fly. As was this helicopter.”

“Seems like you indulge yourself a lot.”

I shifted my head until our faces were close, so close that her cinnamon-scented breath wafted over my lips. I didn’t know if the smell came from candy, gum or toothpaste, but that hint of spice drew me more strongly than mint ever would.

“More lately,” I said softly, searching her gaze, “but not nearly enough.”

I rounded the helicopter to the other side before she had a chance to reply.

There were cameras up on the roof, as well. My security setup was thorough. But I’d craved the excitement on the face of the girl who loved to fly more than I cared about what I’d risk by being so close. She was my temptation, and even the idea of giving in was more alluring than actual sex with any other woman.

I took my seat behind the controls and went through all my pre-flight checks. “This will be over in a flash, so make sure you look your fill.”

She nodded and checked the tension on the straps. “I’m ready.”

Ready or not, she still screamed as I started to take the helicopter up. I hadn’t named her. I thought the practice of naming inanimate objects was ridiculous.

Hell, I’d had a cat I called Cat for two years straight in college. But I still referred to the helicopter as “she” so I supposed I wasn’t as immune as I thought.

The whir of the rotors wasn’t enough to drown out Grace’s shrieks of laughter as she hung on to the harness and whipped her head in every direction to take in everything at once. Still, all I could hear in my head was Grace begging her grandmother to go faster, push harder, make her go higher.

So, I took her higher.

“Oh, my God,” she chanted, fixated on the panorama of water and city and sky. The view was dazzling, even to a hardened flier like me, and her reaction only doubled the sense of wonder. “Blake, oh, my God.”

Hearing her say my name again made me smile, but I didn’t look her way. I focused on what I was doing. On keeping her safe.

She was precious cargo, one I’d been entrusted with many years ago.

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