Page 19 of Inflame

Once Claire is in the aisle, she barely can reach the overhead compartment without teetering on her tiptoes.

“Want help?”

“I can do it myself.”

“I never implied you couldn’t. But do youwanthelp?” The plane jostles us with a bout of turbulence, sending Claire forward toward my lap. I catch her just in time. I steady her and stand up, unlocking the compartment with ease. I place her bag on my seat and allow her to dig through it until she finds the item that she needs. I place her contents back into the storage and secure the lock.

Once she is settled back into her seat and her seatbelt is snapped into place, she squirts some sanitizer onto her hand and offers me some, which I accept. She removes the wrapper from her bar and takes a big bite. When she finishes, I watch as she rummages through her purse that she retrieved from the floor. If she needs to slide past me one more time, I am not sure I can resist the urge to grab her luscious ass.

And then I see it. Yellow. She peels back the skin and plops the tip into her mouth.

What did I do to deserve this?

Is she some demon in disguise with one mission to destroy my self-control?

“Where did that come from?” I ask, my eyes fixated on the soft fruit entering her mouth. I sound accusatory and crazed—even to my own ears.

She stops midbite, examines the outer peel, and then answers, “Costa Rica.” Her words come out jumbled because her mouth is stuffed with banana.

I sigh deeply. “That’s not what I meant.”

Claire finishes chewing and swallowing. “Um, the grocery store? They were on sale and they are organic.” She points to her purse when she realizes how frustrated I am over this whole random banana eating contest. I mean, it feels like a fucking contest, at which I lose if I blow my load like a teenager into my linen pants.

I shake my head at the meaningless details. I need to get my head on straight. I hit my call button on the screen directly below the overhead compartments. Within seconds, the flight attendant is at my side.

“What can I do for you, sir?”

“Can I get an Old Fashioned?” I turn over to Claire. “Want something? More champagne? Ginger ale?”

“Just some water, please. Sparkling if you have it.”

“Certainly.”

How long does it take to eat a freaking banana? Is she savoring it? Inventing a reverse eating contest? I swear I hear her moan. Or hum. Or—

I don’t the fuck know. I just do not want to look over until she is done. Finish it, dammit. Deep throat the—

Fuck.

I shake my head over the image that I’m guilty of now creating in my own damn head.

“Hey,” Angie says, getting Claire’s and my attention. She is leaning over Graham who is so smitten with her that he can’t take his eyes away. “You guys want a lollipop?”

“No,” I snap before Claire can answer. “We’re good over here.”

Graham tears his eyes from his girl only to narrow them at me. I shoot him thedon’t even asklook. I’m sure he’ll pry when we’re playing a game of 21 at the casino, and I’m sure I will overshare if alcohol is heavily involved. Right now, getting drunk and drowning out this scene playing in front of me seems like a legit coping mechanism.

When I think it is safe and Claire isn’t stuffing phallic shaped food into her mouth, I turn to look at her. Great. She is asleep. She looks like an innocent sleeping angel—but with mini plastic penises draped around her neck. What was she thinking? This cannot be normal bachelor and bachelorette party ideas. And the pussy sleeve thing? Like I would ever slip my dick into that deathtrap. I have standards.

I pull down my tray and set up my laptop so I can check my email and get a little work done. I have never been attracted to a conventional nine-to-five job. This is probably why my previous FBI work and the cheaters service was so appealing to me.

“Up for having a chat?” Graham asks quietly from across the aisle.

I look over at him and see that Angie is resting her head in his lap and he has his fingers tangled in her hair, giving it a massage. Her soft snores let me know she is sleeping.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Interested in being the head of cybersecurity at HH but also manage and train all security staff at my other businesses?”

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