Page 34 of His Temptation
“So, I’m back to Mr. Monroe?” I exhale with annoyance evident in my tone.
She finally decides to turn her head toward me and look me in the eye. “It’s probably for the best. Don’t you think? After all, you only asked me to call you Lincoln because Galvin had gotten in your head.”
Unbelievable. The nerve of her to deflect what happened between us last night and make it all about that man. If I open my mouth, there’s no way anything productive or even remotely kind is going to come out. So, I take a move out of her playbook and look out the window all the way to the airport.
The clouds are dark and ominous, like the vibe in the vehicle.
Just as we grab our luggage and walk into the VIP terminal, it starts to drizzle outside. We hand our luggage to the stewardess, who brings them behind the desk.
We get led out to our private jet immediately, which is just the way I like it. I hate waiting … for anything. The team assigned to me always knows how much I hate waiting around these terminals.
Once we get settled in our seats, I look outside and hear a loud crack of lightning. Dammit, this’d better not delay our flight.
“It’s really coming down out there,” she says with a bit of uneasiness in her voice.
“I’m sure it will be fine. I’ve taken off in the rain too many times to count.”
Just then, the pilot walks in from the cockpit. I’ve flown with him several times before. He doesn’t come back here unless he has to deliver bad news.
“Mr. Monroe,” he says in a way that I know what’s coming next.
I close my eyes briefly, waiting for it.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we are going to have to delay the flight. The eye of the storm is right here in LA. It’s not safe for takeoff.”
There it is. The words I’ve been dreading. Of course I’m going to be stuck in this plane with Kylie, who can barely even look at me.
“How long do you think it will take for it to be safe for takeoff?” I ask in the calmest voice I can manage.
He sighs. “I don’t know exactly. From what the radar is telling us, it could be another hour. Maybe longer.”
“Just keep me updated,” I say as I unbuckle my belt and stand up.
He nods his head and disappears, likely not wanting to be around the foul mood he knows he just put me in.
I walk over to the bar and grab a crystal glass. I pull a cube out of the ice tray made specifically for whiskey and toss it into my glass. Then I grab the most expensive whiskey they have and pour myself two fingers.
Instead of taking a seat in the front, I head to the back and sit down on one of the white sofas. The rain is coming down aggressively now, hitting the plane and creating a rumbling sound all around us.
After a couple of sips of whiskey, I lay my head back on the sofa and try to relax. It doesn’t help that I can feel her presence even though we are on opposite ends of the plane. I can feel her eyes on me, and I’ll bet if I opened them, she’d be nervously chewing on her bottom lip while analyzing what she should be doing right now.
The fact that I’ve studied her this much, that I know her this well, fuels the anger in me.
“Do you plan on ignoring me this entire flight?” My deep voice cuts through the silence.
“I’m working,” she says as she types away on her laptop.
I watch her across the cabin as I remain sprawled out on the sofa, the top couple of buttons of my shirt now undone.
“Working?” I ask. “Really? Because my phone has no service, and seeing as this is my jet, I know we don’t have Wi-Fi on right now. But by all means, keep working, Miss Ricci.”
Instead of admitting the truth, she keeps typing on her keyboard. “Have you ever heard of a Word document? I don’t need Wi-Fi for that.”
“Cut the shit, Kylie.”
She stops typing and looks up at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really? You mean you haven’t been avoiding me since last night?” My jaw clenches as I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees.
