Page 18 of The Wedding Deal
With everything situated, he turned to make sure Charlotte had followed him on the plane instead of stormed away—to where, he had no idea. Not like there was anywhere to go. Unless she drove off in his car, which he wouldn’t put past her.
No, that’d be too close to stealing, so I’m probably safe.
Her dark eyebrows arched as she took in the cushy interior, a bit of an Alice-in-Wonderland awe on her face. He’d been born into money, and while he tried to stop and be grateful, he sometimes forgot how things that were ordinary to him were extraordinary to other people.
Charlotte smoothed her hands down the form-fitting floral dress she had on. He didn’t understand the big belt, since it clearly didn’t hold up anything, but it did accentuate her waist and the flare of her hips. Today her shiny brown hair hung in loose waves, and the cool air had pinked her cheeks, adding to the stunned innocent look.
The pilot stepped out of the cockpit, and Lance told him hello and introduced him to Charlotte.
“Charlotte’s a bit nervous—she’s never been on a smaller plane like this.”
She shot him a scowl, and then the red lips that matched the roses on her skirt curved up as she turned to the pilot. “It was more that I was nervous when I thoughthewas flying us there. And I’ve been on one of those little prop planes before. It was stormy and super bumpy, and I had to grab the puke bag out of the seat in front of me, but luckily I didn’t have to use it and…” A nervous giggle came out. “Okay, now I’m feeling a bit nervous.”
“You’re in good hands, Miss,” the pilot said, giving her a wide grin. While Lance wanted her to feel safe, he experienced that slight pinch in his gut again, the same one he’d felt when Foster had been on speaker and she’d so happily talked to him.
She’smystrictly business plus one.
“Wheels up in ten,” the pilot said, and Charlotte walked past Lance to check out the rest of the plane. He, in turn, took the opportunity to check out the back of her outfit. Her sky-high heels emphasized her ass and her calves, and the straps around her ankles made his fingers ache to unbuckle them.
For a rule follower, she was dangerously sexy, something he definitely shouldn’t be thinking about.
And reason number two why this might be a bad idea rears its ugly head.
But they needed to work, and with his brother getting married, Mom’s pushing for him to settle down had dialed up into the obsessive range. Charlotte would make a good buffer, and she was a safe one at that—not only was she as uninterested in a relationship as he was, she was so set on not crossing the lines that he couldn’t even sarcastically call her “dear” or open her door for her without getting a lecture.
The pilot announced they were about to take off, and Charlotte rushed over to the seat next to his. She fumbled with the seatbelt for a few seconds and exhaled as soon as she finally got it secured in place. She glanced around, her eyebrows drawing together—they did this cute upturned thing in the middle that he’d never seen before, and now he was studying her eyebrows?
Snap out of it, Quaid.
He rested his arms on the cream-colored leather. “What’s wrong?” he asked when Charlotte continued to fidget. “Looking for a puke bag?”
“No.” She wrinkled her nose. “Do they have them?”
Yeah. This flight might be a mistake. He needed her next to him so they could go through résumés, but he wasn’t sure getting barfed on was the best way to start off their trip. Strike that—he was sure. “Under the seat.”
She bent and studied the underside, and then popped up, her hair halfway over her face. “I don’t think I’ll need them.” She fixed her hair, tucking it behind her ears. “I’m just…”
“I’d saya bit nervous, but I got in trouble for saying that earlier.”
She fired a dirty look at him. “I didn’t want everyone to know.”
“Me and the pilot are everyone?”
“In this plane, yeah.”
He covered his smile with the back of his hand, sure it’d get him in trouble, too. The whine of the engine grew louder, and her green eyes widened to the point he worried they might pop out of her head like some kind of deranged cartoon character.
“I just hate the takeoff part. And the landing part. Even in big planes.” Her fingers curled around the armrests. “Usually it helps for me to see Goliath. I wish on him, which I know is weird, but it’s my process.”
“Goliath? Does he also play baseball in the rain?”
Another dirty look—at this rate, she’d set a record by the time they arrived in North Carolina. “The horse at the airport? The giant statue with the glowing eyes? I call him Goliath, and I know a whole bunch of people want to remove him because they think he looks demonic, but I like that he looks all badass. It makes me think of what the Mustangs used to be. How they could be again.”
He vaguely recalled a horse statue in the familiar Mustangs red and black colors but hadn’t ever paid much attention.
“I’ll be fine once we’re in the air.” Her breaths came quicker and quicker, and she winced as the plane rolled into motion. “Just consider this my ten-minute break, okay?”
“Okay, but I’m timing you,” he said, twisting his wrist like he was checking his watch. She didn’t laugh, though, and her skin paled.
