I knew Anton Kingston was a Titan too and that meant his son would one day take his seat upon that throne. Kristopher’s son would as well, and as I thought about him, I could remember the blonde boy playing in the park with his father. It was such a touching scene and one I was sure to see more of, especially if things with Kris continued to progress.
“That’s us,” he told me as our zone was called.
We’d checked our luggage when we’d first gotten into the airport, so I had nothing more with me than my purse. I held it in one hand and placed my cellphone beside the scanner with the other. Our seats were in the front of the plane and with no excess luggage to chuck in an overhead bin, we took our seats.
“You can have the window seat,” he told me, which made me slightly nervous.
Granted, I preferred that seat because planes made me nervous as hell, but he didn’t know that, and I doubted he was the type to take the aisle seats all the time. “You can have it if you’d like.”
He grinned, and it was then I knew he had some ulterior motive. “No, go ahead. I insist.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “Are you up to something?”
He chuckled, and that confirmed it all for me, even though he tried to talk his way out of it. “I prefer the aisle because it allows me to get up and off of the plane quicker.”
It all sounded logical, but something told me he wasn’t being completely accurate. It wasn’t worth arguing over, so I slid to the window and buckled up as he sat beside me and did the same. The flight attendants continued to greet the other passengers as they filed onto the plane and I just sat looking out at the tarmac while Kris answered emails from his phone.
Thirty minutes later, the captain’s voice came over the speaker and after a quick introduction and information about this flight, the flight attendants did their safety presentations, and we were off. After lifting into the sky, I lessened the grip I had on the arm rail, then glanced up to find Kris staring at me. Something in his hazel gaze unnerved me, but he seemed to pride himself at that. Sometimes when at the hospital, I would find him watching me. We’d never done anything else since that first day in his office, but the way he would look at me while sporting that predatory expression would send my thoughts tumbling back to that time.
I turned away from him, then closed my eyes. I hadn’t gone to the Bahamas in search of any sort of fling, even though I ended up having one, anyway. I also never thought I would get involved with a man who was technically married, although separated and living a completely separate life for a few months longer. I also had never thought I would be sitting beside my boss and remembering the feel of his mouth on my most intimate parts.
A soft moan escaped, and my eyes flew open. My memory was one thing, but even it couldn’t draw the same reaction his simple touch could. As I looked down, I noticed he had raised the arm rail separating us, and his hand was slowly moving up my thigh. My breath hitched in my throat as his fingers grazed the very spot where I had just been remembering his touch.
He touched me with such gentleness, but it had its desired effect. His fingers moved back and forth repeatedly. I’d already been wet for him before we even entered the airport, but now his very touch left me tingling. His fingers tickled my flesh, and I looked up at him.
“Lean back and close your eyes,” he told me, and I wanted to remind him of where we were, but the way he arched his brow, I knew he was leaving me no room to protest.
I did as he said, and even spread my legs a little wider apart when prompted. His fingers continued to weave their magic, and at this rate, I would honestly be surprised if I didn’t come before we reached our destination. Then again, I think it had been his plan all along.
His hand eventually stopped moving as he cupped me. I was about to ask why until the flight attendant came by with drinks. Once she left, only his thumb started to move, and right over my clit.
“Kris,” I breathed out in a whisper.
“Don’t come for me on this plane,” he whispered, then bit down onto my ear.
How in the hell did he expect me to do that? I looked up at him with that very question in my eye, and he winked at me. This had been his plan all along, and exactly what he promised me when we’d gotten to the airport. I wanted to swat his hand away, but the truth was that I enjoyed his touch and not just when it was centered where it was right now. I also enjoyed the featherlight brushing of our bodies as we stood in the crowded elevators at New York Presbyterian with our colleagues and hospital visitors. I also got surprisingly aroused with simple conversation with him, especially when he talked dirty to me as he so often did.
There were so many reasons for me to end whatever this was between us before I got hurt, but the truth was that he made me happy. I’d never been this girl before and while I had never thought I would be, here I was. I wasn’t just attracted to him on a sexual level, although that didn’t hurt at all, but I enjoyed all the little things between us, too. I loved the late night conversations that made my small apartment seem a little less lonely. Kris listened to me, and not just in a casual way. I knew he paid attention and cared about my opinions and thoughts because he probed them much like his hand was doing my body now. He filled a part of myself I hadn’t realized was empty and reawakened a part of me that had died a long time ago after my only true relationship had ended.
He was the exact opposite of Aiden, yet I knew he possessed the same ability to hurt me, and I was so eagerly ready to open myself up again. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I already had. I was falling in love with this man who could destroy me in so many ways. Despite knowing that, I was still ready to take that leap.
“Don’t cry. We’re landing in the next few minutes,” he leaned in and said.
The tear I shed hadn’t been for the reasons he thought, and I quickly wiped it away as he also removed his hand from where it’d been just in time for the flight attendants to complete their final walkthrough before landing. There was an ache in not only my core, but in my heart, and while I trusted him to alleviate the latter, the former was a completely different story altogether.
My thoughts were pushed to the back burner as the plane touched down. It wasn’t long before it came to a stop and we disembarked. I followed him through the airport and once we retrieved our things, he led me outside to a waiting car. Not long after, we were in our room. He’d soothed the ache he caused inside of me, before the two of us got ready for the event. I had thought it was another medical convention when he’d mentioned it being work related, but it turned out to be a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes research. I knew how near and dear this cause was to him because of his daughter, and he seemed to have the same drive to find a cure as I did when it came to Alzheimer’s disease.
As he placed bids on the various items in the silent auction, I couldn’t help wondering if he planned to take me on the trip to Tahiti or have me accompany him on the sailboat if he won either of those things. There were also other items up for bid, but those were the ones he seemed to want the most, judging by the size of the bid he placed.
I was just starting out in my career, and I still had some student loan debt to continue paying so I could never so nonchalantly add that many zeroes to anything I might’ve been tempted to bid on, but Kristopher came from a different world than me, and he was well and established in his career. It made the six-year age-gap even more glaring. There were so many reasons why I should end whatever this was between us, but as he smiled and extended his hand out to me, I didn’t have to even think twice about accepting it.
“Let’s dance. I’ve wanted to get you into my arms since we got here,” he told me in a low voice.
I smiled back at him, then allowed him to lead me out onto the dance floor. As he held me tightly against him as we moved in beat to the music playing, I began to realize how quickly and utterly I had fallen for this man. I was likely no more than some toy or fling to him, meanwhile he was becoming as essential to me as breathing. I was headed for heartbreak, but as he drew me even closer, I let out a wistful sigh and continued to tumble into the abyss.
We danced for several songs before he placed his hand under my chin and tipped it upward so I would have to look right at him. He stared down into my face with such a look of reverence that it brought tears to my eyes.
“I know I have been known to have two left feet on occasion, Ale, but it isn’t reason enough to cry,” he teased, but I couldn’t smile even though I tried. “Hey,” he murmured, then brought his mouth to my ear. “What’s wrong?”