Page 8 of Game Changer

“This one’s the newest.” He points to the rabbit on his wrist. “It’s for my sister. She can be a pain in the ass, but I like knowing she’s with me.”

It’s a gruff admission, but suddenly, emotions rise up that I can’t contain. Ones that have nothing to do with planes and bumps.

“You were right.” I swallow hard. “Things have been strained between us. I was dating this guy, and we moved in together, and he dumped me and I got fired the same day, and I haven’t told my sister any of it because she lives this perfect life. Now she’s marrying some guy I’ve never met, and I need the month leading up to this wedding to show her I can be a good sister.”

Overhead, the yellow-orange lights make a halo around him.

He grabs my chin and swipes at the tears I didn’t feel drying on my cheeks.

“You’re doing something you hate for someone you love. You’re already a good sister.”

This room is too small, and he’s too big, and I feel the distance between us as much as the places we’re touching. He smells like soap and forest, like the pine tree on his arm.

My stomach is forgotten as the vibe shifts between us. The negative space is humming, throbbing. It’s not fear or panic anymore, the fundamental need to be apart from this plane.

It’s a pull toward him.

And I’m not the only one feeling it. I see it on his face, in the flaring of his nostrils, the tic of his jaw.

“Tell you what, Pink.” His voice is a gravely rasp that ends between my thighs, even before I can process the nickname. “We make it out of here, I owe you a tattoo.”

I’m suddenly aware of how close we are. How alone, despite the hundreds of people on the other side of the flimsy door.

He feels a little dangerous, but a good kind of danger.

My breath catches. “For real?”

He bends to my ear, his lips brushing my skin. “I promise.”

My entire body is humming with arousal and possibility.

Once, as a kid, I accidentally scraped my knee until it was bloody. Seeing the skin grow back was fascinating. That’s what this feels like—like he’s touching me but a new part of me. A part I’m not sure is ready to be touched.

I fist the front of his tank, my hand disappearing in soft cotton. The little sound I make is part moan, part sigh.

Everything goes black.

When I blink my eyes open, I’m back in my seat and have no idea how I got there.

I must have fallen asleep for landing because the plane is pulled up to the gate and passengers are dragging suitcases up the aisle.

The seat next to me is empty, the duffel and its owner long gone.

“Excuse me,” I ask the flight attendant as I wipe at the corner of my mouth. “What happened to the man who was sitting here?”

She looks at me as if I’m nuts.

2

NOVA

“There you are. They didn’t say you’d be delayed. Did you lose weight?” Mari demands.

I throw my arms around her. “I missed you, too.”

After landing, I rushed through the terminal, my pink bag in tow, eager to reunite with my sister.

Now, she pulls back to study me and touches my faded pink strands, a contrast to her bright platinum ones. “Harlan had some business at the airport, but he’ll find us at the car."

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