A Little Texas

She took another peek at business class, but the flight attendant jerked the partition closed, throwing a knowing look at the people sitting in coach. Kate sighed. Yeah, yeah, sister. We all want to be in there.

“’Scuse me,” Sharp Elbows said as he nearly pierced one of her lungs.

“No problem,” she muttered, shifting aside and praying no one would take the seat to her right.

Her prayers went unanswered when a granny toddled toward her, counting off the seat numbers. Sure enough, she was 23E. The woman wore a floating caftan, had poofy hair and carried a purse so big it threatened to topple her forward onto Pokey Elbows’s lap as she passed him. She grinned at Kate, showing her silver-framed partial and yellowed teeth smudged with fuchsia lipstick. No doubt she had jeweled sunshades and a brag book of grandchildren lurking in her purse.

“Honey, I’m over there next to you.”

Kate lifted herself so the woman could slide into her seat. The ginormous purse smacked her on the thigh.

“Sorry, honey. I’ll get settled…right…here.” The elderly lady huffed and puffed as she adjusted her seat and tucked tissues in the pouch in front of her.

Kate really hated Rick Mendez. He was getting free liquor. While she was tucked in tight between Lemony Snicket and Mrs. Roper. Kate yawned. The Xanax was kicking in, leaving her feeling sleepy and foggy. She only used the medication for flights. Okay, and when she couldn’t stop the merciless anxiety that sometimes swamped her and kept her pacing the floors at all hours of the night. Jeremy had forced her into getting some when she’d let it slip that she suffered from periodic anxiety.

Jeremy.

He wasn’t so bad, even if he had risked her future without asking. She still loved her flamboyantly gay friend. Besides, she was as unsinkable as Molly Brown. She wasn’t going to throw their friendship away over his moment of insanity. After her ill-fated blackjack game, she’d phoned him, listened as he threw himself a pity party, then told him her plan.

Part of the blame fell on her. She’d gotten lax in double-checking the books. Lord knew her accountant had harped on it enough. But she’d never thought Jeremy would endanger their business or friendship. Never. Which went to prove what she’d known all along. She had to rely on herself. No one else. “Ma’am?”

A smartly dressed flight attendant with a fake smile and a platinum bob jarred Kate from her musings.

“Huh? I mean, what?”

“You can follow me. I’ve cleared you for business class.”

Kate couldn’t stop the smile that sprang to her lips, the first one she’d hatched in weeks. Hell, yeah. “Absolutely.”

She turned the smile on her former seatmates. “Well, I’m outta here.”

“I don’t blame you, honey. I wish I’d had the time to show you pictures of my Pomeranians. You know I show them all over the country. Little Boy Blue just won the Hanover.”

Kate nodded at the prattling granny. “Sorry I didn’t get to see them. Have a good flight.”

Then Kate followed the lithe attendant toward the Holy Grail of the plane. If the plane went down, at least she would die in first class.

It was small consolation.

But it was consolation.

“YOU LOOK GROGGY.” RICK didn’t mean for his words to sound accusatory. Hell, he didn’t really know Kate. And shouldn’t care. But he knew she was on something. Her eyes showed it.

“I’m fine. Just took a little pill to help me fly,” she said sinking into the seat next to him. “Wait. That didn’t sound right. What I meant is I get kinda nervous when I fly, so I took a Xanax.”

He eyed her. Xanax? “Should you be taking that?”

She raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. “I only take it when I feel anxious.”

“You want a drink?”

“It’s nine o’clock in the morning.” Her voice sounded sleepy, reminding him of rumpled bedsheets and lazy morning sex. Not good. This was Justus’s daughter. No sense in fantasizing about her.

“I meant a Coke or something.”

Kate laughed. It was a smoky laugh. He felt himself grow semierect. Shit. What was wrong with him?

“Now I know you’re from Texas. You called a soda a Coke.”

He blinked at her. She was an odd one. Or maybe the medication was making her loopy. And talkative. He could have sworn she hated his guts.

She fell silent and fumbled for her lap belt. Rooting around, her hand bumped his thigh, which only served to heighten the flash of desire he felt for her. He reached down and grabbed the belt before she could slip her hand beneath his ass and pull it out.

“Sorry,” he commented, reaching over and snapping the belt into the end she held against her stomach. He got a whiff of her perfume as he pulled away. Something expensive. And sexy. It made him want to dip his head closer and smell her hair or the silkiness of her collarbone where the perfume had no doubt been applied.

“Thanks,” she muttered before opening a book.

He spent several minutes studying her out of the corner of his eye as she read. She’d shown up in tight jeans and an even tighter yellow shirt that wrapped her torso and cupped her small breasts. Yesterday, her hair had been spiky, tinted blue. Today, it was a mass of raven curls, making her look younger and softer. Dangly earrings brushed her shoulders. Her legs, encased in brown high-heeled boots, were crossed at her ankles.

Finally the engines roared to life, causing the huge 737 to thrum with power. He glanced at Kate’s book. The cover showcased shadowy figures behind a blood splattered dagger. Horror? Thriller? He couldn’t decide, but he’d never seen anyone so engrossed in a book. She hadn’t moved.

Then he looked at her face.

Her eyes were closed. Not reading. Her nostrils flared lightly as she took calm measured breaths. Her knuckles weren’t white from the suspense in the book.

He pried her fingers from the book, closing it and tossing it toward her crinkled-looking bag. Her eyes flew open.

“What are you—”

“Shh,” he said, wrapping one of her cold hands in his. Her small hand felt delicate. It also seemed clammy. He threaded his fingers through hers and gave her hand a squeeze.

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it when he gave her a nod.

“Thanks,” she whispered as the plane began its taxi down the long expanse of runway.

Rick thought about winding an arm about her, but that would be stepping over a boundary he shouldn’t cross. He shouldn’t care about this woman who’d stooped to blackmail her own father. He shouldn’t enjoy the feel of her hand in his so much.

But he did.

Even as his rational mind threw up a roadblock, he squeezed her hand again as the wheels left the ground. She glanced at him.

Her blue eyes were twin pools of vulnerability.

“No problem,” he said.

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

The plane hit a pocket of air and tilted ever so slightly. Kate took deep breaths as they climbed higher and higher. He rubbed small circles on her wrist with his thumb, offering what little comfort he could, but enjoying the hell out of her tender skin.