Zero Control

“Same as it was yesterday. You’ve only been gone for a day, Rox. Chill out. Have some fun. Find a guy. Get laid, for heaven’s sake.”

“Stacy!”

“Don’t act so scandalized. You’re young, you’re hot, and you deserve to have all kinds of adventures. I thought that was the reason you picked Eros. I mean, come on, why else would a single woman sign up for an erotic fantasy vacation if she wasn’t interested in indulging her erotic fantasies?”

Why indeed? She couldn’t cop to being a corporate spy, so she was left with admitting that she was here for romance.

“That’s why I was so happy when you told me you’d booked yourself on the Romance of Britannia tour. I thought, at last, Roxie is going to get some sex.”

It felt weird having this conversation with her sister. In many ways they were more like mother and daughter than siblings. Not only was Roxie ten years her senior, she was also a lot more conservative in her outlook. Where Roxie treasured a quiet evening at home with a bowl of popcorn and a romantic comedy on DVD, her sister was the life of the party who collected friends the way some people collected shoes.

“Let’s say I’m second-guessing my reasons for being here. I worry about you being home alone.” That was true enough.

Stacy sighed.

“What?” An airplane took off, the noise halting their conversation for a minute. “What is it?”

“It’s time you stopped using me as an excuse for putting your life on hold. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Roxie, you know that, but I can’t keep being the thing that’s holding you back. I feel guilty and—”

“Don’t ever feel guilty,” Roxie said fiercely. “Raising you has been the joy of my life.”

“I’m not saying this to hurt your feelings, but you need a new joy in your life. I’m grown. I have my own friends, my own interests.”

The stabbing sensation deep within her heart hit Roxie. She knew everything her sister said was true, and yet, she couldn’t let go of the identity she’d taken on when their parents had been killed. Empty-nest syndrome was a bitch.

“I want you to make me a promise,” Stacy said.

“What is it?”

“You have to promise first.”

“I can’t promise until I know what it is I’m promising to do.” Roxie hardened her chin. Around her everyone was picking up their luggage and heading toward the terminal, but she barely noticed.

“Promise me if an opportunity for a vacation fling comes up, you’ll grab it with both hands.”

“Stace…”

“I mean it. Promise me.”

“Okay, all right, on the off chance that an opportunity for mad monkey sex with a handsome stranger presents itself, I promise I’ll swing through the jungle.”

Stacy laughed. “You don’t have to do anything that kinky, sis. Just relax and let yourself have a good time. Go with the flow. You deserve it. For ten years you’ve been the ultragood girl. It’s okay to be a little bit bad once in a while.”

“How did you get so wise?”

“I had a great teacher.”

A soft, mushy sensation replaced the lost, lonely feeling in her heart. She was so proud of her baby sister. A hand settled on her shoulder. A firm, masculine hand.

“Roxie.” Dougal’s voice was in her ear, her name on his tongue and his scent in her nostrils.

“Who was that?” Stacy asked.

“Huh?” She played dumb.

“You’re the last one left,” Dougal said.

Roxie looked over at him.

He held her luggage in one hand, pointed at the tour bus waiting beyond the chain-link fence surrounding the terminal gate. “We have to go.”

“It’s a guy. I definitely heard a guy’s voice calling your name. You sly woman, you’ve already met someone!”

“Listen, Stacy, I have to let you go, the tour bus is getting ready to leave and—”

“Go, Roxie, get your groove on.” Stacy chanted in a silly singsong voice. “Go, Roxie, get—”

“Goodbye, little sister. Don’t forget to study while I’m gone.”

“You do some studying of your own. My assignment to you—get up close and personal with physical anatomy. I’m rooting for you to get lucky with your new boyfriend.”

“I’m not getting lucky and he’s not my boyfriend.”

Stacy made clucking noises. “Chicken.”

“I’ll call you later.” Roxie closed her cell phone to find Dougal studying her intently. Had he overhead her conversation with Stacy?

“Let’s roll.” He held out his arm.

An edgy, warm feeling, thrilling and unwanted, pushed through her. She wasn’t going to have an affair with him just because he was good looking and she hadn’t had sex in years.

“I can walk myself to the bus, thank you very much.” She snatched her suitcase from his hand and scurried toward the bus. She was just about to climb on when Dougal called out to her. “Oh, Roxie.”

What now? She spun on her heels, still feeling hot all over. “What is it?”

“You’re getting on the wrong bus.”

AFTER HE MADE SURE ROXIE got on the right bus, Dougal spoke quickly to the Eros mechanics and told them to scour the plane for problems before letting it take to the air again. Then he placed a call to Taylor, but her cell phone went to voice mail, so he left her a message.

“Taylor, Dougal,” he said. “There was a glitch with the autopilot on the plane. I put your mechanics on it. Nick Peters thinks it’s nothing, but I…” He paused, looked toward the waiting bus, saw Roxie in profile at a window seat near the back. In all honesty could he really say he suspected the autopilot had been tampered with? It seemed like a simple problem. If someone was making good on their threats, they’d done a lousy job of it. “I think we should wait to hear from the maintenance crew before we make any snap judgments. I’ll call you later.”

He closed his cell phone and slipped it into his pocket just as Roxie’s eyes met his. Her gaze was steady, but he saw a flicker of something inside those cool depths.

What was it and why couldn’t he shake the feeling she was up to something? She was the most unlikely of suspects.

She smiled at him then, tentative and sweet, and gave him a quick wave. And damn if he couldn’t help smiling and waving back. He got a soft, achy sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Aw hell, this feeling wasn’t good. Not good at all.