Instead, my blood ran cold.
"Don't say that like you're saying goodbye," I whispered. I kissed his jaw. "Please don't say it like that."
I'd never been in a private jet before. When I walked up the staircase, I was surrounded by mahogany and leather. All of this was normal for him, but I sat down in the buttery soft seats.
"You like them?" he asked.
"It's my first time."
"I can think of another first time that we can have," he teased, winking at me.
"Are you talking about the Mile High Club?" I asked.
He only laughed and gave me a short kiss that was a promise.
We didn't have any cabin crew. There was just the pilot explaining where to put things and that we'd need to be seat-belted for take-off and landing. Then the jet was ready to go into the sky.
"It's not big enough to fly all the way back to New York. We'll have to make fueling stops on the way. We could've flown commercial, but..." He shrugged. "It's easier to go in my own plane. Have you ever been to Hawaii?"
"No," I said.
"You're about to."
The small jet jumped into the air. It felt like I was in something the size of a toy. Commercial airlines were way bigger. This jet was moved by every little gust of air. But as we gained altitude, I relaxed. It felt really fun.
"Let me take you to the back," Massimo said unbuckling my seat belt and his.
In the back, there was a small room with a queen-size bed in it. He started yanking off my clothes.
"If I scream, the pilots will hear," I said.
"They have headphones on. And I guess you'll just have to be quiet."
Then the rest of my clothes were off and he was yanking his off.
We'd had times when we indulged in long, slow loving but my initiation into the Mile High Club was quick and fast. In a few minutes, both of us were breathing as if we'd just finished a marathon and I was sticky.
"You're incredible," he told me.
"Right back at you," I panted, trying to catch my breath. He cuddled my close and kissed my neck.
"I wish we could stay like this forever."
I thought about just telling the pilots to land every so often so that we could take on more fuel, water, and food, and staying in the sky. The carbon footprint of this jet had to be insane. I sighed. It was a pretty dream to think about just flying around the world with Massimo, but he had to stay grounded. He had so much stuff that money could buy, but everything came with a price.
When I woke up, we were landing in NYC.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Since we...gave you membership to an exclusive club." He kissed my neck. He'd dressed me again. "You didn't wake up when we landed to refuel."
“I was really tired,” I said. “I normally don’t sleep this much.”
“It’s not a problem,” he said. “But we should leave now, cara.” He took my hand in his. “We can take a shower before we meet her for the first time.”
I followed him down the stairs onto the runway. A limousine was waiting there. I crawled in before he did. He kept a warm arm around me while I leaned into him. I was still kind of sleepy. I didn’t know why I was so tired all of the time.
When we got to the hotel, I let him support me as we got out of the car. I leaned on his shoulder as I went upstairs in an elevator.