“Are you going to carry me all the way to Ecuador?” His grip on my body was extremely firm.
“No. My driver will take us to the nearest airport. We’re flying home.”
Outside, there was a black SUV. He put me into the middle seat before climbing in after me and grabbing my hand.
Before, when we held hands, it was a sign of intimacy.
Now it felt like a mark of possession, especially when his thumb stroked my ring.
The drive was quiet. When we got out, we were at an extremely tiny airport with a single runway.
“I didn’t even know that they had an airport here.”
“There are small airports everywhere.”
We got out of the car and walked into the hangar.
It was a sharp contrast with the urban private hangars that we’d been in before. There were small covered planes.
“What are those?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Crop dusters.”
It made sense that the airport mostly dealt with crop dusters, especially since we were in America’s dairyland.
We went up the steps into the jet. But something was different. The seats were gone.
“Where are your seats?”
“I stowed them. We’re sitting on the couch.”
“Couch?” Did he have a secret lounge somewhere?
When we walked to the back of the jet, I saw what he meant. There was a small sideways couch that had two seat belts there.
“Buckle up.”
He let go of my hand for the first time since we’d left the cabin.
I buckled myself up. He slung an arm around my shoulders. It was as if he thought that I would disappear if he wasn’t touching me.
“You can let go,” I teased. “You have me on your jet. It’s not like I’m going to go running off.”
“I’m not taking any chances.” He leaned down and nuzzled my neck. “I’d rather keep you right here with me.”
I kissed the top of his head. He smelled insanely great. I made a mental note to ask what kind of shampoo he used. It made me want to jump on top of him.
“Ready,” he called loudly.
The steps were pulled up. I felt embarrassed to have the crew see our intimacy on the back couch, but they must’ve had orders to basically ignore us, because the pilots just started taxiing down the single runway and getting us into the air.
“Can we get all the way to Ecuador in this jet?”
His arm tightened around me.
“We’re going to stop for fuel in Miami.”
“Okay,” I said, and then I yawned. I rested my cheek on his head, which was still resting on my shoulder.