Caught a little off guard, I just shook my head.
“Then, come on. At this pace, we will never make it to Spain.”
“If only I were so lucky,” I mumbled. But then I shot forward, walking until catching up with him.
Once again, Aaron was right.
There were more pressing concerns to occupy my mind with.
Like the plane we would be boarding in less than a handful of hours.
Or the fact that once we did, there was no turning back.
Because we were doing this. We were really doing it, and we had to ace it.
By the time we landed in Spain, my family needed to believe that Aaron and I were happily—hearts bursting, birds chirping, and flowers blooming—in love. Or at the very least, that we could stand each other for more than ten minutes without causing an international war to erupt.
And as much as I had no clue how we would ever manage to do that, I was sure of something. We, Aaron and I, would figure it out.
We had to.
Chapter Fourteen
“And you said the desserts were nothing to write home about. Well, this chocolate cake tells a different story, pal,” I talked over my surprisingly amazing in-flight dessert. “Do you think I could ask for another serving?” I hummed in pleasure.
Heck, it was so good that I wasn’t even ashamed to do that.
Not even with Aaron occupying the lush first-class seat beside me. Oh yeah, because, apparently, I flew in first class now. I still hadn’t figured out exactly how I had let him ask—or rather demand—for an upgrade of my economy seat without even putting up a fight. But I knew it had included him throwing an arm over my shoulders and uttering the word girlfriend. Which, in hindsight, I knew it had blindsided me enough to somehow nod like a fool and place my passport on the check-in counter.
He lowered the newspaper he had been hiding behind and revealed a cocked eyebrow. “Pal?”
“Silence. I’m having a moment with my cake.”
He sighed and returned to his reading.
Holding my spoon in the air, I hesitated before taking it to my mouth. “You didn’t have to do that, you know? Paying for the upgrade of my tickets is too much.”
I heard a noncommittal grunt come from him.
“I’m serious, Aaron.”
“I thought you wanted to eat in silence.”
“I’ll give you back the money when we return from the trip. You are doing enough as it is.”
Aaron’s sigh followed my words almost immediately. “There’s no need. I’m a member of the airline’s Sky Club, and I have plenty of miles,” he explained as I finally took that last bite of chocolate heaven. “And as I told you, this is time we can use to prep.”
When I finally devoured what had just become the highlight of my day, I wiped my mouth with the napkin, placed it back on the tray in front of me, and turned to Aaron. “Which reminds me, break is over.”
He ignored me.
I poked the back of the newspaper with my index finger. “We have to get back to work. Come on.” Another poke. “Time to prep.”
“Do you have to do that?” Aaron pleaded from behind it.
“Yes.” I poked the newspaper a few times, making it impossible for him to keep reading. “I need your full attention. We have only gone through a few of my family members, and we are running out of time.” I tugged at one of the corners. “Do I have your attention?”
“You don’t need to do any of that.” He lowered the large black-and-white-colored pages with a brisk motion. “You always have my undivided attention, Catalina.”