“As a matter
of fact, I was on my way up.”
He held out his arm. “I saved you a trip.”
I slid my arm around his. “Lead the way.”
Instead of going out the front of the building, he brought me down a hallway to another exit. A burgundy Lexus was waiting in the alleyway. He opened the back door for me and slid my bag off my arm and moved to the trunk.
“Evening, Miss.”
Driver. Huh. So, this was how the other half lived? “Hi. Umm, thank you for driving.”
He nodded. Dark eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Of course.” He had massive shoulders and a military-short haircut. No suit. In fact, he was wearing a similar black leather jacket to Linc’s.
Linc got in and the luxury car immediately felt smaller. “Hi, Joe. We’re good to go.”
The driver nodded and the car smoothly navigated the dips and rough terrain of the gravel-strewn alleyway. Living in the city meant I rarely traveled in a car. I opted for the subway mostly with a cab or Uber driver here and there, but those cars were definitely not like this.
Is this what having struts felt like?
I ran my hand along the buttery leather of the seat and bumped into Linc’s hand. He twisted his fingers through mine and brought my hand up to his mouth. He nipped at the fleshy part of my palm then brushed his beard-roughened mouth along my wrist. “Are you a nervous flier, Miss Kane?”
“Not particularly.”
“Good. We’ll be taking off as soon as we arrive.”
“What time is our flight?”
“When we get there.”
My eyebrows rose. “As in private?”
“As in my plane, yes.”
“Oh.” I didn’t have a comeback for that one. He put his hand down next to me, but didn’t release my fingers.
More for the no comment squad.
It didn’t feel like a high school date or anything like that. More like I was tethered to him in a way that was going to have consequences I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready for.
Linc was quiet through the drive. He was on his phone texting with one hand and the other held mine, his thumb ever circling over my pulse. I tried to slow the beat down so it didn’t feel like a butterfly on crack, but I didn’t think I was overly successful.
We arrived at a small airstrip just outside the city. Joe dropped us off right on the tarmac. A white and blue prop jet was the only plane as far as I could see. When Linc opened the door and helped me out, I stumbled once.
“We’re not getting on the toy, are we?”
“It’s a bit windy, or I’d have taken the helicopter.”
“Helicopter?” Dumbfounded, I squeezed his hand tighter the closer we got to the narrow stairs. He led me in front of him and followed me up.
He nodded to a man who met us at the doorway. “We good for takeoff, Frank?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Excellent.”
I peered around to the front of the plane from the door. “Are you sure you don’t need someone to go out there and spin the propeller first?”