Despite everything, Jason’s words warmed me, brought a smile to my face.
“Good. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. If I can be there for a kid, in the way no adults ever were for me, I’ll consider my job well-done. Maybe one day I’ll be able to do it for more kids.”
He smiled. “I’m sure you’ve got what it takes. You’re smart, ambitious, and you’ve got a vision. You can go places when that’s the type of person you are.”
“Maybe someday.”
First, I have to stab you in the back. Can’t forget that little detail.
“And…you’re beautiful. Small detail.”
He kept his eyes on me, those ice-blues brilliant in the clear sun that poured in through the small windows of the plane.
I didn’t know what to say. After a moment, I cleared my throat and spoke. “I thought we were going to put all that behind us.”
“I thought so, too. But what if we don’t have to?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s impossible to ignore what you are, April, what kind of person you are, how beautiful you are. Are you going to tell me you’re able to put how you feel about me aside?”
“Now that’s cocky,” I said.
“Not cocky, just being truthful. We’re both crazy about each other.”
I couldn’t say no. He was dead-on.
“But that doesn’t mean we have to give in.”
“But it means we both want to.”
“Didn’t we just talk about this? Agree to set it aside?”
“We did, but now that I’m here with you…I don’t know. Maybe it’s knowing that I can’t have you that makes me want you even more. But right now, with you, I can’t stop thinking about what I really want.”
“And what’s that?”
“To kiss you.”
Oh god. He had to say it. He had to fucking say it.
And what was I supposed to do? Not kiss him?
Well, yeah. Obviously.
But as he stared at me, his body so close, so damn close to mine, I knew there was no resisting.
So, I did nothing as he brought his lips to mine.
The effect was instant, intoxicating. Every kiss I’d had before was like nothing compared to a moment of Jason’s touch.
I fell into it, closing my eyes and allowing everything about him, that moment, to wash over me. Jason leaned in closer, and I let him approach, his hand dropping onto my leg and squeezing my thigh through the fabric of my dress.
Bad idea, bad idea. The thought appeared in my mind as if an obligation. I ignored it, of course, letting Jason climb onto me as I leaned back into the couch, the sounds of his lips on mine blending with the low roar of the jet engines.
My arms wrapped around his solid body, my fingers tracing the outlines of his muscles through his shirt. One of Jason’s hands moved up my thigh, the other falling onto my right breast.
But we took our mouths away from one another at the same time, the two of us having a simultaneous realization.