She would have to admit that at first his close proximity had bothered her because she assumed they would have to make a lot of unnecessary conversation during the flight. She wasn’t very good at small talk or flirting. She’d dated before, but rarely, because most men had a tendency to bore her. She’d discovered that most liked talking about themselves, tooting their own horn and figured they were God’s gift to women.
She pushed all thoughts of other men aside and decided to concentrate on this one. He was sitting so close that she could inhale his masculine scent. She had enough brothers and male cousins to know that just as no two women carried the same scent, the same held true for men. Each person’s fragrance was unique and the one floating through her nostrils now was making funny feelings flutter around in her stomach.
Gemma found it odd that nothing like this had ever happened to her before, but then she couldn’t recall Callum ever being this close to her. Usually they were surrounded by other family members. Granted, they weren’t exactly alone now, but, still, there was a sense of intimacy with him sitting beside her. She could just make out the soft sounds of his even breathing.
She had been ready to go when he had arrived at her place. When she opened the door and he had walked in, her breath had gotten caught in her throat. She’d seen him in jeans more times than not, but there was something about the pair he was wearing now that had caused her to do a double take. When he’d leaned down to pick up her luggage, his masculine thighs flexed beneath starched denim. Then there were those muscled arms beneath the Western shirt. Her gaze had lingered longer than it should have on his body. She had followed him out the door while getting an eyeful of his make-you-want-to-drool tush.
She studied him now, fascinated by just what a good-looking man he was and how he’d managed to keep women at bay for so long. A part of her knew it hadn’t just been the story Zane had fabricated about a woman waiting for him back in Australia. That tale might have kept some women like Jackie away, but it would not have done anything to hold back the bolder ones. It was primarily the way he’d carried himself. Just like Ramsey. In his pre-Chloe days, most women would have thought twice before approaching her brother. He radiated that kind of “I’m not in the mood” aura whenever it suited him.
But for some reason, she’d never considered Callum as unapproachable as Ramsey. Whenever they had exchanged words, he’d been friendly enough with her. A part of her was curious about why if he wasn’t already taken; he’d held himself back from engaging in a serious relationship with a woman. Perhaps he wanted a wife who was from his homeland. That wouldn’t be surprising, although it was ironic that his mother was American.
“Oh.” The word slipped through her lips in a frantic tone when the plane shook from the force of strong turbulence. She quickly caught her breath.
“You okay?”
She glanced over at Callum. He was awake. “Yes. I hadn’t expected that just then. Sorry if I woke you up.”
“No problem,” he said, straightening up in his seat. “We’ve been in the air about four hours now, so we were bound to hit an air pocket sooner or later.”
She swallowed when the airplane hit a smaller, less forceful pocket of turbulence. “And they don’t bother you?”
“Not as much as they used to. When I was younger, my siblings and I would fly with Mom back to the States to visit our grandparents. I used to consider turbulence as exciting as a roller-coaster ride. I thought it was fun.”
Gemma rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing fun about the feel of an airplane shaking all over the place like it’s about to come apart.”
He released a soft chuckle. “You’re safe, but let me check your seat belt to be sure.”
Before she could pull in her next breath, he reached out to her waist and touched her seat belt. She felt his fingers brush against her stomach in the process. At that precise moment, sensations rushed all through her belly and right up her arms.
She glanced over at Callum and found her gaze ensnared by the deep green of his eyes and those sensations intensified. She knew at that moment that something was happening between them, and whatever it was, she wasn’t quite prepared for it.