Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
SIERRA
I jolt when I look out the plane window. Wheezing with excitement, I bounce in my seat. “Oh my god. I remember that.”
When I swivel in my seat, I freeze. Cole looks both confused and worried. “What expression is that on your face?”
“What do you mean?” His frown deepens.
“You look like I just kicked you for no good reason.”
He blanks his face and the air around him chills. “What did you remember?”
My joy comes flooding back. “Everything!”
He stares at me with sharp, penetrating eyes. I swear the color is leaching from his face. But why?
Cole shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He searches my face as he asks, “Exactly what do you remember?”
I flop back in the seat and sigh happily, determined to look past his mood. “The engine. The wing. How it works.”
He grunts. “Nice. And anything else?”
“Yes!” I press my forehead to the window so I can look at the wing of the plane. “The math! It’s weird, I have all these formulas in my head. Oh! And I remembered I know—”
He clears his throat. Cole is definitely not himself.
I swivel my head in his direction as unease makes my skin tighten. “Really, Cole, what’s wrong?”
Blank expression in place, he looks away from me. “Nothing. Glad for you getting back memories.”
I reach for his face and cup his jaw. “But you look a little unwell, or uneasy. Or maybe freaked.”
He swings his gaze my way. It’s got an edge now. “I am worried, Sierra.”
Oh crap.
I know why, and Cole is concerned and doesn’t know what to say.
“I’m guessing that you’re worried because a head injury might keep me from flying again.”
Without moving his gaze from mine, he nods. The scruff on his angular jaw abrades my palm.
All the happy that was filling me up whooshes out and I drop my hand to my lap as I slump back in the seat. “That would be sucky.”
Now he’s looking anywhere but at me as he rubs both of hands on his thighs. “It’s something we will deal with if it happens.”
“Right. Okay,” I reply in a defeated murmur. He’s right. I can’t think about that now, but a serious TBI could end my career as a pilot.
Heat stings at the back of my eyes. My throat feels weird. This is not a topic I’m ready to deal with.
I try to shake it off as I reach for the magazine in the pocket on the back of the seat. “Got ahead of myself. Guess I should just be happy that I remembered something.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time, but I keep myself busy. First, listening to the flight attendant’s announcements. Flipping mindlessly through the magazine and finally fixating on the window.
With a roar, the jet takes off and climbs up to cruising altitude. The power of the jet engine is familiar and sends excitement zinging through me.
The ground grows distant and a sense of awe fills me. Everything’s so small and perfect from up here.
I want to stay in the sky forever.
“I love flying,” I announce.
He grumbles. Seems his mood is no better. Sitting next to him is uncomfortable. The man’s energy field is strong and turbulent, even though the flight is smooth.
After a while, he looks over and catches me watching him.
I gently bump his elbow with mine. “You’re very quiet.”
“Lot to think about.”
It takes serious work not to reach for his hand and take it in my own. Seeking comfort. Giving him something too, even though I don’t know what that is exactly.
“Well, I guess that’s one thing amnesia is good for. There are only so many topics swirling around inside this noggin.”
He doesn’t match my grin. Instead, he looks devastated, which causes a pinch inside my chest.
Every time I look into Cole’s eyes, I’m affected. Sometimes I get a surge of something in my gut. It’s not exactly like lust. Or love. It’s more visceral.
But the thing that gets me the most is that my body knows his.
Every big, hard, hot inch of him.
That’s undeniable. I can feel him inside of me with just a glance of those hard eyes of his. It’s with that thought that I close my eyes and let my mind drift through the sensations.
“Wake up, sweetheart.”
I blink my eyes open and find Cole watching me.
“Please tell me I wasn’t drooling on you.”
“You were mumbling, but that’s not the reason I woke you up.”
I freeze because I’m creamy wet between my legs. Embarrassment makes me burst into flame. “Um… did I do something weird or… noisy? Because if I did, I’m not responsible. I was sleeping.”
The tension around his eyes softens and makes my lips tingle. He leans in close. “You’re so fucking cute.”
If a flaming tomato is cute, maybe. I fan my face. “Please don’t tell me I was moaning or god forbid…”
He chuckles. “What exactly were you dreaming about?”
“Airplanes!” I blurt.
His laugh deepens into this husky, rich sound that stirs the heat in my tummy until it’s barely containable.
With a spark in his gaze, he prods for more. “What were you doing on those airplanes?”
I jab his arm with my pointer finger. “Please! You beast. Don’t I look embarrassed enough already?”
“You’re pretty in pink.”
Then he leans in, brushes a tendril of hair back, and rests his lips right next to my ear. “You don’t have to tell me, I know. I recognize your blush and I enjoy knowing I put it there.”
Oh lord. Fire extinguisher, please.
I shiver, despite my attempt to play it off. I sound vaporous when I correct him. “Wrong.”
“Right.” That husky whisper stirs my hair.
“I’m, um… gonna go to the bathroom.”
He pulls back, studies me with a heated look in his eyes and a hitch on one side of his sexy mouth. “Careful not to set off the smoke alarm in there.”
I unbuckle my seatbelt and stand up, but immediately see how much room the man takes up in his seat. Somehow, I missed that he had no leg room. “Can you let me out?”
“Was thinking about making you climb over,” he replies with a chuckle.
But he levers his enormous body up until he’s standing with his head against the overhead storage above us. Even with him standing, there’s barely room to eek by and when I do, my whole body rubs against his. Right down to the ridge in his jeans.
Before I get past him, his hand lands on my hip and he flexes his fingers, digging gently into my flesh.
My whole body goes electric. My breath speeds, my upper lip starts to perspire.
Down below my waist, things are flooded with heat.
Any second, someone’s going to notice our back-to-front embrace.
Embrace? More like foreplay. “Uh-hum.” I clear my throat and try to make sure it doesn’t sound like a moan.
He squeezes my hip again as the clearly growing erection that’s fighting his zipper pushes into my low back.
Holy. Smokes. The man is big all over.
He speaks in a voice meant just for me. “Don’t be long, sweetness. We’ll be landing soon.”
When his hand falls away, I leap out of the aisle and almost do a header into the guy across the way. The older man sputters and snaps his newspaper.
“I am really sorry. I lost my footing.” With a grimace on my face, I scramble away.
Oh my god. Cole Strong is trouble.
Sweetness. My heart palpates as I sway in the aisle and jerk my shirt down into its place.
This girl has clearly won the fiancé jackpot, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less freaked out about not remembering a single thing about the man.
Behind me, I hear Cole’s husky laugh as I stumble away.
Sexy devil.
The heat from his eyes scorches me all the way to the back of the plane, where I throw myself into the lavatory.