CHAPTER 16
Claire
Claire stared out the airplane window, shifting nervously in her seat. Boarding was almost complete and, still, no sign of Ian. Had he changed his mind? When she had asked him to accompany her to the Bahamas, he had agreed without hesitation.
The passengers stopped streaming in, and the flight attendant moved through the aisle with a tray of half-full glasses.
“Something to drink before we take off?”
Claire eyed the sparkling wine, sorely tempted, but opted for orange juice instead. Sipping her drink, she turned on her iPad and tapped her Kindle app to select a steamy romance about a brooding billionaire and his young assistant.
She’d barely slept last night thinking about the upcoming weekend with Ian, but maybe he had changed his mind. That prospect had her throat tightening and her stomach sinking, and she was surprised by the depth of her disappointment.
“Good morning!” a flight attendant chirped. “Welcome aboard! You made it!”
The giddiness in the woman’s voice had Claire looking that way, and her heart skipped at the sight of Ian, looking oh-so-beautiful in a charcoal shirt and dark jeans.
A wave of excitement rippled through her. Good Lord, every time she saw him was a shock, and the flight attendants weren’t immune to his looks either.
Ian, however, had zeroed in on Claire, his smile widening as he swiftly strode up the aisle.
“Hello, Penny.” He hoisted his carry-on into the overhead bin and slid into the aisle seat, a large white paper bag in his hand. He eyed the empty space between them. “I used to like this business class perk.”
Better that way, to help ward off temptation. “Good morning.”
Her nostrils flared with the scent he always carried, soap and that intoxicating smell he alone possessed, the one that inevitably got her blood going and made her throw decorum to the wind.
A second later, she sensed something else that made her mouth water and suspected it had something to do with the bag he held in his lap.
“I almost didn’t make it.” With a polite nod, Ian accepted a glass of sparkling water from the beaming flight attendant.
“A tractor-trailer collided with an SUV on I-4, and traffic went from light to a veritable mess. Good thing it happened minutes before, or I would have missed this flight. I had to cut the security line.”
Claire smiled, imagining what that looked like. No doubt, women had been more than happy to let him in front of them. Even now, she sensed lusty glances from two female passengers across the aisle, and she smiled, knowing it was she who was taking him to the Bahamas to spend all weekend with him.
“What’s in the bag?” she asked.
He fastened his seat belt. “Breakfast.”
“That smells too good to have come from a fast food place.”
“It didn’t.” He extracted what looked like two foil-wrapped sandwiches and handed her one.
She peeled off the foil. “Waffles?”
“Chaffles. Flourless waffles made from egg and cheese. I added some crumbled bacon to the batter.”
He’d used the cheesy waffles to make avocado and ham sandwiches. Clever. And delicious, she realized. The chaffles were like nothing she’d ever tasted.
“When did you have time to make these?”
“Just before I left the house. It was quick because I had the chaffles ready. I make big batches, freeze them, and only need to microwave them for a few seconds when I want some.”
Claire took another bite and moaned.
He grinned as he bit into his sandwich. “I need to cook for you more often.”
“Yes, you do.” She licked her lips. “How did you get into cooking anyway?”
“My grandmother thought it was a life skill, so she taught all of us kids. Started us young too. Now that I think about it, six-year-olds wielding chef knives does seem kind of scary.”
“You have more siblings?”
“There are four of us. I have two brothers and a sister.”
It was crazy that she knew this man’s body so intimately yet knew very little about him. That would change this weekend, she decided. “Where are you in the order?”
“Third. You already met Adam. He’s the oldest. Then my sister Jannie, then me. Erik is the baby, but don’t call him that.”
“Are you close?”
He finished his sparkling water and tucked the empty glass into the seat-back pocket. “One year apart. My parents worked efficiently.”
“I didn’t mean in age.”
“Ah. Yeah, we’re very tight. Sometimes I think too close.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“When they butt into my business, you bet there is. And they do it as if it’s their job.”
Her chest tightened with the sadness she always felt when hearing about other people’s siblings.
“I can’t relate. I did OK as an only child, and my mom was the best, but sometimes I got lonely.
I actually saved money as a little kid so my parents could buy me a brother or sister from the baby store. ”
Ian swallowed the last of his sandwich. “It must have been quite a letdown when you found out.”
“It was.”
He was the first to make that observation. When she told people about that, they usually laughed, including her father, whose chuckle had sent her running to her room to cry out her disappointment.
She shoved away unwelcome thoughts of her father, preferring to question Ian, who seemed to be in a great mood this morning and even more talkative than usual.
“Tell me about them.”
“What would you like to know?”
She shrugged. “Whatever you feel comfortable telling me.”
Ian cast a glance out the window, where the jet bridge slowly backed away from the door of the Airbus.
“OK, let’s see … Adam is an introvert and an overachiever, lives in Las Vegas with his new wife, and owns an airline charter company and a high-rise hotel.
” His eyes sparkled. “You might be familiar with it. It’s called the Lark. ”
Claire blinked. “You mean, the one where …” She felt heat creep up her cheeks.
“The very one, Penny.” He looked at her with piercing blue eyes. “I owe him big time for that too.”
She cleared her throat. “You said you have a sister?”
He nodded. “Jannie. She’s smart, outspoken, and honest to a fault. She’s an OB-GYN and has a practice right here in Orlando with three other doctors.”
His sister was an obstetrician? Claire knew it took at least fourteen years to achieve that.
She tipped her head. “How old are you?”
He chuckled. “I thought you wanted to know about my siblings.”
“I do. But you say she’s a year older than you and already an OB?”
“She’s one of those whiz kids. She finished high school at fifteen and went to college early.” A slow smile spread across his face. “And I just turned twenty-nine.”
“I’m twenty-eight.” It was only fair to tell him.
He nodded as if he already knew this. “The family is about to get bigger. Jannie is expecting twins in a few months.”
He didn’t mention a husband, so Claire decided to avoid that subject. “And your little brother?”
“Erik. He’s a dreamer, a wanderer, and a photographer.
Travels the world in search of that prizewinning shot.
Last I heard, he was in Norway chasing polar bears, or so he said.
” He grinned. “Between you and me, I don’t think it’s the polar bears he’s after.
” He finished the last bite of his sandwich, carefully folded the foil into a square, and dropped it into the white paper bag. “Speaking of family, how is your mom?”
“Still in the hospital. They’re keeping her another week. I almost didn’t attend this wedding, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She thinks I spend too much time sitting with her. I’m beginning to think she wants me out of her hair.”
“Is the chemo working?”
“There’s a little improvement but not as much as the doctors want to see.”
Ian was silent for a moment. “Does she think you’re going to the Bahamas by yourself?”
“You mean, does she know I asked you to go with me? No.”
He nodded slowly, casting his gaze downward. “You haven’t told her about us, have you?”
There it was, the us thing again.
“Hey, folks, from the cockpit, welcome aboard this flight, service to Nassau, Lynden Pindling International Airport. I’m your captain this morning …”
Claire exhaled a sigh of relief, silently thanking the captain for saving her from having to answer. She finished her sandwich and watched the safety demonstration, butterflies slowly circling in her stomach, whether from the impending takeoff or Ian’s proximity, she didn’t know.
The engines whined as the plane accelerated down the runway, and Claire clenched her hands as the familiar knot clogged her throat.
She pressed her lips together, feeling the weight of Ian’s assessing stare.
The next second, he held out his hand. She took it, intertwining her fingers with his, drawing comfort from his reassuring grasp as the plane nosed up and lifted off the ground.
·
Ian
“I love those things. What are they called?”
“Kettle drums.” Ian glanced at the four men bobbing with toothy grins as they jammed to a lively tune.
“They always make me happy.” Claire danced a bit as she walked across the sand, making her red ponytail sway and her breasts bounce in a way that had him averting his gaze. In that neon-green bikini, with a rosy flush to her creamy skin, she made his mind circle the gutter.
“Thank you for doing this, by the way.” She halted next to two loungers a few feet from the rolling waves. “I know it was short notice.”
He spread a towel over his lounge chair. “Yes, it definitely is a terrible ordeal to spend the weekend in paradise with you, Penny. I can’t think of anything worse. As a matter of fact, you’ll have to pay a hefty price for putting me through this.”
“Fair enough.” Her smile was as bright as the overhead sun. “Name your price.”
He looked at her over his Ray-Bans. “Do me.”
She blinked. Her pretty pink lips parted, and it was all he could do to keep from sliding a finger between them for her to suck.
Instead, he slapped a bottle of Coppertone into her hand and gave her a half-smile.
“Oh.” Her chest rose with a deep breath.