Chapter 14 Kitty
FOURTEEN
KITTY
That I passed out was a given considering how many travel sickness pills I’d taken to get me through the whole flight.
That I passed out next to the sexiest man I’d ever met was mortifying.
That I passed out and woke up with a drool spot on the pillow that he had to have tucked behind my head—shoot me now.
And that I nearly choked on my orange juice when Stan had told me I was about to experience what it felt like fucking around with a man instead of boys proved that God did exist—he decided to knock me out to spare me from eye-fucking Stan the entire flight.
There was only so much mortification a woman could handle while sitting beside a literal Adonis.
When Ma insisted that Jesus would save me, I hadn’t expected such affirmative action.
“Kitty.”
His voice was my alarm bell as I slowly rose through the layers of chemically-induced slumber.
My eyelashes fluttered when I took him in, absorbed that piercing expression, those dark eyes—I felt pinned in place. Raked over hot coals as he devoured me with a single look.
He had the face and stature of a bruiser. Having been raised in my family, it was far from a detractor. If anything, it added to the pinching sensation that made an appearance in my stomach around him. See, muscles and brute strength in my world meant protection.
And apparently, my inner mob brat really dug that.
“Stan.”
He had ridiculously long lashes. Unfairly long.
His lips curved.
Did I say that out loud?
“It’s time to wake up, duci.”
“Duci?”
He just hummed.
God, how hadn’t I realized how freaking handsome he was?
I knew that I’d vowed a long time ago to back away from anyone who thought prison was a fact of life and didn’t have a problem with dying early, but stepping back from this kind of chemistry would be the real crime here.
Unable to hold off, feeling oddly breathless, I cupped his cheek and allowed my palm to experience the prickle of his perfect beard.
It shaped his mouth, lips a deep, dusky rose that held whispers of femininity but was the exact opposite when combined with his features. They might have been on the thinner side, but my own tingled with the urge to taste them.
“I want to touch your lips.” When they curved, I whispered, “Let me?”
“If you want, Kitty.”
I shivered as I peered into chestnut irises that saw straight through me. Slashing my defenses. Defenses I’d spent a helluva long time cultivating, thank you very much.
My fingertips tingled at the intimate connection as I brushed them over his mouth, but it was my soul that braced for impact when he closed his eyes.
God help me.
My entire being craved a deeper touch. Something more intimate. A kiss. A hug. I’d take anything. Because this man stripped me back to my core, and having never experienced anything like it, I knew I had never been this vulnerable in my life.
How was this the same man from the hospital? I wasn’t so shallow that his wretched appearance would turn me off. So why was I so ensnared now?
“It’s time to disembark, Kitty.” His words were low and gritty. Like he was insulting me rather than giving me an unwanted travel update.
As unwilling to end this snapshot of a moment as he was, I rubbed my knuckles over his jawline. “I wonder if we’re on the same connecting flight.”
He reeled off his travel details and, still sleepy, I smiled in relief. “Maybe we’ll luck out and be sitting next to each other.”
“Distinu will work in our favor, duci.”
“Distinu?”
Before he could answer, the plane stopped taxiing and the cabin crew reminded us over the intercom to remain seated with our seatbelts on.
I didn’t pull away, nor did he.
“Don’t take anymore Dramamine and get something to eat.”
I had to taunt, “Yes, Daddy.”
His eyes darkened. “Be careful who you tease, little girl.”
My heart rate flatlined.
Holy fuck, any other guy had the guts to call me ‘little girl,’ I’d have verbally castrated him.
But Stan wasn’t any other guy.
It made me squirm.
And he noticed.
Damn him.
He winked, lightening the moment, but not really.
I felt those words so deeply that he breached a part of me no one had ever neared before.
Maybe no one could.
Only him.
“I won’t take any more meds.”
His fingers gently curved around my wrist. “Good girls get rewards.”
“T-They do?”
I was about to die.
I knew it.
Heart attack incoming…
“They do.” He tapped my pulse point, which immediately stuttered. “Now, go and join your sisters.”
“But what about my reward?” I whined.
Why did he keep making me whine?
“Good things come to those who wait.”
“Maybe I should be bad, then.” I pouted. “I don’t want to wait.”
“Remember what I told you earlier, Kitty,” he rumbled. “You’re not dealing with boys anymore.”
I melted.
The walls of my cells imploded, turning me into goop. But they quickly reformed as the urge to kiss him was so pervasive that I bucked upward, intent on seeking his mouth, only for my seat belt to drag me back.
As I splatted against the seat for real this time, he proved he could be a gentleman because he kept the laughter contained to his eyes.
While I huffed, he drawled, “Later, Kitty. Until then, behave. And don’t approach strange men in airline lounges, understood?”
The demand housed a teasing glimpse of humor, but I knew he meant it. He was deadly serious, and I was deadly serious about needing that kiss.
“If you—”
“Kitty!”
I growled beneath my breath at the screech of my name from up front where she bobbed around like a demented pixie, holding up the already-forming line. “I’ll kill her.”
He unfastened my belt. “Which sister?”
“Neev.” I blew a stray lock of hair out of my face. “I’ll see you later, right?”
“You will.”
“D-Do you swear?” I needed a vow. A simple reassurance wasn’t enough.
“I promise, Kitty.” His voice darkened until it vibrated through my entire body. “And I don’t break my promises.”
I let that truth settle in my bones.
Because I, the chronically suspicious Frasier sibling, the one who tested her dates, who thought her sisters were too slack on their boyfriends…
…believed him.