Chapter 6
Lily
When Aubrey, the full-time flight attendant for the Daltons, had trained me for this position, prepping for her maternity leave, she had told me that the Daltons ran things differently than most owners of private jets. They provided a list of what they wanted, including specific brands of alcohol, and instead of the attendant greeting the family at the bottom of the boarding stairs, like the pilots did, they preferred to be served drinks the second they boarded.
So, that was what I was preparing in the rear galley when I heard the chatter in the front of the plane. The sound was far too loud and animated for it to be coming from the pilots; therefore, I knew the passengers had entered the aircraft. I quickly finished pouring the several fingers’ worth of scotch into the tray of glasses I’d set out, and just as I was walking down the main aisle, I saw him.
Brady Spade.
Tingles immediately swished through my body, and while I held the tray with one hand, I gripped the back of the seat with the other, a row behind where he stood, and I forced myself to breathe.
Because I couldn’t.
Because everything, including my lungs, was frozen.
How was he here? How was he only a couple of feet in front of me?
How was this my luck?
He wasn’t just a man I’d slept with. My first and only one-night stand. That title wasn’t nearly strong enough; it didn’t hold the same level of importance for the pedestal I’d put him on.
He was the man I’d been thinking about nonstop for the last six months.
But it didn’t go beyond thinking since I’d refused to look him up online, even though I knew his full name, in fear that I’d be tempted to reach out.
Communication, a second night together—those just weren’t possible.
“Brady …” I searched for something to say, doing everything I could to calm the jittering in my body. When the tray threatened to fall—something I couldn’t let happen; I would never recover from the embarrassment—I released the seat and gripped the tray with both hands. “What a … surprise.”
Surprise?
I could laugh at the little weight that word held.
Shock wasn’t much better, but it was definitely a lot of that too.
Those eyes, that smile, his hands, the most incredible body I’d ever seen—I caught each one in my line of sight and shivered.
Brady was dangerous.
Not in a way that I was scared of him. In a way that I couldn’t resist him.
“I didn’t expect to see you again.” His eyelids narrowed as they took me in, every inch causing more goose bumps to rise over my skin. “Certainly not on my best friend’s private plane.”
His best friend? Is a Dalton?
I knew the world was small. But this small was far too tiny.
I didn’t know what to say, so I lifted a scotch off the tray and handed it to him. “Same.” And then I realized that didn’t exactly make sense, so I clarified, “Not on my best friend’s jet. In general, I mean, I didn’t expect to see you …” My voice trailed off as I came to my senses, knowing how ridiculous I sounded. “I’ll bring you another scotch before takeoff.”
I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. I was the only flight attendant on board. I couldn’t call in a backup. Aubrey had a newborn at home and hadn’t returned to work yet, which was why I was here. Somehow, I had to make it through this flight, along with the two nights we were staying in Tampa, and then the return flight to LA.
All while having Brady within reach.
And whenever I came into contact with him, I had to hide the fact that there wasn’t anyone in this world I was more attracted to than him. That no man had ever done to my body what he had.
Because I remembered.
Everything.
Even down to the minuscule details.
He lifted the glass to his mouth, watching me while his lips surrounded the edge, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.
That stare was unforgettable. It penetrated every inch of my skin. My goose bumps now doubling.
“I’ll grab you a water too,” I said softly.
A statement that had come out of nowhere. I’d just felt the need to break the silence because standing here, saying nothing, felt so strange.
He smiled, and it made everything inside me hurt. He even released some air, sounding like a semi-laugh, and that made me ache harder.
“You can bring me whatever you’d like, Lily.” He licked the wetness off his lips, his gaze dropping down my body before he turned around and sat next to Dominick.
With his back facing me, I had a break from his eyes. I finally felt like I could breathe. But at the same time, now that they were gone, I missed them.
I wanted them back.
Because I never felt more beautiful or more wanted than when Brady was looking at me.
I couldn’t stay in this position any longer. I still had a full tray of scotch I needed to hand out. With every ounce of willpower I had, I greeted some of my other guests, setting a glass beside each of them, asking the gentlemen what else I could bring them for the flight.
Memorizing their answers, I reached Brady’s row. I said hello to Dominick and repeated the same question to him.
“I’ll take the breakfast I ordered,” Dominick replied.
“And for you?” I said to Brady.
He shook his head, his eyes not moving from mine. “Lily, you know exactly what I want.”
Me.
That was what screamed inside me.
But in addition to his response, there was something about the way he had said my name that made me want to press my legs together, giving myself the pressure I needed. The grittiness of his voice was equally as stimulating, as it was the same tone he’d used when he moaned my name.
“Right,” I whispered.
Another strange answer, but it was the only thing I could muster.
I asked the remaining passengers the same question and hurried to the back of the plane, gathering glasses of water that, once I returned to the main cabin again, I set next to their scotch. When I went back to the galley this time, the phone rang, and it was the pilot telling me we were cleared for takeoff. I hung up and finished my safety checks, letting my guests know we were minutes from taking off and requesting them to buckle their seat belts before I strapped myself into my seat.
I thought that once I removed myself from the main cabin, I would feel better. I’d be able to inhale air that wasn’t filled with Brady’s cologne, that I could exhale without the intensity of his eyes focused on some part of me. But from the angle in which I sat, I could see the left profile of Brady’s face, his arm as it balanced over the armrest, the side of his leg, his foot tapping the carpet.
If anything, the anxiety in my chest heightened.
I had one month left of my contract before Aubrey returned as the Daltons’ full-time flight attendant. I had worked with her back in Atlanta, and we stayed in touch. When she’d told me this temporary position was available, I’d jumped on it.
What I didn’t understand was why this crew couldn’t have flown to Tampa next month, after I finished out my contract and was no longer working for the Daltons, so I could have avoided this situation altogether.
Why did I have to be in Brady’s presence again, which stirred up feelings that didn’t make any sense?
Feelings that needed to stay buried.
Although a year had passed since my breakup with David, my life was no different than it had been when I met Brady.
I was still emotionally unavailable.
With shackles around my wrists, ankles, even my brain.
In fact, depending on how I looked at it, things had gotten even worse.
I made myself glance away from him, and I took the phone out of my pocket. I’d resisted for this long. So, why did I find myself typing his name into the search bar and watching the screen fill?
Articles, websites, social media accounts, his Wikipedia page—they were suddenly overwhelming me.
Brady wasn’t just some guy.
Nor was he just a well-off guy—what I’d suspected when I originally met him after taking inventory of his watch and clothes and hotel suite.
Brady’s wealth was in a category of its own.
During all the times I’d said his name out loud and to myself, it had never registered.
But it should have.
Because he was one of the owners of Cole and Spade Hotels. The hotel we were staying in tonight. Resorts that were located all over the world. And the reason he’d gone to Edinburgh, according to the page I was reading, was because he was opening another one there.
He had a net worth that was well over a billion.
But to me, he was the man I’d given my body to post-David.
The man who had owned my mind since it had happened.
The man who wouldn’t allow the goose bumps to disappear from my skin.
As the jet began to lift off the tarmac, heading for the clouds, I slowly glanced up from my phone.
Brady was looking over his shoulder.
At me.
As our eyes locked, even more emotion began to pour through my chest. It made my body throb. It made my legs squeeze together, but for an entirely different reason than before.
What have I done?