Two Tickets to Paradise (Home for the Holidays)

Chapter 1

ONE

It had been over year since Vince Lazar had a chance to get home to Maine to see his mother and grandmother. Work and life had blended together to the point where he didn't really have life beyond work, but he'd finally drawn the long straw and got leave to head home for the Thanksgiving weekend and a few days after that. That had been the plan at least.

When he'd checked in on his phone everything seemed great. He got to pick his seat, choosing an aisle seat when the exit aisle wasn't available.

It was only when he'd arrived at ORD, one of the airports in the Chicago area that he had a real distinct feeling that something was wrong. Really wrong.

The lines were long and worked their way back and forth around what he was sure was meant to be open area.

Even the energy of the room was... Off. Tense.

He moved his backpack, settling it squarely on his back and then adjusted his hold on the straps of his duffel while he pulled his phone out to check the app for Alaska Airlines.

His flight had been ON TIME just an hour before, but as he stood in an open spot on the cement floor, he read the all caps word that made his gut twist.

DELAYED

"Oookay." He moved closer to one of the big screens set up between two big pillars and scanned the list for his flight. As he was searching for the flight to Portland, Maine, he read with a sinking feeling more than half a dozen other flights listed as DELAYED.

Letting out a breath, he tried to put together the pieces and realized that all of the flights that were delayed were all toward the East.

A security guard started to walk past him and Vince called out. "Excuse me... Sorry."

The security guard turned, his jaw a tight line. "Yeah?"

"Sorry," Vince hated to bother the man, "can you tell me what all the delays are from?"

One dark eyebrow rose. "You're kidding, right?"

Vince shook his head. "Sorry. I've had my head down for the last week or so getting ready for leave. What should I know?"

"There's a big storm headed toward us from the East Coast."

Vince frowned at the words. "My mom and grandma didn't say anything." He switched to his TEXT app and didn't see anything new from them.

"Well..."

He looked up at the security guard and saw the man looking more than a little sympathetically at him.

"If they're anything like mine, they probably were hoping that it would blow off course and wouldn't interrupt your visit."

Vince nodded. "Yeah. Sounds like them. I bet my grandma is giving the TV weatherman a talking to as if he can hear her."

The security guard shook his head. "Grandmas... don't mess with them."

Vince agreed with a smile. "Well, I'll see if we get more information soon before I call them and really get them upset."

"Sounds like you have a plan." The security guard gave him a little salute. "Carry on, Soldier."

Vince bit into the inside of his cheek. "Sailor."

The security guard looked surprised for a moment. "Oh, yeah. The lakes. We have water here in Chicago."

Vince's eyes widened. "A little. The river, too."

The security guard's radio crackled and he pointed to it. "Gotta go. You need anything else, man?"

Lifting his hand in a way, Vince shook his head. "Thanks, man. I'll figure it out from here."

"Cool." The guard turned away, calling into his radio as he went. "Sanchez here, what's going on?"

It turned out that Vince's hope for a quick fix to his situation wasn't going to happen.

The more he looked for answers, the worse things looked. The storm grew in size but not power, leaving it sitting in a huge cloud over that part of the country. He'd been passed from desk to desk before deciding to take the chance and clear TSA. He knew that there was an Alaska Airlines office in the terminal where his flight was leaving from and he had a feeling that there might be a chance, as slight as it was, to get somewhere in that office.

That's how he ended up standing at a counter, his gaze fixed on a woman who was doing her best to find him a way to get to Portland, Maine in the next twenty-four hours.

And so far, she wasn't having a whole lot of success.

Almost on cue, she looked up at him and gave him a wincing smile. "Sorry, sir. I'm not having a lot of success."

He nodded and almost smiled. "Thanks for trying."

Vince picked up his ID and his wallet and started to put it away.

"Oh, I'm not done yet, sir. I have one more trick I can try."

"Trick?" He smiled and leaned back toward the counter. "What does that entail?"

She cast a side-long look at the large clock on the wall. "Well, I'm hoping she walks through that door in a moment or two."

"Okay." He felt his brow furrow a little over the bridge of his nose. "You would know better than anyone else."

She smiled and looked back down at the keyboard. "I know the schedule and you don't."

He opened his mouth to agree with her but before he could say a word, the door opened and two women stepped out. One was the definition of a blonde bombshell. Her clothes accentuated her hourglass figure and her make up added the finishing touches on what could be described as a doll-like appearance, if dolls were six-feet tall, but it was the other woman who caught and kept Vince's attention.

She was a brunette with a killer smile and fuck, he'd never actually met a woman who lit up a room when she walked in, but there she was.

Okay, so he hadn't met her yet, but there was hope.

"Corrie?"

The woman across the counter looked back at him and he was fairly sure that she'd winked at him.

The brunette started in their direction, but stopped when the blonde put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, seriously, while you're on vacation, find out if your brother is still single, hmm?"

With a slight roll of her eyes, the gorgeous brunette held out her hands in a helpless gesture. "The last thing he'd want to talk about is his personal life."

"What?" The blonde folded her arms across her chest, lifting her ample chest into what he might have considered a dazzling display, but it didn't do much for him. "I bet he'd love to come here for a little vacation, or I could go to Hawaii and show him a good time."

The brunette covered her ears with her hands. "No. Stop." She was laughing but Vince felt like she was just trying to laugh it off, but she didn't find it funny. "Seriously," she slowly lowered her hands from her ears, "he's so busy on base with his Team. He really doesn't have a social life."

The blonde pouted and opened her mouth to say something, but the brunette was on the move.

And damn, he found himself standing a little taller the closer she came.

"Hi. I'm Cora."

He was startled at the sound of her name. He'd been focused on her since the moment she'd walked into the room, but the others had called her Corrie.

Vince frowned at the thought, murmuring under his breath. “Not Corrie…”

She darted a look at the ticketing agent on the other side of the counter. "Uh..."

The ticketing agent cleared her throat. "Corrie, sorry to bother you, especially because you're off the clock, but I could really use some help here."

Cora's eyes brightened as if the request excited her. "Oh! What's going on?"

"Oh no," the blonde moved closer and the bracelets on her wrist jangled against the countertop, "she's off the clock and I need her help, too. I'm dying to meet her brother." While the blonde had lowered her voice, she was practically hissing out her words. "You know he's crazy hot and I'd love to see what he'd look like in a Speedo."

The gorgeous brunette shook her head, and her nose wrinkled like she'd just tasted a lemon. "Mona, really! He's my brother! I don't need that image in my head... ever!"

The other women laughed as she rounded the corner and that's when Vince got a good look at her.

She was petite and had just the right amount of curves. With her smile and that amazing laugh, it was just his luck that he was meeting her in an airport when he was stuck. Well, it would suck either way, really. If he wasn't having trouble getting a flight home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, he'd never have seen her at all.

"Hey, Corrie."

Vince tensed up when the ticket agent who was working on his flights gestured for the insanely gorgeous brunette to move closer to the computer.

Instead of going around behind the ticket counter, she walked over beside him and gave him a quick side-ways glance and smile before she looked at the ticketing agent. "What's up, Janey?"

Janey lifted her eyes to look at him, but he only caught the gesture out of the corner of his eyes.

"I've been trying to work tickets for this gentleman around the storm and I can't get anything to work. Not the whole way at least."

"Oh?"

The other ladies had called her Corrie, but she’d introduced herself as Cora, that name seemed to fit her better. He smiled and she returned the gesture as she reached across the counter to turn the computer screen around so she could see it.

"Hey! Janey? Corrie is off the clock. She's on vacation."

Cora looked back at the other women and Vince couldn't see her expression, but he had a feeling she was rolling her eyes. Don't ask him how he figured that. Okay, you could ask, but he was just going off of instinct.

"It's okay, guys. My flight doesn't leave for a few hours. What would I do to pass the time besides read? I don't mind helping out."

She turned her head to look at him and he found himself stunned at the wide-eyed look on her face.

Was she feeling the attraction that he was?

"Hi."

Was her voice a little softer talking to him than it had been a few moments ago?

"Hey."

She smiled, baring a row of perfect teeth. "You can call me Corrie. Everyone around here does."

"I know." He nodded, trying to keep his brain functioning. "I... I heard them. I like Cora better."

He looked over her shoulder when he heard the other women laughing.

"I’m sorry. I should…" Vince reached a hand up and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm... I'm Vince. Vince Lazar."

"Well, Vince Lazar..." Cora reached out and took the keyboard that the other agent handed her and set it on the counter in front of her. "Let's see if we can get you where you're going."

He let out a breath and wanted to shake himself. Suddenly getting home to Bangor didn't have the same appeal as being stuck here... with her.