Chapter Twenty-Seven CASEY
Chapter Twenty-Seven
CASEY
I know I’ve made the right decision, and here are my two foolproof reasons:
1. The flight attendant just announced our flight was less crowded than usual, and she invited us to spread out. (Uh, score .)
2. I snagged an aisle seat as planned, and the young woman who arrived to claim the window seat in my row was wearing headphones; she gave me a quick smile but then kept moving and otherwise made no attempt to engage with me.
This is meant to be. I feel good about my decision, which is a relief because there’s no going back now. Not only has this airline snatched a thousand dollars from my bank account, but I’m also already on board the plane, buckling my seat belt, getting comfy. Soon, we’ll all be skimming over the Atlantic.
I expect a wave of panic, something akin to my freak-out on my suite’s balcony that first day aboard Aurelia . Any minute now, I’ll have to drop my head between my knees and think happy thoughts, but ... I feel oddly calm as I settle back against my seat and watch the last few stragglers trail down the aisle. I’ve already perused the in-flight menu and settled on a selection of the carb heavy hitters. My companion in the window seat has her neck pillow on, and she just popped a Xanax; she means business.
I want to ask her if this will be her first time in London, too, but I don’t want to break this perfect, peaceful quiet we’ve created for ourselves, so instead, I turn to the screen mounted in front of me.
I’m just starting to flip through movie options when a flight attendant walks down the aisle, thoroughly inspecting passengers as she goes. I bet she’s about to chide someone for not properly stowing their carry-on items. Just as a precaution, I kick my bag further under the seat in front of me. When I glance back up, she’s looking at me with narrowed eyes. I go rigid, then slowly offer up a shy smile. She keeps studying me long enough that I look over my shoulder to see if maybe there’s a rule breaker seated just behind me, but, no, it’s me she’s staring at. She continues walking, then stops just short of my seat and bends down.
Her eyes spark with something. Is that ... excitement? Why?
Does she love reprimanding people? Maybe it’s her favorite part of the job.
“Casey Hughes?” she asks.
I only now register her slightly strange smile.
“Uh ... yes?” My reply is cautious, mostly because I’m scared I’m somehow in trouble. They can’t kick me off the plane. I’ve already torn into my complimentary snack mix. “How did you know my name?”
Is that standard?
She shakes her head and laughs. “Oh ... it’s just—ma’am, I’m so excited to let you know that you’ve received an upgrade!”
“An upgrade?” I frown, taken aback. “There must be some mistake. Do you want to see my ticket?” I’m already bending down to dig in my purse for my boarding pass. “I’m not like a frequent flyer or anything. Maybe you have me confused with—”
Her smile widens. “Nope. I have it exactly right. If you’ll collect your things and follow me, I’ll lead you toward your new seat in first class.”
I gulp. No doubt the blood drains from my face too. I lean in and lower my voice. “I can’t afford that particular upgrade, so thank you, but no. I’m happy with the seat I have.”
Her eyes widen in alarm. “No, this is completely complimentary. I apologize for not leading with that. This new seat is free of charge ... just for you.”
Okay . . .
Well, as weird as this is, I’m not going to just sit here and argue. I might as well see what this lady is offering me. This could be legit. I might be the beneficiary of some kind of exciting free upgrade. That happens to people, right?
It doesn’t take me long to get my things. Just before I stand, I aim a sad smile at sleeping neck-pillow girl. She would have made a good airplane buddy.
The flight attendant offers to take my carry-on bag, so I’m left to just follow behind her, aware of everyone’s eyes on me. No doubt they heard what she just said. They’re wondering when their upgrade is coming. Because I feel so guilty, I can’t look anyone in the eye before we slip through the partition dividing those grimy peasant seats from first class. I swear they scented the air. The lighting is better, softer, warmer. The aisle is wider. The seats themselves aren’t seats at all; they’re practically private cabins. The seats are arranged in a single-double-single configuration, and almost everyone who’s already seated has drawn their curtains for privacy.
There looks to be a whole team of attendants, one or two for every guest.
Good god.
I assume I’m being led toward a solo spot, but then the flight attendant stops near a pair of seats right in the center of first class.
“You’ll be right here. 3B.”
I catch up to her and turn to check out my new digs. This is nothing compared to where I was previously parking my butt. This is luxury, dripping with class and refinement. My pale-blue seat is large enough to fold down into a bed. In my private cubicle, there’s also a small cabinet, on top of which rests a Dior-branded Dopp kit and pajamas tied with a coordinating pale-blue ribbon. I’m already amazed, and that’s before I look up to see the man sitting in 3C.
My heart plummets, then soars. My mouth drops open with astonishment, and when Phillip glances up from his book, he looks just as surprised as I am. He pulls his reading glasses off and just ... stares.
Which doesn’t make sense.
Why is he so surprised?
Didn’t he know I was on board? Wasn’t he the one to call me up here?
My free upgrade was obviously courtesy of him.
“Sir?” the flight attendant asks with hope laced in her question.
He nods with an astonished gaze. “Yes ... it’s her.”
She looks at me, her eyes softening as she waves for me to take my seat. She stows my luggage in the cabinet beneath the mounted TV and then spends what feels like forty-five minutes going over every single feature imaginable: my massaging, ventilated, and cooling seat; the Bose headphones; a built-in beverage bar; snacks; magazines; eye mask ... I half expect her to bring out a brand-new Jet Ski or something. By the time she steps back, I’m barely even registering everything at my disposal.
“Enjoy. I’ll be back by in just a minute with a warm towel,” she says before walking away.
My mouth opens and closes like a guppy as I half faint, half slide down into my seat. I glance over the short wall between Phillip and me. “What’s happening?”
Phillip’s forehead is furrowed so deeply that his eyebrows practically connect. “I’m not sure, actually ...”
I’m annoyed that he seems to be as confused as I am.
I need answers!
“You clearly orchestrated this,” I say, waving my hand around the plane like he was not only responsible for me being here but also everyone else on board too. “Phillip! You said you weren’t going to come after me!”
He barks out a laugh and shakes his head in disbelief. He turns to face me, conviction in his gaze as he exclaims, “I didn’t!”
When my expression doesn’t ease, he goes on. “I swear to god this is not me coming after you. Though got to say I’m relieved ... it just doesn’t cut it. I wanted to come after you, Casey. Don’t get me wrong. This morning, I was pacing in my suite trying to decide what to do. A thousand times, I almost came for you, to insist that we were making the wrong choice—that the arrangement we struck didn’t take into account our unique circumstances.”
“What unique circumstances?” I ask, sounding skeptical.
A beat passes, and I watch the way his expression eases and the tension in his shoulders lessons as his entire demeanor softens.
“I’ve fallen for you,” he admits boldly.
His overwhelming confession barely seeps past my force field of shock.
If he didn’t orchestrate this ...
How did this happen?
“But you’re here,” I say dumbly.
It’s like I’ve lost every last one of my brain cells. They got zapped when I went through the metal detectors at security.
“ I’m here ... exactly.” He laughs with unabashed wonder. “By pure coincidence. You see, I finally came to a decision about contacting you. I decided I was going to give myself a little while to cool off. I was going to continue with my travel plans, fly to London for a week of meetings and then on to Belfast—”
“ Belfast ?”
“To check on a ship that’s currently in production.”
I want to go to Belfast! I want to go to Belfast with him ...
He continues, “I told myself I could track you down once I got to London. I already knew I was going to make you see reason, beg you to give me a real chance.”
“But—” I look behind me, trying to find the flight attendant, before I look back at Phillip with a furrowed brow. “I don’t get what’s going on.”
“ Casey ,” he stresses. “Don’t you see what’s happened? It was always my plan to fly out to London today. You can ask my assistant for proof. This ticket was booked weeks ago.”
I shake my head. “I’m not accusing you of changing your flight last minute to follow me. I’m just ... if you didn’t know I was here, why did the flight attendant bring me up to you?”
This is when his smile turns a little wistful, his eyes so lovely and warm.
“When I first sat down here, I asked her to do a favor for me. I told her there was a woman I was hoping beyond hope would be on this flight and that I’d like her to check for me, just in case. I felt ridiculous asking her.”
“You told her to look for me ?”
“I was desperate! I told her what you looked like—” His eyes rove over my face like a gentle caress. “A gorgeous brunette with caramel highlights framing her face and expressive blue eyes. I told her your name, and then she walked away, and I laughed to myself because there was no way in hell you were on this flight, but I had to know. I’d prepared myself for her to walk back and shake her head and say, I’m sorry, Mr. Woodmont, she’s not here , but instead, you walked up.”
“Because I’m on this flight!”
“How?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know exactly. I mean ... I just booked the first—well, second —flight out of Fort Lauderdale once I got to the airport. I was going off of pure instinct.”
He laughs. “This is insane.”
“ Insane ,” I repeat. “Did you upgrade my ticket?”
“Apparently,” he says with a little smile.
“Thanks. I owe you.”
I settle back against my seat and start fiddling with the remote control for the TV. I just need to figure this thing out. I want to watch a movie or, or ...
“Casey.”
My hand shakes as I press buttons. The TV doesn’t start up, but that’s because I haven’t turned it on. Right.
“ Casey ,” Phillip stresses my name, and I squeeze my eyes closed.
“How is this happening?” I ask myself out loud.
“Will you just look at me?”
I shake my head. “I can’t. What were those complimentary drinks she listed off? I think I need something. A soda. No , a shot.”
I’m leaning my head into the aisle, but all the flight attendants who were just here are now nowhere to be found!
Phillip says my name again, and I finally look at him. God, I can barely stand it. That face. Those terse eyebrows and intense blue eyes, those sharp cheekbones, and that perfect mouth.
“You don’t understand how much it killed me to walk away from your suite this morning. I really thought that was the last time I was ever going to see you. And now you’re just here, sitting beside me.” Tears gather in the corners of my eyes, but they don’t fall. “Phillip, I feel like I don’t deserve it. It’s too good.”
He leans over the partition between us and scoops his hand beneath my hair, tilting my face so that I’m looking only at him.
“Please don’t walk away from me out of fear. Not after this.”
“You think this is fate?” I ask, trembling against his hand.
“It has to be.”
He’s right.
It has to be.
“I caught what you said earlier, about falling for me.”
He pulls me closer to him so that I have to lean over the partition. “I meant it, Casey.”
My stomach squeezes tightly, nerves and excitement blending and buzzing through me.
“Are we insane?” I ask with a little laugh.
His expression doesn’t lighten. “If we are, I don’t care.”
I’m staring at his lips, waiting for him to kiss me. I want to feel his mouth pressed to mine. I want his solid body on me, physical confirmation that this is real and not an elaborate dream. He must sense my need because he closes the space between us and kisses me with tender affection. When he pulls back, he strings kisses along my cheek. And then he sighs, and his palpable relief washes over me, giving me comfort.
“I’m falling for you, too, Phillip.”
I have fallen.
Hard.
My feelings are so obvious at this point that there’s no sense in denying them to myself. I fell for Phillip despite every hope that I wouldn’t. Every wall and every obstacle that I put in place proved utterly useless.
His responding smile threatens to upend me. Then he kisses me again, and that faint flame of desire curling through me, licking me from the inside out.
These curtains will have to be drawn ASAP. Phillip will have me over this partition and on his lap in no time.
The sound of footsteps carries down the aisle. No doubt it’s the flight attendant with that warm towel she promised.
Phillip pulls back into his chair. “Wait. I didn’t even get the chance to ask you yet. What are your plans? Where are you going once we land?”
“Oh, I didn’t say? First, I’ll be in London for a week ... and then I guess I’m going to Belfast.” I finish with a wink.
He laughs with wonderment.
“Ma’am,” the flight attendant says from behind me. “Here’s your warm towel. Is there anything else I can get you before we take off?”
I’m still looking at Phillip when I shake my head.
“No, thank you. I’m all set.”
Everything I need is sitting in 3C.
“Wonderful. I’ll be back around soon. For now, relax and enjoy your flight.”
Oh, don’t worry . . .
I plan to.