Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Alec parked his Maserati in the garage at the airport reserved for him the next morning and then got out to open Scarlet’s door, but she was already standing there with Lulu on a leash when he came around the car.
So he tried to be cool and pivoted to the trunk to unload his computer bag and one of Scarlet’s suitcases.
The others were in the car that Billie was driving.
He wasn’t sure if her friend and assistant was joining them, and frankly he hoped she wasn’t because he wanted to get to know Scarlet on her own. But he wasn’t in a position to make demands. He knew that so he was willing to wait and see what Scarlet had in mind.
She wore a pair of moto-style leggings and a long T-shirt with a picture of Audrey Hepburn in her iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s role. She arched one eyebrow at him and he realized he had been staring.
“You have great legs,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t notice them and wasn’t staring.”
She shook her head. “Are you always this blunt?”
“Yes. Which is why I seldom socialize.”
“I like it,” she said, walking toward him with her large bag on her shoulder and the little dog walking along beside her. “Once Billie drops off my suitcase, we can leave. I have a tiny crate for Lulu to stay in during takeoff and landing. She likes to burrow in her blanket in the crate.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “I could have taken my truck instead of the sports car to accommodate your luggage.”
“It’s okay. Is that all you packed?” she asked, gesturing to his computer bag.
“I have a home in Seattle so I don’t need to bring clothing back and forth with me. And I keep a limited wardrobe on the jet, as well.”
“I’m fascinated with your life,” she said. “What is it you do that requires you to have houses all over...? Is it just the United States or are you global?”
They had stepped out of the garage and were standing on the tarmac when Billie pulled up next to them.
“Global. Just leave your luggage on the tarmac and I’ll have it collected,” he said. “Do you need this bag with you during the flight?”
“No,” she said.
He nodded and turned to walk to the jet where the attendants were waiting. He employed a staff of five who rotated during the month. He had the two pilots and then three attendants depending on what was necessary on different flights.
“Please stow the luggage and then we’re going to need to figure out the best place for a dog crate,” he said. “It needs to be stabilized during takeoff and landing.”
“Yes, sir. Will you be accompanied by the two ladies?” Marg, the head flight attendant, asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“Not a problem,” Marg said. “I’ll take care of everything. We have your desk set up, as well. Will you be needing us to adjust anything?”
“Thanks, Marg. That’s great. Whatever you’ve set up is fine.”
He boarded the plane and immediately went to his desk. But the last thing on his mind was work.
He wanted her. His body was still half-aroused from earlier and sitting so close to her in his sports car had made it worse.
He’d driven too fast to burn off some of the adrenaline but she’d simply laughed.
The scent of her perfume had surrounded him, egging him on to drive faster.
He’d never been one of those men who needed to strut around a woman, but he wanted to with Scarlet.
Sure, he could have taken the truck, but the Maserati was a status thing, and she came from a world of immense wealth, so he wanted her to know he wasn’t after her money.
Was he after her?
He had told himself and Scarlet that he wanted to get to know her better because she was pregnant with his baby—Scarlet wasn’t the kind of woman to lie about that—but another part of him knew that he did want her for himself.
And he’d never been comfortable with that sort of longing.
He’d grown up one of five kids. Sharing was practically in his DNA.
Of course, as an adult he had things that were his, but he always felt greedy when he craved something or, in this case, someone.
He wanted Scarlet and it felt so much more intense than just hooking up again.
There was something other than just lust coursing through his veins and he didn’t want to acknowledge or examine it. But he was by nature someone who had to figure it out.
“Billie said to give you her regards,” Scarlet said as she entered the jet. She bent over to unleash the dog and her honey-blond hair cascaded down over her shoulders. The little dog stood on its back legs and rubbed its face in her hair.
She stood up and their eyes met, and something passed between them. He felt the zing all the way to his groin. No surprise since he’d been turned on since he’d seen her this morning.
“She doesn’t like me, so I appreciate you making it seem like she does,” he said.
She laughed, throwing her head back. “She thinks she’s subtle. Can you believe that?”
“No. She must know she comes across as a bulldog who will protect you at all costs,” Alec said.
“Do I need protecting?” she asked, walking toward him. Lulu ran ahead of her and jumped up on one of the seats.
“No,” he said, his voice low, gruff and huskier than he wanted it to be. “Not from me.”
The thing about addictions, Scarlet thought as she sat next to Alec as the jet took off, was that they were hard to resist. She should have said no, she wouldn’t come with him to Seattle.
She shouldn’t have agreed to be alone with him again until she sorted out what exactly the feelings she had for him were.
But honestly, right now, after seeing the way he was watching her and hearing that gravelly tone of voice, all she could think about was how his body had felt against hers and how good it had felt to be straddling him earlier.
For the first time since she’d realized she was pregnant, something made sense.
Sex was normal and logical. It didn’t have to be complicated.
And technically, if she were with Alec, it wasn’t breaking her self-imposed rule of hooking only up once with a guy because she’d thought he was Mauricio the last time, right?
She’d started the rule to avoid the situation she was in right now. She couldn’t take the chance of falling into the trap of commitment. She’d seen it destroy both her mother and sister.
That makes no sense, even for you. As usual, the voice of her sister nagged her.
Shut up, Tay. I don’t want to be logical.
Obviously.
Lulu was curled up and sleeping in her travel crate, which meant there was nothing to distract Scarlet from Alec. He had his legs loosely crossed. When the flight attendants asked if they would like something to eat or drink, he glanced over at her with one eyebrow arched.
“I’m good,” she said.
“Me, too. I’ll let you know if we need anything,” Alec said.
The attendants left to go to the crew quarters and they were alone.
Danger, danger, don’t do something stupid.
Tara had been so irresponsible in life that Scarlet knew the voice she often attributed to her sister was simply her own subconscious warning her off. But it comforted her to think her sister might be watching over her.
How dangerous could he be?
You wouldn’t be having this conversation with me if you didn’t fear something about him.
Fear.
Was that true? Was that what this was?
“Are you comfortable?” he asked. “Do you need a blanket?”
No. She needed him naked and underneath her, so she could feel more in control of everything.
He had surprised her and taken the upper hand.
.. Yeah, that was it. She wanted to be on top again.
It wasn’t anything more than that. She didn’t have to fear addiction—this was her first time with Alec.
She could have him guilt-free and then go back to figuring out the baby situation.
Yeah, right.
Go away, Tay.
Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
“So, tell me more about what you do,” she said. “Billie pulled up some information on you, but I’d rather hear your story from you.”
“Hmm... I’m not sure where to start,” he said. “My job is kind of boring.”
She glanced around the plane and remembered his cars and home. “But it pays well. It’s nice to know that money can be made by other means than just being Insta-famous.”
“Well, when I was in college... Let’s just say that I didn’t handle being on my own that well.
Even though I got straight A’s, I drank and partied way too much.
I definitely enjoyed those years but when I was a junior and applied for paid internships, no one would even call me back for an interview.
I asked one of the HR hiring managers about it and she said I looked good on paper, but the internet told a different story.
“That was a huge wake-up call and I knew that I needed to clean up my online presence. Some of my frat brothers were in the same boat so I wrote some code and created an algorithm that would go in and clean it up. It took a long time, my entire junior year, but once I had it and deployed it, I started getting interviews. I started to sell my services to my frat brothers. Once word got out, I had a lot of customers.”
“I could have used you a few years ago,” she said with a laugh. “Instead I’ve just embraced my more scandalous photos and videos and made them my brand.”
“That works, too, but sometimes things happen that can really have a negative impact. So I went from helping college kids to helping companies and public figures. I’ve made a few tweaks along the way to keep up with the technology,” he said.
“And it pays well,” she said.