Chapter 3
Amanda
“W hat do you mean, his limo is even better than ours?”
Jennifer gasped on the other end of the call.
The white leather interior of the limo looked great with all the solid gold panels, especially with the majestic sunset reflected in all of its glory. The golden panels had been polished to such a mirror-like sheen that I could see myself in them, hair down and sheathed into a pencil skirt. The woman in the reflection held a phone up to her ear as well.
“I mean just what I say I mean. Of course, Marshall and you have different priorities now than having the biggest and the best of everything. Evan Jones is still in that headspace, so it should come as no surprise that his limo is even more majestic than yours.”
I looked at the opulence surrounding me and shook my head. I mean, there was a mini fridge, a fully stocked bar, a smart television and a desktop built into the center console. It just didn’t get better than all of that, as far as I was concerned.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d even made love to some gorgeous starlet in the back seat, where I was riding.
“I sure wish I knew why Evan Jones wanted to talk to me,” I said.
“Well, didn’t he say it was for business? ”
“Yeah, but what kind of business?”
“What if he wants me to organize an event for him or something?”
“Then go ahead and do it.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to betray the charity.”
“Stop saying that, for heaven’s sake. It would be great publicity, so go ahead and do it if you want. We never said you had to work only for us, you know.”
“I know, but you guys keep me pretty busy as it is.”
“We’ll muddle through without you somehow. Besides, think of it this way. Even if things don’t work out on the business end, at least you’ll get to spend an evening with an H-oh-double-T guy.”
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to tell me to be modest or trying to pimp me out for publicity.”
“Ouch,” Jennifer said. “You know I would never do that to you. I don’t want you to think of this as encouragement or discouragement of what you may or may not do when you’re alone with one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet.”
“Jennifer, behave.”
“This is me behaving. Did you think my child was an immaculate conception or something?”
We both laughed.
“Oh, stop. I’m strictly business tonight, I swear.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
I said that, but the truth was I couldn’t forget the impression that Evan had made on me when we met. His touch, the butterflies I felt in my stomach... It was all as real as could be.
Of course, I felt that way for him. He was basically Superman, right? And I wasn’t even Lois Lane. I was more like a mail clerk at the Daily Planet. I was good at my job, sure, but so were a lot of other people .
I’d seen some of Evan’s hookups. Quite frankly, they were nothing short of phenomenally beautiful. What would a man who could have all of that want with plain old me?
I looked out the window and frowned. I’d left the city behind entirely. I was starting to wonder if something weird was going on. Like maybe somebody was playing a prank. The limo was going to drop me off at a dairy farm or something like that. Ha-ha, everyone has a good laugh at Amanda’s expense.
The rolling hills gave way to flatter terrain. The limo slowed down and turned off onto a blacktop two-lane road, then passed through a security gate and kept going. What, did Evan have a secret compound out in the woods or something?
Then the limo came around a bend in the road, and the tree line retreated. I spotted a squarish aircraft control tower, and a full-sized tarmac and runway. A private airfield? I noticed that every aircraft had Evan’s company logo on it.
My first thought was he must have been a very busy guy. He obviously had to jump on a plane and go somewhere important, so he trucked me out to meet him for what would probably be like a ten-minute meeting.
Imagine my surprise when the limo pulled inside of one of the hangars. The private jet in the hangar had a sleek, tapered look, almost like a spaceship instead of an airplane. Its chrome hull reflected the limo driver as he hastened to open my door.
The door opened and he offered me a hand. I took it, and he lifted me to my feet. Then he gestured toward the aircraft, which had its stairs deployed.
I assumed I was supposed to climb the steps and board the plane. It had me rather confused. Evan must have been really, really busy.
I stepped into the plane and felt like I was in the lap of luxury. Instead of a utilitarian cabin, the interior looked like a finely designed hotel room, and a damn ritzy one at that. If I thought the limo was fancy, the private jet took the cake.
“Ah, you’ve made it. That makes me very happy.”
I turned around to see Evan. He’d poured his powerful body into an expertly tailored suit. His charcoal blazer and trousers showed off the lines of his torso, and his white silk shirt was unbuttoned just enough to see the top of the curve of his pecs.
Those gorgeous eyes of his hypnotized me, taking my breath away. He shook my hand, and the touch was electric. All of the old feelings came back.
“Mr. Jones. Nice to meet you again.”
I had a slight tremble in my voice.
“Oh please, call me Evan. I hope that we’re going to be working very closely with each other.”
He gestured to comfortable-looking seats. I settled in, assuming he would take the one opposite the other side of a mahogany table built into the cabin wall. Instead, he sat down right beside me.
“Why are we meeting on a plane?” I asked. As if on cue, the private jet lurched as it surged forward. I looked out the window to see the trees moving by in an increasingly rapid blur.
“Is this plane taking off?” I sputtered.
“Yes, it is.”
I glared at him. “This amounts to kidnapping.”
He just eyed me coldly.
“Don’t be so dramatic. I didn’t have the time to meet you, and this was the most convenient for me.”
“What about me?”
“Don’t worry. Once I get where I’m going, the plane will take you right back here. You’ll be home safe and sound in time for dinner, I assure you. ”
I leaned back in my seat, biting my tongue on a nasty retort. I reminded myself the charity could use this guy’s endorsement. That didn’t mean I was okay with what was happening to me. Not by a long shot.
His inscrutable gaze was so sharp it cut me. He seemed to realize that I was uncomfortable.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Yes, some water would be nice.”
He turned about and opened a panel, revealing a mini fridge full of bottled water. He took one of them out and handed it over to me. It was such an expensive brand I didn’t even recognize its label. I wondered how much it cost. The language on the back was not English, so I wasn’t sure about the particulars.
I did know that the water hit a lot differently than normal. I didn’t get that bloated feeling after drinking it.
“It’s good water, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s fine, thank you.”
“It’s magnetized and PH balanced.”
“I assume that makes it good.”
My tone was a bit snippy. He looked at me for a long moment and then reached over to the control panel.
“Perhaps this will make you a bit more relaxed.”
He pushed a button, and suddenly the cabin started moving. Not literally, I realized. The floor remained fixed in place. The ceiling and walls, however, retreated to reveal a clear fuselage. I could see the spectacular sunset with its red golds, purples, and trailing pink staining the horizon with a panoramic view. The entire sky lit up with color, the white clouds bearing a glowing red gold aura.
My jaw gaped open. I’d never seen anything like it. It was almost like flying through the air without any mechanical means at all. I assumed it was as close to pure flight as a human was likely to get.
I felt like I had to say something. I tried to regain some of my dignity with a joke.
“Does Wonder Woman know you stole her invisible jet?” I asked.
He chuckled obligingly, but it was obvious to anyone that I was dumbstruck.
“These jets are still in the prototype phase. I, however, was able to get a fast track onto the first beta test.”
“Beta test, huh? So, we’re going to fall apart in mid-flight?”
He shook his head.
“Not hardly. I would never take this ship into the air if it weren’t perfectly safe.”
I gaped at how gorgeous it was to see a sunset at that height. I was used to sunset being more or less one-dimensional. Like, I looked up into the sky in a certain direction and there it was.
But at forty thousand feet, the sunset took on new dimensions. It painted the clouds below, above, all around us. The sky seemed a brilliant hue of blue-gold, and it calmed my soul just to see it. I had to admit, I didn’t feel like complaining about the impromptu plane ride any longer.
I supposed it might have seemed pretty normal to a billionaire playboy like Evan to just take an interviewee for a ride in his jet. Sort of like taking a ride in a car to him.
“You still seem rather tense, Amanda.”
“I guess I am. It’s not every day that you share space with the legendary Evan Jones.”
“Legendary is what they call you when you’re dead. I’m very much alive.”
Yeah, he was. And gorgeous to boot. I allowed myself to fall into the brilliant pools of his eyes and never felt like climbing back out.
“Does your neck hurt?”
I hadn’t realized I was rubbing it.
“There’s this one spot that’s been tight lately. I really need to stop skipping my morning yoga—hello, what are you doing?”
He stood up and walked behind my chair, then put his hands on my shoulders. I started to tell him to stop, but his fingers were like magic. The tension and pain in my neck had been constant for some time. He worked the muscles into limp submission, and the tightness just drained away.
“You’re so tense,” he said, going to work on another tight knot of muscle. “You work yourself so very hard.”
“I have to. It’s a demanding profession.” I resisted the urge to let my head loll. His touch felt so good, in more ways than one. “That feels so nice.”
“Relax,” he said, gently shaking my shoulders. “Just relax.”
I did my best to obey. He returned to massaging my shoulders, and I did let my head loll, my eyes squeezing shut. I let out a sharp gasp of pain that turned into a satisfied moan of relief.
“That’s it,” he purred. “Just let me take care of you, beautiful.”
Take care of me? I knew where it was going, and I had no intention of resisting temptation this time.