CHAPTER EIGHT
The plane’s wheels hit the runway with a hard jolt, causing Nova to jerk forward in her seat. Thank goodness for seat belts.
As the plane taxied to the gate, she looked out the window. It was dreary outside with thick grey clouds and rain. She smirked, thinking how the weather was perfectly in sync with her mood.
Once they reached the gate, she stayed seated as the seatbelt signs dinged off and the rows in front of her sprang to life.
She laughed to herself as she watched people pulling their bags from the overhead and jockeying for position to get off the plane.
The worst were the impatient ones who tried to force their way to the front of the plane.
Considering she was in the last row and wasn’t in a hurry, she sat back in her seat, took out her phone, and powered it on.
She had five missed calls and seven text messages. Three of the missed calls were from Rick, and the other two were from her mother. She wouldn’t be returning their calls because she had nothing to say to them.
She scrolled through the text messages and answered her sister’s text. Sophia had sent her a few condo listings nearby that she wanted Nova to check out.
She looked through the other messages. Four were from people at work.
One was from Rick telling her that they needed to talk, which she deleted.
And the last one was from her mother telling her that she needed to call her to discuss things.
Yep, that wasn’t happening either, and she deleted her message.
With a sigh, she tucked her phone into her backpack and stood up since her row was next.
Reaching up toward the overhead bin, she pushed the latch open and stood on her toes as her arms stretched to grab her carry-on bag. But all she got was air.
What the hell? Unless the bag had suddenly sprouted legs, it should have been right there.
She backed up a little, stood on her tiptoes, and saw that the bag had shifted during the flight and had slid all the way to the back of the overhead, completely out of her reach.
She tried again, leaning further, but her fingertips barely grazed the edge of the handle. Being five-foot-three did have its disadvantages.
She was just about to ask the tall flight attendant who was standing nearby for assistance when a large, muscular arm reached over her shoulder and snagged the bag with ease.
Nova’s eyes darted upward, only to meet a pair of striking, light blue eyes framed by thick black lashes and a chiseled jaw dusted with dark stubble.
Holy hell, she thought. Her breath caught as the tall, broad-shouldered man handed the bag to her like it weighed nothing.
“I think this was what you were searching for,” he stated, his tone sounding slightly amused.
It took a few seconds for Nova to stop eye fucking Mr. Sexy Blue Eyes and to form a sentence.
“Umm. Yes, that’s mine. Thank you.”
She cringed inwardly at how awkward that sounded, but recovered with a small, professional smile as she took the bag from his hands. “Appreciate it.”
“No problem,” he said with a casual shrug, his voice low and easy.
With that, he turned toward the aisle, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder as the line of passengers started to inch forward again.
Nova remained rooted for a moment, staring at the back of his head. His dark hair was cut short, but not military short. His T-shirt stretched across his back and shoulders, hinting at more of the sculpted muscle that had just made her carry-on situation look like childs play.
She shook her head quickly and followed after him. What the hell was that? She never reacted to men like that. Maybe because you never allowed yourself to see the world around you, the little voice inside her head said.
The comment wasn’t far off. She had been blind to a lot of things thanks to her parents. She and Rick had been together for the last two and a half years, and before that, she had been too busy with law school even to consider dating.
Now, with him gone and out of her life, her eyes were finally open again.
It had been so long since she had really seen someone, like, really had seen them, not just glanced past them on her way to a court hearing or a client meeting.
That man didn’t know who she was, and didn’t look at her like a liability or a chess piece.
He had just helped her, not expecting anything in return. It seemed so easy and normal.
Still, she was here for work. Not to ogle attractive strangers with kind smiles and gorgeous blue eyes that made her forget how to form words. Okay, and a nice butt. Yeah, she couldn’t help herself and took a peek.
She stepped off the plane and onto the jet bridge. As she moved through the terminal, weaving between travelers and signs pointing toward baggage claim, her mind drifted back, just for a second, to that man’s face. Damn, she wasn’t going to forget those eyes for a while.
She sighed, adjusting the straps of her backpack on her shoulder as she descended the escalator. The buzz of the airport grew louder with overhead announcements, the low rumble of rolling luggage, and the chatter of people at arrivals.
Her eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on a man standing near the bottom of the escalator, holding a small sign—Ms. Nova Hart.
She made her way over, pushing her thoughts back into place.
“Hi,” she said as she approached. “I’m Nova Hart.”
The older man nodded politely and offered a warm smile. “Welcome to Lafayette, ma’am. My name is Harry. I’m one of Mr. Silverman’s drivers. He arranged for me to take you to him. May I take your bag for you?”
She smiled as she handed him her duffel bag. “Nice to meet you, Harry. And thank you.”
She followed him outside and toward an area designated for hired cars. And just like that, Mr. Sexy Blue Eyes faded into the background. Nova Hart was back in work mode, and she had a job to do.
◆◆◆
Snow stepped off the plane and into the terminal, the steady flow of passengers moving around him as he adjusted the strap of his backpack and scanned ahead for the team.
His mind wasn’t on the exit signs or the crowd or even the next leg of their movement.
It was still back on the plane, on Nova Hart.
He spotted Bear first, then the rest of the team nearby. All of them were watching him with identical expressions that said, ‘We need to talk.’
Snow headed their way, already knowing exactly what that conversation was going to be about.
“Tell me I wasn’t the only one who saw who was on our flight,” Aussie muttered the second Snow got close enough.
“You weren’t,” Snow replied, not breaking his stride.
Bear gave a low whistle. “So that was her.”
“Yep,” Snow said flatly, though his jaw tightened just a fraction. She was the attorney he would be working with. The one they had gotten intel on, only an hour before they left Virginia Beach. And somehow out of every possible connecting flight, she ended up on theirs via a layover in Dallas.
Snow had been sitting in the row in front of her on the opposite side. He had seen her the second she boarded. Then he had thought about how she had struggled with her bag.
He almost smiled at the memory despite himself. How she had stretched up on her toes, determined and stubborn as hell, refusing to ask for help even when it was obvious she needed it. He had stepped in without thinking and handed it down to her.
Then she had looked at him with those stunning dark blue eyes. Oh, hell, no. He wasn’t going there and pushed that thought aside as they started moving toward the exit.
As they moved through the airport, weaving through the crowd, Snow’s thoughts circled back to her file.
She was the youngest of four. Her father owned the firm where she worked. She graduated from Duke University and was in the top five of her class. She had no criminal record, not even a traffic violation. The woman was squeaky clean.
The one thing he noticed was that she wasn’t wearing a ring. Her file indicated she was engaged, though it hadn’t been confirmed. Not that it mattered because he couldn’t care less.
“She looks nothing like the picture in her file,” Nails said.
Snow couldn’t argue with that. The photo they had was pulled straight from her firm’s website, with her wearing glasses, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, and dressed in a sharp suit that made her look every bit like a polished corporate attorney.
In that picture, she came off cold and distant—the kind of woman who could tear someone apart in a courtroom without breaking a sweat.
But the Nova Hart he had just interacted with was nothing like that. The woman who stood in front of him in skinny jeans, white sneakers, and a loose blouse didn’t look cold or untouchable. She looked very approachable, like someone who wouldn’t even hurt a fly.
Her long, dark curls framed her face in a way that felt natural, not carefully styled, and her sun-kissed complexion gave her a warmth that stood out in a crowd.
And that was exactly what made Snow uneasy. Just because she was cute didn’t mean that she could handle what was waiting for them out on that rig. She was a tiny little thing. In Snow’s opinion, she could be a liability.
“Don’t let looks deceive you. Mr. Silverman swears she can hold her own,” Derek said with a smirk as they walked through the exit doors.
A few of the guys, including Snow, looked at Derek. Something about that smirk put him on edge. Was there something Derek knew and wasn’t saying?
Snow paused for half a second before answering, his eyes narrowing slightly as the memory of her struggling with her bag replayed in his head.
“She couldn’t even reach her own luggage,” he said bluntly.
Aussie snorted. “Are you saying that being short is a liability? Because I’m pretty sure that many of our women who fall in that category would disagree.”
Snow shook his head. “No. I’m not opposed to her being on the shorter side.
She was clearly struggling and didn’t ask for help when there were literally like five people right there who could have helped her.
So, my concern is what happens if something goes sideways when we are on that rig, and she’s too scared to speak up? ”
Snow climbed into the SUV with Derek, Bear, Nails, and Joker. The others rode in the second vehicle.
Derek turned to look at him. “Or, she’s exactly what Silverman says she is, and we’re underestimating her,” he countered before pulling out his phone and scrolling through it.
Bear looked at him. “Let’s just wait until we meet with her. As Derek said, maybe she’ll surprise us.”
Snow shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe.” But he wasn’t banking on it.