‘A dress?’ Kat grinned, just as Megan knew she would. ‘Well, it seems you’re not too adverse to Ryan, after all. Did something more happen between you two?’
Megan frowned as Kat lifted a playful brow. So, Ryan had bragged to Kat about what they’d done. ‘So, we had sex. Big freaking deal.’
Kat’s mouth fell open in surprise, but Megan didn’t really see it.
‘I’d been drinking. You saw me last night.’ Megan ran her hand over her hair, smoothing it unnecessarily towards her bun. ‘It’s his fault anyway that I’ve been celibate and it is just as well he fixed the problem.’
‘You’ve been celibate?’ Kat’s eyes rounded even more even though Megan wasn’t sure how that was possible. ‘Why?’
‘Well, he took the picture and . . .’ Megan motioned her hand in dismissal. ‘Do you have a dress for me or not? I promised Mom I’d bring something nice to wear.’
‘I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen you flustered. You liked it, didn’t you? You liked having sex with Ryan!’
Megan’s first impulse was to yell at her to shut her mouth and pull her hair like they were teenagers. But she held back. Barely.
‘Or is it that you like
him
?’ Kat gave a loud short laugh and clapped her hands. ‘Priceless.’
‘Listen, Mrs Richmond, are you going to loan me a designer original or not.’ Megan was not amused by the teasing.
‘I don’t own originals.’ Kat wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. ‘So neener neener.’
‘Grow up.’
‘Why? You’re adult enough for the both of us.’
‘I can’t believe he told you. Ugh!’ Megan reached out and pressed her hand against Kat’s face, pushing back lightly to get her to stop her childish dance. Laughter sounded as her sister dramatically stumbled back only to right herself.
‘Who told me what?’
‘Ryan. I can’t believe he told you about what happened. It’s a little creepy, don’t you think? You’re my sister.’
‘Uh, Megs,
you
told me. Just now. You are the creepy.’
‘No, I saw it in your expression. You already knew. The man probably tells you everything.’
‘Clearly not everything.’ Kat giggled. ‘Because I would have remembered that.’
‘Forget I came by. Forget I told you to call him. Don’t call him. In fact, I would consider it a favour if he missed the plane.’ Megan turned to go. ‘And forget the dress. I don’t need it.’
Kat only laughed harder. As she shut the front door, Megan heard her sister holler through the thick wood, ‘I can’t believe it. The great Meg has finally –’
‘Shut up, Katarina!’ Megan yelled back, not caring to hear the end of the sentence. She hurried down the small hall to the elevator and pushed the button several times in her irritation. ‘Come on!’
The elevator finally dinged and opened. Megan stormed inside, only to continue to take her anger out on the button to the first floor.
Three o’clock in the morning came too early, but Megan refused to spend the night at her parents’ house just for an extra half-hour of sleep. But the root of her exhaustion wasn’t lack of sleep, but more what had kept her from getting rest. Images of Ryan haunted her fantasies. She wished she could say ‘haunted her dreams’, but she’d been fully awake when the erotic thoughts occurred.
Unbidden, the feel of Ryan’s body had curled around hers, hugging her like a blanket. In her mind, her hand became his hand, drawing up her T-shirt, cupping a breast, tugging her panties low on her hip. As she wiggled on the bed, pleasuring herself with the aid of her realistically shaped vibrator, she longed for the heat of Ryan’s body over hers. Even as she orgasmed, the coldness of it left her unsatisfied.
Now, waiting to board their flight, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She’d purposefully taken a seat in the waiting area far enough from the rest of her family not to have to talk to them, but close enough not to be suspicious. But it wasn’t her mother, who’d arranged for them to show up at the airport four hours before the plane took off, or her two giggling sisters, who were clearly plotting, or even her snoring father that caused Megan to keep to herself. It was Ryan. He sat next to Vincent, speaking in low tones, too low for her to hear. Megan pretended to sleep, keeping her eyes closed, but every fibre of her being focused on her ‘fiancé’.
‘Hey,’ Kat said. Megan felt a kick at her foot. ‘That’s us.’
‘Wake up, sleepyhead,’ Sasha said.
Megan opened her eyes just in time to see her walk past. Just like her, Kat and Sasha wore T-shirts and comfortable sweatpants – Megan in black cotton with white stripes and flared legs, Kat in tighter brown cashmere with pink accents, Sasha in two shades of blue.
‘Let’s go,’ Beatrice said, jolting with excitement as she urged them all to hurry. With hair and makeup firmly in place, their mother looked beautiful and awake and incredibly put together in her long-sleeve black blouse and leopard-print scarf. Megan never understood why people dressed up to get on a plane. Then again, she never dressed up to go anywhere.
‘You ready?’ Ryan’s voice washed over her, sending chills along her flesh.
Of course, she knew she’d have to talk to him on this trip, but the sound of his voice took her by surprise. She blinked, looking up into his tired brown eyes. Stubble grew over his jawline, accenting his strong features. A lightening bruise encircled the bottom of one eye. Since she’d been blamed for it by Sasha that morning when he arrived at their parents’ house, Megan knew he’d got the black eye from some misunderstanding.
Her gaze travelled down his arm to his hand. He turned his palm towards her, lifting it ever so slightly as if to offer it to her. She pushed up from the chair, not taking it. When she made a move to pick a small backpack carry-on off the floor, he was right beside her, lifting it up before she could grab it.
‘Allow me,’ he said, his voice tight. Before she could speak, he walked away.
‘The sooner we get on the plane, the sooner we can go back to sleep,’ her father said, lightly touching her arm. He nudged her along with him to get into line. ‘Your mother means well, but I think she got us here a little too early.’
‘It’s impossible to tell these days,’ Megan said, wondering why she defended her mother, ‘with airport security being so tight.’
‘Is everything all right between you and Ryan?’ Her father abruptly changed the subject. ‘You seem distant from him.’
Megan looked her father over without appearing obvious. He seemed paler than usual and tired. Was there something to her mother’s claim that her father wasn’t feeling well? Or was it merely bad airport lighting and no sleep? Not willing to take a chance, she lied, ‘No, everything is fine. I don’t like flying and he’s respecting my grumpiness by leaving me be.’
‘Ah.’ Douglas nodded, as if understanding.
‘Tickets,’ a flight attendant said.
‘Oh, no, here, they’re with us, too.’ Her mother thrust two tickets at the woman and smiled brightly, as Megan dug out her driver’s licence and flashed it at the attendant.
They walked with the other passengers to board the plane. The long hallway curved, separated into metal sections that eventually created a seal around the airplane’s door.
Her father paused, letting her step inside first. ‘I’m glad we’re doing this,’ Douglas said. ‘It’ll be fun. I only wish Ella could make it.’
‘Me, too, Dad,’ Megan agreed.
The first-class section consisted of a small area of cushy seats. Megan looked at them in longing, knowing what awaited them behind the curtain in their section. Towards the back, her mother motioned at them to hurry. Already Sasha, Kat and Vincent sat in a row of three, Kat in the middle flipping through an airline shopping magazine. Vincent gazed affectionately at his wife and Sasha stared out the small window.
Megan paused, looking from the empty seat next to her mother’s purse, to Ryan standing expectantly in the aisle. Both spots were in rows of two seats. Which one would make for the worse travelling companion? Her mother or her pretend fiancé? Before she could snag her father’s spot, he moved past her and sat down by his wife. Megan turned her full attention to Ryan.
‘Do you want the window?’ he asked.
Did he have to look at her like that? All soft and gorgeous? The light scent of his cologne caught her attention. A shiver worked over her, as desire threaded its way through her senses. She brushed past him, not saying a word as she took the window seat. Ryan was slower to follow, sliding in next to her.
A night of unsatisfying desires followed by a morning actively pretending not to notice him became almost too much to deal with. Megan took a deep breath, more aware of the heat coming off Ryan’s leg than of the people moving about the cabin. Her family was seated slightly behind them and wouldn’t be able to see her face unless she turned or lifted up in her seat. Aside from strangers, whose opinions she didn’t care about, no one could see what they were doing.
Ryan’s leg shifted and his muscular thigh drew her attention down. It was close and she wanted to touch it, to run her hand up to his cock, to straddle his legs as she rubbed her sex against his lap. A light moan escaped her.
‘Megan?’ Ryan asked.
Startled by the questioning sound, her eyes darted from his crotch to his gaze. ‘I hate flying. I feel sick.’ The words were weak, made even more so by the way she fumbled for the shade, pulling the hard plastic over the window to block out the light and hopefully hide her flushed cheeks. Her words weren’t a complete lie. She did hate flying. Not because she was scared, but because it was like all the discomfort and unpleasantness of a fifteen-hour bus trip crammed into half the time. Either way, you got the same amount of travel lag, only on an airplane they gave you a bag of five peanuts and a tiny glass of soda.
‘Hey, don’t worry.’ Ryan’s hand brushed her knee.
Megan stared at the plastic cover, realising that she must indeed look frightened. But it wasn’t takeoff that caused her to shake. She was scared of herself, of what she felt, of what she shouldn’t be feeling for the impostor who invaded her life.
‘Nothing will happen,’ he reassured her.
Nothing? Megan took a deep breath, having a hard time concentrating. Then, a strange fact came to her: Ryan had power over her and she secretly liked it. There was nothing she could do but wait and see what would happen next. Morally, of course, she resented being forced into an engagement, but, sinfully speaking, she kind of liked that he had the balls to even try blackmailing her.
‘How can you know nothing will happen?’ Megan found herself asking. She glanced to the strong hand by her knee, remembering what they felt like on her hips as he pulled and pushed with such gentle force. The moment should have been a cold and methodical memory so she couldn’t be obsessed by it. Instead, it was all she could think about.
‘Tea leaves,’ he said.
It took Megan a moment to process his words. Eyes rounding, she looked at his face. He smirked in amusement. Unable to help herself, she gave a small laugh. ‘You wouldn’t joke about that if it had been your mother who tried to keep you out of the state volleyball game because the tea leaves said she should.’
‘Did she succeed?’ He leant closer.
Her voice dropped to match his. ‘No. I went anyway and we won.’
‘So the leaves were wrong.’
‘They’re never wrong. Just ask Mom.’ Megan tilted her chin up. If only she had the power to freeze time. She’d keep him like this, his features shaded to perfection by the light coming in from outside. Tousled hair framed his face, just as it did when they worked late at a crime scene, and the brown of his eyes was sleepily seductive. Bedroom eyes. His lips parted and it would be so easy to slip her tongue along the edge, pushing them open wider. The man did know how to kiss. Airplane bathrooms weren’t her idea of a romantic time, but maybe the mile-highers had the right idea.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
‘I was drunk.’ Megan knew it was a lie and hated herself for resorting to it, but how else could she explain letting him take her like a back-alley whore?
‘At a state championship?’ Ryan pulled back, frowning.
‘What?’ Megan asked. Crap! He is still talking about tea leaves. Concentrate, Megan, concentrate.
‘You were drunk at state?’
‘Of course I wasn’t drunk at state,’ Megan snorted. ‘I was eighteen. That would have been illegal.’
‘But –’
‘I’m going to sleep now.’ She angled her back towards him and closed her eyes. Crap, crap, crap!
It had to be lack of sleep. That was why she was so shaken. Resting her head against the wall, she tried not to smell him, as she willed the coolness of the plane to soak into her body.
‘Megan?’ Ryan asked softly.
She didn’t move. Let him think she slept.
‘Megan?’
Still, she didn’t move. All of a sudden, hands brushed her hips. She stiffened in surprise, instantly turning to join her mouth to Ryan’s. Her lips parted, inches from his, she stopped as the sound of her seatbelt clicking caught her attention.