Love at First Flight (2 page)

“Don't be.”

“It's just my family. They drive me
nuts. My mother, she needs... She has problems.”

“That's tough. I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry I have to deal with it every
day of my life.”

“Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“Two of each, but they're much older
than me and mostly useless. How about you?”

“I'm the baby, too. I have three older
sisters.”

“I'll bet they doted on you,” Juliana
said, seeming relieved by the shift in conversation away from her troubles.

He grinned. “Oh, yeah, nonstop torture.
They were forever dressing me up as their living doll. Don't tell anyone that.
It'll kill my image.” Noticing how she clutched the armrest as the plane
hurtled down the runway and lifted into the sky, he wanted to offer her a hand
to hold but didn't.

“Are you close to your sisters?” she
asked once they were airborne and she'd released the death grip on the armrest.

“Yeah, all of them. They're married with
scads of kids who're the most adorable kids in the world, of course.”

She smiled. “Do you see them very often?”

“I get up there every now and then, but
it's harder since Paige moved to Florida. Whenever I have a free weekend, I end
up down there.”

“Is your family coming to the party this
weekend?”

“They couldn't get away for it, but
that's fine with me. My folks and hers don't have much in common.”

“You must be excited about the wedding
at least.”

He thought about that for a minute. “I'd
be more excited if it hadn't turned into such a circus. I've already heard
enough about it to last me forever, and I've got eight months to go.”

“Big to-do, huh?”

“The biggest of to-dos, which is not at
all what I wanted. But she's their only child, so I gave in.”

“It must've been hard for you to get
away so close to the trial.”

“We've been working weekends for months
now, so my boss wasn't thrilled, believe me. But he's a good friend of the
Admiral's. That's Paige's dad.”

Juliana raised an eyebrow. “You call him
'the Admiral'?”

“
Everyone
calls him 'the Admiral.' He retired as superintendent of the Naval Academy last
year.”

The stewardess came to take their drink
order.

“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.

“Why not?” She ordered a gin and tonic,
and he asked for a beer.

He paid for the drinks and saluted her
with his can. “Cheers. Here's to a good weekend.”

“I'll drink to that.”

***

“Ladies and gentlemen, as we make our
final approach into Jacksonville, we thank you again for choosing Southwest
Airlines. Enjoy the weekend.”

Juliana looked up, surprised by how fast
two hours had passed as she chatted with Michael. The thought of seeing Jeremy
in a few minutes filled her with nervous energy and excitement.

“Are you ready?” Michael asked.

He had the bluest eyes she'd ever seen
and a sexy smile that made her tingle all over when he directed it at her. “As
ready as I'll ever be.”

“I'm sure you'll have a great time. Keep
in mind that all guys suck on the phone. Paige is forever complaining that I
never have anything to say.”

Juliana appreciated his attempt to
bolster her confidence.

“How about you? Ready to put on your
best party face?”

“I don't have much of a party face.”

“You've got five minutes to get one.”

“When do you go back?” he asked.

“Seven on Sunday evening.”

“Me, too!”

“We can compare notes,” she said, oddly
relieved to know she would see him again. “I'll look forward to it.”

They gathered their bags and walked up
the Jetway and through the terminal together. When she spotted Jeremy waiting
for her, she looked over to say good-bye to Michael, who had made eye contact
with his fiancee, a waiflike blonde with porcelain features and big blue eyes.
She looked like she would break if hugged too hard and wasn't at all what
Juliana had pictured for him.

“I'll see you Sunday,” she said to
Michael.

“Have a good one,” he said, walking
toward Paige as she went to Jeremy.

“Who's that guy?” Jeremy asked when she
reached up to hug him. He was eight inches taller than her and still built like
the football player he had been in high school.

“Just someone I sat next to on the
plane. How are you?” She looked him over for clues to what was trou-bling him
lately, but he looked the same as he always did. He kept his curly blond hair
cut short now that he was older, but when she met him it had been six inches
high and unruly—a lot like he had been then.

“Fine,” he said, leaning down to kiss
her.

She turned away from the scent of stale
beer on his breath. “Have you been drinking, Jer?”

“Just a few beers with the guys after
work,” he said with a shrug. “Your flight was late, so I had time to kill.”

Judging by the glassy look in his eyes,
Juliana could tell that he'd had more than a few and was disappointed he had
done that on the night she was coming to visit.

Holding hands, they walked by Michael as
he hugged Paige.

He glanced at Juliana, and the dismayed
expression on his face made her sad for him.

CHAPTER 2

“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” JULIANA ASKED AS
SHE DROVE Jeremy's Toyota SUV south from the airport and followed his
directions past the exit for Jacksonville Beach where he lived in a small
rented house with two of his co-workers from Baltimore. She usually stayed with
him there when she came to visit.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said
with a charming smile.

A rush of emotion reminded her of how
much she loved him. “Really? Tell me!”

“No, you'll have to wait.” He reached
for her hand. “It's good to see you, babe.”

“Is it?”

He looked over at her. “Of course it is.
Why would you ask that?”

“You haven't seemed all that happy to
hear from me lately.”

“It's been so crazy here. There's a lot
of pressure to meet the next deadline, and the install isn't going well. We've
had one setback after another. Everyone wants to get it done and get out of
here.”

“Is that all it is?”

“What's with you, Jule?” he asked,
exasperated. “Where's all this coming from?”

She focused on the road, annoyed that
she'd had to do the driving. “Never mind. Let's just have a good weekend.”
These days, they were under so much pressure to make the most of the brief time
they had together.

He let go of her hand to change the
radio station.

They drove in silence for a while until
he directed her to turn into the Sawgrass Marriott Resort at Ponte Vedra Beach.

“What are we doing here?” The lush
landscaping and manicured golf course were beautifully lit. A sign on the lawn
pronounced the course to be the “Home of the PGA Players Championship.”

“I got a bonus last week and decided to
splurge.”

She let out a squeal of excitement. “For
real?”

Smiling, he glanced over at her. “Does
that mean you approve?”

“Definitely.”

They checked in and were shown to a
luxurious oceanfront room with a king-sized bed.

She nibbled on her thumbnail while he
tipped the bellman. “This is going to cost a fortune, Jer,” she said when they
were alone.

“Don't sweat it, babe.” He pulled open
the sliding door and stepped onto the balcony. “Come on out.”

The surf pounded in the darkness as she
joined him.

He brought her closer to him and leaned
in to kiss her.

They'd been lovers for so many years
that he was home to her, no matter where they were. He ran his tongue along her
bottom lip, and she wrapped her arms around him, wanting him desperately. She
just wished he didn't taste like stale beer and smell like cigarette smoke.

“I love you, Jule. I've missed you so
much.”

“Me, too,” she whispered as his cell
phone rang.

 
“Ignore
it,” he said against her lips. When the phone rang again, Jeremy pulled away
from her to turn it off. “Sorry about that.”

“What if it's work?”

“They're going to have to live without
me tonight. I've got better things to do.”

“Do you mind if I take a quick shower?”

“As long as it's quick, I'll allow it.”

She left him with one last kiss and took
her bag into the bathroom. After she showered, she stood in front of the mirror
brushing her long dark hair until it fell in soft, shiny waves down her back.
The ivory silk nightgown she bought just for this weekend with Jeremy made for
a striking contrast with her olive complexion. As she brushed her hair one last
time, Juliana suddenly thought of Michael and the strange look on his face when
he greeted his fiancee at the airport. She wondered how his weekend was going so
far.

Emerging from the bathroom, her heart
raced with anticipation and desire. She couldn't wait to make love with Jeremy
after so many weeks apart. But when she saw him sprawled out on the bed fast
asleep, the disappointment hit like a fist to the belly. He'd had enough beer
to knock him out for the night, and she knew from experience that there was no
point in trying to rouse him.

Juliana ventured onto the patio and
curled up on one of the lounge chairs to listen to the pounding surf. Filled
with frustration, she hoped Michael's evening had gone better than hers.

***

The bright sunlight streaming into the
room woke her early the next morning. Stretching out the stiffness from a night
in a strange bed, she glanced over at Jeremy.

Before this interminable separation,
they had lived together for four years. People often asked her why they hadn't
gotten married, especially after they marked their tenth anniversary together.
The only answer Juliana could ever give was that he hadn't asked her. More than
one friend recommended an ultimatum, but Juliana had never seen the need for
threats. What they had was special, and it always had been.

Jeremy transferred into her high school
at the begin-ning of their junior year, and tugged her out from behind the dark
clouds of life with a needy, alcoholic mother to life with him in the sunshine.
With his quick wit and talent on the football field, he fit in right away with
kids who had been indifferent to Juliana for years. Before she knew it, she'd
been elevated from obscurity to half of a couple whose names were mentioned
together so often that JeremyandJuliana took on the same easy cadence as peanut
butter and jelly.

After graduation, she pursued a career
in cosmetology while he studied electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins. When
all the couples they knew in high school either moved into marriage and
families in the suburbs or broke up during college, they continued on with just
an occasional discussion about marriage. Until he had been transferred to
Florida for this endless year, they hadn't spent a night apart in four years.
And even though they had never actually taken the vows, Juliana considered them
married in all the ways that mattered most.

They had also discovered there was a lot
more to making love than what they'd done as fumbling teenagers overwhelmed by
a love they were too young to fully understand and hormones they were powerless
against. Back then Jeremy lived with a single mother who worked second shift as
a nurse, so they took full advantage of the ample opportunity to work on
getting it right.

Juliana ran a finger down his chest, and
he gathered her closer. She kissed his shoulder and snuggled up to him.

When he finally opened one blue eye, he
winced at the bright light and seemed to realize all at once that he was still
dressed in yesterday's clothes. “Oh my God,” he groaned. “I totally conked out
on you.”

“Yep.”

“I'm sorry, babe. Are you pissed?”

“No.”

He ran his hand up and down her
silk-covered back. “Disappointed?” he asked with a cajoling smile. “A little.”

Nuzzling her neck, he said, “Let me hit
the bathroom, and then I'll make it up to you.”

Having shed his clothes in the bathroom,
he came back a minute later, slid into bed, and reached for her. “I'm sorry I
fell asleep.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “All I thought about this
week was being with you.”

“I know. Me, too.”

“I'm sorry I blew it,” he said,
capturing her mouth in a long, slow kiss flavored by toothpaste.

“I forgive you,” she said, already
breathless. “I've missed being able to touch you.”

He tugged at the sheet to uncover her
and cast an appreciative glance at the ivory nightgown. “Wow, look at you.”