Kissing Fire (11 page)

I felt the tension leave her body and soon after I
heard her breathing even out. Not long after that, she was purring
again and I just sat there and smiled.

Chapter 11

Avery

For some reason, I was finding it difficult to
breathe. It almost felt like I was having an asthma attack, only I
didn’t have asthma. I pried my eyes open and found myself staring
into darkness. That was odd. There should’ve been some kind of
lights on in this plane. I wiggled my head around and I realized my
face was smushed into something. Oh dear God, I was face planted in
Preston’s lap, and there was something decidedly large and hard
directly beneath my mouth. I jerked my head up and found myself eye
to eye with the owner of such appendage.

He didn’t have to tell me, I already knew I had
drooled everywhere. My chin was dripping with the darn stuff and I
didn’t dare look at where my head had just been. I tried to speak,
but nothing came to the surface. He just stared at me, with those
damn sexy eyes of his, half closed and all golden brown.

Fuck! Why had he let me sleep like that? I dragged
my hand across my mouth, wiping the drool off my face. Then, much
to my dismay, or maybe it was my pleasure, he reached out his hand
and took his thumb and ran it across my chin.

“You missed a spot,” he murmured. His voice was deep
and husky and caused shivers to run up my spine.

I licked my lips because my mouth had suddenly gone
dry.

“You look very...” he began, but I interrupted
him.

“Oh don’t bother telling me. I’m sure I look like
something the cat dragged in.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

I hadn’t noticed at first, but we had a bit of an
audience. When I sat all the way back in my seat, several men
around us were giving Preston that look that guys give each other.
Then I made the mistake of letting my eyes drop to his crotch. I
couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped from my mouth. He had a giant
circle of wet drool right smack dab in the center, courtesy of
yours truly.

“Oh crap! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I wouldn’t have dared.” That’s all he said. Now
what the heck did that mean?

Now I was surrounded by a bunch of men, chuckling,
Preston included. I flashed him the meanest look I could muster.
Then I added, “Go ahead and keep that up mister.”

Then some rat bastard sitting a couple of people
away from me leaned forward and said, “Oh, and what are you gonna
do to him? Drool some more?” There were other comments that started
flying around, but I couldn’t hear all of them for the noisiness of
the plane. It was probably my saving grace, because I was filled
with mortification. There was not any hope of extracting myself
from this embarrassing predicament. Should I try to dab the drool
from his crotch? Or would that draw even more attention to my major
faux pas? Crap. What to do? Where was Melissa when I needed her
most? I decided on silence as my best course of action. Apparently,
I had a pouty look on my face because Preston leaned over and
whispered, “I wouldn’t stick your lip out that far if I were you.
Those men over there would probably give you good money to get
their lips on it.”

“Ah! Of all the...”

“Hey, I’m not the one pouting Avery.”

“Hrmpphhth!” That was it. No more talking for me.
This man was sending me so many mixed signals, I didn’t know if I
was up or down anymore. Cheezits, and then there was that little
thing about some mean people out there that might want to kill me.
What the hell had happened to my normal, mundane boring life? I
mean, one minute, I’m living in Charleston, bored to death, killing
myself with fried chicken and chocolate covered donuts, and the
next, I’m flying in a humongous military jet, with some hot DEA
agent, fleeing from some evil Mexican drug lords that might want me
dead.

Suddenly, I couldn’t seem to get any air into my
lungs, and it wasn’t because my face was squished in hot DEA
agent’s crotch. I seriously could not breathe. I was sucking in air
like crazy, but my lungs didn’t seem to be working properly. My
head started jerking around, and then I hopped up to my feet and
started running. I didn’t have a clue where I was going. I just was
getting the hell out of wherever I was. A roaring filled my ears,
way more than what the plane was making and my vision was starting
to get covered in little dots. Someone’s hands latched onto my
shoulders and I tried to scream, but again there was that no oxygen
thing, so I cowered and fell to my knees instead and curled up into
a ball. God, where had all the damn air gone? What was happening to
me? My hands covered my ears because it had become so noisy in
there I couldn’t stand it.

Someone put something over my mouth and I felt a
warm hand on mine moving it away from my ear. “Take some deep
breaths Avery. Long and slow.”

I tried, but I didn’t think I was able to. Then I
heard that soothing voice again. “That’s a good girl. Take another
one.”

That voice kept coaching me along and all of a
sudden, my throat and lungs opened up, and voila! Precious air
flowed in.

“Not too fast honey. Stay with the long and slow
breaths for a bit.”

Whatever had been on my face was removed and the
cool air hit my mouth. I opened my eyes and Preston’s face was
hovering over me.

“Hey. You back with me?”

I kept blinking, trying to figure out what the heck
had just happened to me.

“I’m not sure. Where are we?”

“We’re on a plane flying to Andrews. Remember?”

“Ugh.” I rubbed my face. And then I did the most God
awful thing ever. I started bawling. I mean the kind of crying
where snot bubbles out of your nose and runs everywhere and you
start hiccuping and all that crap. He patted my back and didn’t say
anything. What a goober I was. I could not for the life of me pull
my shit together either. This was so unlike me. My attempts at
apologizing sounded so stupid. They came out like those damn
gurfing noises that pigs make when they’re eating. They made me cry
even harder. And then when I thought about where I was, the
floodgates really opened up. I’m pretty sure I cried for two hours
because one of those military guys came up to us and told us we
were about to land and that we needed to get off the floor and into
our seats.

Well, didn’t that make me feel all proud of my
behavior?

“Oh my God. Can it possibly get any worse?” I said
it out loud, not intending to.

Preston, hearing my question, answered me. “Avery,
this is nothing honey. You should see some of the predicaments I’ve
found myself in.”

Before we could make it back to our seats, the plane
hit an air pocket and we both went flying. Of course, hot DEA agent
recovered admirably, but not Extra Large Avery. I landed on my ass,
in front of God and everyone else. That was the whipped cream and
cherry on top of the other incident. I had finally hit the bottom
of the Avery barrel.

********

Leaving that plane was the greatest feeling in the
world. I think I hit that ramp at a full on sprint.

“Avery, wait up,” Preston yelled.

I paid him no mind. I wanted to get the hell out of
that metal tube and go somewhere so I could hide my head in the
sand like an ostrich. Maybe it would make me forget all of that
stuff that happened. I doubt it. You don’t ever forget being
humiliated like that. I knew I would take that with me to the
grave.

The pounding of feet got closer and then he grabbed
my arm, forcing me to stop. I was so winded, I would’ve stopped any
minute anyway.

“Where are you going?”

“Anywhere,” I gasped out between breaths. “Away from
here.”

“We have to get on the next flight.”

“I don’t want to. I want to go home. Back to
Charleston. I want to wake up and know this was some crazy dream
and that none of this awful stuff really happened to me. I want my
old boring and sad life back. In fact, I take back all the bad
stuff I said about it. It wasn’t that bad now that I think of it.
You can leave me here and I’ll get my own ride home. I’ll be fine.
Really.”

“You know I can’t do that. You have to come with me.
Now Avery.”

“Please Preston. If those men come and get me, I’ll
just tell them I don’t know you. I really don’t. I mean I only now
just learned your name isn’t Just Miles. Please,” I begged.

“Avery, you know I can’t.”

My body was really shaking all over and I couldn’t
seem to make it quit. I rubbed my hands together and then folded my
arms around me. My leg shook as I thumped my knee up and down.

He turned me around and we headed toward a small jet
that waited on the tarmac with its door opened. It resembled the
jet owned by Middleton Enterprises, the corporation my family was
part owners of. We climbed the stairs and were met by a flight crew
of one. I asked for a glass of bourbon, neat, but the man just gave
me a strange look.

Preston buckled my seat belt and we were airborne
moments later.

“Is it possible to go insane in twenty four hours?”
I asked him.

“I suppose so.”

“Then you might need to check me into the mental
institution.”

“That’s not even funny Avery.”

“I’m not joking Preston.”

He looked me hard in the eyes and then he lifted up
the divider between our seats. He put his arm around me and pulled
me as close to him as he could, considering we were wearing seat
belts, and hugged me.

“I’m so sorry all this has happened, but I promise
it will get better.”

“Do you really think so or are you just trying to
make me feel better?”

The pause, the hesitation indicated what he was
going to say, even before he said it.

“I think a little of both.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure. I’ll have to get a new
job.”

He laughed.

“I didn’t mean that as a joke.”

“I’m sorry Avery. I laughed because I wish I could
tell you how many times I prayed for the DEA to fire me. I can’t
get a new job and I really want one!”

I sat up and looked at him. “I don’t understand. Why
don’t you just walk away?”

He scraped his lower lip between his teeth. “I wish
it were that simple. It’s so difficult to explain and I’m not even
sure I can.”

I felt like I was being dismissed. I leaned back in
my seat and pretended to sleep. It was a long flight because I
pretended the whole way.

We finally we reached our destination and got off
that plane. If I never saw another plane, it would be too soon for
me. I happened to look up at Preston and he had this look of
solitude on his face.

“You really like it here, don’t you?”

“You have no idea. This place puts me in the most
relaxed frame of mind...away from all the ugliness in my day to day
world. Yes, I love it here. I can’t wait for you to see the
cabin.”

We walked around to the side where there was a
parking lot and I wondered about how we would be getting to his
place when he unlocked a Jeep Wrangler.

“Do you keep this thing here?”

“Yeah. She’s always waiting on me,” he answered with
a smile.

We left the airport and stopped at the grocery store
to stock up on everything. Preston bought tons of everything and I
was glad because I was not one of those girls who lived on a
lettuce leaf and a celery stalk every day. Then we drove for about
an hour. The views were something out of a picture book...snow
capped majestic mountains rising before us with an azure sky as a
backdrop. We passed the Missouri Headwaters State Park and kept
going for about another half hour and then he turned off on a one
lane road. After about five miles we came to a locked gate. He
entered the code and the gate slid open. We went through two more
of those and then we came to a ten foot gate that was a part of a
ten foot wall. It seemed to surround the place. The others had only
been the short three foot kind.

I commented on this. “Have you set up a fortress
here or something?”

“Yeah, something like that,” he answered.

Interesting. I wondered about this as we drove
through that final gate and then we had another half mile to travel
until we came to his ‘cabin.’ His version of a cabin and my version
of a cabin were two different things. His was awesome.

“Oh Preston. This is beautiful.”

“You think so?”

“Oh yeah!”

Timbers and huge rocks combined with stacked stone
made this place look amazing. I looked around at the views and it
was something you’d dream about. I had once been to the Snake River
Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as a young adult and that’s what
this reminded me of, but on a much smaller scale. It was totally
breathtaking.

The afternoon air was crisp and
sweetly scented with the hints of wildflowers that were in bloom
everywhere the eye could see. I spied a narrow trail right off the
gravel driveway, and without even thinking, my feet carried me
toward it. I soon found myself surrounded by those very flowers I
had noticed earlier and as I walked along, the resplendent
mountains rose before me, reclaiming their place in my heart. I had
always been a mountain girl, ever since the first time my family
went to Vail, Colorado on a ski trip. I must’ve been five years old
and I asked my mom if we could take one of the mountains home with
us because Charleston would look so much better if it had one of
its very own. I would beg my parents to take me there every year.
Everyone else in the family wanted a beach vacation, but not me. I
wanted the clean air and knock your socks off views of the
mountains.

There was a large rock next to that trail so I
plopped my bottom on it and sat there and gazed at all the glory
surrounding me. A sense of peace seeped into my bones, soothing my
ragged emotions. As I took it all in, I rested my hand on my heart,
feeling my pulse calming as the beauty of everything before me
settled into me.