“Just luck, I guess.” Amusement flashed across Hank’s face and he sat up straight in the aisle seat. “Do you need me to get out or can you squeeze by?”
Beth steeled herself. “I can get by.”
There was just enough space for her to shuffle through, but not by much. Her bare calves brushed his knees and she faltered for a moment, grabbing the headrest of the seat in front.
Grasping her hips, he steadied her. Each of his long fingers burned an imprint through her skirt and onto her sensitive skin. Body on high alert and anticipating pleasure, she shivered under his touch. His fingers tightened, his thumbs pressing into the tender top curve of her ass. A strangled sound, half groan and half sigh, escaped her lips.
Like a siren blaring in the far-off distance, the audible proof of her arousal brought her back to reality. Embarrassed he could do this to her so easily and in the middle of a packed airplane, she ignored her instinct to lower herself onto his lap.
“Steady there.” Hank's voice had gone husky. His fingers flexed over the thin material of her skirt.
“I'm fine. Thank you.” The words came out in a shaky whisper.
Holding her breath, she sidestepped the last few inches to her seat. As soon as her legs cleared his, a chill covered her calves from the loss of his body heat. Sitting, she stuffed her leather briefcase under the seat in front of her. The flashes of excitement skittering along her skin told her he watched her every move.
Studiously looking out the window at the airport employees bustling around on the tarmac, she reached for her seat belt, her fingers accidentally brushing his thigh. Biting her bottom lip to keep from making any more tell-tale noises, she pulled the belt across her lap and snapped it closed. After tightening it until it was snug against her waist, she watched the baggage handlers tossing suitcases into the belly of the plane. Her purple suitcase flew into the baggage compartment. Well, at least she'd packed all of her breakable items in her briefcase.
“Still bothers you, huh?” His voice slid across her skin like a warm breeze as he leaned closer to peer out the window.
“It's okay, there're only clothes in it.”
“Not your suitcase, this.” His warm hands covered hers, stilling them.
Unknowingly, she'd been tugging at the seat belt, some part of her needing to double-check it would hold. The car accident must’ve shook her up more than she'd realized. Despite everything, his concern touched her. It had been twenty years since her parents’ fatal car crash. She'd been trapped for hours, hanging upside down, secured to her seat by her seatbelt. It had saved her life.
“I'm okay.”
He gave her hands a light squeeze. “Good.”
The captain's announcement about expected weather conditions during the flight stopped any further exchange. Hank settled back into his seat and the little plane picked up speed, bouncing a bit as it barreled down the runway.
Blood pounded in her ears and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as that old familiar fear plucked her nerves. Man, she hated flying. Clutching the armrest in a white-knuckle grip, she forced herself to breathe in slowly, hold it a second and then exhale. Her stomach dropped as the plane left the ground and she squeezed her eyes shut. All Beth could picture was her mom's long brown hair spread wide across the ceiling of the station wagon, her mouth hanging open and the wet sound of her gasps echoing in the silent night.
“You know I've been fantasizing about you since I was twenty-two?” Hank's hand covered her smaller one. “I came home after boot camp and bam; my little sister's best friend had turned into a stone-cold fox.”
His words pulled her away from the terror of that night. Grateful, she squeezed his hand.
Lowering his lips until they nearly touched her ear, he hushed his voice to a throaty whisper. “I've spent a lot of time alone, thinking of how that ass of yours would feel in my hands. Hard or soft? How much would it bounce if I gave it a little slap?”
Her gaze jumped around the plane as a fierce blush burned her cheeks. Had anyone heard? “Shut up, people will hear you.” She glanced back and spotted two junior attorneys from her office three rows behind them.
“So?”
“So?” The single word came out louder than she’d intended, drawing the attention of the passengers across the aisle, exactly what she'd been trying to avoid. Smiling weakly at their irritated faces, she quieted her voice. “I do not want everyone to think that I'm the latest in your parade of women.”
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “Sure, I've dated a few women since the divorce, but I don't think you can call it a parade.”
A few? A few? If he called twenty-eight a few, then he needed to rethink his math abilities. “Do you want me to name them all?”