Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(12)

I giggled harder as a grinning James pounced, our clothing falling in heaps around us as he pinned me to the floor.

He brushed wet hair out of my face and smiled into my eyes.



       
         
       
        

"Did you see what I was picking out, or are we really this crazy?" I asked him, laughter still in my voice.

He stroked my cheek, giving me the sweetest smile. I didn't think there was a person on the planet that could be on the receiving end of that smile and not fall in love with it. With him.

"Of course I peeked," he told me. "I was prepared to change your whole outfit until we matched."

I giggled harder and he kissed my laughing lips. He didn't linger, pulling back quickly.

"You're insane," I told him, and stood up to dress.

He hugged me from behind, pressing hard against me, rubbing his smooth chest along my back. He spoke into my ear, "Insane for you, my love."

I stiffened, warmed by his words but instantly uncomfortable. What did he mean by that? Was it as serious as it sounded, or just his naturally affectionate nature showing itself? He had been saying outrageous things to me from the start, so I had tended not to take them seriously, but it was becoming clearer by the day that he was very serious-that he always had been. Was he expecting me to respond in kind? Because I wasn't ready for that-didn't even know how.

The awkward moment quickly passed. James simply kissed my neck softly, and let me go to dress.

He had his office bathroom stocked with toiletries and cosmetics for me. I found this both completely insane and totally convenient. He even had a hair dryer for me. I was ready in less than twenty minutes, James in under ten.

"Do you mind going to dinner with Frankie next time we're in Vegas?" James asked as I finished up. "Next week sometime."

"Not at all," I said quickly, still embarrassed at how jealous I'd been of the woman's easy affection with James at our first meeting. But she was apparently one of the few beautiful women on the planet that James hadn't slept with, and I felt too silly for assuming that they had some sort of a past together. I wouldn't mind a chance to let the woman get a better impression of me.

"And Lana called me. She wants to do lunch with you. She's in New York this week, and said she'd make herself flexible for you. I told her to contact you, since I wasn't sure of your plans while I'm working."

"Oh, that sounds nice," I said, and meant it. I'd liked the other woman instantly. She was refreshingly candid and easy to talk to. I didn't expect to make fast friends with many of the people in James's affluent circles, and so one such friend was a huge comfort.

"Also, Parker and Sophia want to have us over for dinner. I told them maybe in a few weeks. Parker's version of not scaring you off alarms me, to be honest." 

I smiled, silently agreeing. Baby talk was so not the way to not scare me off.

James wrapped a possessive arm tightly around my waist as we left his office. Blake was waiting for us at the elevator. She nodded at James, her face set in its usual severe lines.

"Reassign Johnny," James told her shortly.

She was visibly nonplussed. "Sir, what did he do?" she asked, even as we filed into the elevator.

I turned my head to study his face. His jaw was clenched, but that told me nothing of what he was thinking.

"He wants Bianca. I saw him checking out her legs when he was supposed to be escorting her safely into the elevator. You don't need to fire him; he just needs to be moved. He doesn't get to guard her body."

I hadn't particularly liked Johnny, not at all, in fact, but he was being beyond ridiculous. "James-" I began.

"Don't," James interrupted, his tone bland. His words were not. "If you make a case for why you want him close to you, it won't help him, trust me."

I stiffened. Of all of the hair-brained, arbitrary, completely unreasonable things I'd ever heard, this had to top it. "I think you are being crazy. This has nothing to do with Johnny-"

"I don't like the way you say his name. It's much too familiar, considering how short a time you've known each oth-"

"Are you joking?" I burst out.

"I'll see to it as soon as I am able, sir," Blake said, not questioning his crazy actions. I didn't suppose he would tolerate it if she did. But I could certainly question them.

"James, I won't allow you to be a tyrant. Johnny did nothing wrong. You can't say he wants me because of how you interpreted a look."

"This isn't about my jealousy, Bianca. Or at least, not only about that. This is about your safety, and if he's too busy ogling your legs to do his job, he's of no use to me."