Temporarily Yours(3)
He pursed his lips. “I know it involves a hell of a lot of odd knowledge about percentages and random stats. And that I’m sitting next to one right now.”
She grinned. “Close enough.”
He ran his hand through his hair and she watched. When she licked her lips, he saw her pupils flare inside those baby blues. A responding heat flushed through him, making him want to scoot closer. “So…why are you nervous? Afraid a kid will attack you next?” He held a hand to his heart. “I swear to protect you from the ruffians at all costs.”
She shook her head. Pointing out the window at their plane, she said, “I’m not worried about kids, but I am frightened of that deathtrap people continue to erroneously call an airplane. Airborne coffin is a more accurate description, if you ask me.”
He eyed the plane before turning his attention back to her. “You’re scared of flying?”
“Terrified.” She closed her eyes and flopped back against the seat, growing paler before his eyes. “Horrified. Certain I’m going to die.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
She peeked at him, her pretty mouth puckered up as if she waited for a kiss. Or maybe he’d imagined that last part. “You want the truth?”
“And nothing but the truth.”
She chuckled. “I have to go to my sister’s wedding, where I have to pretend I’m happy and perfectly okay with my fictional boyfriend’s absence.” She clamped a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes. “I didn’t mean to add that last detail in. Ignore it.”
He raised a brow. “Not a chance, sweetheart. Fictional, huh? I find that hard to believe.”
“You’d be surprised,” she muttered through her hand. Sighing, she dropped her hand and picked up her expensive looking purse. She held onto the straps so tightly he could make out the details of every single one of her knuckles. “I need to shut up now. I’m sorry. Again.”
She really was nervous as hell about the flight. Cooper didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone quite so jittery, and he’d seen a hell of a lot. “Don’t apologize. You can tell me anything you want. And the best part is you’ll never see me again, so you don’t have to worry about facing me after. But tell me…why would someone as beautiful as you have to make up a boyfriend? You should have at least six at home waiting for you.”
Real smooth there, Cooper.
“Yeah, well, I don’t.” She flushed an even deeper red and looked down at her lap. He got a brief glance of her nibbling on her deliciously pink lip before she ducked her head. “And I’m okay with that. I don’t place much stock in the whole aspect of ‘love saving all.’ I’m not exactly the relationship type. I think they’re largely a waste of time.”
He hadn’t been expecting to hear that from her. Most of the women he spent time with were of the loose variety, and they had the same beliefs as him when it came to relationships—as in they were a waste of time. But she hardly came across as that type of girl. She didn’t seem the type to love ‘em and leave ‘em, so to speak. She was an enigma he longed to figure out. “Because of the dreaded two year mark?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. That and so much more.”
He found himself wanting to argue with her. Why? He wasn’t big on love and relationships, either. He hadn’t found “the one” yet, and he was starting to think she didn’t exist. And he was leaving the country, so he didn’t have room in his life for a woman who would worry about him.
But still…
“Sometimes, it’s possible, despite the odds. Just look at me, for example.”
She looked up at him in surprise. Hell, he was surprised he was debating statistics and the probability of love with her, too.
“Statistically speaking,” he continued, “the odds of being stabbed in the stomach with a candy cane are one in three point six million…yet here I am with a ruined sweater.”
“You made that statistic up,” she said, her eyes shining.
“I did,” he admitted. “But I’m pretty sure I’m close to accurate on my figures.”
“That’s true,” she agreed, her lips turning up at the corners. “I certainly haven’t heard of that happening to anyone before.”
He nodded and nudged her with his shoulder. “See? Statistics aren’t everything. I’m Cooper Shillings, by the way.”
“Kayla. Kayla Moriarity.” She held her hand out, and he shook it, his fingers gently brushing her wrist. She uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them, and then pulled away. “Nice to meet you, Cooper.”