"Here comes the bile-spewing portion of the day, my brothers," Dane said with a smirk that really should have crawled under her skin. But his almost obnoxious confidence was somehow sexy. "Watch. She's going to go through a bunch of steps of the grieving process. She's already been through denial."
Two weeks of this-of them-and she'd be no closer to finding peace than she had been last night.
"You have to get off this plane," Alea said, her voice tight. "Please. I need time alone to think, so you can't go with me. After last night, you shouldn't want to be with me. Just tell Tal I skipped out on you. I promise I'll come back safely if you'll just give me some space."
"I think she's a little bit afraid, Dane," Cooper suggested.
Dane shrugged. "She's bargaining now. Only because she doesn't understand yet and doesn't trust that we mean business. She will soon enough."
"Lea, we're not going to hurt you," Lan vowed. "We're here to protect you."
"Among other things." Dane smiled smugly. "Just wait, man. This is the pain and fear talking. She'll calm down soon." He settled back into his chair like he was enjoying the show and waiting to see the next act.
Oh, she was so done with him. Dane thought he understood her? That he could read her mind and guess how she was going to react? Bullshit.
Despite the plane still rolling along the runway, Alea yanked her seat belt off and stood, then grabbed Dane's hand in hers. She would throw his ass off the plane herself if she had to. She could do it. She'd read about women who got great bursts of strength when they really needed it during a panic. Surely this qualified.
"How far out are we, Coop?" Dane asked as she pulled fruitlessly on his arm.
He glanced out the window. "Looks like there's another plane ahead of us. I think that's the prime minister heading home. She's got three-to-five minutes to try to haul you out of here."
If that concerned Coop, he didn't show it. Instead, he leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Damn you, get off this plane!" She tugged even harder, putting her weight into the effort. Instead of staring at her like he was bored, this time Dane stood. His massive frame towered over her. He wasn't smiling.
"Sit down, Alea. We're going to cut through the rest of this crap and get straight to acceptance. We're going wherever you're going. If you would like to stay in Bezakistan, we can do that. As it happens, I think a little time away would be good for all of us."
"No," she nearly shouted. "I need time away from everything that distracts and confuses me. That definitely includes you three."
"Does it now?" he asked, his voice going dangerously low.
He didn't touch her, but she could feel the heat of his body reaching her, wrapping around her. He was so close. Like Cooper had been close the night before. Alea took a long breath, trying to calm herself, but what she got was a nose full of the delicious, masculine scent of soap and something else uniquely Dane.
"Answer me, Alea. Do you really want to be away from us? Because I think you're lying. I can see your nipples. They're hard."
Damn it, she should have worn a sweater. She crossed her arms over her chest. "It's because I'm mad. They're not aroused nipples. They're angry nipples."
"I'm going to teach you not to lie, Alea. Those are lonely nipples. Those are aching nipples. Do you want to know what I've got planned for them?" His voice had gone husky.
A hot denial sprung up inside her, settling between her legs, and she wondered if she was fending him off or just baiting the bear. "You're my guards. You're supposed to keep my body safe, not touch me. No, wait. You aren't my guards. I'm firing you right now. You can't talk to me like that."
"We are your guards, according to Tal. He signs our paychecks. And I'm going to talk to you this way a lot from now on. We're not going to let you dismiss us anymore. There's something between all of us. Chemistry like this doesn't happen often, and I'll be damned if I let you keep shoving that aside just because you're too scared to see where it leads, Princess." Dane's voice sizzled over her skin, an unavoidable reminder of the heat scorching through her.
"He's right. I've never felt anything like this." Landon was suddenly behind her, his voice a hot whisper on the nape of her neck. "I can't just walk away from it. I want to be around you. With you. Inside you. I want you to work with us to make this whole thing good."