Page 17 of Not As Advertised

I hoped we weren’t going to be bumped off this flight. I felt a headache forming in my temples at just the thought of rescheduling flights, hotel rooms, and not to mention no less than five meetings in the next thirty-six hours.

Reaching the desk, Aiden took control of the situation. For once, he seemed to know that his typical stern demeanor wasn’t going to win us any favors. He offered the airline employee a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes, but it was a vast improvement over the controlled neutral expression I was used to seeing him wear.

“Our last names are Summers and Sullivan. Is there a problem with our flight?”

I felt the woman struggle as he aimed his devastatingly swoon-worthy face at the poor woman. That first look packed a punch. I could still remember my shock and pleasure at seeing him sitting next to me that day at the park.

The employee squared her shoulders, no doubt expecting a guy this good-looking to be a jerk.

The truth was, I didn’t know how he was going to react if there was a problem.

I’d seen him take down the head of accounting in that first team meeting, but that guy was a douche-canoe. This airline employee was only the messenger. If there was going to be a problem for us to deal with, it definitely wasn’t going to be this employee’s fault.

The introvert inside me braced for a storm. I hated even being near conflict, let alone in the middle of it. Still, no matter how uncomfortable I was, if Aiden became too demanding, I’d make myself intervene. I hoped I would, anyway.

Clearing her throat, the employee tore her gaze away from his face and gave me a quick glance. I couldn’t even blame her.I’d want to spend these moments with all my attention focused on him too.

“Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Summers. I’m afraid that we’ve had a last-minute plane change. I know you were both booked in first class, but the new plane is much smaller and only has economy seats available. On behalf of the airline, I would like to offer our sincerest apologies. Most of the other first-class passengers opted to take a flight later this afternoon. Or I’d be happy to recommend alternate transportation options?”

The employee bit her lip when she was finished speaking, no doubt nervous about Aiden’s reaction.

“I see.” He looked briefly at the name tag on her chest, but his gaze didn’t linger there. “Well, Melinda, nothing to be done. If you can keep us on this flight, seated together, that’d be great.”

Now, Melinda did give me more than a cursory glance. It must have been like looking in a mirror, perhaps wondering if I deserved any credit for him being so accommodating.

Little did she know I had absolutely no sway with Aiden Sullivan.

First, he didn’t look like the type of man who would take this kind of inconvenience in stride. Second, I knew he wasn’t this easygoing. For god’s sake, he had practically given me a manifesto on my executive assistant duties!

He looked back down at his phone as it buzzed with a notification.

Melinda efficiently clicked away at her keyboard to get us on the flight and printed out our new boarding passes.

Taking both in my hand since Aiden was now typing out a text on his phone, I said thank you on our behalf, and we headed back to our seats.

Not wanting a repeat situation of the close quarters we’d been sitting in before, I made a point of sitting at the end of the row and putting my carry-on in the seat between us.

Aiden, having finished whatever he was doing on his phone while following my general direction, came up next to me. He glanced at my bag before taking the seat opposite.

I was sure I saw one side of his mouth curve briefly in amusement. But as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared again, replaced by his normal infuriatingly calm expression.

Did he know I was twitchy from our bodies touching for so long? Worse yet, had he knowingly kept his body close to mine? Was he just trying to make me nervous or throw me off my game?

Well, he’d succeeded. He had me off kilter. Each moment we spent alone succeeded in dismantling my defenses.

The rest of the flight to LA went smoothly. I smiled as I looked at my lovely seatmate, asleep on my shoulder. Normally, I would be concerned about adding wrinkles to my suit, but I couldn’t bring myself to care as I enjoyed the warmth of Abigail’s body pressed against me. With each breath, the coconut scent of her shampoo had been tempting me for the last hour.

She must have been exhausted to fall asleep so quickly after takeoff. I hadn’t had the heart to wake her.

Just as the plane approached the runway for landing, the change in pressure must have woken her because she suddenly jerked her head off my shoulder.

“Oh my god, Mr. Sullivan. I’m so sorry! This is so embarrassing. Look at your jacket!” Abigail quickly covered her face with her hands.

I glanced down at my shoulder to see that there were several large creases in the fabric. She peeked through her fingers and whispered, “Oh no! Did I drool? Just kill me now,” before hiding her eyes again.

Aware that it was a bad idea to touch her but unable to stop myself from attempting to comfort her, I pressed my right hand lightly to one of her elbows.

“Abigail. It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it. It’s just a jacket. If I was worried about it, I would have woken you, okay?” I kept my voice low and soothing, hoping she could let this go.

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