Page 17 of Marring an Athlete

True. One street in New York had about the same amount of people as their little town in New Jersey.

The plane dipped down, and suddenly Anna was clinging to him again. Their entire conversation flew out of his mind. All he could think about at this moment was how amazing it felt to have her so close. He could still smell the lingering scent of coconut on her hair, and he wanted to breathe it in forever. To feel her lips on his again.

He cleared his throat as he tried to laugh off her reaction. “Come on, Anna. If you want me to take you serious as an adult, you gotta stop jumping.”

She pulled back. Her eyes were wide as she swept the plane with her gaze. “What was that?” she asked, her voice low.

“Sometimes the plane hits pockets of air. Or. . . an engine goes out and it takes a minute for it to come back on.” He stilled his expression, hoping that she would buy what he said. Joking seemed like the best way to dispel the feelings that were growing in his chest.

“Really?” she breathed.

He laughed. “No. Nothing like that. Most likely the air thing.”

She shot him an annoyed look. “Thanks for terrifying me.”

He shrugged and pulled a magazine from the chair pocket in front of him and began flipping the pages. Things were getting a little too personal. He was here to help McKenna. Well, and run from his mistake. But mostly help McKenna. Not fall for Anna. No matter how sweet, adorable, and familiar she was.

Anna reached into her bag and pulled out a book. She settled back in her chair and opened it up. He was thankful she didn’t try to push their conversation further.

He couldn’t get emotionally attached to Anna, more than he already was. He wasn’t sure if he could handle the heart break it would bring. They spent the next twenty minutes reading until sleep took over and Michael let the magazine fall to his side and darkness surround him.

He didn’t wake until the flight attendant was speaking over the intercom. He righted as he glanced around. A weight was heavy on his shoulder. He turned to see that Anna had fallen asleep and was resting her head next to his.

He hesitated, enjoying the feeling of her so close to him. Why did planes have to have such narrow seats and spacing? It was inconvenient when you were trying to convince yourself that you didn’t have feelings for the girl next to you.

Perhaps on the next flight, he could switch seats with McKenna. Even though it put him in economy, and next to Sam, he couldn’t help but think that perhaps, that was the best idea. He feared that if he stayed sitting next to Anna for the flight from Los Angeles to Bora Bora, he just might come out of the plane completely and utterly smitten with Anna Short.

And right now, that was the last thing either of them needed. He was the worst person for Anna to ever have feelings for. He was a mess, and she deserved so much better.

“Hey,” he whispered as he closed his eyes for a moment and nudged Anna.

She moaned and shifted, pulling back to look at him. That movement brought her inches from his lips. Taking that moment to kiss her would have felt as natural as breathing. He leaned in for a split second but then pulled back.

He couldn’t be selfish. Not with Anna. So he smiled at her and wiped at his shoulder. “You’re drooling on me.”

Her complexion reddened as she covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m used to it.”

Her eyes widened as she nodded. “Of course. All those women in the magazines. I totally get it.”

Not sure what she meant by that, Michael just nodded. The press always made a bigger deal out of his onetime dates then was necessary. But if she believed that he’d dated a bunch of women, then so be it. Anything to keep her farther away from him.

He reached down and grabbed the backpack he’d brought, from underneath his seat. “So I was thinking, if we are going to implement plan get McKenna and Sam back together maybe we should do some recon and discover just how bad things are.”

Anna reached for her purse. Once it was on her lap she nodded. “I’m game. What do you want me to do?”

“I was thinking during the next flight, we split up and find out what we can. Then, when we get to our love hut, we can chat about it.” As soon as he used the phrase that the travel agent had used to describe the huts that were available to rent from the resort, he winced.

“Love hut?”

“Did I say love hut? Well, love hut for McKenna and Sam. Home base for you and me.”

Anna’s eyebrows went up higher.

Heat crept up Michael’s skin. Why did he keep putting his foot in his mouth? “I meant home base as in the place we go to during this mission. Not the base I was hoping to get to. . .” He let his voice trail off. There was no redeeming himself now.

Anna just laughed and unbuckled her seatbelt as soon as the light above them went off. “Sounds good. We’ll reconvene at home base.” She gave him a wink.

Michael just gripped his backpack as he watched the other passengers slowly file off the plane. In mere moments, he would be away from Anna and right now, that was all he needed.

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