Page 93 of The Wrong Sister
“I doubt that,” she chuckles darkly.
“What do you mean?”
She finally shifts her attention from her ring to me. “I mean you being you.”
“The asshole?”
A sudden giggle escaping her lips surprises us both. “No. You being a ridiculously attractive and rich dude. It’s a pretty catchy combination.”
“You think I’m attractive?” I ask with a sly smile, and she rolls her eyes.
“This is what you got from my words. Typical.”
“No, Maeve,” I start seriously. “I don’t get attention from women because I’m an asshole, and I have the aura of one. They come and leave after my first bark.”
She lifts her eyes and finds the attendant who’s showing the safety rules.
I wince. “This one was persistent.” I don’t mind attention; I don’t care about that. But if it bothers her, it has to change. “I’ll make sure you don’t have a reason to feel insecure.”
“Even if the marriage is not real?”
“Isn’t it?” I ask, genuinely curious to hear her answer because more times than not it feels real to me. The island was real. My support for her at the wedding was real. My anger toward her father too. My constant need to touch her is as real as it gets.
She looks at me with her big, blue eyes. They’re open and vulnerable. This is the moment when she doesn’t need jokes. She needs the truth. “Why me, Ezra?”
I know what she’s asking. I’ve been asking this myself too and haven’t come up with the answer yet.
“I don’t know,” I reply sincerely. “I just know that you make me… feel.”
“Feel?” Her brows draw together.
I nod. “I haven’t felt much in a long time.”
“This is why I’m here? Because I make youfeel?”
Another nod from me.
“What do I make you feel?”
I watch her open face, knowing she wants to hear something about love and shit like that, but I can’t give it to her. I’m not going to lie to her anymore.
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.” She visibly deflates and buckles her seatbelt. I do the same. And while I do, I feel a heavy stare on my face. When I find the same extremely stubborn flight attendant, I curse myself for not just sayingfuck itand buying another jet so I don’t have to share it with the board. No more flying commercial with my wife. Never.
36
Maeve
I brush my teeth and put some extra moisturizer on because airplane air dries my skin faster than the Sahara would. The lights in the plane have been dimmed, and I was waiting for this specific lavatory because it’s larger than the other—I don’t feel good in cramped spaces. I brush my hair too and open the door to head outside when a body pushes its way inside.
“What are you doing?” I hiss while Ezra corners me to the wall.
“Starting the initiation,” he says with a wicked smile.
“I was joking!” I half whisper, glancing at the door behind him, scared someone might come in and find us together like this.
His smile just grows bigger, and he presses his large body into me. The plane is freezing, but he’s extremely warm. He ditched his jacket and rolled his sleeves, revealing cordedarm porn to my hungry eyes.
