Page 55 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
At the airport, we finalise customs necessities. One of my staff got Katla’s address and went to her apartment to fetch her passport, so that’s not an issue. The Vulcan jet takes off quickly and soon we’re in the air.
I complete another couple of tasks then get the stewardess to pour me a Scotch, which I take over to where Katla is sitting and I sit down in the seat opposite her.
She’s sitting primly, looking out of the plane window with her knees together, and her hands clasped in her lap, and doesn’t glance at me as I sit. ‘Not yet,’ she says, peering at the lights of LA disappearing in the darkness.
She’s talking about her hour, of course, and it’s interesting that’s uppermost in her mind. It amuses me. ‘Why not?’ I ask. ‘We have ten hours to kill. You could get rid of at least one day of those six months you owe me.’
She continues to peer out of the window. ‘I told you, I will be the one deciding where and when I give my time, not you.’
‘Are you mad because I kissed you, Katla mine?’ I drawl. ‘Or are you mad because I stopped?’ I’m taunting her, which isn’t fair, but I want to know why she won’t tell me the truth. She avoided answering when I told her she actually wanted to go with me—or rather, she didn’t deny it—so now I want her to admit to her desires. Especially after that kiss, which she did rather conclusively enjoy.
‘It’s not wrong to want me,’ I murmur when she doesn’t say anything. ‘It’s just sex.’
She doesn’t answer immediately, still looking at the blackness beyond the window. ‘I told you, I don’t like games.’
Yes, shedidtell me that before, but as I told her in return I’m not playing any games. ‘Why do you think I’m playing with you?’
Finally, she glances at me, her gaze icy. ‘Well, aren’t you? You said you wanted me, then got close to me on the pretext of “testing our chemistry”. Then, when I touched you, you said no, only to then put my hand on your fly and kiss me. So you tell me—if that’s not playing a game, then what is it?’
She’s so blunt and straightforward, not letting me get away with anything. I have to admit, while I don’t like being called out, it’s certainly refreshing. It keeps me on my toes, which isn’t a bad thing.
However, the way she puts all that makes it sound…not good. Then again, as I’ve already admitted, I’m not a good man. A good man would have taken her first no for an answer and left her alone. A good man wouldn’t have threatened the company she worked for, and a good man certainly wouldn’t have kissed her the way I did in the car.
A good man wouldn’t have done all those things you did years ago.
I shift in my seat, suddenly restless at the thought. No, a good man wouldn’t have obtained an illegal weapon and a couple of heavies and gone to take Olympia back by force from the people who’d hurt her.
Then again, during those years, I couldn’t afford to be a good man. I had one goal and one goal only: to get my sister back. So I did what needed to be done in order to achieve that. I have no regrets.
‘There’s no game,’ I say, compelled for some reason to explain myself to her. ‘I was actually trying to be sensitive to your feelings in the car. And, believe me, that’s not something I ever do.’
She regards me for a long moment, her pale forehead creased, her gaze searching. ‘Okay,’ she says at length, accepting this. ‘If that’s the case, then thank you. But, just so you know, I hate lies.’
She really does, too; I can see the conviction burning in her eyes. ‘How intriguing of you,’ I murmur. ‘But what about the lies you tell yourself? You tell yourself you don’t want me when the opposite is true, for example.’
Her mouth hardens. She doesn’t like me pointing that out to her, not at all. ‘Perhaps,’ she says with some reluctance.
I tilt my head, studying her. ‘Why?’ I ask curiously. ‘What’s so very wrong with wanting me?’
She sits back in her seat, but her posture is still stiff. ‘Your arrogance, for a start, and your insistence on pursuing me, even when I said no.’
‘Yes,’ I allow. ‘But, as I told you before, if you truly hadn’t wanted me I would have left you alone. Except you did want me, my ice queen. And I’d like to know why that makes you so angry.’
‘Because you used it against me,’ she says with the same bracing frankness she’s employed in all our discussions. ‘To get what you want.’
‘I didn’t use it against you,’ I correct mildly. ‘I merely wanted you to acknowledge it. And, also, it hasn’t got me what I wanted, has it? There you are, sitting in your seat and still fully clothed.’
Her eyes narrow as she takes this in. ‘You only want an acknowledgement—that’s all?’
‘Well, no,’ I admit. ‘That’s not all I want. But an acknowledgement would be a big help.’
‘You wouldn’t use it against me in some fashion?’
I’m a little impatient with this conversation, but I thrust that aside. For some reason honesty and transparency is important to her, and if it’s important to her then it’s in my interests for it be important to me too. ‘I won’t,’ I promise. ‘Scout’s honour. Cross my heart and hope to die.’
Her gaze doesn’t waver for even a second. ‘Do you hear yourself? Do you hear how it sounds as if you’re playing right now?’
A small needle of self-awareness slides beneath my skin. Now that she’s mentioned it, yes, perhaps Idosound a little…casual. Mainly because I’m impatient and part of me is wondering ifshe’splaying games withme.
