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“Definitely both,” I reply, enjoying the rumble of laughter that slips out of his own mouth, the two of us laughing together.
It’s a good feeling.
“Sorry for rambling,” I say, giving him another smile. “It’s way too early in the morning to be debating something so highbrow. So, how ’bout them Sox, huh?”
Boyd looks at me with a twinkle in his eyes, a kind of friendly charm I wasn’t expecting from him, regardless of how well we got on with our chat.
What I wouldn’t give to look at that kind of handsome joy every day for the rest of my life.
A stupid thought, sure, but still true.
“I bet you ten dollars you can’t name a single player on the team this year.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to hide my smile as I shake my head. “I’m not a gambling girl.”
“You’d gamble if you knew you were probably going to win.” His response is as quick as lightning. “People only choose not to gamble when they’re afraid they’ll lose.”
“That is so not true.” I giggle. “Some of us poor folk don’t gamble because we can’t take the risk. Not all of us are first class aficionados with money to throw around willy-nilly.”
“Nobody says willy-nilly anymore.”
I snort. “Clearly that’s false, because I just did.”
He bites his lip and shakes his head, and I can’t help the little thing that keeps bouncing around in my chest.
We like him, it tells me. We like him a lot.
Is this flirting? We are definitely flirting, right? I hope so, because it has been far too long since I’ve enjoyed a good flirt sesh with someone as handsome as Boyd.
That’s a lie.
I’ve never flirted with someone as handsome as Boyd. He is in a league of his own.
Before I can say anything else, the plane lurches forward, and it feels like my stomach is going to fall out of my body.
My eyes slam shut and my throat closes up, my hands gripping the armrests for dear life as the plane barrels down the runway, all the good feelings from my talk with Boyd rushing out of me with a surreal quickness.
It’s going to be okay.
It’s going to be okay.
It’s going to be okay.
I’m like that for who knows how long before I feel a hand on top of mine, the warmth and roughness surprising me enough that my eyes fly open, taking in the man sitting next to me.
He lifts my hand and twists his fingers in mine, the sensation robbing me of my voice—and maybe my sanity.
For the rest of my life, I’ll remember exactly what he says to me. Not just the words, but the soothing tone of his voice and the earnest caring in his eyes, so surprising from someone I was expecting to ignore me for the entire flight.
“It’s okay to be afraid,” he says. “I can’t take that feeling away from you, but I can hold your hand until it’s over so you know you’re not alone.”
chapter three
Boyd
Ruby’s eyes stay shut for the entire time it takes for our plane to rise into the sky and level off. I know because I stare at her the entire time, until I see those beautiful blues finally open back up and look at me.
Watching her sitting next to me…it’s the first time I’ve ever been distracted enough to ignore the feeling in my chest when we lift off the ground, that heart-in-your-throat kind of feeling that always takes me a good fifteen or twenty minutes to shake off once we’ve leveled.
