“Oh, um, in my hotel room. We had an overnight layover between Tulsa and Miami. I’ve got a flight that leaves again in a couple of hours.”
“And then you’ll be coming home?”
“Yeah. I’ll fly back to Chicago in two days, and I’ll be all over you for the next three,” he assured me with his signature flirtatious grin.
I forced another half smile. “Can’t wait. I know you just left, but I miss you already.”
“I miss you too, baby. You know you’re my heart.”
Pat didn’t have a typical nine-to-five schedule. He was a pilot based in New York but lived in Chicago, so he usually flew into the city the day before his flight or sometimes drove in. He’d work a series of days followed by some days off. His parents also owned a chain of hotels across the country, which meant he was bred into generational wealth, but he was always away at work.
Love was literally in the air the night we met, because we met on a flight to Austin. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the same handsome stranger who bumped into me at the airport coffee shop and nearly sent my chai latte flying would end up being the pilot who greeted me as I stepped onto the plane.
After we landed, he handed me a discreet, handwritten note saying he wanted to take me out to dinner or for another latte. My choice. It was a chance encounter. I was traveling there for a freelance graphic design gig I’d landed for a magazine. He was tall, handsome, and obviously had a financially stable job, so I took him up on his dinner offer. After all, we both had to eat.
We’d been inseparable ever since—minus the distance with him being in the sky and me being on land for the majority of our fourteen-month relationship. Most days, I felt like I’d won the jackpot, but when I was alone in bed at night, I always found myself wondering what the actual prize was.
I snapped out of my slight daze when I heard a door close inside his hotel room. “What was that?”
“What?”
“I heard a door close.”
“Oh, that was room service. I ordered something to eat,” he answered before picking the phone back up. “You know what else I can’t wait for?”
“What? This wedding to be over?” I asked, voice laced with cynicism.
He chuckled. “I was gonna say our honeymoon, but I guess the two go hand in hand.”
“Ugh, my mind has been stationed in Bali ever since we booked our tickets,” I confessed, which sparked a genuine smile.
“I can’t wait to bend you over and put a couple of babies in you.”
My smile faded. “Damn, baby. Can we enjoy being married for a little while before we start popping out our cute little spawns?”
“I thought you wanted kids.”
“I do, baby. I just . . . wanna enjoy being your wife andonlyyour wife for a little bit. That’s all,” I answered, knowing I had zero plans to stop taking my birth control anytime soon.
He nodded. “That’s fair, baby. We’ll call this practice.”
I smirked, and he winked at me. “What’d you get to eat?”
“Huh?”
“You said you ordered room service.”
His visible Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed before looking off camera. “Oh, just a burger and fries.”
“How is it?”
“I’m about to eat it now.”
“Oh.”
“Why? You wan’ a piece?” he teased.
I smacked my lips. “I’m good. I’m in the kitchen now, about to find something to eat.”
