Page 40 of Mile High Ruin

This assignment is going to be a problem.

Actually, I was wrong.

The flight is smooth and uneventful. Elise handles one side of the cabin while I handle the other, and despite the awareness humming constantly beneath my skin, Vadim behaves exactly as a passenger should.

He asks for coffee. I bring it. He thanks me.

I serve lunch. He doesn’t ask for champagne. I wonder if he thinks I’m going to spill on him again. The thought makes me almost smile, and I have to bite my lip to stop myself. I catch him staring at me. But that’s it.

By the third hour, I begin to wonder whether I imagined the entire first flight.

Then, while I’m collecting plates, Vadim reaches for his glass at the same moment I do.

Our fingers touch. Barely.

Nothing more than skin against skin.

Yet both of us stop.

His hand remains there. So does mine.

I look up. He’s already watching me. The cabin around us seems to become quieter despite the fact that Marek is still speaking to Vadim across the table.

Vadim’s thumb shifts once against the side of my finger, so small it could almost be accidental.

I withdraw my hand. “Excuse me.”

His mouth moves slightly. “Of course.”

I take the glass and leave before my face can betray me.

In the galley, Elise glances over. “You okay?”

“Yes.”

“You look warm.”

“The cabin is warm.”

She looks at the thermostat.

It is not.

I pretend not to notice.

The next flight is four days later.

I’m in my apartment when the agency notification appears. Another charter.

I don’t know whether Vadim will be there, and I don’t ask. That feels important somehow.

When I board and see Anton’s jacket already hanging near the forward cabin, I know.

A strange little thrill runs through me before I can stop it.

I hate that.

This time, the destination is Vienna. The crew is different again, and I seem to be the only common factor. I try not to think about that fact.