Page 69 of A Little Bit Uncertain

37

AUDRA

When the alarm rang at 4:45 a.m., I was up and out of bed, giddy with excitement. As I was in the shower, I was thinking about all the throwing that occurred the night before: caution to the wind, myself at Donovan, him throwing me around in the bed. That had been ridiculously hot sex, and I was probably a better person having experienced it. The best part? I had no regrets at all. When I really thought about it, I didn’t think his situation was like Theo’s at all. Besides, there was a large middle ground between pushing him away because I was too in my head to say anything, and asking for his hand in marriage. As long as there were no outside influences like crazy stipulations, I would be foolish not to explore us. Just because we agree to date doesn’t mean I would agree to marry him. Plus, that sex. The pull between us was far too strong to ignore. Plus, I was past the point of wanting to sleep with him … I needed to.

I still couldn’t believe I would be flying in a private plane. Donovan appeared to take a much cooler approach, probably because it was second nature to him. I looked forward to having him to myself the next few days and asking questions like what did his family do to own a private freaking jet? He’d made a couple of insinuations as to not having a great relationship with his parents, but if he was using the family jet, it couldn’t be that horrible.

While I made our coffee, he got everything staged on the front porch. It surprised me how well he and I worked in tandem. It had taken years for Theo and me to reach that point, but Donovan and I just kind of knew what to do, and I couldn’t explain it. I filled our travel mugs; his with black coffee and mine with the vanilla chai that he had taken the time to make in advance for me, and met him outside.

“Alright, you ready?” he asked.

“Yes! My first private plane ride!” I danced around like a fool because I just didn’t know what to do with myself. That kind of enthusiasm should be illegal at that hour. Donovan didn’t hesitate, and he matched my energy by grabbing my hand and spinning me. Then, he took part in the dancing, making a fool of himself by doing the sprinkler and the bus driver. To counter, I did the robot and the shopping cart, and the two of us were hysterically laughing, trying to outdo each other. It was one of those moments in time that was unscripted and so unexpectedly perfect. One that you’d see in some romance movie when the main characters were falling for each other. Except maybe that was our real life.

“You keep surprising me, Wright. I didn’t take you for a goofy dancer. Or any dancer really. But that bus driver was legit.”

“Can’t say that I’ve ever busted out those kinds of moves before a 6 a.m. plane ride. Actually, I can’t say I’ve ever busted out the bus driver unless I was many, many drinks into a night … like a decade ago. It’s you who surprises me, Audra. I can’t believe the things I do around you,” he said as he shook his head with a smile that had his dimples on full display. When our ride arrived, he opened the car door for me, but before he let me in, he kissed me in a way that made my knees buckle. This was going to be an interesting trip.

The drive was quick, and before I could even register everything, we were at a private airfield, walking up the stairs onto the jet. I was blown away. Even though the sun hadn’t fully risen yet, the entire sky was painted with peachy, purply morning colors. The wind was blowing my hair all over, but Donovan called my name, and it stopped me on the middle step. When I turned to look at him, he snapped a photo.

“My God, Audra. You look like a dream right now. With the sky looking like that and your hair blowing wild. My Beautiful Chaos, you are perfection.”

Feeling the blush rise in my cheeks, a smile spread across my face. I felt like a queen. Before I could even fully hold my hand out to him, he skipped the first two steps and grabbed it.

A woman about my age welcomed us as we entered the plane. She smiled a fake saccharine smile at me, but when Donovan entered, she had stars in her eyes. I mean, I got it, I had stars in my eyes when I looked at him, too. I had a fleeting moment of jealously, but I had more important things to do. Like check out the inside of a private jet. Good Lord. It was all creamy leather with fancy wood accents, I mean, just beautiful. It smelled like a new car. There were a couple of seats in the first section, but Donovan walked me back to where there was a table, and tried to plop me down there. No way, I wanted a tour of this whole thing. Before I could even utter the words, he read my mind.

“Let’s get up into the air and I’ll give you a full tour then, okay?”

Nodding, I put my seatbelt on, and he sat across the table from me and did the same.

“Hi, my name is Molly.” The stewardess appeared next to us, “I’ll be with you today. Can I get you something before we are in the air?”

He gestured to me with raised brows in a silent ask.

“I’m fine, thank you,” I answered.

“Nothing for me either,” he followed up.

“Your sister sent these for you and your guest, Mr. Wright,” and she placed a bag down and walked away. It had half a dozen bagels in it.

“Bagels?” he exclaimed to the universe as he stuck his nose in the bag and smelled it. “This earns her some major brownie points.”

“What’s with the bagels?” I asked as I registered the happy joy on his face. I’d never looked at a bagel that way before.

“New York bagels are my favorite, and they’re from my favorite bakery, a little mom-and-pop place in Brooklyn,” he smiled. “That was really sweet of her.”

“Is it true? Are New York bagels that much better?”

“I mean, obviously yes, but try for yourself. Let’s see, let me guess what kind of bagel girl you are.” He rummaged through the bag and pulled out a cinnamon raisin one. Holding it up to my head, he made a silly performance of it. “Yep, this is it. You are a cinnamon raisin kind of gal.”

“Got it in one.” Smiling, I leaned over the table to take a bite.

He looked at me, horrified. “Chaos,” he actually stuttered. “Sweet Jesus, no. For these reasons, I call you Chaos. You can’t just bite a bagel like that.” He exaggerated a shudder in his body, like I had committed a mortal sin. “You need cream cheese, holy shit.” And he pulled a container of cream cheese out of the bag.

Laughing, I grabbed the bag from him to take my guess. There were two plains, two everything, and one blueberry. “I think you’re an everything bagel guy. And I say that because you can do … everything,” I chuckled. “Except…”

“Cars. Yes, I know. Now I have to learn, so you can’t hold this over my head for the rest of time,” he chuckled back. “But yes, an everything bagel is my first choice. No contest.”

He took his bagel and meticulously put cream cheese on it like it was a work of art. In my mind, I made a note to put New York bagels on my recipe list. I’m sure I could get close enough. After a few minutes of small talk, he pulled his computer out of his bag.