Page 51 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

“I know.” He held her gaze. “Yeah, Bea. If that’s what you want, you get on your flight.”

She swallowed. “And if I say yes?”

Something changed in his eyes, but otherwise he didn’t move. “We go to Crete.”

There were no promises, no declarations, no attempt to tell her what this meant beyond today. Just Blane, standing in front of her, asking for more time. Yesterday she’d thought there could be no someday in their plan. Apparently, there could be a today.

She looked down at the boarding pass still clutched in her hand, then back at the man waiting for her answer. “Do I at least get coffee on this ridiculous plane?”

His smile broke through. “Coffee, breakfast, whatever you want, darlin’.”

Bea handed him her suitcase handle. “Then you’d better get me to Farnborough.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“Crete.”

“Got that part.”

She laughed. “A little village called Meraki, not far from Spili.”

He pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Logistics.”

~ ~ ~

Blane did as she asked, and by the time they arrived at Farnborough, the jet was ready to go. Bear, the pilot, greeted him with a smirk, and Blane scowled back at him. He’d been grateful that most of his friends were on the other side of the Atlantic while he tried to figure out what the hell he was doing. But Bear’s presence was a necessary evil.

He turned to Bea. “This is Bear. He flies the jet. Bear, this is Bea.” He watched her step forward to shake hands.

“Nice to meet you. I hope this isn’t putting you out.”

Blane narrowed his eyes at his friend. If that fucker dared say anything that made him look—

Bear gave Bea a genuine grin and shook her hand a little too hard. “Far from it. When Cash told me where we needed to go, I thought it was great.” He shot Blane a smile. “Then he told me why, and it got even better.”

“I think it’s rather wonderful myself. And thank you.” Bea looked up at the jet. “I’ve never flown in a private plane before.”

“Come on up, then.” Bear gestured toward the steps. “I hope you’ll like it. We’re all stocked up. They managed to load everything for a hot breakfast into the galley for you guys.”

Blane liked Bea even more when she stopped with one foot on the first step and looked back.

“What about you? I hope there’s enough for you as well?”

Blane grinned. He wasn’t about to throw Bear under the bus, since he was playing nice, but he knew damn well that Bear and his copilot, Dean, enjoyed cleaning up whatever their passengers didn’t eat.

By the time they were taxiing out to the runway, with Bea across from him drinking her coffee, the knot in Blane’s chest had finally loosened. He should probably be wondering what the hell he was doing—why he was headed toward Greece with a woman he barely knew instead of toward Hamburg with his team. But he wasn’t. For the first time since he’d walked away from Bea’s door last night, everything felt right again.

He hadn’t known if she’d let him come. What he had known was that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hadn’t asked if he could.

She smiled at him and set her cup down. “Is this really happening?”

“Sure is.” He hadn’t thought about it until now, but the jet was probably something special if you’d never flown in one before. That explained the disbelieving smile on her face.