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“Yes?”
“It’s a beautiful name.”
Mixed signals much?
He dropped my hand. “I’m confusing you. It’s unfair.” He motioned to the stateroom. “Rest. It’s a long flight.”
“I doubt I’ll sleep anyway. You go ahead.”
“What if I sit with you until you’re able to sleep?”
“I do remember you.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I remember the way you smelled.”
We both laughed. When Cortez stood and held out his hand, I rested mine in it. We went into the room, and he pulled out the bunk. It was much bigger than I thought, more like a king-size bed than the full I’d expected.
“My father’s plane has a much nicer stateroom,” he murmured, perhaps by way of an apology.
“Whose plane is this?”
“It is also part of the DeLéon fleet.”
Something told me this wasn’t information he shared with just anyone, or easily.
Cortez put his strong arm around me, and I nestled into him, just like I had last night in the hotel room. Within minutes, I felt myself drifting to sleep.
5
Rile
It seemed my body was ignoring every message my brain was sending it as though the connection was lost. My only saving grace was that, within hours, we would arrive in America and Kensington would be safely ensconced with her mother.
I knew I shouldn’t kiss her, yet I did. I knew I shouldn’t tease her, yet I did. I knew I shouldn’t be lying on this bed with her in my arms, yet I was.
A warm feeling settled over me as I rested my head against hers, smiling that she recalled the way I smelled.
“She’s good for you,” came the voice.
I shook my head. She’s too young for me. I represent someone who protected her, saved her. There’s nothing more to it.
“Open your heart, Cort. It’s time.”
It wasn’t time. It would never be time. Regardless of how much the voice in my head pushed me, reopening my heart would never happen. Your death destroyed me, Celestina. It broke my heart, and there is no way to repair it.
“This one will repair it, Cort. Trust me.”
I eased from under Kensington’s sleeping form and quietly left the stateroom. Twenty-four hours from now, Kensington would be someone I rescued, like I had so many others. She wouldn’t be part of my life any more than they were.
“Are you going to be like this for the rest of the flight?” Grinder asked.
“Like what?”
“Sullen. Argumentative. A pain in the arse.”
“I am none of those things.” Especially the first.
