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“I don’t do that anymore.” I clasped the screen closed, feeling guilty and threatened.
I jerked my head toward him when he placed his hand on my thigh. “It doesn’t matter. You need to do it now. Open it back up.”
It was confusing the way he touched me. The way everything came rushing back with one surge of heat. I remembered everything I had tried to forget about him.
“AJ.” I was on the verge of tears. Crying. Screaming. I wanted to punch and claw. Hug and kiss. Wrap my body around his and forget the pain of the past five years. How could he do this now?
“It shouldn’t be like this. I know that. It’s shitty. But if we make it through this alive, we’ll talk. Ok?”
It still wasn’t enough. It didn’t explain the situation. It didn’t explain why he was here. I shook my head. “How is any of this ok?”
“Syd, I swear. God, I know this is fucked up in every way. Every single way.” He hung his head.
“Five years. It’s been five years.” I buried my face in my hands. “Nothing. You vanished like a ghost.”
The way his fingers dug into my leg somehow grounded me. Reminded me this wasn’t one of my fitful nightmares. This was real. “We both have a lot to say to each other.”
The fiery purple-haired Cindy L. approached us. She held a tray instead of the regular push cart.
“Sir, I’m sorry. You need to return to coach. This seat is for first class passengers only. You can’t be up here.”
AJ revealed a ticket, holding it toward the flight attendant. My mouth hung open when I realized it was for the seat he was sitting in.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She placed a glass of champagne in his hand. “I didn’t see you here at the beginning of the flight. Were you here? I’m sure that seat was reserved on the manifest.”
He nodded. “It’s all right.” He avoided giving her an explanation. AJ had that irritatingly sexy brooding look that all women fell for, including Cindy L. She seemed to accept his ticket and moved into hostess mode without another argument.
This time I took the alcohol when she offered. I didn’t see how it could make things worse. The champagne bubbles burned my nose, but I chugged until it was gone.
She walked to the next row and AJ set his midnight eyes on me. “Feel better?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Open the laptop and tell me everything you can about this flight. Do you need the flight number? It’s Flight 552.”
I bristled at the way he tried to command me. “That’s not how this is going to work,” I fired back. I hadn’t come to terms that we had a this to contend with.
There was a time when I would have done anything he asked.
“Please.” He gritted his teeth together. The sharp angles of his jaw moved in unison.
I cracked the lid on my computer. “How did you know something was wrong? Everyone onboard is oblivious.”
“Call it gut instinct.”
I glared. “Instinct? I don’t believe you. You don’t work off instinct. You like facts, AJ. Tangible evidence. But I realize that could have changed.” My words trailed off.
He groaned. “No. It hasn’t changed. The truth is I had a message that the mission was compromised.”
“What mission? What message?” I barked. “I’m not helping you with any of this until you tell me exactly what is going on. Why do you have a ticket for that seat? Why are you on here? What in the hell is going on?”
“I can’t tell you half of that information. You know that. It’s classified.”
“That means you’re still in the Bureau? They communicated with you?”
He cleared his throat when Cindy passed us again. He smiled at her quickly
.
