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As soon as I stepped outside, the sky began to sprinkle. Not enough to need an umbrella, but enough that my hair was going to be a ball of frizz if I didn’t get out of the moisture quickly.
Luck was mostly in my favor because my car arrived a minute later. We made it to the airport forty-five minutes before my flight was due to board, and it only took me ten to get through security.
Gabe was pacing by the windows that looked at our plane when I reached the gate. His body was taut, and his expression was dark and brooding.
“Is everything alright?” I asked as I approached.
His head flew up and when his brown eyes landed on my face, his whole body relaxed, but his expression remained tumultuous. “I was beginning to worry.”
I winced. “I’m sorry I was late.”
“I don’t care that you were late, Avery,” he said in a low, angry voice. “But you should have let me know, and why the fuck didn’t you answer your phone?”
“What?” Confused, I slipped my phone out of a pocket in my purse and it opened when it recognized my face. “I don’t see any missed calls or texts from you.”
Gabe pressed his lips together and held out his hand, palm up. I hesitated because it irritated me when he was bossy—and turned me on a little—but when his eyes narrowed dangerously, I dropped my phone into his waiting hand. He said nothing as he swiped a couple of times and tapped a few more. Then he offered it back to me.
The missed call screen was pulled up, and right there, in bright red, were ten missed calls from Gabe. “Bu—but…” He tapped on my chat app, and sure enough, I had a dozen or so texts from my boss as well. “There must be something wrong with my phone.”
“You forgot to turn off the focus feature when you left work,” he explained, still sounding irritated.
Oops. The feature he mentioned silenced all my notifications so they didn’t distract me while I was working. “I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Gabe glanced away and ran a hand over his face with a sigh. Then he looked at me again. “Why aren’t I in your exceptions?”
“My what?”
He studied me for a moment, and then understanding dawned on his face. Taking my phone once again, he showed me where I could add specific people that would be the only ones able to contact me when my notifications were silenced. Since his face was already in the box, he’d clearly added himself when he’d taken my phone before.
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “I had no idea. I’m truly sorry. I know you want your assistant available to you at all times.”
Gabe handed my cell back to me, his sexy lips still curled down into a frown. “I wasn’t worried about my assistant, Avery. I was worried aboutyou.”
My stomach swirled with excitement, and I took a shallow breath before replying, “But I’m your assistant.”
Frustration flashed in Gabe’s eyes, and his tone indicated that he was irritated when he replied curtly, “You are also my”—he paused and his hands moved forward like he was going to touch me, but then they balled into fists and dropped to his side—“my friend.”
Even though we’d spent a lot of time talking and learning about each other, I wasn’t sure if he saw me as more than his assistant—and possibly a woman he wanted to take to bed. Hearing him call me his friend sent light and warmth spreading through my body, although it wasn’t the label I wanted. But that was the fairytale trying to intrude again, so I contented myself with being his friend.
My lips curved into a smile, and I nodded. “You’re right, Gabe. We are friends. I won’t forget that in the future. It’s sweet that you were worried about me.”
He laughed and shook his head, then took my hand and led me to the gangway where the airport attendant was boarding first class. “Sweet isn’t a word usually associated with me. But if you want to think that, baby, go ahead.”
My mouth dropped open as my face was engulfed with heat, and my stomach jumped before exploding with a million butterflies. However, Gabe didn’t seem to realize he’d called me “baby,” so I pressed my lips together and stayed silent. I was afraid my lust-addled mind would say something stupid, like begging him to take me in the airplane bathroom so we could join the mile-high club.
Thankfully, we came to a stop at the podium before I could delve further into fantasies that were likely to make me spontaneously combust. The attendant smiled at Gabe as she scanned his ticket. Then she looked at me and her eyebrows rose a fraction. She glanced between the two of us a couple of times and at our linked hands while she checked me in, and her smile grew as her eyes danced with laughter.
It wasn’t until we were entering the plane and I passed by an overhead mirror that I realized why she’d been so amused. My skin was flushed crimson red from my hairline down past my cleavage. My hair had lost the battle with the humidity, and it was even messier because I’d been running my fingers through it. I looked like a mess.
No, I looked like I’ve just been thoroughly fucked.
