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A snort of amusement pops out of me. “That’s one way of putting it.”
I chuckle and lean back, trying to get comfortable with her continued stare and proximity rather than avoid it. “Why do you keep looking at me?”
“The first time I saw you, at the opera, I was scared of you. I’m just making sure I’m not anymore,” she replies.
“Scared?”
For the first time since she’s gotten onto the plane, she looks away, taking in the area around us rather than focusing on me. “Apprehensive. You have a face that’s weakening. Severe maybe. Low brow. Deep set eyes. You seem angry even if you’re not.” Her lips tip a small smile, eyes looking at the bar, and then she gets up and starts walking around in circles. “You’re nothing like the man I made my life with. He looked soft. Happy. Even when he wasn’t. Maybe you’re the real one with your ferocious outlook. The honest one. I think I fell for a monster in disguise, Gray. He was pretty. Easy going. He seemed honest all those years. Do you think it ever was? I’m not sure now.” She stalls in the space, fingers going to her brow. “Two affairs you said? Who was the other one? And Rick only worked for you for ten years. What about before that? How do I find out about them?”
“Why would you want to?”
“It’ll tell me how many men I need to fuck to get it out of my system.”
A laugh falls out of me, one that builds in amusement. She thinks she’s just going to fuck to get rid of him? I doubt it works like that. Or maybe for her it does. Her eyes look back at me, her body moving as she strips the coat from her body and makes her way to me.
“Why didn’t you fuck me the other night?”
“You were drunk.”
“I’m not now.”
“No, you’re not.”
She hovers near me, probably trying to make up her mind whether I’m her first fuck or not. I’m not. “Mrs Tanner, sit down,” I order, pointing to the chair.
“Veronica.” She smirks and picks up sheets of paper, as if pretending to read the detailed observations about chemical repressors.
“Excuse me?”
“Veronica. I’ve chosen a new name.” The sheets get flung to the ground, her legs wandering her around in circles again.
“It’s a terrible name.”
“Really? I quite like it,” she says, continuing to walk up and down the cabin. Her arms stretch above her head, shoulders rolling around. “Veronica. Nothing like Hannah. Veronica will be all bitch and curses. Angry. Self-absorbed. Disinterested in anything that doesn’t interest enough. Luckily, you interest me,” she says, moving in closer to me.
“I won’t call you by that name.”
“No?”
“No.”
“How will you look after me if you don’t use my name?”
“I’ll watch.”
Chapter 13
Hannah
My lips quirk, brain trying to work out what I’m even doing here with him. I’m on a plane, no idea where we’re heading, and looking at him as if he’s everything I need to break this head space I’m in. He nods at the chair opposite him again, as if telling me to get in it and do as I’m told – conform.
No.
I stretch my leg around him instead and sit in his lap, facing him. He’s wider than Rick. More solid under my backside. I let my weight ease onto him, no care for the way he seems displeased with my move, and place my hands of the front of his shirt. The chest beneath it heaves in a breath, as I pick at the buttons. No movement from him other than that, though. No show of touching me in return. He just looks at me, his typical half ferocious face gazing at me.
Strange.
We nearly kissed the other night. So close. I remembered it when I woke up after my nap and saw the phone still open on his pages. The seconds of time that passed between us as we looked at each other bedded in again, reminding me of that drunken time with laughs and giggles and piggybacks.
