AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He reaches the line of people waiting to board the plane.
Perfect. A dead end with no escape.
He turns to face me, rolling the carry-ons in front of him as if they’re a protective barrier. “So, what if I did?”
Instinctively, my frustrated fingers reach over to pinch him, but he throws his backpack over the exposed arm muscles in his T-shirt. “Why did you lie?”
“I wasn’t lying, I was just—” He attempts to piece together an answer. “Okay, I kind of lied, but only abouttransferringthe ticket.”
“Was someone else even supposed to come on the trip, or did you lie about that also?”
Nico walks backward as the queue moves along, not taking his eyes off me. “My friend Quin was meant to join me for a few weeks in Brazil.”
Quin.Who the hell is Quin?Tara said he never travels with other people. Am I simply a replacement for a woman who ditched him?
“Why didshedecide not to come?”
Nico smirks. “Quin and I talked about the trip last year, buthiswife got pregnant, so he decided not to go.”
Oh.I try to contain my sudden relief, but it’s like playing Whac-A-Mole. “Why didn’t you just tell me? I hate when people I care about lie to me, Nico.”
“I’m sorry, Lil. I just knew you needed a break, and you wouldn’t have bought your own ticket after you lost your job. I was going to tell you after the trip was done.”
Well, he has a point there.
His uncanny ability to predict my actions is starting to annoy the bejesus out of me.
Why does he have to go and say things that make me weak in the knees?
Ugh. Ridiculously adorable and suffocatingly sweet intentions.
How am I meant to be mad now?
I guess if he didn’t buy me the ticket and ask me to come, I wouldn’t be on this trip. I’d be alone in New York, probably working at some miserable bar. I have to admit it’s been the best summer I’ve had in a long time.
So, why does it matter if he bent the truth? Hopefully, Nico would never lie about something important.
“Fine. Just don’t leave the ticket off my owed half at the end of the summer.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Nico says with a tone I don’t quite believe.
We shuffle into the entrance of the airplane. A pair of flight attendants greet us, their navy pantsuits pressed neatly.
Nico smiles, taking both carry-ons in one hand.Yes. Just one hand to lift eighty pounds of clothes, plus my overstuffed tote bag. He has a talent for fitting an extraordinary amount of stuff into one of his large palms.
A firecracker of heat detonates in my gut.
For fuck’s sake, now my mind’s dropped this far into the gutter?
I’m one accidental insider trade away from becoming a white-collar criminal. My mind is only sex, cash, international travel, and oversized man hands.What’s wrong with me?
I turn to the right and walk toward our seats, but Nico grips my arm. Did it somehow get bigger? No. Not even anatomically possible.
“This way.” He pulls me to the left side of the cabin.
I yank him the other way. “Nico, that’s first class. We’re over here.”
“Yeah, come on.”
