Mile High (Up In The Air #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

I couldn’t stop yawning as I got ready for work the next morning. James woke up with me, in spite of the ungodly hour. He was alert but quiet as we both got dressed. He wore an elegant pale gray suit. It was so pale it almost looked white at first glance.

He paired it with a brilliant turquoise dress shirt with a stark white collar. A skinny tie as white as the collar hung to his pale gray belt. The pant legs were very narrow and fitted, and he’d chosen faded gray lace-up dress shoes. The full effect was devastating. Only James could have pulled it off.

He approached me from behind as I shrugged into my uniform dress shirt. He held up a tiny silver object in front of my face. It took me a moment to place it as a small lock. “May I lock on your collar now?”

I stiffened, but tilted my head forward to give him access. “Yes,” I said.

For better or worse, I had made my decision.

He locked it on quickly, placing a soft kiss to my nape. “Turn around,” he told me. I did, and he was holding the key on a chain around his own neck. He tucked it under his shirt as I watched. “There will be security at your house. Please cooperate with them. They’re there to keep you safe.”

I just nodded. I knew better than anyone that I wasn’t safe, and I was grateful for the extra protection.

He rode in the town car with me to the crew hotel. He gripped me tightly to his side and buried his face in my hair. “This is harder than I thought it would be, letting you go like this,” he murmured into my hair.

I rubbed a hand over the spot over his heart where he’d etched my name. I knew that the action comforted us both. “It’s only for a few days.”

“Call or text me when you land, and again when you’re safely in your house. I’ll worry if you don’t.”

I nodded, the motion rubbing his face against the back of my hair.

“I can’t kiss you goodbye, Love. If I start, I know I’ll never stop.”

I nodded again. I understood the odd sentiment. Instead, when the car stopped in front of my crew hotel, I held his elegant hand to my lips, kissing the palm and then moving my lips over the faint thin scars on his wrist, placing a soft kiss there as well, and then moving my lips back into his palm, allowing myself just a moment to nuzzle against it.

He made a soft little sound in his throat that made it so hard to get out of the car. He caught my hand as I was about to move away and copied the motion on my own wrist and palm. It was sheer agony to walk away from him. I didn’t look back. I knew that would only make it worse.

Only Stephan and Javier were in the lobby when I walked in, Stephan in his uniform, Javier dressed business casual in a lavender dress shirt and beige slacks.

I was five minutes early, I saw as I checked my watch. Stephan grinned when he saw me, striding over to hug me tightly. “I missed you, Buttercup.”

I hugged him back, just as tightly. “We have so much to talk about, but I needed to ask you and Javier something.”

Javier approached us rather cautiously, as though afraid to interrupt our reunion. “What’s up?” Stephan asked.

“How would you like to stay in the swankest pad in New York for our days off this week? Most likely we’d fly in Monday morning and stay until early Thursday.”

Stephan’s grin grew even wider. “I can’t think of anything I’d love more. I take it this means you and James are working things out?”

I nodded, smiling and looking up into his eyes. I let him see all of my happiness but none of my troubles. It was what he deserved.

Javier cleared his throat. “Um, so, did you mean just for Stephan, or…”

I gave him a friendly smile. “I meant for the two of you to come, if you want to. James has an obscene amount of room, considering that it’s in Manhattan.”

Stephan cleared his throat, shooting Javier a positively wicked glance. I could have sworn Javier blushed just a tad even through his lovely pale mocha skin. “Javier and I only need one room regardless.”

I blinked. That was moving incredibly fast, for Stephan. I took it as a good sign. He seemed to be more comfortable by the minute about being in an open relationship with a man.

“I had one more thing I wanted to talk to both of you about. I’ve decided to stop working so much overtime and just stick with my regular shifts, for the most part. I hope you don’t mind losing your overtime partner.”

Stephan didn’t look in the least perturbed. “About damn time, Bee. I figured you would be catching on to that soon enough. I already asked Javier if he wanted to be my new overtime buddy. He’s doing some trades to share our days off, so it should work out perfectly.” As Stephan spoke he stroked a hand over Javier’s jet black hair.

Javier closed his eyes, as though savoring the light touch. I didn’t know if it was just the only thing I knew with my limited experience with relationships, but it looked to me like Javier was clearly Stephan’s submissive. The way he closed his eyes, his hands in his pockets to keep from touching back, just reminded me so much of an act of submission. Stephan’s hand moved down to rub at a spot on Javier’s thin, straight shoulders. Javier let out a pleased little moan. I thought they were beautiful together.

“The crew bus is here. Let’s load up,” Stephan said, releasing Javier.

We filed out, handing our luggage to the driver, who loaded it into the baggage compartments mounted along the bottom of the mini-shuttle. “Five more coming,” Stephan told the driver, climbing inside.

Stephan and Javier took the backseat, and I sat on the row just in front of them. “Bianca, be our lookout,” Stephan said rather cryptically. I turned to look at them. I was as shocked as I’d ever been by what I saw.

Stephan had a flushed Javier pinned down on the bench seat beneath them. He was straddling the smaller man and giving him a very intense, very heated look. He held the other man’s wrists pinned tautly above his head. As I watched he bent down and kissed him. It was not a casual kiss but a rough one, and I knew dominance when I saw it. My shocked gaze flew out the window as I suddenly realized that I was the lookout, and that I actually needed to do the job considering the things going on in the backseat.

I heard Stephan murmuring something to Javier, and I could hear that whatever it was was muffled against some part of the other man’s skin. “Bianca, do you suppose you could manage ten minutes without me on the flight?” Stephan addressed me. “I know it’s going to be hectic, but I would really appreciate it.”


“Of course,” I answered without hesitation.

“See. I told you she would. Three hours, tops, and I’ll take you again. I’m not that much of a tease,”

Stephan said in a low voice to Javier. It made me blush down to my toes, but I stayed alertly watching out the window.

“You are a tease,” Javier muttered, sounding sullen. “Three hours is forever.”

I spotted the pilots in the lobby. “Pilots incoming,” I said, sounding a little panicked even to my own ears.

Stephan sat up, releasing Javier. I glanced back at Stephan. He grinned at me shamelessly. I couldn’t help it. I grinned back. Javier looked more perturbed but still happy. His blush was like a happy glow around him. His words hadn’t shown me that, but his face did. He gave me a shy smile. “Sorry,” he muttered to me.

I smiled back. “Don’t be sorry. I’ve never seen Stephan like this. I think you guys are beautiful together.”

That made him truly glow. Javier had it bad. It took one to know one, and I knew that lovesick look because a certain Mr. Beautiful had the same effect on me. I was relieved to see it. I wanted Javier to feel that kind of love for Stephan. He wouldn’t want to hurt someone he loved that much.

“Quit making him blush, Bianca. That’s my job,” Stephan said, ruffling Javier’s hair affectionately.

Sure enough, Javier blushed harder.

I turned around, shaking my head with a strange smile on my face. I had never seen this side of Stephan, didn’t know he had it in him.

The Saturday morning flight into Vegas was hectic, as it always was. Stephan took his ten minutes with the meeting with Javier in the bathroom that I had expected. Both men emerged looking flushed and happy. We all grinned at each other like fools before Stephan and I got back to work and Javier returned to his seat.

Stephan and I clutched hands as we landed, grinning at each other. We didn’t say much, just enjoying the moment.

I texted James as we taxied in.

Bianca: Just landed in Vegas. How r u?

James: Fine. Keeping busy with work, but still missing you like crazy.

I hesitated, then just said to hell with it.

Bianca: I miss you too.

James: Call me when you get to your house.

I put my phone away after that, since I’d be contacting him again soon enough.

The drive home was a jovial affair, with Stephan and Javier smiling about just about everything. My expression matched theirs. I couldn’t seem to help myself.

I was met at my front door by the security guard, Paterson. A woman I’d never met before was standing beside him, looking grim. She was short and stocky, and I knew at a glance that she was a tough woman.

She had dark hair held back in a short, no-nonsense braid. Her face was round and pale, but her eyes were hard and assessing. She didn’t wear a scrap of makeup, I doubted she ever did, and her mouth was set in a grim line.

Her body could have been bulky or just big-boned. It was impossible to say with the baggy, short- sleeved mens button-up shirt she was wearing over wide-legged slacks. She was like the agents, in her own way. Just looking at her made you think of law enforcement.

Paterson gave me a polite nod as I approached my front door. I could feel Stephan hovering behind me.

I didn’t have to ask to know that he wouldn’t leave until he knew I was settled into my house, safe and secure. He had done so ever since the attack.

“Ms. Karlsson, this is Blake. She’s new to the team, but I’ve known her for years. She’s the best.

She’ll be your personal bodyguard detail for public excursions. It’s been very clearly brought to my attention that I had overlooked your security in public restrooms.”

I flushed, recalling the incident in the restroom. Of course James would take extra measures after that. I should have seen it coming. I nodded to Blake. “Nice to meet you, Blake,” I said. I wouldn’t protest the extra security. I certainly couldn’t argue that I needed it.

She nodded back solemnly. “A pleasure, Ms. Karlsson.”

I wondered if I could get her to call me by my first name. I had sort of given up on trying that with the security after Clark. He’d stubbornly refused in spite of my prompting.

“Please, allow us to secure the house before you proceed inside,” she said solemnly.

I nodded, unlocking the door and going inside to punch in the security code. Both Paterson and Blake sucked in a breath when I stepped into the house first. I saw how I had erred, and apologized. The least I could do for my bodyguards was make it easy for them to do their job. “I’ll get you guys some copies of my keys and give you my security codes to make it easier.”

Paterson cleared his throat, but it was Stephan that spoke. “I already did, Bee. I got copies for them, and for James.”

I imagined that they were all holding their breath, waiting for me to throw some kind of tantrum, but I wasn’t unreasonable. Stephan might have been a tad premature, but it was only a convenience at this point. “Thank you,” I said. I thought I heard all three of them let out relieved breaths. What has the security team been told about me? I wondered.

Paterson and Blake asked me to stay near the front entrance while Blake hovered near me and Paterson did a rather long search of the house. I was too distracted by the new additions to my living room to care much. A Mac with a large screen had taken residence in the spot where my old computer had been. I just stared at it for awhile, blinking, my tired mind blank. “What happened to my old computer?” I asked out loud.

Stephan answered. “It’s gone. That one has everything you need. I wiped the other one and put everything on this one for you. James asked me to do it so he wouldn’t have to hire a stranger to go through your computer.” His voice held a sheepish apology.

I sighed, becoming more and more resigned to James’s constant need to buy me things. “That was nice of you. Thank you.”

“You aren’t mad?”

“It seems silly to get mad about getting a new computer, doesn’t it? I’m growing accustomed to this sort of thing.” I looked at Stephan as I spoke.

He grinned at me. “It was no trouble at all. James bought me one, too.”

I thought of all the things I needed to tell him. There just hadn’t been any time. “I have so much to tell you. Will you come over tonight?” Javier had already gone to Stephan’s house and was waiting for him.

The two men seemed inseparable. “Can we get a little while to talk, just the two of us? Then we could have dinner with Javier, unless you two want to be alone.” It felt awkward to have to request his exclusive company, but I told myself to get used to it.

He gave me a chastising look. “Of course. I’ll come over right after a nap. Just text me when you wake up. And yes, we’ll all have dinner. At my place. I’ll cook. I’ve missed you, Bee. I know I need to get used to it, but just a few days without you is tough. You never have to ask when you want to spend time with me. You give me the time and the place and I’ll be there. Always.”

I moved to him, and he opened his arms. I walked right into them, barely aware that we weren’t alone.

His words had touched an emotional chord in me. “Go get some sleep. As you can see, I’m in good hands. I’ll text you when I wake up.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Good night,” he murmured. I walked him to the door.

Blake was studying me when I turned back into the room. She quickly schooled her face into a carefully blank expression.

“All clear,” Paterson said as he strode back into the room. He addressed me, “If you have any problems, any problems at all, one of us will be right across the street, in a black SUV, at all times.”

“I have a spare room. I don’t mind if you guys want to sleep in there. There’s only a twin bed, but it’s better than sleeping in a car.”

Paterson and Blake shared a look, but not before I saw the surprise in both of their eyes.

“Thank you for the kind offer, Ms. Karlsson,” Blake said.

“I’ll discuss it with Mr. Cavendish,” Paterson said.

Of course control freak Cavendish would have the rule that he had to approve all decisions.

Paterson cleared his throat. “Mr. Cavendish has also asked me to tell you to please answer your phone.” Paterson’s voice was carefully polite, but I’d have been willing to bet that James hadn’t been when he made the request. My phone was buried somewhere in my flight bag and I dreaded seeing how many calls I had missed since I’d left the plane.

“Excuse me, please. I need to go take a nap,” I told the two security guards awkwardly. I wasn’t used to having staff, and my first instinct was to treat them as guests in my home.

They both nodded rather deferentially, as though it had been taught to them amidst all of the other training they must have been through. “As I said, we’ll be just outside. And my number is in your phone, under ‘Security.’”

I thanked them both politely before I went into my room, shutting my door gratefully behind me. I meant to call James, my mind was on him even as I got half undressed and fell facedown on top of my covers.