“One weekend, I had to go to Yosemite to spend some time with my family, and when I got back to the beach, he was gone. Disappeared. He blocked my calls and texts. Someone told me he moved to L.A.”
The kind of behavior she was talking about seemed abhorrent to Val. Love was not something that was trifled with or made light of. Teddy needed his head examined.
“The worst part is I have no idea what happened. One minute we were happy, and the next he was just gone. Took my heart with him too.”
“Sounds like someone needs to give your heart back to you.”
“Or not. The rest of that summer was awful. My sister and I holed up and ate a lot of ice cream. I enjoy my life now. It’s more fun without commitment. No worries about doing the wrong thing or hurting someone. I’m upfront with anyone I get involved with.” She brushed her hair over her shoulder.
“Sounds lonely.”
“Not really. I never lack company.”
Of course she didn’t. With those bright knowing eyes and smile to die for, she was gorgeous. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and traced a finger along her jaw. “That’s because you are beautiful and interesting. I imagine you’ve hurt more than your fair share of men.”
She batted her eyes. “I doubt that’s true. But thank you.”
She looked away from him, and he wondered what she was thinking. If he was a canyon dragon, he could tell, but he wasn’t. He was a fire dragon. His gift was a bit useless around humans. Fire dragons were the reason all the rest could breathe fire. They were also pretty charming, but he didn’t want to win Hazel over with his charm. He wanted her to genuinely like him. Why, he didn’t know. She would never agree to be a dragon queen. Which was too bad. He’d been talking to women all week, wondering who would be suitable. He hadn’t liked any of them. Now he’d be comparing everyone to her.
“What are you thinking about?” he finally asked when the silence stretched for too long.
She looked at him and opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then pulled her bag out from under the seat in front of her.
She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “This plane ride has been very unexpected. I think I’ll watch a movie now. It’s been a nice conversation.” It all came out in a rush, like she wanted to stay the words before she forgot them.
Panic bloomed in his chest. She was going to shut him out.
“No, wait. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I said, but I’d like to keep talking to you. I’ll avoid the topic of your beauty if that helps.”
She laughed, settled her bag in her lap, and smiled at him.
“Surfers are the most romantic guys on the block, and I’ve hooked up with my fair share of them. Every single one tells me I’m beautiful. But there was something about the way you said it. It was like you didn’t expect anything from me.” She creased her eyebrows.
He caught her eye. “Why would I have any expectations?”
She held his gaze for a few seconds and then broke away and dug around in her backpack. “That’s the problem. If you weren’t heading to the same place I was, I would probably indulge this. It’s easier than thinking about my brother. But Gardiner is a small town, and we’ll run into each other. You seem like a really nice guy, but I don’t have time for a fling while I’m home.” She gave a small smile and patted his hand.
She pulled out a pair of headphones and shoved the bag underneath the seat. He looked at the screen in front of him with their flight information. Four hours left.
He thought about kissing her, but that might be going a bit too far. Instead, he grabbed her hand.
“I have no expectations beyond this plane. There are four hours left. Can we have a four-hour, uh, fling as you called it?” He had no earthly idea what he was doing. This wasn’t like him. At all.
HAZEL LOOKED DOWN at the hand holding hers. She really liked this guy. Too much. She hadn’t felt like this since Teddy. This was like one of those cheesy teen romance novels. The instalove that never made any sense. Instalove? What was she thinking? He was attractive, and she enjoyed talking to him. Love. Ha!
She didn’t really want to end their conversation, but he was too real. A four-hour fling wasn’t exactly what she had in mind when she thought about him. But it wouldn’t be a horrible thing.
“You just want to join the mile-high club.” She grinned at him.
He creased his eyebrows. “What’s that?”
She didn’t let go of his hand. “If you don’t know, I’m not telling you. You don’t seem to know much about relationships.”
“My aunt and uncle kept me pretty sheltered. The only other people I knew were on the island.”
He was so damned genuine. If she tried to watch a movie, she’d just be thinking about him. “Okay, but as soon as we get off this plane, we’re done. Is that fair?”
He nodded.
Hazel had never had a flight go so fast. He talked about the island he loved, and she told him of her adventures. She avoided the topic of her family because she didn’t want to think about Rowan. Val was smooth and charming but nice. Maybe she should stop dating surfer boys.
He didn’t try to make any moves except to hold her hand. She supposed it would be awkward on the plane, but she hoped to get a kiss out of this before it was over.
Hazel was surprised when the fasten seatbelt sign came on again.
The captain announced they were starting their descent. Hazel gripped Val’s hand. He chuckled.
“Hey, we’re going to be okay.”
She nodded, her words lost now. They still had twenty minutes until things got really scary. Someone bumped into her seat, and she looked up and saw the man who kept trying to steal her seat.
He leaned over her, syringe in hand. It took Hazel only a fraction of second to see that he was heading straight for Val. Hazel acted instinctively and hit the man’s hand. The syringe went flying, and the man growled at her. Hazel’s heart raced as she tried to comprehend what was going on.
“Stupid girl. I knew you were going to ruin this.” He grabbed Val by the collar, but before he could do anything else, two large men descended on the man and tackled him to the ground. Hazel felt instant relief flood through her. In seconds, one man had him in handcuffs, and the other turned to Hazel.
“We’re air marshals. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, but her pulse sounded loud in her ears.
Val was pale, but seemed no worse for wear.
“Where’s the syringe? We saw him pull one out,” one of the air marshals asked.
Hazel thought for a second. “I don’t know. It went flying.”
Hazel stood and looked in the direction she saw it go, scared she might see it stuck in someone’s neck. It was on the floor next to the first row. A woman sat there watching the whole scene. Her eyes were wide, and her breath was coming in rapid bursts. “It nicked me,” she said pointing to her arm.
The air marshal holding the man down pushed his knee into the man’s back. “What was in the syringe?”
“Not telling.”
“Yes, you will,” the air marshal said. He pulled on one of the man’s fingers and bent it back. “Normal rules don’t apply up here. If that was deadly, we need to know.”
“Ow, ow, ow. Stop. Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s potassium cyanide.”
The air marshal looked at the woman in the front. “You’ll be fine if it only nicked you. If you start feeling dizzy, alert one of the flight attendants.” The other air marshal stepped over the man and picked up the syringe. Then the first marshal stood the man up and walked him toward the front. When the man got close enough to the second air marshal, he struggled and forced his arm onto the syringe so that it plunged right into his bicep. Then he fell limp.
The air marshals dragged him to the forward galley.
“Do you think he’s dead?” Hazel asked. She shivered and tried to steady her breathing. They couldn’t see the marshals or the man anymore, but flight attendants were rushing about
calming scared passengers. Since the whole thing took place in first class, most of the passengers behind the curtain had no idea what happened. The marshals were talking, but they were too far away from them to hear what was said.
Val face paled. “Why do you think he wanted me dead? He was coming straight for me.”
A few minutes later, one of the air marshals appeared at their side and stared hard at Val. “Have you ever seen that man before?”
“No. I have no idea why he would do that.”
“Is he dead?” Hazel interrupted, needing to know. If she hadn’t stopped the man, what would he have done to Val?
“Yes. That was quick thinking. He owes you one.” The marshal said, pointing to Val.
The marshal gave Val a card and asked for his number, then went back up to the front.
Val looked at her with an ashen face. “No one has tried to kill me before.”
“He was probably crazy.” She grabbed his hand. “He’s dead now, so there’s nothing else to worry about.”
The plane started to descend, and she squeezed his hand.
“What time is your next flight?” he asked.
“Two,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Okay, that means we’ll be on that plane together. I’ll get our seats switched around so you can sit next to me in that flight as well. That way I can hold your hand.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Sounds good,” she squeaked. She couldn’t get anything else out. This was the worst part of the plane ride.
“We’ll have a couple of hours. Would you like to get lunch with me in the airport?”
She took a couple of deep breaths. “Yeah. That would be nice.”
He continued to talk to her, and she responded with one-word answers. She didn’t open her eyes until she felt the wheels touch the ground. Then she relaxed her grip and breathed normally.
“Thanks. It helped to have you talk to me.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and have the same flight back to Hawaii.”
“That would be quite the coincidence. Do you know when you’re going back?”
He shook his head. “No. I want to see how things go with my dad first. What about you?”
“It all depends on how fast we find my brother. He’s been missing for a week, but my parents waited until now to tell me. I’m a little peeved.” She still had no idea why they waited so long to tell her. She’d get to the bottom of that when she got home.
They rolled their bags out into the terminal and headed to the food court.
“What do you like?” she asked.
“I’m not sure what’s good. We didn’t have all these choices on the Big Island.”
“Five Guys is good. Do you like burgers?” Five Guys was her favorite, and after the exciting flight they just had, she needed comfort food.
“Yeah, I do. Let’s try that.”
They ordered their food, and five minutes later she watched him scarf down his fries. She found it weird he was so sheltered. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen.” He dug into his burger.
“And until now, you never even left the Big Island?”
He chewed and swallowed. “Occasionally we’d visit other islands.”
“But you’d never been on a plane.” She ate a couple of fries.
“My aunt refused to fly. She was more scared than you.” He grinned. “We took boats. But again, I had a rather strange upbringing. My aunt homeschooled me, and we didn’t venture out past our neighborhood except on rare occasions. I probably would’ve left sooner, but I didn’t know any better.”
“Aside from not knowing about different restaurants and things, you’re not all that weird. Most kids who grow up in your situation would be pretty odd.”
“Glad you think I’m acceptable.”
She flushed. “That’s not what I meant. I just mean you’re just not as naïve as I expected.”
THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT bothered Val. He wanted to talk to Hazel about it, but he couldn’t without arousing suspicion—because all the possible reasons someone would want him dead had to do with dragons. He thought it might have something to do with the fact that he was the new king. Obsidian could help him figure this all out.
For the time being, Hazel was a welcome distraction. Val couldn’t get enough of this girl. Even though he promised he wouldn’t look her up once they got to Montana, he had no intention of keeping that promise. They ate their lunch and made their way to the gate. He left her to watch the bags and paid for her to upgrade to first class and sit next to him.
Hazel seemed pretty awed by his ability to do so, but he didn’t really understand why. After he took a human form, Theo gave him a passport, driver’s license, and a few credit cards with no limits. Though Theo did say that Val probably shouldn’t buy a Maserati.
She looked at her ticket. “You’ve spoiled me with this first class stuff. I’m not looking forward to flying back in coach.”
“If you’re on my flight back, I’ll bump you up.”
Her smile fell. “You know I’ve totally enjoyed talking to you. But I’m serious about not pursuing this after we land. I have to find my brother.”
“I know.”
They boarded the plane, and once again he lost all the feeling in his hand with her death grip. Unfortunately, this flight was much shorter.
“What’s your real name?” she asked.
“What?”
“Val has to be short for something. What’s your real name?”
“Valentine.”
She cocked her head in surprise, then giggled. “That’s romantic.”
He shrugged. He’d never thought much of his name. He supposed his mother gave it to him, but he didn’t know. That was one of the thousand questions he’d ask his father. He’d be just as busy as she would be once they got to their destination, but all he wanted was to be with her.
“Do you have any nicknames?” he asked.
“Yeah, my family calls me Sissy. They’ve never called me anything else. My sister and brother are only eleven months younger than me.”
“I like Hazel better.”
“Me too, but I don’t mind. It’s just my family.”
The captain came on the intercom again and announced they would be landing soon. Val wasn’t ready for this to be over. Hazel buckled her seatbelt with shaking hands.
He’d find her when the plane ride was over. He had to. Hopefully she was right and Gardiner was a small town. Hazel was already gripping his hand tightly.
The captain made the announcement to prepare for landing. Val only had a few more minutes with the beautiful girl, and he planned on making the best of it.
“Hazel,” he said. She didn’t respond. He moved her chin so she was facing him, but her eyes were squeezed shut. “Hazel, look at me.”
She peeked at him, and he smiled. Then he brought his face toward hers and kissed her. At first, she didn’t react, her face tight from nerves, but then he felt all the tension leave her body, and her hand relaxed in his. She returned the kiss eagerly. Her hands wove into his hair and held his face against hers. He’d never felt so alive.
HAZEL FORGOT WHERE she was. Space and time disappeared. This kiss was better than any she’d ever experienced. He tasted sweet like the sugar cookies at Christmas time. The wheels touched the ground, and Hazel broke the kiss but didn’t move her face away from Val’s. He rested his forehead on hers. She wondered if it was as good for him as it was for her. There was something about him that she couldn’t explain. She felt that if she stayed with him forever, she’d never have to worry about anything ever again.
Her ankle burned, and she jerked away. That was weird. It felt like a jellyfish brushed up against her skin.
“This has been fun,” she said, pulling away, not wanting to let on how much that kiss rattled her. She had to focus on her brother and couldn’t let anyone distract her. She rubbed at her ankle. The burning subsided.
He gave her a half smile, and she nearly reached u
p and kissed him again. What the hell was wrong with her?
“That’s one way to put it,” Val said, his lips pursed.
He seemed like he wanted to ask her something, and she hoped against hope that it was for her number. She’d told him they couldn’t see each other after the flight, but she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked, looking past him to the dark sky out his window.
He shook his head and clenched his fists.
The flight attendant opened the door, and Hazel grabbed her bag from under the seat in front of her. She hesitated for a half second, almost asking for his number.
“Maybe I’ll see you around,” Val said, without looking at her. Maybe the kiss hadn’t been as good for him as it had been for her. Rejection stung. Ah well. She shouldn’t be thinking about him anyway.
“Maybe,” she said, ignoring her racing heart as she escaped down the jetway. A tinge of sadness pricked her heart. Even in the jetway the frigid air of Idaho was already seeping into her bones. She felt a sense of loss. But maybe it was just the cold. She took a deep breath. She couldn’t think like this. She had another boy to find.
As long as he hadn’t already frozen to death.
HAZEL’S DAD MET her as she walked into the area with the baggage carousels. People swarmed around them as he gave her a big hug. He smelled of sweat and pine, much like he always did, but when she pulled away, she saw the weariness on his face. He’d always been pretty laid back. It was rare to see him stressed out.
“Where are Mom and Aspen?” she asked, shrugging off her backpack and handing it to him.
“Out looking.” He took the backpack, and she rolled her carry-on.
“Of course.” Hazel’s stomach twisted as she followed him to the door. His shoulders slouched, and his gait was slower than normal.
Valentine (The Dragon Kings Book 3) Page 3
