“I won’t.” I promised and gave her a hug.
We went to the flight coordination office to add me onto Jane’s roster for the next three months. She even asked for some more West Coast flights so I could get as near to LA as possible. They gave me a print out of my rota, with my next one in three days’ time. Luckily to Los Angeles.
My phone buzzed with a message from James.
What happened?
All okay, will tell you about it later.
Okay, I’m at home now. Fill me in when you get back.
Sure. Is Antonio there?
No, Gran said he’s gone to London.
Jane said she needed to get a new uniform ordered and left me with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. I was relieved to know I still had my job, and that Jane wasn’t going to try to sabotage me. I breathed a sigh of relief and dialled Antonio’s number as I walked into the reception lobby. I wanted to celebrate with him.
The phone rang a couple of times and Antonio answered, but he wasn’t in London, he was there, waiting for me.
“Don’t be angry,” he said.
Before he could say anything more I kissed him and wrapped my arms around him.
“Thank you for coming,” I said with another kiss.
“Gran made me.”
“You didn’t need much persuading, I bet.”
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “She called James to find out where it would be and sent me down here. I don’t think she knows how much the train is though.”
“Why?”
“She gave me five pounds and said I could buy myself a coffee with that too.”
“Yeah, she has a pass for when she wants to travel.”
I slipped my arm in his and we walked out of the building and I led the way to the trains. “Come on, we need to celebrate.”
As soon as we got into London, Antonio found an Italian restaurant for us to eat at.
“Is this another family restaurant?”
He laughed. “No. They use our food though, so it’s good to see how our customers are doing.”
His name was called out as soon as we got inside the restaurant, and he was greeted like an old friend. He introduced me to the gentleman who shook my hand vigorously before leading us to a table. We weren’t given any menus but asked what we wanted to drink. Part of me wanted champagne, but I thought it best to let Antonio lead.
“A couple of glasses of champagne, we are celebrating,” Antonio said.
“Of course,” the waiter replied and hurried off.
“Are we eating?” I asked Antonio.
“Yeah. They will bring something. They will want to show off to us.”
“Okay. I trust you then.”
“You should. I know my food,” he said with a smirk.
I reached out for his hands, and he set my heart racing when he lifted my hands up to kiss them.
“I’m glad I met you,” he said. “It’s been crazy, but it’s a good crazy.”
With the threat of losing my job behind me, I had time to reflect on what was good. I was still able to fly, and even though I didn’t know how we would make it work, I knew it was worth a try. His smile alone had my heart beating faster.
The waiter returned with two glasses of champagne and placed them on the table. We thanked him, then picked them up and clinked our glasses together.
“To flying, and to us. Boyfriends?” Antonio said.
“Boyfriends,” I agreed as we sipped at our champagne.
After dinner we walked around London, and despite the chill in the air, Antonio’s hand in mine kept me warm. We were still there when the clubs opened, and I took Antonio to Club Xtra. I didn’t want to stay long, just long enough to have a dance with my boyfriend.
The music pounded through my body and I revelled in it. I rocked my head back and forth as I moved my body with the music. Apart from the glass of champagne earlier, we hadn’t had anything more to drink. Antonio’s arms snaked around me as we followed the rhythm of the music.
He twisted me around until our bodies were flush and our crotches grinded together and then he kissed me. Our mouths worked together as the music moved us. I had to take a swig of my water before I returned to kissing him. We were covered in sweat, and even though we were on the packed dancefloor, he was the only one who mattered to me.
“Take me home,” I shouted into his ear. “I want you in every position possible.”
His chest bobbed up and down as he laughed, and then he took me by the hand and led me off the dancefloor to the cloakroom. We grabbed our coats and he got us a taxi as soon as we stepped outside.
I rested my head on his shoulder as the taxi took us home. He took my hand in his and I felt complete. The past couple of weeks had been crazy, but I wouldn’t want to change it. Because if I did, I wouldn’t have Antonio sat next to me. As though he sensed what I was thinking, he placed a finger under my chin and kissed me.
When we got home, I noticed James’s suitcase outside his room. I lifted my finger to my lips to tell Antonio to be quiet. He understood and feigned tiptoeing to my room with comical effect. As soon as we got into my bedroom, we stripped out of our clothes and got straight to bed. We rolled around for a while until I had him underneath me. I grabbed a condom from the bedside cabinet, put it on him, and then rode him until we both climaxed in pleasure.
Epilogue
The alarm on my phone started, but I didn’t switch it off. Antonio did it for me, and then kissed my lips to wake me up. I liked how it was the first thing he did in the morning.
We’d had an extra three days in London together, and now it was time for him to go back to LA, but I was flying there too. I’d got him a family and friends flight with me, so he could go home and get stuff, and then he would return with me to London a few days later.
“Have we got time?” he asked.
“To shower? Yeah. You smell a bit.”
His fingers dug into my sides until I screamed for him to stop.
“You like how I smell,” he said and kissed me again.
Antonio was always horny in the morning. We would have a good morning kiss, his hands would go down below and didn’t stop until we were both happy.
As his kisses left my mouth and travelled down south, I could tell what he wanted. I gasped as he took me in his mouth, but it would be only seconds before he put a condom on my dick and asked me to make love to him.
Which of course we did. Then had a shower, made breakfast together and got ready for Heathrow airport. He left some clothes here, not wanting to take much back so he could get through customs in Los Angeles as quickly as possible. I wasn’t taking a suitcase, only my carry on, so we didn’t have to wait for luggage.
At the airport gate, Antonio chatted to Jane while Danny fired one hundred and one questions at me. About Antonio, about my meeting and why Antonio was in London.
“One question at a time,” I told him. Then filled him in on all he wanted to know.
“I’m performing at Flamingos tonight. If you want to come along? You can drink too. Brandon said you proved yourself last time. Just don’t get wasted.”
My eyes found Antonio, his lips curved upwards, before he continued his conversation with Jane.
“You know,” I said as I turned back to Danny. “I don’t think I have much reason to get wasted anymore. Not when I’ve got him.”
Danny sighed, but it was a good sigh.
The text message from my mother played on my mind, but I let it go. I’d done all I could for the time being. Now it was time for me to live my life.
Like a sixth sense, Antonio chose that moment to come over and hold my hand.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I replied, and placed a kiss on his lips as the crew were called to board the plane. “See you up in the air.”
I had to leave him to board like a normal passenger, even though he was in First and would be on board not long after me. In Premium, I was working with Annie who I hadn’t seen in a while. Sh
e had hugged me in the briefing room as though we were old friends.
“You want all the gossip about my flight back from Las Vegas,” I told her, with my hands on my hips for emphasis.
“Yeah, of course I do.” She laughed. “Plus, you can tell me how James and Darren are getting on.”
I took a sharp intake of breath. “You can tell me what really happened in Johannesburg. James hasn’t told me everything.”
“Deal,” she said.
We prepared the Premium section and traded stories on James and Darren, and I gave her the details of my recent events.
“Leave the ovens to me, I’ll make sure they’re set right.” She teased me until we were told to expect the passengers, and then she switched to professional cabin crew member, as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
Antonio smiled at me as he stepped through the plane doors. Jane checked his ticket even though she knew who he was and where he was sitting.
“You’ve got your section to look after, Max,” she said without looking at me.
I did as I was told and focused on my passengers. Soon everyone was on board and we were up in the air. Annie and I got to work when we were released and she made a playful example of checking the ovens before we started serving drinks. After lunch was finished and everything put away, I had a visitor from First.
“Mi scusi,” Antonio said. He said something else which I couldn’t make out.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said. “I don’t speak much Italian. Can you speak English?”
“You should learn, it’s a beautiful language. The language of love.”
“I’m practising, sir. My boyfriend is Italian. He’s going to teach me.”
“Good. Now tell me, how I can join the mile high club?”
Annie burst out laughing and it took all I had not to join her.
“Antonio, I’m on probation, you can’t be asking me that.”
He frowned.
“Yet,” I added.
He smiled and checked no one could see us before he kissed me. It was just a peck on the lips, but enough to send tingles through my body.
“How’s your flight, sir?”
“Very well, thank you.” He mocked an English accent. “I will return to my seat though, I don’t want to take up any more of your time.”
He went back to First and Annie started to ask me questions about Antonio. Other crew members had come to join us when they’d finished their lunch service. The subject soon turned to Graham, and everybody had a tale of when Graham had bullied them or done something worse. I wondered why he did it, but no one could come up with a reason other than him being nasty.
The flight seemed to drag on, as they did when it was daylight outside and passengers were awake. I was allowed to check in on Antonio, but Jane gave me a stern warning about having any funny business. He was asleep when I got there, and I wanted to wake him, but other passengers may have gotten strange ideas about the service provided.
The plane touched down ahead of schedule, which always put the crew and passengers in a good mood. Even though immigration was slow to let passengers through, I waited for Antonio as he lined up to get his passport checked. While I was in uniform we didn’t touch, but I couldn’t wait to get out of the airport and head to Antonio’s. He picked up his car from the airport car park and drove us to his home.
Even though I’d seen his bedroom on video, it was different being there. It was smaller than I thought, but it all felt familiar. Antonio came up behind me, wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me. He placed a kiss on my cheek and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m happy you’re here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Feels good, you know?”
“I do.” I relaxed into him until he pushed me towards the bed.
“You look sexy in your uniform,” he growled into my ear. “But you look sexier out of it.”
We wasted no time stripping out of our clothes and getting tangled up in the covers on his bed. Sometime later I woke up to Antonio shaking me.
“Come on, bello. We need to go.”
“Where?”
“To eat, then to Flamingos.”
I groaned until he pulled me out of the bed, giving me time to find my feet and then taking me to the bathroom. His shower was bigger than mine at home, and we were able to do more than just get clean.
Antonio took me to Luisa’s restaurant, where she fussed over us from the moment we got there until we were ready to leave. She was pleased to see us and hugged me as we left.
“Good to see you, Max. His mamma is happy too.”
Not sure how to respond, I smiled at her until she launched into Italian with Antonio. He was quiet after that and didn’t say anything until we got in the car.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not. What did Luisa say?”
He let out a breath. “She told my mamma. Told her I looked happy. Now mamma wants to meet you.”
My heart beat double fast. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, bello. I wasn’t expecting her to want to meet any of my boyfriends.” He smiled. “I guess she gets to meet the best one.”
“Still full of the one-liners.”
“Of course. You will have to get used to them.”
Somehow, I knew I would.
Also Available
Up in the Air 1: Johannesburg
Looking for love is the last thing air steward, James Foster, is thinking about when he swaps flights to save his hungover best friend’s job. He doesn’t know that fate has other ideas and he would fall for the tall, bearded passenger, Darren Busby, sat in 14D. Up in the air, James finds that the connection he has with Darren is too strong to ignore.
After missing the opportunity to ask for Darren’s number, James’ jaw hits the floor when Darren walks into the same hotel he is staying at. Butterflies and nerves take over, but soon give way to excitement as they get to know each other on the ground.
When James’ ex, Richard, shows up and begs for forgiveness, James has to decide if going back to the man who broke his heart would be worth it, or if he should finally move on and take a chance on Darren.
On the Third Kiss
Sebastian Bennett is really looking forward to his Christmas holiday with boyfriend Elliot Bolton in the Gran Canarian sun. The only thing left is for him to sing one last song at the pub as his Drag Queen alter-ego, Donna Tracey. After the wig, make-up and dress come off, he rushes home to pack, only to find he and his chihuahua, Buster, have been deserted by Elliot, who’s taken someone else to Gran Canaria. Devastated, Sebastian turns to his friend and the pub’s manager, Javier Reyes-Martinez, who helps him pick up the pieces.
Javier seems determined to bring fun and laughter back into Sebastian’s life during this holiday season, and Sebastian is both grateful and enchanted. After a family Christmas and a word of advice from his great-uncle, Sebastian starts to look at Javier in a different light. Is Javier as fond of Sebastian as he appears, or is Sebastian being misled by his own need? If he’s reading the signs right—and if he’s ready to move on from his previous heartbreak—could he and Javier be much more than friends?
About George
George was about eighteen when he told his friend that he was going to be a writer. It took him another eighteen years before he finally did anything about it and wrote his first short story. A typical Englishman, he drinks buckets of tea with milk—but no sugar, because he’s sweet enough. His nan told him so.
George lives just outside of London, but close enough to enjoy Soho and the West End, where you will find him in a bar with a pint, in a club dancing into the early hours of the morning, or enjoying a musical in the theatre; but more than likely he will be in a coffee shop reading a book or writing a new story.
Connect with George on Facebook – www.facebook.com/gloveland9 or on Twitter – www.twitter.com/GeorgeLoveland9
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George Loveland, Up in the Air 2: West Coast
Up in the Air 2: West Coast Page 16
