‘Hey,’ Kat said. Megan felt a kick at her foot. ‘That’s us.’
‘Wake up, sleepyhead,’ Sasha said.
Megan opened her eyes just in time to see her walk past. Just like her, Kat and Sasha wore T-shirts and comfortable sweatpants – Megan in black cotton with white stripes and flared legs, Kat in tighter brown cashmere with pink accents, Sasha in two shades of blue.
‘Let’s go,’ Beatrice said, jolting with excitement as she urged them all to hurry. With hair and makeup firmly in place, their mother looked beautiful and awake and incredibly put together in her long-sleeve black blouse and leopard-print scarf. Megan never understood why people dressed up to get on a plane. Then again, she never dressed up to go anywhere.
‘You ready?’ Ryan’s voice washed over her, sending chills along her flesh.
Of course, she knew she’d have to talk to him on this trip, but the sound of his voice took her by surprise. She blinked, looking up into his tired brown eyes. Stubble grew over his jawline, accenting his strong features. A lightening bruise encircled the bottom of one eye. Since she’d been blamed for it by Sasha that morning when he arrived at their parents’ house, Megan knew he’d got the black eye from some misunderstanding.
Her gaze travelled down his arm to his hand. He turned his palm towards her, lifting it ever so slightly as if to offer it to her. She pushed up from the chair, not taking it. When she made a move to pick a small backpack carry-on off the floor, he was right beside her, lifting it up before she could grab it.
‘Allow me,’ he said, his voice tight. Before she could speak, he walked away.
‘The sooner we get on the plane, the sooner we can go back to sleep,’ her father said, lightly touching her arm. He nudged her along with him to get into line. ‘Your mother means well, but I think she got us here a little too early.’
‘It’s impossible to tell these days,’ Megan said, wondering why she defended her mother, ‘with airport security being so tight.’
‘Is everything all right between you and Ryan?’ Her father abruptly changed the subject. ‘You seem distant from him.’
Megan looked her father over without appearing obvious. He seemed paler than usual and tired. Was there something to her mother’s claim that her father wasn’t feeling well? Or was it merely bad airport lighting and no sleep? Not willing to take a chance, she lied, ‘No, everything is fine. I don’t like flying and he’s respecting my grumpiness by leaving me be.’
‘Ah.’ Douglas nodded, as if understanding.
‘Tickets,’ a flight attendant said.
‘Oh, no, here, they’re with us, too.’ Her mother thrust two tickets at the woman and smiled brightly, as Megan dug out her driver’s licence and flashed it at the attendant.
They walked with the other passengers to board the plane. The long hallway curved, separated into metal sections that eventually created a seal around the airplane’s door.
Her father paused, letting her step inside first. ‘I’m glad we’re doing this,’ Douglas said. ‘It’ll be fun. I only wish Ella could make it.’
‘Me, too, Dad,’ Megan agreed.
The first-class section consisted of a small area of cushy seats. Megan looked at them in longing, knowing what awaited them behind the curtain in their section. Towards the back, her mother motioned at them to hurry. Already Sasha, Kat and Vincent sat in a row of three, Kat in the middle flipping through an airline shopping magazine. Vincent gazed affectionately at his wife and Sasha stared out the small window.
Megan paused, looking from the empty seat next to her mother’s purse, to Ryan standing expectantly in the aisle. Both spots were in rows of two seats. Which one would make for the worse travelling companion? Her mother or her pretend fiancé? Before she could snag her father’s spot, he moved past her and sat down by his wife. Megan turned her full attention to Ryan.
‘Do you want the window?’ he asked.
Did he have to look at her like that? All soft and gorgeous? The light scent of his cologne caught her attention. A shiver worked over her, as desire threaded its way through her senses. She brushed past him, not saying a word as she took the window seat. Ryan was slower to follow, sliding in next to her.
A night of unsatisfying desires followed by a morning actively pretending not to notice him became almost too much to deal with. Megan took a deep breath, more aware of the heat coming off Ryan’s leg than of the people moving about the cabin. Her family was seated slightly behind them and wouldn’t be able to see her face unless she turned or lifted up in her seat. Aside from strangers, whose opinions she didn’t care about, no one could see what they were doing.
Ryan’s leg shifted and his muscular thigh drew her attention down. It was close and she wanted to touch it, to run her hand up to his cock, to straddle his legs as she rubbed her sex against his lap. A light moan escaped her.
‘Megan?’ Ryan asked.
Startled by the questioning sound, her eyes darted from his crotch to his gaze. ‘I hate flying. I feel sick.’ The words were weak, made even more so by the way she fumbled for the shade, pulling the hard plastic over the window to block out the light and hopefully hide her flushed cheeks. Her words weren’t a complete lie. She did hate flying. Not because she was scared, but because it was like all the discomfort and unpleasantness of a fifteen-hour bus trip crammed into half the time. Either way, you got the same amount of travel lag, only on an airplane they gave you a bag of five peanuts and a tiny glass of soda.
‘Hey, don’t worry.’ Ryan’s hand brushed her knee.
Megan stared at the plastic cover, realising that she must indeed look frightened. But it wasn’t takeoff that caused her to shake. She was scared of herself, of what she felt, of what she shouldn’t be feeling for the impostor who invaded her life.
‘Nothing will happen,’ he reassured her.
Nothing? Megan took a deep breath, having a hard time concentrating. Then, a strange fact came to her: Ryan had power over her and she secretly liked it. There was nothing she could do but wait and see what would happen next. Morally, of course, she resented being forced into an engagement, but, sinfully speaking, she kind of liked that he had the balls to even try blackmailing her.
‘How can you know nothing will happen?’ Megan found herself asking. She glanced to the strong hand by her knee, remembering what they felt like on her hips as he pulled and pushed with such gentle force. The moment should have been a cold and methodical memory so she couldn’t be obsessed by it. Instead, it was all she could think about.
‘Tea leaves,’ he said.
It took Megan a moment to process his words. Eyes rounding, she looked at his face. He smirked in amusement. Unable to help herself, she gave a small laugh. ‘You wouldn’t joke about that if it had been your mother who tried to keep you out of the state volleyball game because the tea leaves said she should.’
‘Did she succeed?’ He leant closer.
Her voice dropped to match his. ‘No. I went anyway and we won.’
‘So the leaves were wrong.’
‘They’re never wrong. Just ask Mom.’ Megan tilted her chin up. If only she had the power to freeze time. She’d keep him like this, his features shaded to perfection by the light coming in from outside. Tousled hair framed his face, just as it did when they worked late at a crime scene, and the brown of his eyes was sleepily seductive. Bedroom eyes. His lips parted and it would be so easy to slip her tongue along the edge, pushing them open wider. The man did know how to kiss. Airplane bathrooms weren’t her idea of a romantic time, but maybe the mile-highers had the right idea.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
‘I was drunk.’ Megan knew it was a lie and hated herself for resorting to it, but how else could she explain letting him take her like a back-alley whore?
‘At a state championship?’ Ryan pulled back, frowning.
‘What?’ Megan asked. Crap! He is still talking about tea leaves. Concentrate, Megan, concentrate.
‘You were drunk at state?�
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‘Of course I wasn’t drunk at state,’ Megan snorted. ‘I was eighteen. That would have been illegal.’
‘But –’
‘I’m going to sleep now.’ She angled her back towards him and closed her eyes. Crap, crap, crap!
It had to be lack of sleep. That was why she was so shaken. Resting her head against the wall, she tried not to smell him, as she willed the coolness of the plane to soak into her body.
‘Megan?’ Ryan asked softly.
She didn’t move. Let him think she slept.
‘Megan?’
Still, she didn’t move. All of a sudden, hands brushed her hips. She stiffened in surprise, instantly turning to join her mouth to Ryan’s. Her lips parted, inches from his, she stopped as the sound of her seatbelt clicking caught her attention.
‘We’re about to take off.’ Ryan adjusted himself in his seat and grabbed a magazine from the small pocket in front of him. Megan held her breath, waiting, but he didn’t look at her again. Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes, wishing for the plane ride to be over.
By the time they finished their layover in Colorado and were in line to board the second plane, Megan had imagined Ryan naked in every possible place. There were a few times she would have pulled him into a bathroom stall at the Denver airport had her sisters’ banter not brought her back to reality. What was happening to her brain that suddenly all she could think about was ways to get Ryan alone and naked? The more she tried to concentrate on something else, the less she did.
‘I keep thinking about the other night,’ Ryan whispered into her ear from behind.
Megan blinked, surprised to hear the confession. Her family had already passed by the ticket counter and were on their way to board. They couldn’t hear his words.
A hand touched her hip and this time she was sure it wasn’t an accident – not like when he fastened her seatbelt, or when they stood in line at the fast-food restaurant for lunch, or when he and Vincent left to buy overpriced coffee from a kiosk.
Ryan squeezed her hip lightly, before grazing his fingers along the side of her ass. ‘Do you think we might at least discuss our having sex?’
The flight attendant saved Megan from responding, when she said, ‘Sorry, sir, we are not that kind of flight.’
Ryan’s hand left Megan’s hip and she hurried to board the plane. She couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Wanting him was different to knowing he wanted her back and the information was almost too much for her to handle.
Damn you, Ryan, she thought, cursing him in her mind even as her thighs ached for his attentions.
Ryan watched Megan hurry away from him. Giving the flight attendant a sheepish grin, he shrugged as he moved to go after his sexy travelling partner. By the way his erection pressed against his jeans it was a wonder they didn’t try to arrest him for bringing a loaded weapon onboard.
And loaded it was.
‘Don’t worry, sir,’ the woman said knowingly behind him. ‘We will land in Montana soon enough.’
Ryan gave a short laugh. Several times he had thought Megan might kiss him, but each time she had pulled back. Surely, she felt the electricity snapping between them, the potent sexual fire that needed to be quenched before it ignited them both. In greedy male arousal, he had fantasised about covering their bodies with a blanket so she could rub her steady hands up and down his stiff cock. He would be quiet, he knew he could be. No one would have to know. Too bad it wasn’t night-time. Then everyone would be asleep and it could be her head beneath the blanket in place of her hand. Would she do it? Would the law-abiding Megan protest? She hadn’t been averse to public lewdness the other night.
Ryan nearly stumbled as he followed her on to the plane, watching her ass beneath the cotton pants. Mumbling a half-hearted apology to the woman whose foot he tripped over, he hurried to take his seat. He opened the overhead bin, grabbed a blanket and threw it down on to his seat before stowing Megan’s carry-on.
Seeing Megan’s cool steadfast gaze lift from the blanket to look at him, all he managed to say was, ‘The last flight was cold.’
Chapter Five
‘Finally! I can’t believe we’re here.’ Sasha groaned, throwing her purse down on the lodge-house floor. After the seven-and-a-half-hour flight, they’d been forced to drive another hour and a half in a rented SUV to get to the lodge Beatrice had booked. That trip included a brief stop at a grocery store for supplies. It was only a little after three in the afternoon, but it felt like midnight. ‘Now no one wake me until this vacation is over. I just want to sleep forever.’
The large wood cabin consisted of a living room surrounded by beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows – a perfect showcase to a flower-speckled valley leading to the mountainous distance. No signs or fences marred the countryside and, apart from a well-worn path, Megan saw no other signs of human life.
She let her eyes drift over the knotted-pine walls decorated with old black and white miner photographs from the turn of the last century. The ceilings over the living room were high, only to lower over an open kitchen. Dark forest green and deep reds accented the furniture and gave a ‘country’ feel. A large stone fireplace dominated the wall opposite the kitchen.
‘Wow, look at this place!’ Kat instantly ran for the open stairway where, like the rest of the lodge, the steps were made of light wood.
‘It’s nice.’ Vincent, who was stuck carrying in the ladies’ suitcases along with the other two men, appeared less enthusiastic.
‘And you wanted to stop at some crummy hotel, Sasha.’ Kat stood at the top of the stairs where the hall was visible from the first floor. Her sister continued talking, but they couldn’t understand her as she disappeared down the hall, hidden by what appeared to be a wall blocking the rest of the hallway from view.
‘I don’t care where I am, so long as I can sleep,’ Sasha moaned in return. She stumbled her way to the couch, fell over and didn’t move.
‘I call the pink room,’ Kat yelled from above.
‘There should be a bedroom down here. Dad and I will take that,’ Beatrice said, going to open a door next to the kitchen. ‘Found a bathroom if anyone needs it.’
Even as she said it, her mother disappeared inside.
‘I’ll take this room,’ Sasha said, still not moving.
‘Megan, you should take the blue room,’ Kat said. ‘You’re the pre-honeymooners and it has a big hot tub in the bathroom.’
Megan frowned.
‘Don’t worry, darling,’ Kat continued loudly. ‘We got a tub, too.’
‘Uh,’ Sasha groaned. ‘Katarina, shut up! I’m trying to sleep.’
‘Then go upstairs,’ Beatrice scolded, coming out of her chosen bedroom. ‘Megan, you and Ryan take the blue room. Kat and Vincent will take the pink. Sasha, you take whichever is left. You can share with Zoe when she gets here.’
‘Sure, I get the leftovers,’ Sasha pushed up from the couch, pouting.
‘Some things never change.’ Douglas laughed to himself. A large antlered buck caught his attention. ‘Hey, any of you boys ever hunt?’
‘Sorry, sir, the only thing I shoot is pictures,’ Ryan answered.
‘I hunt bugs,’ Vincent offered, taking the stairs two at a time to join his wife.
‘Ah, well, I have three other daughters,’ Douglas said good-naturedly. ‘Perhaps one of them will marry a hunter so he can tell me what I’m supposed to be doing.’
‘Don’t shoot the other hunters,’ Sasha mumbled. She scooped up her purse and grabbed her suitcase, only to march up the stairs. ‘See, I don’t have to find a man to tell you that much.’
‘Thanks for the help, honey.’ Douglas chuckled.
‘I’ll go fishing with you, Dad,’ Megan said.
‘You know how to fish?’ her father asked.
‘Can’t be that hard to do.’ Megan purposefully kept her gaze from Ryan. The news they’d be sharing a room surprised her. She’d somehow convinced herself that her mother would be old-fashioned
and demand they sleep in separate bedrooms. Megan knew it had been foolish thinking. Beatrice was hardly the typical mother.
‘I know how to fish,’ Ryan said. ‘My dad took me camping when I was younger.’
‘Great!’ Douglas clapped his hands once. ‘Fishing it is. I feel like a great outdoorsman already.’
‘I’m going to rest.’ Megan yawned, grabbing her bag. ‘Morning came too early.’
‘I’ll get that.’ Ryan took it from her.
Too tired to protest, Megan went up the stairs. Hearing her sister and Vincent giggling, she walked past the first closed door. The second door was cracked, leading to a yellow-wallpapered room. Sasha’s unmoving foot hung over the side of a bed as she rested on top of a white-and-yellow-rose quilt.
The blue room at the end of the hall echoed the rest of the cabin with wood plank walls and wood-based furniture. A blue blanket cascaded over the back of a rocking chair, soft and plush. Megan kicked off her shoes, stretching her toes.
‘Would you like me to run you a bath?’ Ryan asked.
Run her a bath? Megan frowned, eyeing him intently. ‘Listen, Ryan, we really need to talk about what is happening here. First off, you are not my maid. Second, I can take care of my own bath. Third – oh!’
Ryan pulled her arm, jerking her against his chest. Before she could think, he pressed his lips to her throat, moaning softly as he held her tight. The hard length of him pushed against her, but her mind focused on one particular part – the thick arousal near her stomach. Grabbing her ass, he rocked his hips.
‘First, we can play any fantasy game you want. If you want me to serve you, fine. If you want to serve me, perfectly fine.’ He licked her pulse. His voice was soft, as if he was mindful of where they were. ‘Second, I just wanted to get you wet and naked. Third, anything else we need to discuss can be done later when we’re not tired and after we’re no longer horny. Fourth, do we really need to list these things out? I’m about to lose count and all I really want to do at the moment is stick my hard dick into you.’
Along for the Ride Page 7
