Shit.
She needed to be out there greeting the passengers as they boarded the flight. It was mandatory.
Nikki looked down at her shirt. She’d gotten all the brown soda stains out but it was still a little damp. She didn’t want Ray to report that she wasn’t in attendance for line-up—which she knew he would, even though it was his fault!—but she couldn’t make her blouse dry any faster.
Well, it was as dry as it was going to get. She quickly folded up her compact hair dryer and stepped out of the small bathroom. After placing it back in the locker Nikki took her place beside Julie who was at the end of line-up just as the passengers boarded the plane.
Nikki squinted as the sun shone brightly in through the cabin door. All she could make out were two tall, dark shadowy figures as they entered.
She could barely hear the captain introduce himself and then introduce Ray with the sounds of violent winds whipping through the open door. Nikki looked down at her blouse and saw that, unfortunately, the winds plus a damp blouse equaled her nipples standing at full attention. The hardened peaks were very noticeable.
A man’s loud voice boomed, “Nice to meet you. Phil Mays and this is Senator Gowan.”
Great a senator.
And here she was looking like she was competing in a wet t-shirt contest on spring break. Maybe she should just head back into the bathroom.
Nikki felt a sharp stinging sensation in her side just as she was about to make her getaway.
“Ouch,” she said under her breath as her hand instinctively wrapped around her rib. Julie had bony elbows and those things hurt. She looked over at her to see why in the hell her friend was throwin’ bows and she saw that Julie’s eyes were as large as saucers and she looked like she’d seen a ghost.
“What?” Nikki mouthed, her brows knitted together.
Julie’s head jerked to the side towards the passengers that had just boarded and even though Nikki would not have believed it to be humanly possible, her eyes widened even more. You could see the whites of her eyeballs surrounding her iris on all sides.
What was the big deal? So it was a senator. Sure, she didn’t want to be standing here all nippily in front of him but what was Julie’s problem? It’s not like they’d never had a politician on a flight before.
Nikki was confused but before she had a chance to figure out just what had gotten Julie’s panties in a twist, a man that looked to be in his mid-forties, well dressed, with thinning hair, moved in front of her.
“Hello.” The man grinned as his eyes traveled down to Nikki’s lovely lady lumps that were currently giving a two flagged salute. His lascivious gaze made her want to cross her arms over her chest to cover herself.
She nodded politely and smiled. “Welcome,” she said carefully modulating her tone to sound as pleasant as possible. It wasn’t easy but it was her job.
“Nikki,” a familiar deep voice said her name sending a chill racing down her spine.
Mike.
No. It couldn’t be. Her eyes darted over to verify what her heart and body already knew. Holy moly. It was Mike. She scanned his tall, lean frame from head to toe in disbelief. He stood, frozen, beside the man that was ogling her boobs. Her heart began beating rapidly in her chest. Her palms instantly grew moist.
“Mike,” she said aloud, although it was barely audible, coming out more as a whisper through labored breath.
They all stood there and no one spoke for what seemed like an uncomfortable length of time, but in reality was probably only a few seconds. She didn’t know why the cat seemed to have everyone else’s tongue but her silence was due to the fact that she couldn’t form a thought—well, other than holy shit!—in her mind.
Think, Nikki commanded herself harshly, use your brain and think.
Mike was here. On her plane. Standing in front of her looking like sex-on-a-stick. And he was a Senator?!
Holy shit!
Wait. He was way too young to be a Senator. There was no way that was possible. She must have heard the I-can’t-take-my-eyes-off-your-tits man wrong when he’d introduced both himself and Mike to Captain Howard and Ray.
“Do you two know each other?” Ogling-guy asked.
“Sort of,” she said.
“Yes,” Mike replied at the same time.
Nikki could feel the weight of everyone’s laser focused attention directed on her but she could not tear her gaze away from Mike. His intense stare held hers like a prisoner.
Was he mad or happy to see her? Or was he, like herself, just in shock? She had no idea what was going on in his mind. His eyes held such a depth of emotion that Nikki couldn’t get a read on what he was thinking.
After several awkward moments, the silence was broken once again by the man standing beside Mike. “How long have you two known each other?”
“Ummm,” Nikki non-answered at the same time Mike clearly stated, “Since last night.”
The man let out a sigh of what sounded to Nikki like disapproval before sneering, “Oh. I see.”
Nikki really didn’t like the condescending tone in the nipple-gazer’s voice. Irritation bubbled up inside, which magically broke the paralyzing spell Mike had cast over her. She turned to face the man who acted as if he’d never seen a pair of boobs before and was asking all the questions.
His arrogant expression made Nikki wanted to punch him in his face. She didn’t know who in the hell this guy was but she knew she didn’t like him. At all.
“Can I talk to you for a moment? In private?” she heard Mike ask.
Captain Howard cleared his throat and Nikki’s eyes darted to his. He was extremely old-fashioned and didn’t like any “hanky-panky” happening on his flights. Which was one of the reasons that they’d always gotten along. Nikki didn’t do in flight hook-ups. Ever.
“Actually,” Julie spoke up, stepping between Nikki, Mike and Phil, “If I could just show you gentleman to your seats while Nikki completes her pre-flight duties. Then once we’ve taken off , I am sure that she’ll be available to speak to you.”
Julie stood an impressive five-foot eight inches barefoot and she had on three inch heels but Mike could still see over her head easily. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome.
Mike’s soulful brown eyes never left Nikki’s as he smoothly replied, “Of course. Thank you.”
Julie held her hand out like she was a model on The Price is Right. Both men turned and headed into the cabin.
Nikki watched Mike leave and her senses began returning. She was going to have to talk to him but she was so glad that Julie had given her a reprieve. It would have been extremely awkward to go into the bathroom together, which was the only room in the small aircraft that would have provided even the illusion of privacy, while everyone just stood there staring at them.
“Everything okay here?” Captain Howard asked in an authoritative tone.
“Yep,” Nikki nodded. She could feel her lips pursing, it was a nervous habit that she had. Her family thought that she did it whenever she lied, but the truth was it happened whenever she was stressed. And right now she was definitely stressed.
The captain held her gaze for several beats before nodding his head and turning to step into the cockpit.
Before following him, Ray raised his eyebrows at her as he added, “Make sure that you keep everything professional.”
Gimme a break.
It took every ounce of self-control that Nikki possessed not to roll her eyes at him and flip him the bird. He hooked up with more flight attendants than any other pilot at the airline. She knew that he only gave her such a hard time because she had shot him down so many times.
She stared back at him silently, not dignifying his statement with a response. He uncomfortably cleared his throat before turning and leaving the small galley. She loved when she won pissing contests with men, even if they were just metaphorical ones.
The sounds of the safety video came through the wall speakers. Normally on a flight, Nikki would have been the
one to go over all of the safety procedures, the exits, and such. It felt odd to be hiding out in the front of the plane. But she took the few solitary moments she’d been granted to collect her thoughts.
She had to admit that now that the shock of seeing Mike again was wearing off, she was actually a little excited. Well, more than a little actually.
Leaving the room this morning, Nikki wasn’t sure if she’d ever see Mike again. In fact she’d filed the probability of that happening in the slim to none category in her brain. But he was here. He wanted to talk. And somehow seeing him here, in her territory, caused him to look even more gorgeous than he did last night or this morning.
“Okay,” Julie said quietly, her eyes lit up with excitement as she came around the corner and shut the curtain separating the galley from the cabin. “Spill. How do you know him?”
Nikki was torn between whether or not to break her golden rule of not talking about her personal life with co-workers just this once because if any situation called for a little girl talk it was this one.
“I met him last night at the bar,” Nikki said in a whisper.
“And,” Julie’s hands waved indicating she wanted to hear more.
“What?” Nikki acted as if she had no idea what Julie wanted to hear even though she knew that she wanted the juicy details. And granted she was more than tempted to share, but she managed to refrain.
“You are on a first name basis with one of People’s 100 Most Beautiful People and you have nothing to say about it?” Julie’s hands were flying around like a mad woman’s. She was very expressive.
“I thought he was a senator?” Nikki asked trying to clarify just who in the heck Mike was.
“He is and he was just named one of People’s 100 Most Beautiful People. He’s been all over the news. How did you not know that?”
Nikki shrugged. She really had no idea how to answer that. She didn’t really pay attention to current events.
Julie waited for more of a response from her and when it was obvious that one was not forthcoming, she shook her head and pulled out her phone.
“Here, look,” she said as she stepped beside Nikki and quickly typed Senator Mike Gowan into the search engine on her smartphone.
Nikki couldn’t believe her eyes. There were over one hundred thousand search results. Julie started scrolling through article after article, picture after picture of Mike. Nikki went numb.
Holy shit!
--- ~ ---
Mike rolled his shoulders as he looked over the education bill on his laptop. There were several pieces of legislation that he needed to review before returning to D.C. at the end of the week. He had read and reread the same three paragraphs several times now. He just couldn’t concentrate.
Looking out the window, Mike saw that the skies looked much clearer than they had when they took off. They had been up in the air for almost thirty minutes and Mike had not seen hide nor hair of Nikki. The other flight attendant, Julie he thought, had been in and out of the cabin several times, but Nikki had been MIA.
It was obvious that she was avoiding him, but why? Had she really hoped to never see him again after last night? Was she really that upset that he was on her flight?
Mike didn’t have any answers and it was driving him crazy. Once again, he stared at the bright screen in front of him. He wasn’t getting any work done and honestly as long as he was on this plane, with Nikki, he didn’t think he would.
Closing his laptop, Mike leaned back against the plush leather chair and rubbed his hands over his face. This day already felt so long and it wasn’t even noon.
“So, do you have something that you want to tell me?” Phil took his headphones out of his ears.
During the very beginning of their professional relationship, he and Phil had gotten into a groove that whenever they flew together Mike worked and Phil put in his ear buds and left him alone. Mike liked it. He didn’t want it to change.
“No,” he shook his head as he once again lifted the screen on his laptop. Unlike ‘pretending to be in a relationship’ he had no problem ‘pretending to work’ so he could have some peace and quiet.
“Are you sure there is nothing we need to get in front of? Do I need to talk to her?” Phil asked quietly.
“No.” Mike’s entire body tensed. He knew that, once again, Phil was just doing his job. He didn’t want anything negative to come out in the press. But Mike knew instinctively that there was no way Nikki would sell a story to the press. He also knew that Phil would not care what Mike’s “instincts” were telling him.
The navy blue curtain opened and Mike looked up expectantly. It wasn’t Nikki. Julie stepped in and refilled Phil’s coffee.
“Would you like a refill?” the pretty redhead asked as she turned with the steaming pot towards Mike.
“No,” Mike answered. He didn’t need coffee, he needed to speak to Nikki.
“Let me know if there is anything I can get you gentlemen,” she said pleasantly before turning and stepping behind the blue curtain.
This was getting ridiculous. Mike was a patient man but it was driving him crazy to just sit here and wait.
After setting his laptop down, he stood and started towards the front of the plane.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Phil said leaning back in his chair and putting his ear buds back in.
So do I, Mike thought to himself.
He pushed the curtain to the side and saw Nikki standing in the corner of the small kitchen area, her back to him. He didn’t see the other attendant anywhere.
“Were you planning on hiding in here the entire flight?” he asked as he stepped closer to her.
She let out a small shriek as she jumped at least a foot off the ground and whirled around.
“Sorry,” he reached out and held her arm to steady her. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Her hands were clasped over her chest and she let out a forced laugh. “No, it’s fine.” She took a step back and Mike’s hand dropped to his side.
Mike had so many things that he wanted to say to her but she was behaving so oddly he wasn’t sure where to start.
A small, nervous smile appeared on Nikki’s face as she reached up and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well…this is the weirdest ‘morning after’ ever.”
He loved that she said that. Just laid it out there. He figured he would do the same. “Why didn’t you wake me up this morning?”
She shrugged. “I was in a hurry?”
He smiled at the fact that her answer sounded like a question. She may have been in hurry but he didn’t believe for a second that that was the only reason she’d left without saying goodbye.
“I got your note,” he said.
“Oh,” she licked her lips, “good.”
“Why didn’t you leave your number?”
“You didn’t ask for it,” she immediately shot back.
“I was a little distracted last night. And obviously I didn’t get a chance this morning,” Mike said moving slightly closer to her. He wasn’t doing it intentionally. It felt like she had a magnetic force around her and he was being pulled into it. His body just wanted to be close to her. “Can I have your phone number?”
She swallowed hard as her breathing became shallow. “Why?”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “So I can call you.” Mike figured that much was obvious so he wasn’t sure if he was actually addressing the right question.
“Why?” she repeated.
Okay, so obviously he hadn’t addressed the right question. Staring down into her large golden eyes Mike noticed that underneath the bravado she looked nervous and unsure of herself; not at all like the woman he had met the night before in the bar. “Because, I want to get to know you better,” he tried to reassure her.
“Why?” Her lips pursed as she crossed her arms defensively across her chest.
“Nikki,” her name sounded harsher than he’d meant it too. He just didn’t understand why she had done a c
omplete one eighty in the personality department.
A spark of defiance lit in her gaze and she tilted her head then mimicked his tone, “Mike.”
He felt himself smiling. It wasn’t that he thought this was at all funny, he just couldn’t help but think that she was so damn cute and sexy when she was trying to be anything but. Unlike his, her expression did not change. He decided to change his tactics. “What’s your last name?”
“Why?” her expression did change but she still didn’t answer his question.
Mike was beginning to think that ‘why’ was Nikki’s favorite word.
“Well, you know mine. I think it’s only fair that I know yours.”
Her eyes narrowed but she finally answered, “Maguire.”
“Where do you live?” he asked. He already had his response ready if she shot another ‘why’ at him. But of course this was Nikki and he was beginning to learn that she didn’t do anything he expected.
“Where do you live?” she countered.
“I live part time in Palo Alto and part time in D.C.”
She didn’t respond right away so he asked again, “Where do you live?”
“Out of a suitcase,” she said with a small grin.
She was obviously enjoying giving him a hard time.
A phone beeped beside her on the counter and he looked down to see the picture they’d used for People magazine lit up on the screen. “I see you’ve been Googling,” he observed.
“No I haven’t,” Nikki clarified proudly. “That’s Julie’s phone.”
“Are you going to answer my question?”
“Hope Falls,” she sighed as if the admission had cost her something.
“Mike,” Phil’s voice sounded from behind him. “I need you to take a look at this.”
“I’ll be there in a second,” Mike raised his hand in acknowledgement but did not turn towards Phil.
He heard the sound of the curtain swooshing back shut.
The door to what looked like the cockpit opened and the redhead stepped out of it but stopped short when she saw Mike standing there.
“I have to get back to work,” Nikki said in a clipped tone.
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