Gemma inhaled sharply at the thought of doing that, but knew it needed to be done. However, under no circumstances did Ramsey need to know that Niecee had embezzled $20,000 from her. She would let the bank’s security team handle things.
“You don’t have any appointments or projects scheduled for the next six weeks?” Megan asked as they helped her pack.
“No. This job offer came at a good time. I had thought about taking a well-deserved vacation anyway, but now it’s back to work for me. I’ll take some time off during the holidays.”
“If Callum bought a house in Australia, does that mean he’s moving back home?”
Gemma glanced over at Bailey. That thought hadn’t occurred to her. “I guess so.”
“What a bummer. I’ve gotten used to seeing him,” Bailey said with a pout. “I’d begun thinking of him as another big brother.”
Gemma drew in a deep breath. For some reason she’d never thought of him as another big brother.
She’d never felt the need to become as friendly with him as Megan and Bailey had, but she never knew why she’d been standoffish with him. She’d only accepted that that was the way things were. Why now, all of a sudden, did the thought of him returning to Australia to live and her not seeing him ever again seem like such a big deal?
The very thought made her uneasy.
Three
“Are you okay, Gemma?”
Gemma turned her head to glance over at Callum. What had the pilot just said? They were now cruising at an altitude of 36,000 feet. Was Callum inquiring as to how she felt because she’d suddenly turned green?
Now was not the time to tell him that she had an aversion to flying. Although she’d flown before, that didn’t mean she liked it. In fact, she didn’t. She’d told herself while packing that she could handle the eighteen hours it would take to get to Australia. Now she was having some pretty serious doubts about that.
“Gemma?”
She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
No, she wasn’t sure, but he would be the last person to know. “Yes.”
She turned her head to look out the window and wondered if asking for a window seat had been a wise choice. All she could see were clouds and Callum’s reflection. He smelled good, and she couldn’t help wondering what cologne he was wearing. And he looked good, too. He had arrived to pick her up wearing a pair of jeans, a blue chambray shirt and Western boots. She’d seen him in similar outfits plenty of times, but for some odd reason he seemed different to her today.
“The attendant is about to serve snacks. Are you hungry?”
She turned and met his eyes. They were a beautiful green and she could swear that a strange expression shone in their dark depths. “No, I ate a good breakfast this morning with Ramsey and Chloe.”
He lifted a brow. “You got up at five this morning to do that?”
She smiled. “Yes. All I had to do was set the alarm. I figured if I got up early, then by the time this plane leveled off in the sky I would be ready to take a nap.”
He chuckled. “Does flying bother you?”
“Let’s just say it’s not one of my favorite things to do,” she answered. “There’re other things I prefer doing more. Like getting a root canal or something else equally as enjoyable.”
He threw his head back and laughed, and she liked the sound of it. She’d known him for almost three years and this was the first time she recalled hearing him laugh. He’d always seemed so serious, just like Ramsey. At least that was how Ramsey used to be. She would be one of the first to say that marriage had changed her brother for the better.
“And then,” she added in a soft, thoughtful tone. “My parents were killed in a plane crash and I can’t help but think of that whenever I’m in the air.” She paused a moment. “There was a time after their deaths that I swore I’d never get on a plane,” she said quietly.
Callum did something at that moment she hadn’t expected. He reached out and took her hand in his. His was warm and large and completely covered hers. “How did you overcome that fear?”
She shifted her gaze away from their joined hands to his face and sighed deeply. “I refused to live my life in fear of the unknown. So one day I went to Ramsey and told him I was ready to take my first plane ride. He was working with Dillon at Blue Ridge Land Management at the time and made arrangements to take me on his next business trip. I was fourteen.”
A bright smile touched her lips. “He signed me out of school for a few days and I flew with him to New Mexico. My first encounter with turbulence almost sent me through the roof. But he talked me through it. He even made me write an essay on my airplane experience.”
The flight attendant came around serving drinks and snacks, but Gemma declined everything. Callum took a pack of peanuts and ordered a beer. Gemma had asked for a pillow earlier and adjusted it against her neck as she reclined comfortably in her seat. She had to admit that the first-class seats on this international flight were spacious. And Callum had booked a double-seat row for just the two of them.
Gemma noticed that the attendant had given Callum one or two smiles more than was necessary. The attendant’s obvious interest in her passenger made Gemma think of something. “Is it true that your parents met on a flight to Australia?”
He inclined his head to look at her. “Yes, that’s true. Dad was actually engaged to someone else at the time and was returning home to Australia to help plan his wedding.”
“And he fell for someone else when he was already engaged?”
Callum heard the shock in her voice. Considering what she thought about men deliberately breaking women’s hearts, he decided to explain. “From what I was told, he had asked this woman to marry him and it was to be a marriage of convenience.”
She lifted a brow. “A marriage of convenience for whom?”
“The both of them. She wanted a rich husband and he wanted a wife to start a family. They saw it as the perfect union.”
Gemma nodded. “So love had nothing to do with it?”
“No. He didn’t think such a thing could exist for him until he saw my mother. He was hit between the eyes with a ton of bricks.” Callum chuckled. “Those are his words, not mine.”
“And what happened to the other woman? The one he’d been engaged to at the time?”
He could hear pity in her voice. “Not sure. But I know what didn’t happen to her.”
Gemma lifted a curious brow. “What?”
A smile touched his lips. “She didn’t get the wedding she planned.”
“And you find that amusing?”
“Actually, yes, because it was discovered months later that she was pregnant with another man’s child.”
Gemma gasped sharply and leaned her head closer to Callum’s. “Are you serious?”
“Very much so.”
“The same thing almost happened to Ramsey, but Danielle stopped the wedding,” Gemma said.
“So I heard.”
“And I liked her.”
“I heard that, too. I understand that your entire family did. But then that goes to show.”
She looked over at him. “What?”
“Men aren’t the only ones who can be heartbreakers.”
Surprise swept across her face at his remark. Gemma leaned back against her seat and released her breath in a slow sigh. “I never said they were.”
“You didn’t?” he asked smiling.
“No, of course not.”
Callum decided not to argue with her about it. Instead, he just smiled. “It’s time for that nap. You’re beginning to sound a bit grouchy.”
* * *
To Callum’s surprise, she took one, which gave him the opportunity to watch her while she slept. As he gazed at her, he experienced the same intense desire that he’d always felt whenever he was close to her. At the moment, he was close, but not close enough. He couldn’t help but study her features and thought her moments of peaceful bliss had transformed her already beautif
ul face into one that was even more striking.
He would be the first to admit that she no longer looked like the young girl he’d seen that first day. In three years, her features had changed from that of a girl to a woman and it all started with the shape of her mouth, which was nothing short of sensuous. How could lips be that full and inviting, he wondered, as his gaze moved from one corner of her mouth to the other.
Callum’s gaze drifted upward from her mouth to her closed eyes and the long lashes covering them. His gaze then moved to her cheekbones and he was tempted to take the back of his hand and caress them, or better yet, trace their beautiful curves with the tip of his tongue, branding her as his. And she was his, whether she knew it or not, whether she accepted it or not. She belonged to him.
He then noticed how even her breathing was, and how every breath drew his attention to the swell of her breasts that were alluringly hidden inside a light blue blouse. He’d always found her sexy, too sexy, and it had been hard not to want her, so he hadn’t even bothered fighting the temptation. He had lusted after her from afar, which was something he couldn’t help, since he hadn’t touched another woman in almost three years. Once her place in his life had become crystal clear, his body had gone into a disciplined mode, knowing she would be the one and only woman he would make love to for the rest of his life. Now, the thought of that made his body go hard. He breathed in her scent, he closed the book he had been reading and adjusted his pillow. He closed his eyes and allowed his fantasies of her to do what they always did, take over his mind and do in his dreams what he couldn’t yet do in reality.
* * *
Gemma slowly opened her eyes at the same moment she shifted in her seat. She glanced over at Callum and saw that he had fallen asleep. His head was tilted close to hers.
She would have to admit that at first his close proximity had bothered her because she assumed they would have to make a lot of unnecessary conversation during the flight. She wasn’t very good at small talk or flirting. She’d dated before, but rarely, because most men had a tendency to bore her. She’d discovered that most liked talking about themselves, tooting their own horn and figured they were God’s gift to women.
She pushed all thoughts of other men aside and decided to concentrate on this one. He was sitting so close that she could inhale his masculine scent. She had enough brothers and male cousins to know that just as no two women carried the same scent, the same held true for men. Each person’s fragrance was unique and the one floating through her nostrils now was making funny feelings flutter around in her stomach.
Gemma found it odd that nothing like this had ever happened to her before, but then she couldn’t recall Callum ever being this close to her. Usually they were surrounded by other family members. Granted, they weren’t exactly alone now, but, still, there was a sense of intimacy with him sitting beside her. She could just make out the soft sounds of his even breathing.
She had been ready to go when he had arrived at her place. When she opened the door and he had walked in, her breath had gotten caught in her throat. She’d seen him in jeans more times than not, but there was something about the pair he was wearing now that had caused her to do a double take. When he’d leaned down to pick up her luggage, his masculine thighs flexed beneath starched denim. Then there were those muscled arms beneath the Western shirt. Her gaze had lingered longer than it should have on his body. She had followed him out the door while getting an eyeful of his make-you-want-to-drool tush.
She studied him now, fascinated by just what a good-looking man he was and how he’d managed to keep women at bay for so long. A part of her knew it hadn’t just been the story Zane had fabricated about a woman waiting for him back in Australia. That tale might have kept some women like Jackie away, but it would not have done anything to hold back the bolder ones. It was primarily the way he’d carried himself. Just like Ramsey. In his pre-Chloe days, most women would have thought twice before approaching her brother. He radiated that kind of “I’m not in the mood” aura whenever it suited him.
But for some reason, she’d never considered Callum as unapproachable as Ramsey. Whenever they had exchanged words, he’d been friendly enough with her. A part of her was curious about why if he wasn’t already taken; he’d held himself back from engaging in a serious relationship with a woman. Perhaps he wanted a wife who was from his homeland. That wouldn’t be surprising, although it was ironic that his mother was American.
“Oh.” The word slipped through her lips in a frantic tone when the plane shook from the force of strong turbulence. She quickly caught her breath.
“You okay?”
She glanced over at Callum. He was awake. “Yes. I hadn’t expected that just then. Sorry if I woke you up.”
“No problem,” he said, straightening up in his seat. “We’ve been in the air about four hours now, so we were bound to hit an air pocket sooner or later.”
She swallowed when the airplane hit a smaller, less forceful pocket of turbulence. “And they don’t bother you?”
“Not as much as they used to. When I was younger, my siblings and I would fly with Mom back to the States to visit our grandparents. I used to consider turbulence as exciting as a roller-coaster ride. I thought it was fun.”
Gemma rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing fun about the feel of an airplane shaking all over the place like it’s about to come apart.”
He released a soft chuckle. “You’re safe, but let me check your seat belt to be sure.”
Before she could pull in her next breath, he reached out to her waist and touched her seat belt. She felt his fingers brush against her stomach in the process. At that precise moment, sensations rushed all through her belly and right up her arms.
She glanced over at Callum and found her gaze ensnared by the deep green of his eyes and those sensations intensified. She knew at that moment that something was happening between them, and whatever it was, she wasn’t quite prepared for it.
She’d heard about sexual awareness, but why would it affect her now, and why with someone who was almost a total stranger to her? It wasn’t as if this was the first time she and Callum had been around each other. But then…as she’d acknowledged to herself earlier, this was the first time they had been alone to this degree. She wondered if her new feelings were one-sided, or if he’d felt it, as well.
“You’re belted tight,” he said, and to her his voice seemed a bit huskier…or perhaps she was just imagining things.
“Thanks for checking.”
“No problem.”
Since they were both wide awake now, Gemma decided it was probably a good idea to engage in conversation. That would be safer than just sitting here and letting all kinds of crazy thoughts race through her mind, like what would happen if she were to check on his seat belt as he’d checked on hers. She felt heat infuse her face and her heart rate suddenly shot up.
Then her anxiety level moved up a notch when she thought his gaze lingered on her lips a little longer than necessary. Had that really been the case? “Tell me about Australia,” she said quickly.
Evidently talking about his homeland was something he enjoyed doing if the smile tilting his lips was anything to go by. And they were a gorgeous pair. She’d noticed them before, but this was the first time she’d given those lips more than a passing thought.
Why all of a sudden was there something so compelling about Callum? Why did the thought of his lips, eyes and other facial features, as well as his hands and fingers, suddenly make her feel hot?
“You’re going to love Australia,” he said, speaking in that deep accent she loved hearing. “Especially Sydney. There’s no place in the world quite like it.”
She lifted a brow and folded her arms across her chest. She didn’t want to get into a debate, but she thought Denver was rather nice, as well. “Nicer than Denver?”
He chuckled, as understanding lit his eyes. “Yes. Denver has its strong points—don’t get me wrong—but there’s something about Sy
dney that’s unique. I’m not saying that just because it’s where I was born.”
“So what’s so nice about it?”
He smiled again and, as if on cue, those sensations in her stomach fluttered and spread through her entire midsection.
“I hate to sound like a travel ad, but Australia is a cosmopolitan place drenched in history and surrounded by some of the most beautiful beaches imaginable. Close your eyes for a moment and envision this, Gemma.”
She closed her eyes and he began talking in a soft tone, describing the beaches in detail. From his description, she could all but feel a spray of ocean water on her lips, a cool breeze caressing her skin.
“There’re Kingscliff Beach, Byron Bay, Newcastle and Lord Howe, just to name a few. Each of them is an aquatic paradise, containing the purest blue-green waters your eyes can behold.”
“Like the color of your eyes?” Her eyes were still closed.
She heard his soft chuckle. “Yes, somewhat. And speaking of eyes, you can open yours now.”
She slowly lifted her lids to find his eyes right there. He had inched his head closer to hers and not only were his eyes right there, so were his lips. The thoughts that suddenly went racing through her mind were crazy, but all she would have to do was to stick out her tongue to taste his lips. That was a temptation she was having a hard time fighting.
Her breathing increased and she could tell by the rise and fall of his masculine chest, that so had his. Was there something significantly dangerous about flying this high in the sky that altered your senses? Zapped them real good and sent them reeling off course? Filled your mind with thoughts you wouldn’t normally entertain?
If the answer to all those questions was a resounding yes, then that explained why her mind was suddenly filled with the thought of engaging in a romantic liaison with the man who was not only her client, but also her oldest brother’s best friend.
“Gemma…” It seemed he had inched his mouth a little closer; so close she could feel his moist breath on her lips as he said her name in that deep Australian accent of his.
Instead of responding, she inched her mouth closer, too, as desire, the intensity of which she’d never felt before, made her entire body shiver with a need she didn’t know she was capable of having. The green eyes locked on hers were successfully quashing any thoughts of pulling her mouth back before it was too late.
Brenda Jackson The Westmoreland Series Books 16-20 Page 31
