“Hey,” she said, the smile she shot me not helping my libido at all. “Are you okay? You’re looking a bit flushed.”
“I’m perfect,” I lied, although it wouldn’t be a lie if she’d agree to do a private modeling show for me on the plane. “Excited for our trip?”
She hesitated but then nodded. “Yeah, I think I am now. I’m still nervous, but I can handle Paris. It’s just Paris, right? No big deal.”
I laughed as I took the handle of one of her suitcases. “Exactly. What’s a little Paris between friends?”
“Are we still talking about the city?” she teased. “Or do you know a girl named Paris you’re referring to now?”
“Nah, I’m too possessive to share. If it was a girl, she wouldn’t be between me and my friends. She’d be all mine.”
“What? You’d lick her and make her yours?”
An idea popped into my head and I acted on it before I could overthink it. I caught Leah’s waist in my free arm and dragged her closer, then licked her cheek from chin to temple. “Good idea. There. Done. Does that mean you’re mine now?”
She shrugged, grinning as her shoulders moved up and down under the new shirt-dress thing she was wearing. “Well, at least you didn’t pee on me.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said as I started wheeling two of her suitcases toward the car.
Her melodic laughter rang out behind me. “I belong to me. I might’ve been willing to share myself with you, but you just said you’re too possessive to share. Sorry. That was a good effort, though. It was a good lick.”
“Thank you.” I bent at my waist, pretending to bow before jerking my head at the car. “Since you don’t belong to me, you can load yourself into the car, right?”
She laughed. “Oh, I see the way it’s going to be.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m right here if you change your mind.” I stowed her luggage away in the back alongside John, who had the rest of it.
He gave me a questioning look after glancing from Leah to me and back again, but he didn’t ask. Good man.
On the drive to the private airport, we kept up the lighthearted banter, but we also spoke about Paris and what she could expect once we arrived there. As John pulled up to the jet, however, she fell silent and I immediately understood why.
It had been years since I’d been as in awe of the company plane as I should’ve been, but I remembered the feeling very well. The first time I’d seen it, I’d nearly popped a boner over the damn thing.
The jet was cream colored outside, with navy lettering spelling out Killen Cosmetics on the side. A set of carpeted stairs complete with wooden railings led into it, and if Leah thought it looked impressive from here, her eyes were going to fall out of her head when she saw the inside.
“So this is how the other half lives, huh?” she said, her voice filled with wonder. “I always thought the fancy champagne and private plane thing only happened in movies and books.”
“Nope.” I offered her my arm when we climbed out of the car, telling her that John and the others would get our stuff before motioning to the jet. “Would you like a quick tour?”
“Why yes, dear sir,” she said, putting on a fake British accent that made her sound slightly drunk. “That sounds lovely.”
“Are you planning on speaking that way for the entire flight?” I asked. “Because I’ve had some fantasies about foreign girls that I wouldn’t mind playing out with you.”
She scoffed but dipped her head to hide her smile. “Do you really expect me to believe that you haven’t actually lived every one of those fantasies with the foreign girls when you’ve been abroad?”
I shrugged. “Some, but I have an active imagination and it’s been months since I’ve been out of the country.”
“Poor baby. I can’t imagine being stuck in this tiny country for months on end,” she teased. “You must be going out of your mind.”
“I am, but only because there’s this sassy woman I’m expected to work with at my side twenty-four-seven.” Truth be told, I loved it when she was sassy.
If anyone was to ask me, I’d tell them in no uncertain terms that I far preferred the real her—this joking, teasing, sassy her—to the show we were making her put on. I was also pretty sure that