airline they were flying on and no idea what time their flight was. She guessed that Carlo would be waiting at the terminal somewhere. At least she hoped so. She had just reached the parking lot for daily charges when her cell phone rang.
“Where the hell are you?” Carlo demanded before she could even say her name. “The plane is prepped and ready to fly, we’re just waiting on you.”
Kate was still too tired to be nice when he snapped at her like that so she snapped right back. “What do you mean? What time is it anyway?” she asked, wondering why it still wasn’t light outside.
“It’s five minutes after five o’clock. Why don’t you know what time it is? Don’t you have a clock?”
“Five o’clock in the morning?” she almost yelled.
“What time did you think it was? Any where are you?”
She gritted her teeth, striving for patience. “No. I couldn’t focus,” she explained slowly, trying not to yell at him but desperately wanting to give this rude man a piece of her mind. “I was too tired when you called. I just knew it was dark and my alarm hadn’t gone off so it was not time to get up.”
Carlo laughed at her explanation. “Kate, you continue to astound me. I’ve never known anyone who didn’t look at their clock when they wake up in the morning.”
“I’m sure you’ve witnessed several people, many women I should say, as they climb out of bed in the morning. But I’m guessing it isn’t the first thing they look at.”
Carlo chuckled. “What a dirty little mind you have, Kate Avril. I’m curious to know what you think their first view is in the morning.”
Kate didn’t respond but she knew that her face was flaming with color. She was glad she wasn’t standing in front of him so he could witness her embarrassment. “Look, obviously, I’m not where I’m supposed to be. How about if you tell me where I should be and let’s forget about this conversation? Shall we?”
She gritted her teeth while she waited for Carlo’s laughter to die down. Meanwhile, she was shivering in the cold next to her car with her trunk open, about to pull her suitcase out of the trunk.
“You’re probably in the economy parking lot, right?” At her agreement, he went on, “Go out of the parking lot and look for signs directing you to Terminal T. There’s private parking there. Once you get there, you’ll see me.”
Kate groaned but slammed her trunk shut. “Fine. How long will it take? I’ll call you when I get lost again.”
“Are you not very good at following directions, Kate?” he said softly. There was more curiosity in his voice than teasing.
Her anger evaporated. It was too early for that much emotion anyway. “No. Not usually. I can get lost going to the grocery store, just for the record.”
He laughed again. “Okay. Thanks for the forewarning. If you’re not here in five minutes, I’ll call you again and direct you over here. Sound easy enough?”
“Yes,” she said and got back into her car. “See you in five, hopefully,” she said and hung up her phone.
She drove out of the parking lot and followed his directions. Sure enough, four minutes later, she found Terminal T easily. She parked her car again and looked around. There wasn’t much to see since everything was still dark outside. The area was very busy with people rushing around, stocking private jets and fueling them up.
She got out of her car and stood by her trunk again, not sure if she was in the right place. Then Kate turned around and saw him. He was walking towards her with his normal aggressive stride, looking incredibly handsome in another boring suit, this one black with a maroon tie with little paisleys on it. She wished she’d stayed in bed this morning and ignored the ringing phone. Kate had a very bad feeling about this day. No man had the right to look that dashing and attractive this early in the morning, she thought.
“Good morning,” he said and kissed her quickly. He then took her keys and opened her trunk. “Where’s the rest?” he asked as he pulled her small, overnight bag out of the trunk.
Kate was confused by the casual way he kissed her. “The rest of what? Where are we going and why aren’t we getting onto a plane? I thought you said Houston this morning but I was still groggy so I might have misunderstood.”
“We