I’d snake my arm around his and nuzzle my nose into his neck. I’d take deep breaths of his sandalwood cologne and let that soothing aroma lull me to sleep.
But that would cross every line imaginable, and already I’m pushing it. Right now, his shoulder will have to do. Before I know it, I’m out.
A loud, muffled voice speaking a string of unintelligible words is my wake-up call. Eyes still shut, I groan. Do they train all airline crews to speak as quickly as possible so no one can understand them? Then a cheery flight attendant hops on to announce that we’re thirty minutes from landing at Heathrow. My eyes spring open. It’s then that I realize I’m still propped against Callum’s shoulder.
“Sorry,” I mumble and pull away from him while wiping the side of my face. Please, please don’t let there be any of my drool on him.
Sunlight bathes the interior of the cabin, and I do a quick scan of Callum. No drool marks on his shirt or pants. I let loose a relieved sigh.
He twists to me, sleepy grin on his face. “Sleep well?”
He tugs at his hair, which is matted in the back where he was leaning against the headrest. The front is only slightly mussed. It’s decided. Callum James has the most adorably sexy bed head in the universe.
Nodding, I turn away and run my tongue along my teeth. My breath must reek.
I swipe two sticks of gum from my pocket and shove them in my mouth. “Sorry, I um . . . I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
A slight wrinkle appears on his forehead, but it quickly fades. “It was rather nice actually.”
“Really?”
The plane makes a sudden drop, and we clutch our armrests in unison. A minute later, all is calm once more.
He looks at me, and his smile reads tender, sincere. “I quite liked you sleeping on me, Nikki.”
Saying nothing, I let his words float in the air. Now that comment from Callum is something else entirely. Is that a last-hurrah type of comment since our truce is set to expire the moment we touch land? Or is it an invitation to see if our current something else can turn into something more?
A full minute of turbulence has us bouncing up and down. As we begin our descent, I contemplate staying silent, holding back. Only ten more minutes of our time-out. When the seat belt sign dings, everyone will file off the plane and we’ll be back to our hostile status quo.
He peers over at me, pointed look on his face. “How was it for you?”
“I liked a lot of things about this flight actually,” I say. It doesn’t come off as desperate as I thought it would while mulling over the words in my head. In my growly early-morning rasp, I almost sound smooth.
“So maybe we could—”
The wheels hitting the ground cut Callum off. The two of us bump around in our seats until the plane comes to an abrupt stop.
I wonder if he’ll finish his sentence while we taxi. I bite my lip to keep from saying anything. But minutes pass and he says nothing.
My heart falls to my stomach. He’s lost his nerve. Or maybe I misheard what he said in the first place, and he wasn’t going to say anything at all.
The seat belt sign dings. Almost everyone around us stands up and cracks open the overhead bins.
I stand up to that awkward hunched-over position I assume at the end of long-haul flights so I can stretch my arms and legs without hitting my head on the ceiling.
Be cool, my inner monologue commands. Aloof. Carefree. It was just a time-out, a way to avoid killing each other during this flight. Don’t push your luck. It means less than nothing.
I flash what I hope is an easy, relaxed smile while typing the passcode into my phone and fumbling with a random app. “I think this marks the end of our time-out. It was fun.”
Fun? Birthday parties are fun. Pub trivia is fun. Falling asleep on Callum’s muscled shoulder during a transatlantic flight? That’s a new form of bliss I didn’t know existed until last night.
Callum’s frown returns. “Is that all you want, Nikki? One time-out and nothing else?”
His forward question ties my tongue in a knot. What I really want is to fall asleep spooned against him, this time on a king-size bed, without our pesky clothes in the way. But I can’t say that out loud. He’ll