the building, straight to a set of elevators. Elevator! The memory of our kiss this morning comes back to haunt me.
I have thought of nothing else all day. Daydreaming at the register at Clayton's. Twice Mr. Clayton had to shout my name to bring me back to Earth. To say I've been distracted would be the understatement of the year. Christian glances down at me, a slight smile on his lips. Ha! He's thinking about it too.
"It's only three floors," he says dryly, his gray eyes dancing with amusement. He's telepathic surely. It's spooky.
I try to keep my face impassive as we enter the elevator. The doors close, and it's there, the weird electrical attraction crackling between us, enslaving me. I close my eyes in a vain attempt to ignore it. He tightens his grip on my hand, and five seconds later the doors open on to the roof of the building. And there it is, a white helicopter with the name Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc. written in blue with the company logo on the side. Surely this is misuse of Company property.
He leads me to a small office where an old timer sits behind the desk.
"Here's your flight plan, Mr. Grey. All external checks are done. It's ready and waiting sir. You're free to go."
"Thank you, Joe." Christian smiles warmly at him.
Oh. Someone deserving of the polite treatment from Christian, perhaps he's not an employee. I stare at the old guy in awe.
"Let's go," Christian says, and we make our way toward the helicopter. When we're up close, it's much bigger than I thought. I expected it to be a roadster version for two, but it has at least seven seats. Christian opens the door and directs me to one of the seats at the very front.
"Sit - don't touch anything," he orders as he clambers in behind me.
He shuts the door with a slam. I'm glad that the area is floodlit, otherwise I'd find it difficult to see inside the small cockpit. I sit down in my allotted seat, and he crouches beside me to strap me into the harness. It's a four-point harness with all the straps connecting to one central buckle. He tightens both of the upper straps, so I can hardly move.
He's so close and intent on what he's doing. If I could only lean forward, my nose would be in his hair. He smells, clean, fresh, heavenly, but I'm fastened securely into my seat and effectively immobile. He glances up and smiles, like he's enjoying his usual private joke, his gray eyes heated. He's so tantalizingly close. I hold my breath as he pulls at one of the upper straps.
"You're secure, no escaping," he whispers, his eyes are scorching. "Breathe, Anastasia," he adds softly. Reaching up, he caresses my cheek, running his long fingers down to my chin which he grasps between his thumb and forefinger. He leans forward and plants a brief, chaste kiss on my lips, leaving me reeling, my insides clenching at the thrilling, unexpected touch of his lips.
"I like this harness," he whispers.
What?
He sits down beside me and buckles himself into his seat, then begins a protracted procedure of checking gauges and flipping switches and buttons from the mind-boggling array of dials and lights and switches in front of me. Little lights wink and flash from various dials, and the whole of the instrument panel lights up.
"Put your cans on," he says, pointing to a set of headphones in front of me. I pop them on, and the rotor blades start. They are deafening. He puts his headphones on and continues flipping various switches.
"I'm just going through all the pre-flight checks." Christian's disembodied voice is in my ears through the headphones. I turn and grin at him.
"Do you know what you are doing?" I ask. He turns and smiles at me.
"I've been a fully qualified pilot for four years, Anastasia, you're safe with me." He gives me a wolfish grin. "Well, while we're flying," he adds and winks at me.
Winking... Christian!
"Are you ready?"
I nod wide eyed.
"Okay, tower. PDX this is Charlie Tango Golf - Golf Echo Hotel, cleared for take-off.
Please confirm, over."
"Charlie Tango - you are clear. PDX to call, proceed to one four thousand, heading zero one zero, over. "
"Roger tower, Charlie Tango set, over and out. Here we go," he adds to me, and the helicopter rises slowly and smoothly into the air.
Portland disappears in front us as we head into US airspace, though my stomach remains firmly