let her gaze linger on him as she mulled that one over, before hitting a station. “I guess that slipped my notice. I’ve been too distracted by how much I want you, and I have a box of condoms in my bag to prove it. Now tell me… does that freak you out?”
“I doubt you bought the right size.” He grinned, then navigated a freeway flyover and another off-ramp, heading away from downtown. “Well, well. Grunge rock. I never would’ve guessed.”
She grinned. “I’m full of surprises.”
“What about the surprise I’m working on now? Any ideas on where we’re headed yet?”
She saw a familiar sign. “Not the airport?”
“Yep.”
“We’re going to the airport?” Stunned, she stared at him. “Why? What’s at the airport?”
“Planes.”
Ha-ha. “I bet you think you’re funny.”
“I never actually bet, and I’m not as funny as you, asking what’s at an airport.”
“Where are we going?”
“That’s still a surprise. But,” he added when she made a sound of frustration, “I’ll give you a hint. Something you said when I took you to Gillooly’s inspired this weekend getaway.”
“I said a lot of things when we were at Gillooly’s,” she muttered, sifting through her memory to try to find one word that would inspire something as jaw-droppingly dramatic as a plane ride. “I don’t remember saying anything that would inspire a trip across town, much less one that requires travel by freaking plane.”
“I guess you weren’t paying attention. Lucky for you, I was.”
“Give me another hint.”
“Nope,” he said, wheeling away from the main road leading to the terminals and heading down a two-lane road she’d never traveled before. “You’re just going to have to wait and see.”
Five minutes later she was no less enlightened as to their destination, but she did have an answer as to why she’d never traveled this particular road while at the airport. Even at the height of the Fielding family fortune, her family had always traveled commercial.
A private plane, on the other hand, was a whole different level of swank.
“Wow.” She stared as Gus drove up directly to a sleek-looking white jet with the door open and stairs down, then hastily opened her door when he got out to hand the keys to an awaiting attendant. “This is… wow.”
Gus glanced back at her before passing off their luggage to another attendant. “Glad you like it.”
“I just want you to know that if you were trying to impress me, you’ve more than done the job, pal.” Shaking her head, she moved to take his hand when he held it out to her. “I mean, who charters a private plane just for a no-pressure weekend getaway?”
“Not me. I didn’t charter a damn thing. I own this bird.”
“Shut up,” she blurted, though it was amazing she was able to say anything. Her jaw had dropped so much it was a miracle it hadn’t hit the tarmac. “You own a plane?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I do a lot of traveling to meet up with my clientele. In the long run, it was more convenient to go this route.”
Holy shit. “And here I thought day-traders did nothing but hang out in the house all day, working their five-dozen computers while chugging Red Bull and wearing nothing but boxers and a bathrobe.”
“Hey, don’t knock Red Bull. Also, my workstation at home has six monitors going, and I’ve only done the boxer and bathrobe thing when I caught the flu a couple years ago. Ready to meet the captain?”
“Sure,” she said faintly, trying not to totter as they headed toward the uniformed woman standing by the jet. “Though at this point I’m surprised you’re not flying us yourself. You seem to know how to do everything else.”
“I do want to learn someday, but for now I’m glad I’m not the one doing the flying. I want to spend the next four hours getting to know you, and I could never do that while also flying a plane.”
The next four hours, she thought as they passed pleasantries with the smiling, capable-looking woman who was going to fly them to their destination. A destination that was four hours away.
Good grief, that could be anywhere.
Twenty minutes later they were in the air, and Joelle’s eyes were everywhere. The plane’s interior was as lavish as she’d expected, with touches of burled wood accents on the walls and swivel chairs. The chairs also reclined, their tufted backs as comfortable as any easy chair, though she kept herself buckled in like the conscientious traveler she was. As soon as they leveled