I motioned for the guys to follow me to the back corner of the waiting area, where we could sit and go over our plans without people overhearing us and openly gaping like the eighty-year-old woman to my left was doing. If she didn’t watch it, her fake teeth were going to fall on the ground, embarrassing everyone in her vicinity.
I gave her a tight smile and pushed Adonis to go faster, though I could tell by the tension in his back he was trying desperately not to laugh as the elderly ladies’ companions also turned to look.
They must be going on some sort of Alaskan cruise together. It’s the best I can think of for why so many elderly women would be traveling all at once.
“Sit,” I commanded both guys.
Seth immediately followed my direction and sat directly on the floor. Idiot. Adonis winked and sat on the chair, all the while patting his knee for me to take a seat.
“I’m not sitting on you.”
“You probably should, for the effect. People are going to wonder why a hot supermodel is traveling with NBA basketball players.”
“So now I have to be somebody’s girlfriend?”
Seth piped up, “Well, I would offer, but I know you’re probably five minutes away from pulling a knife on me, judging by your grip on your bag and your overall stern expression. I think it’s safer for everyone if I stay on the floor. That way I don’t end up on it later.”
“Point taken.” I turned to Adonis. His dimples molded right into his perfect cheekbones. White teeth and beautiful eyes stared back at me. “Oh, all right.”
I sat as close as possible to him without landing on his lap and pulled out the map. Seth closed his eyes, and Adonis leaned in as close as he could get to my face without kissing me.
“So, how long of a journey once we land?”
“Uh…” I shook my head. “We…” My thoughts were not coming together, neither was my ability to string sentences. His hand moved until it was basically resting where it’d never rested before.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, trying to keep my voice at a mere whisper. I realized that me whispering anything was a huge stretch of the imagination for anyone.
Adonis grinned, holding my eyes in his gaze. “There are things, things we need to talk about, that you need to know, Thena. I’m just waiting for the right time to tell you about them. But sometimes I wonder,” his hand moved up to caress my face, “if you’ll ever be ready.”
“And as fun and not awkward as these types of conversations are for third party representatives, we need to get a game plan into action,” Seth piped in, annoying the snot out of me.
“The map,” I said.
Seth cursed. “Adonis, could you wait before you two have your little talk, please? She’s hardly able to concentrate on anything longer than five minutes, as it is. And you’re not helping with all your… touching.” He pointed at Adonis’s hands and shook his head in distaste.
I gulped. “The map.”
Seth rolled his eyes again.
Pulling it out, I laid it on the seat next to me. “It says here that we have to take the flight into Fairbanks and then either take a bus or drive the one-hundred-forty mile singular road to enter the park.
Seth snorted. “Or we could fly.”
“We are flying.”
He laughed. “Not what I meant. You just get us to Fairbanks, and let me take care of the rest, okay?”
I looked at Adonis, but he seemed just as intrigued as I felt. “Okay, deal.”
We sat and waited for another hour. The time seemed to tick by agonizingly slow, but it could have been because I was dying to know what Adonis had to talk with me about. And it wasn’t helping that people kept staring at us as if we were aliens from outer space.
Close, people, your assumptions are close.
“We will now begin boarding first class and families with children, or people who need assistance.”
Seth laughed. “Ten bucks says if I approach the flight attendant and tell her I need assistance, she’ll oblige me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ten bucks that I’ll smack you if you even try.”
Adonis looked between the two of us. “I would take my chances. That flight attendant does look like she could use a compliment today.”
We all looked in her direction. Whatever had happened to airlines? They used to outfit their employees in designer clothes. Now they looked homeless!
“I retract my earlier threat. Have at it, Seth.” I patted him on the back and prodded him on.
Not surprisingly, he approached her, stuffed his hands in his pockets and managed to look quite humble.
“However did he manage that emotion?”
“Humility?” Adonis guessed.
“Yup, that exact one.”
“Must be some sort of heavenly power. God knows, I don’t possess it.” He winked and nudged me.
I couldn’t help but smile back. Oh, how true it is.
“Hey, you guys coming?” Seth motioned for us to join him. Apparently his compliment had paid off, considering we were boarding ahead of everyone.
I groaned. “Do I even want to know what he said to her?”
Adonis smiled, blinding me for a second, before responding, “Probably something she needed to hear. Let’s go.”