“I can kiss you however I want.” He clasped my hand and walked me over to his team. “I need three advisors, one executive, and one intern. Takeoff in five minutes.”
He mumbled something under his breath as he led me over to the plane. As usual, he looked into my eyes for what felt like forever before helping me onboard. He motioned for me to take a seat first and then he sat down next to me.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. “Could you tell my team to hurry up and decide who’s coming with us?” He shook his head at the flight attendant.
Within minutes, a few of his staff members filed into the cabin.
“Are you going to answer my question, Jonathan?”
“No. Put on your seatbelt.”
I blinked and he rolled his eyes, reaching over my lap to do it himself.
I tried to read his expression so I could see what he was thinking, but he was perfectly stoic.
“Mr. Statham,” the flight attendant said as she looked at me—not him. “The pilot is asking if you would like for us to wait a few minutes for takeoff or...”
He cupped my face in his hands. “Are you feeling okay?”
I nodded.
“We can take off.” He clasped my hand.
I shut my eyes as the flight attendant reminded his staff to fasten their seatbelts, as the plane roared to life and slowly moved down the tarmac. As we ascended into the air, I felt Jonathan squeezing my hand and kissing my cheek.
I kept my eyes closed until I heard the familiar ping that signified that we were free to move about the cabin, until I heard the pilot’s voice over the intercom: “We’re all clear now, Miss Gracen.”
I looked behind our seats and noticed that all of his associates were busy typing away on their screens—completely preoccupied by whatever they were doing.
“Jonathan...” I was honestly worried. “What’s going on? Tell me.”
He unbuckled my seat belt and pulled me up. “We need to talk. Now.” He tugged me down the aisle and into the plane’s luxury bathroom.
Locking the door, he pulled me flush against his chest and removed something from his pocket.
“What is this?” He held a picture of me, Ryan, and Amanda in between us.
“Where did you get this?”
“One of my security guards found it outside your office this morning. It was with a letter—in a box from Ryan.”
“Your security guards check my mail?”
“As of today, yes. Where is this picture from?”
“Can we discuss the mail tampering issue first?”
“Claire...”
“It’s from our first high school reunion.”
“I thought you said you never went to one.”
“I went to the first one, the one that was in Pittsburgh.” I trailed my fingers around the loosely fitted black dress I was wearing in the photograph, around the pretty gold bracelet that matched the one Amanda was wearing. I cringed as I read Ryan’s “Remember this?” note.
“It doesn’t mean anything to you?” He tilted my chin up.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s actually quite ironic that he would send this picture because I do remember this. I remember it very well...” I paused. “They passed out these crystallized awards for the people who won superlatives in the senior yearbook...Ryan and I got Cutest Couple and Couple Most Likely to Get Married, and me and Amanda got Most Likely to Be Best Friends Forever...”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s in the past.” I shrugged. “Where’s the letter?”
“You think I saved that shit for you to read?”
“Of course not...” I rolled my eyes. “Now, about you tampering with my mail.”
“What about it?”
“Well one, its illegal. Two, Ryan’s not a threat.”
“He is when he wants something that’s mine.”
“I don’t think that’s the case. I just think he has something to say but I honestly don’t care what it is.”
“You shouldn’t.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You shouldn’t care about him at all.”
“I don’t...”
Silence.
He slid his thumb underneath the anchor charm of my necklace and spoke slowly. “You’re not his anymore, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep him far away from you because—” He pressed a warm kiss against my chest. “You belong to me.”
I was silent.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“No...”
“If he happens to slip past my security...” He looked into my eyes and slipped his hands around my waist. “Or if he comes into your store again—or anywhere around you when I’m not there...You need to call me. ASAP.”
I nodded and he drew my bottom lip into his mouth, harshly trapping it between his teeth for several seconds before letting it go.
“Tell me you’ll call me.”
“Yes, I’ll...Call you...”
“I don’t share...” He traced my lips with his fingertips. “And I never will. Never.”
I wasn’t sure what to say or how to respond when he looked at me like this. I simply stared into his deep blue eyes and felt my heart beating an entirely new rhythm.