“Bailey?”
“Bathroom,” she choked out. “I need the bathroom.” She stumbled over his long, folded legs to get out of the row.
In the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror. She was in the midst of the biggest nightmare of her life. So what did it say about her that she could fall for him?
Had fallen for him?
The knock at the door nearly startled her right out of her own skin. “Bailey,” came Noah’s low voice. “Open up.”
Before she could tell him to go away, another voice, a female one, came through the door. “Sir, there’s another bathroom-”
“Yes, thank you, but I’m with her. Bailey, let me in.” This he said directly to the door, not quite as politely.
He was losing his patience.
“Sir,” came the flight attendant’s voice, also losing patience. “I’m afraid that’s against policy. You can’t both go in there.”
Bailey stared at the door, stifling the shocking urge to giggle.
Giggle, in the middle of her personal hell.
But evidently, Noah was not going to give up, because he tried a different tactic. “I know it’s against policy, ma’am, but my wife’s had an incredibly rough day.”
Wait a minute. Wife? Had he just said…wife? Bailey turned from the mirror and gaped at the locked door.
“She just lost her father,” Noah was saying. “And her brother, and-”
“Oh, dear,” whispered the attendant. “The poor thing!”
“She’s upset-”
“Of course.” This from the attendant, in a low, commiserating voice. “Does she need anything? A drink, anything?”
“Frankly?” Noah said. “Me. She needs me. In there.”
The attendant apparently agreed because after a short silence, Noah’s voice was back, a low whisper this time, and much closer to the door, almost as if he were kissing it. “Bailey? Let me in before she changes her mind.”
Bailey once again glanced at herself. Her eyes were just a bit wild, as if she was a woman on the run for her life, as if she had a man whose mere voice made her just a little weak, trying to coax her into letting him in-“Noah-”
“Do it.”
She’d no more than pulled back the occupied lever than he’d slipped inside and locked the door again.
She braced herself, but he smiled. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi back.” And then she couldn’t help it; she let out a helpless laugh that sounded so close to a sob she had to clap her hand over her mouth again.
With a finger, he stroked a strand of hair off her face, while never taking his eyes off hers. “How’s it going?”
“Terrific.”
“Uh huh. You going to ever talk to me?”
His hair was falling into his eyes. His shoulders were so broad they blocked out the harsh light. All she could see was his face, a face she’d come to rely on, need, want…
“Bailey?”
Love. She loved him so much.
“Is this about Kenny?”
No, but as that was also on her mind, it was a fine diversion. “He said it’s not what I think. I don’t’ know what he meant by that.”
He grimaced. “He’ll say whatever he needs to-”
Bailey didn’t say anything to that. She realized he didn’t want to add to her misery by agreeing that Kenny had to be guilty as hell.
“He said it’s not there,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“How would he know that unless he’d been in contact with the men who’ve been following me?”
“It’s possible he went himself,” Noah said. “Maybe he already got the money, and then outran the others.”
“And kept it?” She paled at that thought even as her heart started a slow, heavy beat. “If they catch him…” Oh, God. Didn’t bear thinking about. Kenny. God, Kenny, what have you done?
Noah squeezed her hand. “Then there’s the other possibility…”
“Which is?”
“That he doesn’t know where the money is, that he hasn’t found it yet.”
“Then why warn me off?”
He looked at her, and she let out a long breath. “Because he wanted it all for himself,” she whispered, and felt her eyes fill.
Noah looked at her, muttered, “Fuck it,” and pulled her close.
“He won’t be that far behind us,” she said against his chest, voicing her fears out loud as adrenaline kicked into her system. “It won’t take him, or the others, that long to find another flight.”
“No,” he agreed grimly, holding her tight. “We’ll definitely have company. Look, it’s not too late. We can get Brody to come get us, and get Shayne’s brother involved. Get restraining orders, and-”
“And what?” she asked. “The fact is, Alan screwed those guys. Unscrupulous or not, he owes them that money.”
“Fine. The money is theirs. Let them find it.”
“Noah-”
“Look, you can’t really believe that even if you manage to find it and hand it over, this whole thing is just going to go away? That they’re going to just let you go?”
She stared at him, then squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face.
He gently lowered her hands, and when she found the courage to open her eyes, he was watching her with that deep, penetrating look that never failed to catch her breath.
“You’re not alone,” he said.
Was it wrong to want to melt into him at that? She was a strong woman who wanted to handle herself and her problems by herself, but…but she ached for him. Needed him in some fundamental way that felt right. Definitely not a concept she was used to. No, she wasn’t alone. She was with a man who’d, so far at least, never let her down.
Never would.
The marvel of that was enough to drop her to her knees, but he was standing so close she couldn’t have dropped anywhere.
“You’re not alone,” he repeated, looking tall, big, fierce. Gorgeous. “Say it.”
Her heart kicked it up another gear. And other parts of her body, too. She felt warm, too warm, and…sort of as if her skin was too tight. If he didn’t touch her, she thought, she was going to die. “Noah-”
“Say it, Bailey.”
“I’m not alone,” she whispered, putting a hand to her chest to keep her heart from bursting right out. And then there were the other reactions going on, all erogenous-zone based.
Adrenaline, she told herself. Just sheer adrenaline.
“Now believe it,” he demanded.
“I’m not alone,” she repeated again. “Because I have you.”
He nodded. He had his hands on the sink behind her, on either side of her hips. His arms were bent so that their faces were level, their mouths a mere breath apart.
“So now what?” she managed just a little hoarsely.
“Now…” Nudging her back against the counter, he invaded her space, and everything within her leapt to attention.
He kissed her jaw, sank his teeth into her earlobe, and let out a slow breath in her ear.
She shivered wildly. “We should probably go back to our seats.”
“Yeah. Have you ever made love on a plane?”
“No.” Already breathless, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She’d never made love on a plane. “I never really thought we could-Oh,” she murmured as he lifted her onto the narrow counter. Her entire body went on high, hopeful, quivering alert. “Here?”
In answer, he slid his hands to her thighs and pushed them open. Then he stepped between them, slipping his hands beneath her bottom to haul her up against him.
“Okay, here,” she said desperately, and almost before she got the words out, he’d shoved up her skirt, hooked his fingers in her panties, and tugged them down.
“The attendant-” she gasped, but then he’d opened his jeans and pushed inside her in one movement, and talking was beyond her. So was thinking.
He let out a low, raw sound of pure pleasure, and gripping her hips, nearly pulled all the way out.
A soft cry escaped her.
She couldn’t help it, she needed him back in, needed him hot and hard and throbbing inside her, right now, now, now.
“Shh,” he said, and covered her mouth with his to ensure it, and then, oh, God, and then he began to move. Suddenly all her fear and anxiety and nerves…everything…went away. Flew away. Her existence went from overwhelmingly complicated to amazingly, shockingly simple.