02. Mile High, page 3
part #1 of Up In The Air Series
Jessa agreed with her heartily, and they chatted about trying to do just that for a solid ten minutes.
Jake joined us amidst their plans, hugging everyone while managing to seem interested in the current
conversation. I hugged him back lightly. I had had a hard time with the flight attendant hugging situation
right at first, but the custom had grown on me. When you had close friends that you only got to see once a
month in passing, a hug seemed appropriate. Though everyone, even not so close friends, seemed to insist
on the habit. I just went with it now. No one else understood my hangup, I knew. So I had just learned to
keep it to myself.
A tall, slender, dark-haired man approached Stephan from behind, clapping him on the shoulder in
greeting. The man leaned in close to Stephan’s ear, whispering something. Stephan seemed to blush
down to his toes.
I watched the whole thing as if in slow-motion, my jaw dropping in shock.
CHAPTER FOUR
It took me a long moment to recognize the man, since what I was seeing made no sense to me.
Javier Flores and Stephan were not exactly on friendly terms. Last I had checked, they were closer to
bitter exes. The two men hadn’t spoken for over a year. Or so I had thought.
Javier was Stephan’s version of the one that got away.
The two men were as dissimilar physically as they were personality-wise. Though both men were tall
and handsome, Stephan was much taller. Javier was maybe an inch shy of six feet. And where Stephan
resembled a strapping Abercrombie and Fitch model with his blond good looks, Javier was almost
delicate looking. His face was just plain pretty, with perfect, even features, and the thickest eyelashes I’d
ever seen. He had jet black hair that hung to his shoulders, falling into his eyes artfully as he tilted his
head forward, giving Stephan a wicked sideways smile. He was tall and slender, almost thin. His dark
brown eyes were mysterious and lovely, but I had always found them a little cold and distant.
The two men had dated for just a month, over a year ago. It had been an intense month, but it had ended
quickly, and badly. Javier had a real problem being Stephan’s secret lover, and he hadn’t tolerated the
situation for long. He’d given Stephan an ultimatum; Stop hiding their relationship, or he was out.
Javier had been shocked and hurt when Stephan had chosen the latter. He’d been giving Stephan the
silent treatment ever since, avoiding him at parties like this. He’d even left the room at the sight of
Stephan for several months after the breakup. Stephan had been crushed by the whole thing.
I had understood that Javier was hurt badly, but I still thought he’d been an asshole about the breakup.
Still, I’d been upset about the breakup as well. Stephan had never looked at any guy the way he looked at
Javier, and I’d really hoped, at the beginning, that the relationship would work out for them.
Javier saw me staring at him, and his smiled died a quick death. He’d always been polite and courteous
with me, but I’d sensed that I made him wary. Not a lot of people understood the relationship between
Stephan and I.
Javier surprised me by striding to me and enveloping me in a soft hug. “I’m so happy to see you well,
Bianca.”
I hugged him back automatically. He didn’t let go for some strange reason.
“You don’t hate me, do you?” he whispered in my ear.
I blinked, meeting Stephan’s sheepish eyes over Javier’s shoulder.
“Why would I hate you?” I asked him quietly. He’d thrown me for a loop.
“For being such a bastard to Stephan for so long. My heart was totally broken, but that’s no excuse for
the way I treated him. And I wasn’t exactly nice to you. I stopped speaking to you as well, even though
none of it was your fault. Stephan even tells me that you defended me, up until I threw a fit at that
Valentine’s party and embarrassed myself.”
Javier had been on our crew for the month when he and Stephan had started seeing each other. I had
never even given a thought to the fact that Javier hadn’t spoken to me either, since the breakup. All things
considered, I had just expected it.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I was jealous of you. I had myself half-convinced that something was going
on between the two of you, and that was why Stephan couldn’t seem to commit to being gay.”
I stiffened. He hugged me tighter, though his hold was still soft. I doubted that the slender man had it in
him to be rough.
“I know. Crazy, right?” Javier continued. “But me and Stephan have been talking again. Please, tell me
you’re okay with it.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t really sure what to think. Javier’s about-face was just so sudden and
unexpected, and Stephan hadn’t said a word. I had just barely caught up with the fact that he wasn’t
seeing Melvin anymore.
“Yes, of course. I’m not Stephan’s keeper, contrary to popular belief.”
He kissed my forehead, pulling back to look at me. “I know, but you’re his family. I just want us to be
cool.”
His eyes were earnest and pleading now, far from the cool way they usually looked. It gave me hope.
Perhaps he just acted cool, to hide his feelings. I could well understand that.
I smiled at him. It was stiff, but not for lack of effort. “Yes. Okay. I want whatever makes Stephan
happy. Always.”
Javier nodded emphatically, finally stepping away from me. “Good. Great. Stephan was worried you
wouldn’t like us seeing each other again.”
I sent Stephan a baffled look. He was still watching us, looking distressed.
“He should know better,” I said.
Javier moved back to Stephan. I was floored by what happened next. Stephan threw an arm over
Javier’s shoulders, messing up his hair playfully. He released the smaller man almost instantly, but it was
still the most affectionate thing I’d ever seen him do in public with another man.
For some reason, I felt my eyes getting moist.
Stephan caught my eye, walking over to me. He pushed me into his chest, leaning down to speak into my
ear. “Are you really okay with this?’
“What kind of a question is that?” I asked, my voice muffled against his pale orange polo. “And why is
this the first I’m hearing about it?”
He was running a hand up and down my back soothingly. “It was just weird timing. I kept meaning to,
but things have been so crazy. I could never find the right time. He actually called me because he heard
you’d been hurt, and he wanted to make sure we were both okay. That’s sweet, right?”
I pushed back, nodding at him. “What about your…issues?”
He swallowed, hard. “Javier and I talked about it. And I realized he has a very good point. I don’t
have to make an announcement to the world. I don’t need a coming-out ball, yanno? But I don’t need to
lie about it anymore, either. I can just live my life. I don’t owe any explanations to anybody. I always
said I just wanted my private life private, but I’m beginning to see that there was more to it. And I have
nothing to be ashamed of, right?”
He had tried to make it a statement, but I still heard the question in there. I gripped his arms, hard. “Not
a thing. I’m so proud of you, Stephan.”
He squeezed my arm. We avoided eye contact for a long minute, both blinking back embarrassing tears.
Finally, composed, he just nodded, heading back to stand near Javier. He gripped the other man’s
shoulder briefly before folding his arms across his chest, listening to whatever Jessa was ranting about.
I felt a little in shock about Stephan’s sudden, drastic change of heart. But it was a good shock.
I watched the two men for several minutes, dazed by the change in Stephan. It wasn’t full on PDA, but
he kept playfully poking Javier in the chest, or tugging on a lock of his hair. Javier kept his hands
carefully to himself, but he was giving Stephan the warmest, sweetest looks. I thought it was beautiful.
Murphy and Damien were the next to join our group, and made the rounds, hugging everyone. I realized
that our little group had grown rather large and loud.
I searched the spacious lounge, thinking that James might have a hard time spotting me in such a large
group, but I saw no sign of him.
I did spot Melissa across the room. She was sitting by the bar with Captain Peter. She was wearing a
skin-tight red dress, staring at our group sullenly. I wondered, a little cattily, why she insisted on wearing
colors that clashed with her hair. I mentally chastised myself. She was an unpleasant person, but that was
no excuse for sinking to her level.
I gave her a little wave when our eyes met, resolving to at least be polite since she was a member of our
crew for at least another month. She just nodded back, then looked away. At least she hadn’t flipped me
off.
I focused back on our growing group as we were joined by two more.
It was Judith and Marnie. They’d been on our crew a few months back. They were inseparable party
girls. Judith had long black hair, and Marnie was a platinum blond. They were both very short with great
figures and cute faces. They sort of reminded me of naughty pixies. Half-drunk naughty pixies at the
moment.
I remembered that they often introduced themselves to men at bars as Ivanna Humpalot and Alotta
Vagina. They rarely went back to their rooms alone, sometimes even sharing men with each other. They
were a funny pair, but not for the faint of heart. Stephan and I had been at Judith’s twenty-first birthday
party about two months ago. It had been crazy. She’d made out with at least three men that I’d seen, and
dragged two of them to her hotel room.
Marnie was a year older than Judith, just twenty-two. I was older than both girls, but the two of them
had me beat by a lot of years in experience. They both thought any woman who had lasted to fifteen with
their virginity intact was a prude. I didn’t imagine they even had a word for someone who had lasted until
age twenty-three, like I had.
Judith squealed in delight when she saw me. She rushed over and hugged me.
“I heard about the attack. How are you doing?” she nearly shouted.
I hugged her back stiffly, wishing she hadn’t spoken so loudly. “Good. How are you?”
She cast a sidelong glance in Damien’s direction.
“How much you wanna bet I’ll wake up in Damien’s bed tomorrow?” she whispered. “Then I’ll be
good. Marnie hooked up with him a few months ago. She says he’s hung. The last guy I hooked up with
was a real disappointment. It had to have given me some like good cock charma, right?”
Her words surprised a laugh out of me. I hadn’t known about the hook-up between Marnie and Damien,
but I wasn’t surprised.
“TMI, Judith,” I told her with a smile. “I have to work with him every week.”
Marnie had sidled up next to us, squeezing between us to hug me softly. “If Judith goes after him tonight,
I’m joining them,” she said with a wink. “I swear to god, if any man can handle two women at once, it’s
him. He’s a marathon man.”
Judith wrinkled her nose at Marnie. “I never get the really good ones to myself. She always wants a
piece.”
I didn’t even try to hide my laugh. She was complaining, but her tone was more amused than upset.
Damien caught my eye from a few feet away. He didn’t walk over, just gave me wide, questioning
eyes. I was sure he was worried what they were telling me about him. I just smirked at him. He covered
his face with his hands, and I swore I could hear his pained groan. I didn’t feel real bad for him, since I
was willing to bet he’d end up with the feisty girls by the end of the night.
“I heard a rumor that you lost your V-card. Finally. And to some super hot rich guy. Is it true?”
I grimaced. The rumor mill was alive and well, and apparently held some truth. “Yes. Please don’t say
it so loud.”
I was still mortified that the two girls even knew I’d been a virgin. They had guessed it, strangely
enough, considering I knew few people who knew less about being virgins themselves. We’d been in
Judith’s hotel room, watching some romantic comedy on a layover, when the two girls had started in on
their favorite sex stories. They’d asked me to share, and I’d just blushed. They had guessed, with no
little disgust, that I was a virgin. I had to give them a firm talking to when they wouldn’t stop trying to
find men to relieve me of the ‘problem’. Marnie had even volunteered to lend me her on-again off-again
boyfriend at the time. I had not taken the offer well. I’d gotten over it, though, knowing she was a little
oblivious to other people’s feelings when it came to things like that.
“Well, congratulations. Was he any good? Sometimes the really good-looking ones are horrible in bed.
It’s that whole, I’m so hot I don’t even have to try, mentality. Yanno?” Judith elbowed Marnie playfully
in the ribs while she spoke.
I just shook my head, wide-eyed. I most certainly didn’t know anything about that. I couldn’t imagine
there was a man on the planet who was better in bed. I didn’t particularly want to share that information,
though.
“So he was good? Your first time was good?” Marnie pried.
I nodded, very uncomfortable. The sharing personal information thing was so not for me.
“On a scale of one to ten, what was he?”
I sighed. They were not gonna let up. “How would, ‘I want him to fuck me to death, and he just might’,
rate on that scale?”
The women hooted with laughter, but their laughter died as they looked up and to my left.
I felt a familiar firm hand grip my nape. Soft lips that I was well acquainted with kissed my cheek.
“That’s a heartwarming assessment, Love,” James murmured against my skin.
CHAPTER FIVE
I felt heat suffuse my cheeks in a rush, and a perverse shiver of pure pleasure rock my body.
Typical James timing. Showing up at the most disarming moment possible.
Judith and Marnie were just staring at him, stunned speechless for a long moment.
I turned to look up at him. His hand fell from my nape and we just stared at each other. I drank in the
sight of him.
He looked… wonderful. He was dressed in a bright blue polo with dark washed, fitted jeans, and navy
running shoes. It was the ‘James’s supermodel take on casual’, I thought. Even his casual looked too
sexy for public. I’d never seen him in jeans before. He made them look sinful. I saw just the hint of the
top of his tan chest at his collar, and had to stifle my urge to check my mouth for drool. His caramel-
colored hair just brushed that collar, and I clenched my hands to keep them at my sides. I wanted to touch
him. But touching always led to too much, too fast, with us.
I met his vivid blue eyes. They were intense and unsmiling. His eyes dropped down to my earrings and
then to the collar at my throat. His jaw clenched, then unclenched. He ran his tongue over his teeth. My
whole body seemed to clench.
“Thank you for wearing those. It was…considerate of you,” he said in his most polite, if hoarse, voice.
He swallowed, shoving his hands into his pockets, then folding them across his chest. It made his upper
arms bulge through his fitted shirt distractingly. His chest and arms looked bigger than I remembered, the
muscles bulging as though he’d been lifting weights excessively. The material of his shirt looked so soft
it made me itch to run my fingers over it. But that light touch would turn to a stroke. And then I would
stroke harder to feel the resilient flesh beneath…
James’s eyes were running down my body now, not for the first time. His eyes were on my very bare
legs, then my cleavage.
“Your legs are outrageous. You make that mini skirt look illegal.” He looked back at my face, finally.
“You look beautiful.” He took a deep, harsh breath, staring at me. It was gratifying. “But isn’t that outfit
a bit sexy for a work function?”
I wrinkled my nose at him, then pointedly looked around the room. This was Vegas, and we were in a
bar full of flight attendants. My attire was downright modest compared to some of the outfits I saw.
“Did you want me to fuck you in front of all of your co-workers? Because that’s all I can think about,
when I see you in that outfit.” His voice was pitched low, but I gasped at his words.
“This was supposed to be a short, casual meeting,” I told him, a hint of accusation in my voice.
He took another deep breath, looking around the room, and away from me. I watched as he counted to
ten silently.
“I missed you,” he said finally.
I had missed him too, but I couldn’t make myself tell him that. He still unsettled me too much for that
kind of honesty. Instead, I said the first thing that popped into my head. “You were late.”
His jaw clenched again. “Yes. I was in my car, in the middle of the most annoying business call of my
life. I think I may need to fire my manager in New York. I didn’t see you arrive, and lost track of time. I
