y feet are barely on the ground at LaGuardia when one of the baggage boys hails me from the tarmac. I nod at him, and it’s the invitation he needs to come over, wiping sweat from his brow. It’s muggy out, and with all the luggage he’s unpacking, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’s drenched.
“Captain,” he says once he was within conversational range. “I was told to find you to tell you to report to Executive Privilege’s private lounge. There’s someone there wants to see you.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve told you everything they told me.” He shrugs. “I think it has to do with the new ownership. There’s been a lot of drama going on about that.” His face tells me that he hasn’t exactly escaped the drama.
“You’re telling me.” I shake my head. All the way back to New York, it was all that anyone in the crew talked about. The only way to get relief for me was to go back and chat with the passengers. Not a choice I make often, or willingly.
The rumor and drama mill is churning and I’m already sick of it. It hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours yet. I thank the kid.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
“You’re welcome.” He runs back for the cargo hold to get back to work and I make my way toward the gate. Every step I take, I’m apprehensive about what’s about to happen. I don’t think I can stand any more bad news. If it wasn’t for my late-night connection with Alexa, I would have gone off the deep end.
She’s the one thing thats keeping me together right now, and I’m realizing it more than ever now. Tough times make me want to protect her from everything that’s going on. In her eyes, I always want to be her bastion of strength.
If I’m being summoned for talk of ‘restructuring’ or ‘efficiencies’ I’m likely to lash out. It’s not long before I’m in front of the door to Executive Privilege’s private lounge. It’s a smart little facility. Not huge, but comfortingly lush. The bar and buffets are are well-kept and the facilities have been enough to keep our clients happy. They’re never here for long, which helps.
There have been more than a few times I’ve sneaked up to take advantage of the peace and quiet, but today the lounge serves a different purpose than my selfish pleasure. Today as I open the door, the sight that greets me in the lounge leaves me shocked.
Nestled in one of the tall back armchairs is Miss Karina, the gorgeous socialite. The she-devil I’ve turned down time and time again. She’s in what there is of an Armani dress in navy blue, the kind with a v-neck that plunges so low it displays her belly button. By the looks of it she’s not wearing a bra, but her breasts don’t need the support. There’s plastic in there, surely. There has to be.
She has a leg crossed provocatively over her knee and as she sees me, she leans forward to rest her elbows on the wide arms of the chair. As I enter, her gaze drifts from my feet slowly higher until she looks up at me with bedroom eyes.
“Jagger,” she purrs. “It’s been such a long, long time.”
“Hello, Miss Karina,” I say respectfully. Miss Karina has often been a client of Executive Privilege and it’s always been in my best interest to play nice. There was once I time I wouldn’t have minded tumbling into bed with this bombshell and a half, but that time has long passed.
At this moment, I have about as much interest in Karina as I do the baggage boy who hailed me back down on the tarmac. “Did you ask to see me?”
“So formal.” She clucks her tongue, eating me up with her eyes. “But I guess you have every reason to be, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?” I don’t come close enough to shake her hand. The farther away I am, the better.
Karina’s eyes flash. “Well, now that I’m the CEO of Executive Privilege, I am technically your boss. You have every reason to show me a little respect, since it’s me paying your salary.”
The news hits me square in the gut and leaves me dumbfounded for a long moment. I stare at Karina and she stares back, grinning victoriously.
“You’re the CEO?” I ask incredulously. Okay, I really need to keep a check on myself here. That news is like an earthquake. If I’m not careful, I could make some career-defining decisions without thinking them through. I draw slow breath as she speaks.
“Mmhm, that’s right, Jagger. Or should I call you Long, now? Long you get along with that?”
The pun isn’t funny. Right now, nothing is funny. Karina is the type of woman who doesn’t know what no means, and that means trouble for me.
“Miss Karina, with all due respect,” I say. “You have no idea what you’re doing.” Her experience has been in event management and promotions. Both are branches of PR, neither involve anything like the tough challenges of keeping an airline in business.
Her amused smirk makes me angry. Before I can stop myself I go on. Probably a bad choice, but I don’t care. “It’s obvious from the way you’re addressing me alone that you don’t have the faintest clue how to run an airline. I don’t think you’re going to be very good at this. Your staff will leave you if you don’t figure out how to take the business seriously.”
“I guess I’ll just need to get a hold of your staff, then.” The heat in her voice is unmistakable. There’s no missing the innuendo in what she says. “I can take that very seriously, Long.”
“Did you invite me here just to flirt with me?” I ask her, point blank. “If you did, then I need to go. There are things I need to tend to now that I’m back in New York.”
Things like Alexa and everything we can get going on between the sheets. I’m missing her so damn much. The smell of her, the feel of her, the taste of her. Right now I need the stability she brings to my life, not the chaos that I’ve seen following Karina wherever she goes.
“So impatient, Long,” Miss Karina says with a sigh. She uncrosses her legs, likely to try to tempt my eye, then recrosses them. My gaze doesn’t wander from her face. “I actually called you in here to discuss business.” She watches me for a moment. I’m trying to adjust to her being the CEO. Effectively, she’s my employer. I remember how difficult she made my life the last few times she was the client. Could I endure having her as my boss?
Her voice is smoky and low. “I know, I know. Business. From someone like me? Highly unusual.” She’s being sarcastic. The impulse is there for me to rise to it, but I manage not to. “But, business it is and business is business. If I’m going to be the new CEO — and I am, Jagger.” Her eyes blaze. “Then it’s in my best interest to take life by the horns, so to speak. So here’s the deal. I need you to fly Nash Ryerson to Kuala Lampur tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning?” It’s already late afternoon. “That’s a little short notice.”
She stands. Almost tall enough to look me in the eye. Her scent curls into my nostrils as she strides toward me. “Nothing involving you is short, Long.” Her lips tighten into a devious smile. “You’ll be here tomorrow morning to take Mr. Ryerson where he needs to go. There’s a very important football camp or… something. I don’t know. I couldn’t be bothered to ask. But it’s important that you escort him.”
“Why me? Why not any of the other pilots?” I ask flatly. I don’t take kindly to being told what to do. “There are plenty of available men to choose from.”
“Because he is our most valuable client on the current calendar, and you are the best pilot in the industry,” she says simply. “No one else will do. Now go. The flight details are… wherever you usually keep flight details. I gave instructions from them to be posted.” She smirks. “I never thought to ask where that is.”
She’s so disengaged that I know this is going to be a disaster. If Karina can’t bring herself to care about how the airline works, how the hell is she going to bring herself to care about its clients, and even less the employees? All of this is a game to her, a way to get me under her thumb. But I’m not the type of man to back down. She can pressure me all she wants, but I will stay the course.
“Is that all?” It comes out as a growl.
Miss Karina giggled. “Yes, yes. Go now, Long. Get a good night’s rest. You’ll need your energy for your flight tomorrow, won’t you?”
I don’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s ruined my night. I turn and leave instead.
Meeting up with Alexa will have to wait.
Next day we’re at forty thousand feet over the Atlantic when Miss Karina calls. Her voice is crystal clear in the headset despite the distance and altitude.
“Long?” she demands. There’s that curl in her voice that reminds me of her smirk. It clenches in my gut and makes me see red. “Are you there?”
“If I wasn’t we’d have a problem.” My co-pilot, Julien, snickers at my joke. “We’re already on the way, Miss Karina. We’re not turning around now.”
“I’m not calling about that, Long, although I wouldn’t object if you wanted to swing back around to pick me up.”
Julien rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair. I’m not fazed. Miss Karina can’t get under my skin no matter how hard she tries. “Not happening.”
“What a pity,” Karina pouts. “Because if you aren’t coming back to pick me up, I’m afraid that there isn’t another reason for you to come home. Mr. Ryerson hasn’t picked a return date.”
My lip doesn’t even twitch. “So what you’re telling me now, mid flight, is that you don’t know when we’ll be making the trip back?”
“Not yet, no. I’m guessing that it won’t be too long. A few weeks, maybe? Certainly no more than a month. If I can get the bookings to work together, I might have you make a few local flights so your downtime doesn’t stretch out for too long. I can’t have you going soft, can I?”
She always talks playfully, like a kitten batting at yarn, but there are sharp little claws in her words that sink into me and try to rip me apart. She is doing this on purpose.
Keeping me away from America. Keeping me away from Alexa.
Miss Karina is vindictive, and she won’t stop until she gets what she wants.
Me.
Too bad for her I don’t play games. I take what I want. She can sink her claws into me all she wants. I won’t fold.
“Message received, loud and clear,” I announce. “Captain Long, over and out.”
I tune away from Executive Privilege’s private channel, effectively hanging up on Karina’s reply. Julien shoots me a look. “So, looks like we’ll be vacationing in Kuala Lampur.”
“On our own dime,” I remind him. “No more hotels, no more accommodations, no more nothing.”
Julien shrugs. “It will be like my college days. I’ll survive.”
He’s inexperienced enough to still think that could be fun. That he’ll have himself a little adventure or two. Maybe he will.
My brow knots as I try to see into my own future.
“You know,” Lacey says to me as we’re deplaning. “You haven’t looked the same lately, Captain.”
The words are like honey milk. I know she’s coming on to me. I don’t care.
“Nothing but one hundred percent Long here,” I tell her.
As we landed, Karina sent a text with a new itinerary. We’re not staying on in Kuala Lumpur. She’s got us routed on a disjointed world tour, picking up a client in Taipei, dropping off another in Oman. It’s a cat’s cradle route with stops in North Africa, Europe, and Russia. I feel like an errand boy more than I feel like a world class pilot.
“Well, you might be one hundred percent Long, but I think you might need a hundred percent of a little someone more feminine to round you off.” She’s wearing a pale pink lipstick today that glosses her lips. Or is the gloss because she’s spent the last few hours locked in the bathroom with our clients? “What do you say? If we have to pay for our own expenses, we might as well split them, right? We could share a room.”
“Not happening.” I give her enough of a laugh to not be unfriendly. Not enough for her to misunderstand. She knows I mean it.
“You’re no fun.” She folds her arms over her chest and sulks. “What’s the matter? Are you missing someone special back home?”
I don’t reply.
She comes closer. “You are, aren’t you?” She flutters her eyelashes and sinks down by my side. “Oh, you’ve got to fill me in. Tell me. All of the girls are going to be heartbroken. Do you know how they talk about you?”
“Those girls are all talk,” I remind her.
“It doesn’t mean they won’t be heartbroken. So tell me about her, Captain. I want to know.”
Women and their stories. First Alexa and her demand for romantic tales, now Lacey and her plea for details of my personal life. I don’t have anything better to do with my time while the plane empties, so I indulge her a little.
“I asked her to move in with me, bought her a huge, elegant condo and told her it was hers. She refused. One day I know she’ll come to her senses, but when that happens, I might not have the condo anymore.”
“Because of the company takeover?” Lacey asks.
“You’ve got it. I want to talk to her about it, tell her what’s going on, but at the same time, I could never do that. Those are my problems, not hers. She needs to know that I’m there for her, and that I’m always going to be there for her no matter what. She needs to know that even if she decides to never lift a finger for the rest of her life, she doesn’t have to have a single worry. I won’t burden her with something like this.”
Lacey looks up at me with fuck-me eyes. “Maybe you should let her see the whole man, Captain.” She traces a finger down my sleeve suggestively. “I could help you get him ready for her.”
A few days later, days that seem like months, and we have a three day layover in the Maldives. With a few calls, I get myself on a jump seat aboard a commercial flight to Paris then a connection to JFK.
I almost don’t remember my condo when I step through the door. I hang my suit jacket on the back of a kitchen chair, help myself to a shot of whiskey, then take my phone from my pocket. I’m going to miss this place if I have to let it go. In the short time it’s been mine, I’ve gotten attached.
I’m seconds away from calling Alexa when my phone lights up. For a second, I think Alexa’s beaten me to the chase and knows I’m home. Then I see the caller ID.
It’s Miss Karina.
“What is it, Karina?” I ask in a steely voice.
“Manners, Long. I’m your employer now, you know. It would be in your best interest to treat me with respect.”
It’s my first time on US soil for two weeks, and a call from Karina only means one thing — trouble. If she thinks I’m going to play nice, she’s crazier than I first thought. “Miss Karina.”
“Better, better,” Karina purrs. “So, it’s good to see you made your way back to the States, although those weren’t my instructions.” Her voice is chiding. Playful. “But, as it happens, it will work out well.” Not for me, I’m guessing. “Here’s what I want, Long. Shiekh Hammad bin Tamin Al Abadi is in desperate need to take his entourage on a tour of far east Asia and Australia. I want you to be the one to take him there. Shiekh Al Abadi is a very wealthy man, and we need to make the best impression we can.”
“When?” I don’t let the steel weaken.
“Oh, tomorrow.” Miss Karina brushes it off like it’s nothing. “It’s not a big deal for you, is it, Long? You’re not too busy?”
I want to punch the wall. I take a breath. “No.”
“Good. I’m sure you’ll be glad you’re taking the job, because I’m in talks with my financial advisers about payment restructuring within the company. Just little things, you know. Hammering out the real hourly wage, cutting back on unnecessary expenses…”
“You already did that,” I remind her. It’s hard to sound like a levelheaded human being when I feel like I’m one more piece of bad news away from detonating like an atomic bomb.
“Oh, no. Not really. Those were temporary figures while my team irons out the details. It’s written very clearly in all flight contracts that payments may change at any time for any reason. My legal team is simply fantastic.”
I’m done with the conversation. “If that’s all, I’ll be taking my leave.”
“Do make sure you’re fresh and bright for the flight tomorrow. You’ll want to get to the airport early to prepare.”
“Goodnight.” I end the call without waiting for her reply. The next second I’m dialing Alexa.
The phone rings and rings. When I think she’s not going to pick up, it connects.
“Jagger?” Alexa asks. The sound of her voice washes in to fill a part of me I didn’t know was empty. “Where are you right now? It’s late in New York.”
“In my condo, waiting for you to get here,” I tell her. As I speak I move to the fridge to see what I have to offer her. There’s not much. “How quickly can you make it over? I need to see you.”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting you to be home…” She’s hesitant, but I’m not having it. I’ve been without her for too long.
“I had to make an effort to be here,” I tell her. “I wasn’t due back in New York until next week. I pulled some strings and made some tough calls all because I wanted to see you.” I’m about to add, ‘Because you said this is what you wanted,’ but I manage to hold it back.
I don’t succeed in keeping the anger out of my voice though. After Karina’s call, I’m surprised I’m composed enough to speak at all. Am I wasting my time with Alexa? She runs so hot and cold for me that it’s impossible to tell where I stand.
“Jagger, it’s raining hard outside.”
“I’m not going to be keeping you outside,” I remind her a little too firmly.
There’s silence before Alexa speaks. “I’ll be there when I can, okay?”
“I’ll send a car. I’ll see you soon.” I end the call, arrange Alexa’s ride and busy myself with setting up the condo for her arrival. Soft, classical music plays through my surround sound system. I light candles and dim the lights. I change into something not stale from travel. All of it is busy work, an attempt to work out my anger before Alexa gets here.
I wonder if I have time to get down to the leisure center before she gets here. Twenty minutes of cross-training would help my state of well-being. Straighten out the knots. I look at my watch. There isn’t time because I already spent too long fussing with lights and furniture.
At the sound of her key in the lock, I perk up like I’ve been switched on. The second she lets herself in, I know it’s all been in vain. She’s dripping wet, her hair slicked to her neck. Her clothes are drenched and her makeup is running. She’s making a pool on my polished wood floor.
One look is all it takes. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Her mouth is opening. Before she can even say hello, I’ve leaped over to her, swept her into my arms and pinned her against the wall. Our lips crush together. She whimpers into my mouth as I kiss her with all the pent up rage and frustration of the last two weeks.
Her wet clothes soak through my shirt and my pants. Her body is cold under my palm. I move my hand, rubbing to warm her. My fingers jam in her hair and her eyes open wide as I pull her head back. Noisily I kiss her wet throat. Take her mouth with mine. Push her hard against the wall.
My hips grind into her. Hard enough that her thighs part. Hard enough that her feet leave the floor and she’s pinned up against the wall. I tear her dress open.
Her hands claw and grasp, pulling me to her. Her eyes sparkle like a little animal’s. Her breath is hot and damp.
She’s mine. No one can take her away from me.
No one.