“Are you comfortable, lass?” Anandur asked with a smirk.

Wonder was checking out the fully reclining seat even though the airplane was still on the ground. “Very. I think I can sleep here.”

“That’s the idea. It’s a sixteen-hour flight. I wanted you to be comfortable and get us first class seats, but I found out they are separated by a divider.” He lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss. “Business class seats are only separated by the armrest. It’s cozier.”

“Do you usually fly business class? Or did you splurge on me?”

“I hardly ever use commercial flights, but when I do, I need to fly business because of the legroom. I can’t fit back there.” He turned and looked at the poor schmucks sitting in coach.

As frugal as Anandur was, and as painful as it was for him to pay triple the price for business class, Anandur couldn’t spend hours sitting in those torture chairs, fighting for elbow room with whoever sat next to him.

Only skinny kids could sit comfortably in coach, if that. Anyone over five and a half feet tall or weighing more than a hundred pounds was squeezed like a sardine.

Wonder pulled her chair up and buckled up. “How safe is it to fly on an airplane?”

“Supposedly, safer than driving a car.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why supposedly?”

Anandur glanced at the couple sitting across the aisle, and then at the passengers sitting in front of them. The row behind them was still unoccupied.

He leaned closer to whisper in Wonder’s ear. “We can survive most car accidents, but if a plane explodes or crashes and catches fire, chances are that we wouldn’t make it.”

Wonder lost some of her color. “How often does that happen?”

Evidently, it had been the wrong thing to say to someone who’d never flown before. “Rarely. You have nothing to worry about.”

She wasn’t happy with his answer. “Define rarely. Is it once a year? Once a decade?”

Anandur scratched his beard. “I don’t know. But we can find out.” He pulled out his phone and typed the inquiry. “There are several crashes a year, but only about two hundred fatalities on average. That’s a very low number considering that annually about six billion people take to the sky.”

Wonder’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s a huge number. I would’ve never guessed that so many people travel by plane.” She leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the footrest in front of her. “I guess I have nothing to fear.”

He squeezed her hand. “I love it that you’re a rational girl. For a moment there I was afraid you’d panic the instant the plane took off.”

Her brows dipped as a look of irritation crossed her face. “I don’t like it when you call me a girl.”

Anandur chuckled. “What about my sweet girl? You don’t like that either?”

Her lips twitched with a stifled smile. “I don’t hate it.”

“And how about my beautiful, gorgeous, sumptuous girl?”

She still fought the smile. “I guess it’s not so bad.”

“What would you like me to call you?”

Turning to look at him, Wonder narrowed her eyes that started blazing with inner light. “Call me a woman.” Her voice deepened on the last word.

Damn.

With her dark, long lashes descending over her jade eyes, her hooded gaze had sex written all over it.

Wonder had been beautiful when he’d first seen her in a pair of simple jeans and a bouncer’s T-shirt, now she was stunning.

Not only that, she was growing comfortable inside her new, more polished and sophisticated skin. She’d either gotten another makeover from Amanda or had learned how to do her own hair and makeup.

It wasn’t much, but even that little had made a big difference. The truth was that right now Wonder didn’t look like a girl.

She was all woman.

Her hair was down, cascading in soft waves around her shoulders and fanning over her crisp white shirt, and even though her luscious lips were covered in lipstick, and he hated the taste of it, Anandur wanted to kiss the living daylights out of her.

The problem was that getting excited in public was a really bad idea for an immortal male.

Running a hand over his face, Anandur tried to get his immortal tells under control. “Please don’t do that. Not in public.”

“Do what?” Wonder pretended innocence, batting her long eyelashes.

Except, she was a lousy actress. The girl was flexing her feminine muscles. What she didn’t know, though, was that the game had consequences, and whoever dared to play with fire got their fingers singed.

He leaned closer. “You act all sexy when you can’t back it up?”

“Who said I can’t?”

“Right here? Because I can put a shroud around us and take you up on your offer.” He couldn’t, but it was a good way to call her bluff.

As he’d expected, Wonder backed off, casting a nervous glance around. “You wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” He waggled his brows. “I like a little adventure, and you need to learn that implying something you don’t mean has consequences. But I’ll wait until we are in the air.”

“Why?”

Damn, he adored her endless why questions. “Have you ever heard about the mile-high club?”

The guy sitting across the aisle stifled a chuckle.

Wonder shook her head.

“I’ll tell you after take-off.”

“Why?”

“Once it gets noisy in here, our nosy neighbors won’t be able to eavesdrop.”

Wonder leaned her head on his shoulder. “You can whisper it in my ear. No one will hear a thing.”

His girl wasn’t the patient type, which was good, since he loved having her so close, but he should’ve waited with the explanation, because the moment he was done, Wonder turned to him with a scowl.

“In the bathroom?"

“Shh, keep it down.”

“Sorry,” she whispered. “But that’s really gross.”

“Come back here.” Anandur patted his shoulder. When she did, he put his hand on her other cheek. He wasn’t done taunting her yet. “As I said before, I can shroud us. We are not limited to what humans are willing to resort to.”

“You know,” she said, her low tone sounding flirtatious again. “As someone who a moment ago was asking me to tame down my sexy, you’re not following your own advice. Your naughty thoughts have consequences.” She pointed a discreet finger at his bulge.

Anandur laughed, loving that she was so quick to recover and didn’t shy away from a challenge. “Two points awarded to Wonder. You win again.”

With a content sigh, she put her arm across his middle and shifted her cheek to rest against his bicep. “I always win. Get used to that, big guy.”