Chapter 2
“Okay, find your seats and settle down, everyone,” Adrienne Barrera instructed as she took her seat on the plane. The excited students moved down the aisle and made their way to their seats, laughing and talking amongst each other. Adrienne plopped down in her seat with a sigh just as a crack of lightning lit up the night sky.
It’s just a little lightning and rain, she mused to herself, her fingers idling fiddling with the cross on her necklace. Being on the plane gave her enough anxiety; a thirteen-hour flight at night along with rain and lightening definitely didn’t help her any.
“Ew, my seat is next to Joseph? I don’t want to sit next to him!” Pia, one of her students, hissed. Josephine turned to her brother.
“Myles, can she sit in your seat and you sit next to Joseph?” she pleaded, giving him puppy eyes. Adrienne hadn’t had the chance to really pay attention to the man since they’d gotten to the airport, but he had her full attention now. His navy blue shirt showcased his strong arms and the muscles in his chest and his light blue jeans fit him to perfection. His brown eyes narrowed at his sister as he frowned.
“That kid nearly talked my head off and probably spit on me about seven times. I’m not sitting next to him for thirteen hours. I’ll end up being a walking spitball by the time we get to Paris,” he said, his voice smooth and alluring.
‘But please?” Josephine whined again.
“You’re more than welcome to take the empty seat next to me, Mr. Richards,” Adrienne offered. Josephine looked at him with a smirk.
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” she said and moved down the aisle to her seat. Myles sat down next to her and gave her a small smile.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem,” she said. Another flash lightning illuminated the sky, causing Adrienne to jump.
“Nervous?” Myles asked. Adrienne twirled the cross between her fingers and gave him a sheepish shrug.
“I’m not a huge fan of planes and this storm isn’t making it any better,” she admitted.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Is this your first time going to Paris?”
“No, I’ve gone before during college for an exchange program,” she said. “What about you?”
“Yeah, it’s my first time,” he said.
“Oh, and thank you again for volunteering to help with the trip. We all appreciate you taking the time out to come with us,” she said.
He chuckled and glanced back at his sister, watching her laugh and talk with her friends in her seat. “I’m very protective of her. I mostly came to keep an eye on her and the boys she seems to attract,” he said. Adrienne smiled. It was actually pretty sweet of him to do, even though Josephine probably didn’t like it too much.
“Well, that’s very noble of you,” Adrienne said. “But how does Josephine feel about that?”
“She thinks I’m ruining her life and the trip,” he said and chuckled again. His smile made her heart flutter a bit and his laugh danced along her nerve endings. The man was definitely handsome. His hair was cut short and his jawline was lightly dusted with dark facial hair. Her eyes drifted to his arms, where he sported sleeve tattoos on both of them. His hands rested on his thighs, making her cross her legs and arms at the thought of straddling his lap and having his hands roam her body.
You can’t have these thoughts about a stranger. You hardly know the man, she scolded herself, just as a roll of thunder sounded.
She cleared her thought and focused back on his eyes. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do for work?” she finally asked.
“I’m in the Navy,” he answered proudly. Abort mission, abort mission, she ordered herself. Any thoughts or fantasies about his man dissolved instantly. Men in uniform were off limits. Even though she lost Miguel four years ago, the pain was still fresh in her heart and it wasn’t something she wanted to experience ever again. She’d vowed to herself that she’d never date another man in uniform and no one would change that, no matter how handsome they were.
“Everything okay?” Myles asked, snapping her out of her brooding. She gave him a small smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Um, well, thank you for your service.”
“No problem.” He opened his backpack and rummaged around. “Kisses?”
Adrienne raised a brow at him. “Excuse me?”
He finally pulled out a bag of cookies and cream Hershey kisses and grinned. “I mean chocolate,” he said. “Not that I would mind if a beautiful woman wanted to kiss me.”
She giggled and nodded. “Sure. Those are my favorite,” she answered. “The chocolate, I mean.” As she unwrapped the chocolate, his last statement ran through her mind again. Not that I would mind if a beautiful woman wanted to kiss me. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she sucked on the candy. Was he flirting with her?
He poured some into his hand. “Where are you from? You don’t sound like you’re from here,” he said.
“Tampa. I moved here about five years ago,” she answered.
“Oh wow. What brought you across the country?”
Adrienne rolled the small aluminum foil ball between her fingers as she swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Just keep it simple, Adrienne. Don’t get too personal.
“My…ex’s cousin told him about a better paying position in San Diego so he wanted to move out here. Luckily there was a teaching job for me as well,” she said, keeping her eyes down.
“Your ex must be crazy to have let you go,” he replied, popping another Hershey kiss into his mouth. She looked at him and frowned.
“He’s dead,” she said flatly.
He paused mid chew, his eyes widening as he took in her expression. “Shit—damn,” he slapped his palm against his forehead and blew out a breath. “Sorry about that. That was insensitive of me,” he apologized.
She shrugged and turned her eyes away, focusing on unwrapping another Hershey kiss to keep her emotions in check. “It’s fine. You didn’t know.”
They sat in awkward silence for awhile before Myles let out a low whistle. “I sure know how to make things weird, huh?” he asked.
She gave him a small smile. “Really, it’s fine. You couldn’t have possibly known,” she said. Loud laughter in the back of the plane caught her attention, causing her to turn in her seat to see Josephine, Pia, and Erica laughing and talking with amongst each other.
Adrienne snapped her fingers at them. “Girls, please be respectful to everyone else on the plane and keep your voices down,” she told them.
“Sorry, Mrs. Barrera,” Josephine called out.
“French, please,” Adrienne corrected her.
“Uh, désole, madame Barrera.”
“Merci,” she said and sat back down. Myles turned and looked down the aisle, seeing Josephine and her friend making kissy faces at him. He shook his head and turned back around, turning his attention back to Adrienne.
“So how long have you been teaching?” he asked.
“Um, almost five years now. This position is my first teaching job as a French teacher. I was just finishing grad school when we moved here.”
“That’s cool.”
“What about you?”
He raised a brow at her. “What about me?”
“Well how long have you been in the Navy?”
He sighed and rested his head on the headrest. “I enlisted right out of high school, so about…eleven years in two months.”
“Wow. That’s quite the commitment,” she said.
He shrugged. “I can’t see myself doing anything else. I love serving my country and protecting the beautiful citizens in it,” he said, winking at her. She gave him a small smile, confused as to why his words both made her nervous and made her feel warm at the same time. She was pretty sure he was flirting with her at this point, but it still didn’t negate the fact that he was off limits.
Josephine appeared in the aisle next to Myles and slapped him behind the head. “I knew you stole my chocolate, fool!” she exclaimed, snatching the bag away from him and going back to her seat before either Myles or Adrienne could react. Adrienne giggled as Myles rubbed the spot on his head as he reached into his book bag and pulled out another package.
“Had she bothered to give me a chance to tell her there were two, she wouldn’t have ended up with an opened bag,” he said with a chuckle. “Little sisters, man.”
“Is it just the two of you?” Adrienne asked, subtly trying to learn his relationship status. Not that she could do anything if he was single.
“Yep. And when she goes off to college in a few of month, it’ll just be me again,” he said. There had to be a reason that Josephine was with him and not with her parents, but she didn’t think it was polite to pry. He was nice enough not to dig into her when she mentioned Miguel, so maybe it wasn’t a good idea to ask him about his family.
He nodded toward the window. “Did you notice that we’ve taken off?” he asked. She looked out the window, surprised to see the dark night sky. It had even stopped raining. She’d been so occupied by her conversation with him that she hadn’t even noticed they were in the air.
“Oh wow, I didn’t even realize it,” she murmured.
Myles dusted his shoulders and grinned. “I tend to help people forget their fears and anxieties,” he said.
She smirked at him. “That sounds rather cocky. Who’s to say I’m not still afraid and anxious?”
“Are you?” he asked.
If she was being honest, it was hard to feel afraid or anxious around him. He was so laid back and easy to talk to that it wasn’t hard to get lost in a conversation with him.
“I suppose not,” she finally answers.
He rests his head against his headrest with a small smile on his luscious lips and closed his eyes. “Good then.”
Adrienne turned her eyes to the vast darkness outside the window, twirling the cross between her fingers with a sigh. If you’re in the sky somewhere, Miguel, know that I love and miss you.
She grabbed her blanket from her carry on bag and draped it over her, gazing out the window until she finally dozed off.
***
Adrienne jerked awake when she felt the plane shake. She looked around and noticed her hand resting on Myles’ chest and that she was extremely close to him. Embarrassed, she pulled her hand away and sat up, clearing her throat.
“You okay?” he murmured. She nodded and turned in her seat to check on the students. Everyone seemed to have dozed off, the plane completely quiet of the chatter that once filled the space.
She looked out the window and saw that the rain had started again, her anxiety rising when the plane shook again.
As if noticing her nerves, he gave her hand a reassuring pat. “It’s just a little turbulence. Everything’s fine,” he said, his voice low but comforting. Though he was probably right, the sooner she got off this planner, the better.
“What time is it?” she asked.
He looked down at the gold watch on his wrist. “It’s a quarter to four in the morning in California time. Since I’m not sure exactly where we are right now, I can’t tell you what time it is for the time zone we’re in,” he answered. She groaned inwardly. They still had about eight more hours on the plane. Her body was stiff from sitting so long and her neck had caught a cramp sometime during her nap. She stretched and rubbed her neck, tilting her head from side to side in an attempt to alleviate the tightness.
“I wish they offered massages on flights as long as this,” she said out loud, mostly talking to herself.
“I can help with that if you’d like,” he offered. “People don’t say I have magic fingers for no reason.”
The thought of his hands on her sent the sensual thoughts from earlier back in her mind, but she shook them away. It was just going to be a massage, for crying out loud. It wasn’t like he was going to ravish her in her seat, not that she would necessarily object to joining the Miles High Club with a sexy soldier. She also wondered if he got that “magic fingers” title for something else other than massages…
The rules, Adrienne! The rules, she scolded herself, pushing the previous thoughts from her mind. “Um sure,” she finally said to Myles, turning slightly in her seat to face the window.
His strong fingers kneaded the tight muscles in her neck and shoulders, almost putting her to sleep from how great it felt. Her mind drifted to when Miguel would give her shoulder massages during her study breaks when she became overwhelmed with her assignments. She remembered how he’d tell her how smart she was and that she’d pass whatever test or assignment she was studying for or working on. He’d tell her how beautiful she was and how he was the luckiest man in the world to have her. God, she missed him.
A single tear rolled down her cheek when she blinked, landing her shirt. She quickly wiped the tear away, noticing Myles looking at her reflection through the window.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“I don’t think you’d be crying if it weren’t nothing,” he said. “But I won’t press if you don’t want to talk about it.”
She was silent for few moments, simply enjoying the massage and trying to keep her mind clear. When the silent became too much, she patted his hands and pulled away from him, turning back in his seat. “Thank you for that. I feel better now,” she said.
“No problem,” he said, pulling out the bag of chocolate again. “Want some?”
“Yeah, sure,” she said, holding her hand out as he poured some in her hand. “So, Mr. Magic Fingers, how are you still single?”
He unwrapped a Hershey kiss and popped it into his mouth. “Why are you?”
She dropped her eyes to the candy in her hand and shrugged. “I just haven’t really wanted to date since everything happened with Miguel. I’m just living life and taking my time right now,” she answered.
He nodded. “It’s kind of hard to find a woman who wants me for me and not the benefits they could get from me. So I’ve just been focusing on my career and making sure Jojo is okay,” he said.
“Oh wow. I didn’t know that was a thing.”
“Oh yeah. Some women try to marry or get pregnant by a soldier just to get the benefits and money. They usually frequent the bars we normally go to or hang around outside of the base to be noticed. They do whatever it takes to land a soldier,” he said with a sigh.
They spent the next hour talking about their family. Well, Adrienne told him about her two older brothers and her parents. Myles tensed up at the mere mention of his mom, simply telling her it was a complicated situation and that he’d rather not talk about it right now. Whatever the situation was, she hoped it wasn’t anything life threatening.
“So what’s one thing that most people don’t know about you unless they know you?” he asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Hmm,” she pondered. “That I’m Ecuadorian and I can’t speak a lick of Spanish.”
“Really? I definitely wouldn’t have thought that. I assumed you spoke English, Spanish, and French,” he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“What about you?”
“Okay, don’t laugh, but I like to steal Josephine’s lavender and vanilla bath bombs and soak in the tub to unwind,” he confessed. She snorted before bursting into a full laugh. It was hard to imagine a big, muscular, tough man like him soaking in a tub with a girly bath bomb fizzing in the water. “Hey, I said not to laugh!”
“I’m sorry. The thought of you doing that brings funny things to my imagination,” she said with a giggle.
He shrugged. “Well, it’s relaxing and the lavender helps me sleep. That’s my reasoning and I’m sticking with it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with liking bath bombs. They’re nice,” she said when she finally got a hold of herself.
“Yeah. But if my team got wind of my bath bomb baths and the fact that I actually like to cook for fun, they’ll probably never let me live that down,” he muttered.
“A man that can cook is actually rather sexy,” she said before she could stop herself. His eyes darkened at her words as he gave her a small smile. Oh God, why did I say that? It was almost a blessing and a curse that he was so easy to talk to that she’d mostly let her guard down. Had she been more cautious, she would’ve been more careful about how she worded things. She definitely didn’t want to lead this man on and have him think that there could be anything beyond friends on this trip.
“I’m glad you think so. It’s actually why I’m excited about visiting Paris and going to a cooking class. It’ll be nice to learn how to make authentic French food.”
“Yeah! I’m looking forward to the desserts portion. I love baking, so I’m excited to learn how to bake French pastries and such,” she said, her excitement bubbling up as the upcoming adventures came to her mind.
They spent the next couple of hours talking about their favorite foods to make, cooking shows, and different recipes that the other should try.
“Once we get back to California, you should let me make dinner for you,” he said. When her mouth slowly pulled into a slight frown, he held his hands up. “Just as friends. Not like a date or anything. Just to hang out and eat good food.”
She ran a hand through her hair and gave him a sheepish shrug. “I guess time will tell,” she said. Having dinner with him wouldn’t have been a terrible idea; it was great to come across a handsome guy that knows his way around the kitchen. The problem she was running into is that though she vowed to never get involved with a man in uniform, she had a very strong feeling that Myles Richards was going to break through the glass ceiling and try to come for her heart. Anything could happen in the city of love and the strict rule she’d set for herself could possibly end up being broken.
And the thought of that was terrifying.