The plane starts to shudder slightly before steadying. Maria finds herself squeezing the armrests like Rhett was doing earlier. She’s never been afraid of flying before, but turbulence this bad is definitely a new one for her. An audible gasp goes out around the plane as it drops and it reminds her of a rollercoaster ride. The feeling of your stomach trying to escape through her throat is not a feeling Maria enjoys and that’s precisely why she’s always avoided those kinds of rides like the plague. She closes her eyes as if not being able to see what’s going on around her will make it go away. She knows otherwise, but that doesn’t change the lame idea from flowing through her head.

A baby crying comes from behind her and the tension in the mom’s voice is obvious as she tries to soother her scared infant. She walked past their seat earlier when the seat belt light went off, so Maria knows she’s all by herself and young. The kind of stress she must be under right now? It’s unimaginable. Maria couldn’t even fathom trying to keep her own cool and attempt to soothe her child. The fear that must be traveling through her that she has to push off to the side to take care of her child. She’s the real superhero here.

There’s a crackling in the air as the captain’s voice comes over the overhead speaker, “This is your captain speaking. We’re passing through some unexpected light turbulence. We should be over it pretty quickly but until then I apologize for the bumpy ride. Once we pass through this storm, it should be smooth sailing until we land in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, this does delay your in-flight drinks. I will let the flight attendants know when they can start serving your refreshments. But until then, everyone please remain seated until the seat belt light goes off. Thank you.”

The captain’s confidence doesn’t have its desired effect. Maria still has a feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach and her fear is palpable. She didn’t even want to fly out to Florida. When she left that place, she vowed to never return. Fuck the whole reason why she’s in this situation is because of him, but she would never tell her mom that. No, she’d rather that her mom live in the faux bliss that has surrounded her life. All the years of abuse seem to have been forgotten. How fucked up is that? She pushes those memories to the back of her mind where they belong and ignores the tears that threaten to fall over.

“You okay?”

She shakes her head and forces a smile, that probably looks more like a grimace than anything else, on. “I’m great, why do you ask?”

“You’re squeezing the life out of the armrests like they killed your puppy,” Rhett says with a laugh.

Maria can’t help but laugh at his repeat of her earlier words to him. With her eyes still closed tight she says, “Yeah I’m okay. I’ve just never flown through turbulence before. It has me a little on edge.”

The plane rocks to the side and a woman screams somewhere on the plane. Maria waits for any response from Rhett, but it never comes. She starts to wonder if her fear has gotten to the both of them. She really needs to get herself in check. This is his first plane ride after all and he still has to fly back home after his trip. She starts to open her eyes, but before she can his breath lightly blows across her lips. Buzzing energy travel back and forth between the two of them as he gently places his lips on her own. The air around them becomes electrically charged and Maria glides her fingers across the side of his face and tugs on the small strands of hair at the back of his neck. She pulls his head even closer to her and holds him in place, with plans of never letting go. His tongue runs along her bottom lip and they pop open of their own accord.

The moment their tongues touch, she lets out a moan she didn’t even realize she had in her. His hands graze her cheek and he tangles his fingers in her hair. They’re completely pressed together but she leans herself forward as much as she can, cursing these damn seat belts for being in the way. She’s tempted to throw caution to the wind and unbuckle so she can climb into his lap.

His hand slides down her face and comes achingly close to her nipple but he continues right on past it and grips her waist. She groans at the almost contact but continues her attack on his mouth. Never in her life has it ever felt like this before. Maria’s heard women call kisses intense and consuming but she’s never believed a word they said. Usually she doesn’t even kiss guys. Most of them have no idea what they’re doing and it gets old real fast trying to deal with limp slugs in your mouth.

But this is the kind of kiss that makes you forget everything around you. She wants this kiss to go on forever and she’s dying to find out what else he’s good at.

A noise dings above her head and a small cheer goes out around them like a bucket of cold water to their mini make-out session. She pulls back but his hand is back on her head and he’s holding her to him as he rests his forehead against hers. Their breathing comes out heavy and labored and all he says is, “Sorry.”

What the fuck?

“It’s okay…” She doesn’t even know how to respond to that. She pulls away harder this time and his hand drops away, letting her go. Her skin suddenly feels cold from the lack of his body against her, but also from the coldness of his words. How is it that she just received the best kiss of her life and now the dude is apologizing? Maria used to think she was a good judge of character, but obviously, she got Rhett Walker figured out all wrong. She obviously can’t read people as well as she used to.

His breathing is still heavy as he says, “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m not sorry I kissed you. I’m sorry that I didn’t ask first. It’s just you were freaking out and I didn’t think. I figured it would force you to not think about what was going on around us instead. But I’m not sorry about the kiss.”

Damn it. It’s the whole gentleman thing all over again. This guy really is the real deal. “Just so you know, in the future you probably shouldn’t let the first words out of your mouth after a fucking mind-blowing kiss like that be ‘sorry,’ it’s the best way to make a girl feel like shit.”

“Sorry.”

“Seriously? Do you not know how to use any other words besides sorry?”

His cheeks redden and his face drops down. “My grandma raised me to be a gentleman or more like pounded it into my brain. I think it’s permanently etched on there and I don’t know how to be any other way.” He pauses and then a grin overtakes his entire face, “Wait…did you say mind-blowing kiss?”

Shit, he caught that part. So much for freaking word vomit. “Don’t let it go to your head cowboy. It was a good kiss, that’s all.”

“Just good?”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

He shakes his head and something about the expression on his face forces it out of me.

“Fine, if you really must know it was fan-fuckingtastic. I was half tempted to ignore the rest of the plane and climb into your lap. Although I’m sure it probably wouldn’t go over to well if I stripped down right here in front of hundreds of people…so I guess it’s a good thing the seatbelt light went off when it did.”

“Wow.” His voice comes out quietly, just above a whisper.

“Wow what?”

“It’s just I don’t think I’ve ever had that effect on another woman before. So…yeah wow.”

She has to stop herself from laughing. She can’t say she’s ever experienced a guy not bragging about the fact that she’s so lucky to be with him. If there’s one reason why she’s sworn off men lately, it’s because they’re dicks with a capital ‘D’. And she’s not referring to the one in their pants. “You’re kidding me, right? With the way, you look? I bet all of the girls back home throw themselves at you constantly.”

“I don’t think so. And if they do, I’ve never noticed it before. I’m not that kind of guy and besides, I don’t really get out much. I work long days and by the end of the night I more likely to have dinner with my grandparents and then crash.”

Dinner with his grandparents. That’s sweet. Unless…“You still live with your grandparents?”

“Not really. I have my own house but it’s on their property. I work on their ranch. Always have as far as I can remember.”

“Ahh, so you are like a real-life cowboy then.”

“Why because I’m from Texas and I work on a ranch?”

“Don’t forget about the sexy cowboy hat and obviously, all that hard work has done your body good.” She runs her eyes up and down his body, just imagining what he’s hiding underneath those tight jeans and flannel button-down shirt. For the millionth time, today her tongue jets out at its own accord and runs along her bottom lip. Yeah, she can guarantee she’d be very satisfied with what he’s hiding beneath all of those layers of clothing.

He ignores her compliment and chooses to look out the window instead. Most guys will become dicks when you stroke their ego, but Rhett seems the exact opposite. In fact, the whole thing seems to make him uncomfortable which just makes her like him that much more. It’s not often you come across a guy like that.