It was one thing to sleep through her alarm on the morning of a 6:00 a.m. flight but quite another to leave the house with her fuzzy slippers still encasing her feet. Amazingly, Lottie had done both.

As she ran through the airport toward her gate she mused on how ridiculous she had to look, but she didn't have the time to worry about what anyone thought. Her flight would leave in fifteen minutes.

"Last call for passengers Charlotte Brown and Leonardo Granger," a voice called over the airport loudspeaker.

Crudastic! Lottie thought as she continued to run, her backpack smacking against her back as she pulled her carry-on suitcase behind her. They didn't call a name over the loudspeaker unless they were about to give the seat to someone else. And Lottie couldn't afford to rebook her flight.

She could hardly see in front of her thanks to her mane of brown hair that had somehow flopped into her eyes. Since she held her boarding pass in one hand and was pulling her suitcase with the other, there was only one other option to push her hair out of her face.

She blew the hair that had fallen in front of her eyes in an attempt to remove it but only succeeded in getting it stuck in her chapstick. Of course she'd found time to apply chapstick but had left her fuzzy slippers on. Priorities. But she knew she needed to be prepared for the blast of dry air she'd experience the moment she got off the plane in Salt Lake City, very unlike the humidity she'd been experiencing in California.

As she transferred the boarding pass into her hand pulling the bag, then used her free hand to push her hair back (what she should have done in the first place), she felt one of those attractive slippers fall from her foot as her suitcase bumped over it.

Should she turn around to grab it? She was now clad in one fuzzy slipper. If she had thought she was a sight in two of them, that didn't compare to what she looked like now. She saw her gate in the distance and made a quick decision: the slipper had to be sacrificed.

She continued in a half run, half limp (thanks to the deserted slipper) and slid to a stop at gate sixty-two. The door to the jetway was still open. Her sacrifice hadn't been in vain.

Lottie rushed to the gate attendant and handed off her boarding pass, working hard to catch her breath.

"Made it by the skin of your teeth," the attendant said in a disapproving tone.

"I woke up late...." Lottie let her voice trail off when the attendant practically pushed her onto the jetway after returning her boarding pass. The woman couldn't care less why Lottie was late, just that she was.

"You must be Mr. Granger.” The attendant's voice echoed down the jetway in a tone that was a complete one-eighty from the one she'd used on Lottie. "We're so glad you made it."

Lottie rolled her eyes at the change and wondered if Mr. Granger was attractive or loaded, warranting such a welcome from the grumpy attendant. Probably both.

She walked onto the plane and bumped her way down the narrow aisle until she reached 9D. Surprisingly, seat 9C was still open. She quickly threw her small suitcase into the overhead compartment and then sat, the rest of her bags falling into her lap. Then she shoved her backpack and purse under the seat in front of her, still working on catching her breath. Lottie liked to think she was in okay shape; she did yoga frequently and went to the gym a little less frequently. But her panting proved she wasn't in good enough shape to take on the San Francisco airport.

A man stopped in the aisle by the open seat beside Lottie. She assumed he was the also-late Mr. Granger. She worked hard not to let her mouth fall open at the sight of the man in front of her. She no longer blamed the attendant for her reaction in the least.

Mr. Granger was tall enough that while he was putting his bag in the overhead compartment, it obstructed his view of Lottie. She quickly worked to arrange her hair that was still a little stuck to her chapstick. Although she'd only gotten a quick peek at his face while he'd been bending over to grab his suitcase, it was enough of a look to make Lottie want to sigh. His hair was thick and a shade of dark brown Lottie had never seen on a human head. Ever since she'd helped to redecorate her family's bed and breakfast, she had come to think of colors as either paint samples or wood floor samples. Mr. Granger's hair was a mix of Brazilian cherry hard wood and Spicewood brown paint. Lottie now had a strong urge to redecorate a home in those exact colors.

His jawline was square and strong, and his lips--red delicious was the only way she could describe them. This time she allowed herself a small sigh of appreciation. The man was beautiful. But a man who looked as good as he did had to know it. And that was enough to deter Lottie from fantasizing any further about decorating a home with all of the colors that made up Mr. Granger. There was nothing worse than a cocky guy. Confidence—incredibly attractive. Cockiness—unforgivable, at least in Lottie's book.

Mr. Granger's hands came down from the overhead compartment to reveal, oh no. He wasn't holding what she thought he was, was he?

Her white, well, now off-white, fuzzy slipper was presented as Mr. Granger took the seat beside her.

She felt her cheeks flame, and she tried to hide her slipper-less foot under the seat. She had no idea why she attempted that since it was obvious Mr. Granger knew the slipper was hers. Meaning, the gorgeous man beside her had not only witnessed her mad dash through the airport, he'd saved her slipper when she hadn't.

"Is this yours?" he asked, his voice lower than she'd expected, with a touch of gravel that was much too appealing. He was still holding her slipper out in front of him like a very badly written Cinderella remake. Granted, he would excel in the role of Prince Charming.

"Yeah. Thanks." Lottie finally grabbed the slipped and dropped it on the ground beside her foot. She was still too embarrassed to slip it on.

She ducked down to look at said slipper and wondered how long she could stay in the same position. Anything was better than having to face Mr. Granger in all his gorgeousness. Especially since she was more than a hot mess.

She'd barely had a chance to put on her moisturizer, so there wasn't a stitch of makeup on her face. Her thick brown hair was usually an asset, but today, since she'd fallen asleep while it was still wet and then hadn't even stuck some mousse in it that morning, she knew she had to look somewhere between a drowned rat and an angry lion. Her outfit wasn't much better since she'd thrown on the first thing she could find: a t-shirt she usually reserved for taking her class of second graders on field trips and her favorite pair of jeans. Her jeans were her only salvation.

Lottie was usually a well-organized person, some might say to a fault. But the school year had ended only a few days before, and she'd spent every moment since then in meetings or cleaning up her classroom. She'd gotten home later than she had planned the night before, and instead of getting as ready for the trip as she would have wanted to, she'd packed, showered, and then fallen into bed, thinking she'd get to the rest of her preparation the next morning. But then her faulty alarm. This embarrassment would teach Lottie to never put off for tomorrow what could be done today; at least that's what she would tell her second graders.

As the flight attendant started her safety presentation, Lottie began to count the pieces of lint on the carpet below her, never lifting her head. She knew she should probably say more than, "yeah, thanks," considering the very handsome man had taken the time to do for Lottie what she hadn't been willing to do for herself. But this had to be in the top five embarrassing moments of her life. She needed at least a minute to gather her thoughts, her breath, and hopefully a bit of her dignity.

The safety briefing ended, and the flight attendants did a final walkthrough of the plane as they pulled away from their gate.

From her weird viewpoint, Lottie saw a pair of female feet pause beside their row.

"Is there anything you need?" the flight attendant asked, and Lottie knew the question hadn't been directed to her.

"I'm fine," Mr. Granger said, again with that voice. There should be some law of Heaven that said if a man was destined to be so good looking, he should have a voice like a chipmunk.

"Well, please let me know. I'll just be right back there," the flight attendant responded.

Typically, Lottie would have teased the woman for practically begging a man to notice her. But in this case, Lottie couldn't blame her. She probably would have done the same, if she wasn't about to die of embarrassment.

"Are you a nervous flyer?" Mr. Granger asked, and Lottie knew her time to wallow in shame was up.

"Nope I'm not. Not at all," she said. Why had she repeated the same thing twice?

But instead of looking at her like she was a freak of nature, Mr. Granger's red delicious lips turned up into a smile. Lottie felt her breathing stop. This was getting to be ridiculous. As cheesy as it sounded, his smile warmed her all the way to her soul, like she'd now seen a light she'd never known existed. Oh, to go back to the young and naive woman before Mr. Granger's smile. She would now have to classify events in her life as BMGS (before Mr. Granger's smile) or AMGS (after Mr. Granger's smile).

Her breath caught in her throat, causing her to choke and turning an already embarrassing moment into humiliating. Could she turn this around, please?

"Are you alright?" he asked, and she nodded as she continued to cough while her face reddened from shame and lack of oxygen. "Do you need me to call the flight attendant?"

Oh great. Now he thought she was dying. She shook her head no. This moment, right here, was why men like him should not have been put on this earth.

Lottie finally stopped choking long enough to croak, "My spit went down the wrong pipe." She cringed. Well, that was exactly what she should have said. It made her seem as ridiculously attractive as he was. Right.

Mr. Granger's shoulders shook once but stopped, and she could tell he was working hard to hold back his laugh.

Oh no! Was he kind on top of everything else? It couldn't be. Life wasn't so cruel, was it?

She needed to make this situation better.

"I'm not a nervous flyer. I actually love to fly. Not that I do it very often. I usually only fly when I travel to and from my family's home in Idaho. In Blue Falls. Do you know where Blue Falls is? It's beautiful. You should go."

Lottie's gaze connected with his dark brown eyes as his lips curved up again into that devastating smile.

Stop talking now, Lottie's brain commanded, but her mouth wouldn't listen.

"I am a nervous talker, though. Man, I need to quit speaking but it's like my mouth just keeps going with nothing really great to say. But I'm not nervous because of the flight. I'm nervous because of you."

What?! Why had she said that? Now he was going to think he'd done something wrong when all he'd been was kind and charming.

"Not because of you, you. Well, kind of because of you. Basically, you are really good looking and...."

Her mouth finally listened, about ten sentences too late.

Lottie shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she recalled what she'd said, her entire body red in mortification. One more embarrassing move and she'd spontaneously combust.

What was she supposed to do now? Thanks to her mouth-not-always-connecting-to-her-brain disease, she'd been in similar, although quite a bit less embarrassing, situations a few times before. Other times, though, she had always been able to run. But she was stuck in a tin can in the sky. Running was not an option.

"You're really good looking, too," Mr. Granger said.

Right. What else was he supposed to say to her declaration? He was also stuck in the same tin can. He must think she was some kind of crazy person. She wasn't. She was a normal second grade teacher with a slightly overbearing family. She usually flew so far under the radar that no one ever saw her.

But Mr. Granger was seeing her. Oh boy was he seeing her now.

Take a deep breath and try again. It wasn't the best advice she'd ever given herself, but it would have to do.

"I'm a second-grade teacher," she said, looking up at his face to gauge his reaction. The smile was still there and he seemed more than a little amused. Hopefully he was laughing with her.

Who was she kidding? He was totally laughing at her. "I'm trying to explain that I'm not crazy. They don't let crazy people teach kids. At least they try not to. So even though I sound crazy, I'm not."

"I don't think you sound crazy," Mr. Granger said.

What else could he say to the crazy woman?

"I must look crazy too. I woke up late. My phone alarm has never failed me and then this. I basically had to run from my bed to my car and then through the airport. I did brush my teeth." As soon as Lottie said the words, she realized how stupid they sounded.

"I just wanted to let you know I have fresh breath."

Shoot! She'd meant for him to know that so he wouldn't be worried about the smells she'd emit; it was always her fear that she'd sit next to the stinkiest person on the plane. But did it sound like she was saying it because she wanted to kiss him? That was totally how it sounded.

"I didn't say that because I want to kiss you. I don't want to kiss you." Lottie backed up in her seat and waved her hands in front of her chest as if warding him off.

Oh man, that was too much.

"Not that I don't want to kiss you. Just not yet. Or now. I mean, I'm sure plenty of women want to kiss you. But not me. Not right now."

Oh my gosh. Would something just come and swallow her up right now? Where were the scandals on planes that caused viral videos when a girl needed one?

She needed to shut up. She was making nothing better with her words. They needed to cease.

Lottie clamped her mouth shut.

"A plane probably isn't the best place to have a first kiss," he said, his smile now covering his face. Even as his smile teased her, Lottie was entranced by it.

Her only saving grace was that she would never see the man again. They were flying into Salt Lake City, a good four-hour drive from her hometown of Blue Falls. She didn't know where Mr. Granger was headed, but it wasn't to Blue Falls.

"I'm Leo," he said as he held out his hand, and Lottie shook it. "We should get names out of the way before we kiss, shouldn't we?"

Lottie closed her eyes briefly. She should be dead. There was only so much embarrassment one human body could handle, and she had to have passed that quota.

But she was still alive and still shaking Leo's hand. She dropped the hand she'd held onto for too long and responded, "I'm Lottie Brown."

"A second-grade teacher from Blue Falls?" Leo said.

Lottie nodded. Like a bumbling idiot, she'd given him her whole life story.

The sound of the drink cart coming down the aisle sounded like a chorus of heavenly angels to Lottie's ears. The cart came to a stop in front of row nine, and Lottie breathed a sigh of relief when the eager flight attendant asked Leo for his drink order.

Lottie needed to take a vow of silence. People did that, right? Could she start it now and write to Leo what she'd decided? Except he would wonder why she'd decided to take her vow now, in the middle of a flight.

Looked like her vow would have to start immediately after they landed.