Chapter Four
Becca
”Here you are Ms. Carson.” The petite clerk handed me the ticket as the gate doors were opening. “I’m glad you were able to get on the flight.”
“Wait! Seat 1A? I’m sorry, I can’t pay for first class.”
“No Ma’am. There’s not charge. It was taken care of.” The clerk smiled at me and motioned towards the gate. “You can go ahead and board now.”
“Taken care of? What do you–?”
“Have a great flight!” She nodded again to towards the door, not allowing me to finish my question. I quickly scanned my pass and made my way down the jet way wondering if my upgrade had been a mistake. No sense in arguing about it. I was just happy to be on the flight and happier to fly in first class for the first time in my life.
I stuffed my bag in the overhead compartment, not paying attention to the person in the adjacent seat as my skirt caught on the armrest. My hands were full and all I could do was jerk my dress back and forth until my seatmate’s hand freed me.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. That’s twice today.”
His voice was familiar as I felt the shivers up my spine. I plopped into the seat as I smiled at him, fumbling for the right words. “You've been quite the help.”
“I just happen to be in the right place at the right time.” His smile was perfect and his electric blue eyes calmed me. His perfectly tanned skin appeared as if he just been vacationing in some tropical location. “I'm Chance.”
He extended his hand and I struggled to shake it as I held onto the remaining belongings in my grasp. “I’m Becca.” Chance, I loved that name. “Chance, can you help me out, just once more?” I motioned with my head to all of the stuff in my arms.
“Not at all.” He reached over and grabbed my purse, book and sweater as I adjusted my dress and clicked the seatbelt closed. I watched as his eyes focused on the cover of the book, my romance addiction, and I could feel my face redden.
“Looks like you plan to do some reading while you're on vacation…or is it business?”
I giggled. “A little of both unfortunately. I’m headed to my best friend’s bachelorette party, but I’ve got a proposal I need to get wrapped up and out by tomorrow.”
“Well, I hope you get to enjoy your trip and congratulations to your friend. How long will you be staying in Vegas?”
“I’ll be staying until Sunday, hopefully that will give me enough time to recover and enjoy myself. Plus get some work done. Unfortunately, my boss doesn’t understand that everyone needs a vacation.”
“Been there and done that before. It's better to leave the work behind when you go to Vegas.”
“You've been to Vegas before?'
“Yes, plenty of times. I work out there.”
I loved the way the conversation flowed between us. Every chance I got I snuck a peek at his amazing body, wondering just how chiseled it was. Everything about him was put together well. I caught myself daydreaming as I looked at him and listened to his smooth voice. Why couldn’t Melissa have set me up with someone like him?
The flight attendant poked her head around the corner while she made room for the travelers still boarding the plane. Her eyes quickly darted from me to the gorgeous man sitting beside me. “May I get you a glass of champagne?”
Chance looked over at me with an accepting nod and I agreed.
“This is the first time I’ve ever flown first class. Nice perk, free champagne? I could get used to this.” I smiled and he chuckled along with me.
I watched the attendant as she delivered our flutes of champagne. She carefully handed the glass to me and then flipped her hair over her shoulder as she smiled at Chance and handed him his glass. “Is there anything else I can get you?” Her eyes met his and he simply smiled back with a casual “No thank you.”
I thought for sure he would have flirted back. Instead, he turned his attention towards me as the flight attendant made her rounds to the others in first class, a disappointed look on her face.
“So this is what I’ve been missing all this time?” I giggled as I took a sip and relaxed into the big leather seats. “I’m going to need this before take off for sure.”
“You don’t like flying?” Chance took a swig from his glass as he looked at me. The final group of people brushed by him as they boarded and gave us dirty looks as we joked, drinking from our fluted glasses.
“I love to fly. I hate taking off and landing. I’m always so anxious.” I quickly sipped the rest of my drink, hoping for another to calm my nerves and allow the conversation to flow even more freely with Chance. Unfortunately it didn’t happen. The flight attendant quickly gathered our glasses and then began her preflight safety speech while the plane pushed back from the terminal.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the worst part of the trip to be over. It seemed like it took forever as we inched down the runway.
“Are you alright?” Chance’s smooth voice whispered in my ear and I could feel his breath on my skin.
I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to his voice. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know he was just inches from my face. The thought of him being that close drove me crazy. I opened my eyes briefly as I looked at him. “I’ll be fine.” I was a good liar. I had lied enough on so many bad dates I had lost count, always saying I was having a great time.
I sunk into my seat as the plane accelerated down the runaway. Instinctively I clutched the armrests, only this time, I found Chance’s arm, and gripped it tightly. Before I realized what I had done we were in the air. Calmness flooded my body as I briefly felt the weightlessness of the plane leveling off. I eased my grip on his arm and I heard him chuckle.
“Wow, I see you’re perfectly fine.” Chance laughed as he mockingly rubbed his arm and I quickly apologized. “I’d hate to see if you weren’t.”
The flight attendant immediately made her way back into the first class area and I took the opportunity to request another drink, further looking to calm my nerves and possibly get my creative juices flowing to work on my presentation and pitch.
Chance joined me and ordered a second glass as he smiled and urged on our conversation. “So, any big surprises for your friend? You know, there’s plenty of trouble to get in while in Vegas?”
“Her name is Melissa. There will actually a total of four of us. We’ve all be good friends for a while, but as far as surprises, I left all the gag-gifts sitting on my table…so I'll have to do a little shopping first. It's mostly the usual silly girl-stuff.”
“Girl stuff huh? Like the Chip-n-dales? Lot’s of drinking?”
I felt myself blushing at the thought of him knowing I’d enjoy watching half naked men. I’m not sure why, since I barely knew him. “Um, I'm really not sure. There'll be some drinking laughing and a lot more drinking. I’m hoping to unwind a little once I get this presentation finished.”
He laughed and leaned closer to me. “I think it sounds like you'll have a great time.”
“I'm sure we will. We always do. So I guess you know Vegas pretty well?”
“Yes. Like the back of my hand.”
His comment immediately made me look at his hands. His big, strong, tanned hands. I wanted to touch them to see if there were as soft as they looked. “I’ve been there once, a long time ago and Melissa has never been there. That's why we picked that spot. All four of us will be crammed in one room. It'll be like a high-school sleep over.”
“You had slumber parties in high school?”
“Well, I guess they really weren't slumber parties. More like where we all crashed after a night of doing things we shouldn’t have. All spread out on the floor mostly.” I suddenly felt like a high school girl all over again, flirting with a college boy and doing something I shouldn’t.
“Be careful, Vegas can be wild and a bit dangerous, hopefully you’re staying someplace close to all of the action.”
“We are, it’s one of the nicer places. It was the one thing we all agreed on. None of us wanted to stay in one of those dumpy places we’d all regret.”
“Smart move.” Chance smiled as he unhooked his seatbelt and stood, slipping off his suit jacket and revealing his tightly fit grey shirt that hugged every chiseled muscle in his body. The attendant quickly grabbed his jacket and hung it up in the closet, still attempting to make small talk. He glanced down at me and smiled. “I’ll let you get some work done.” I watched as he headed toward the front of the plane.
I took the time to distract myself from staring at his ass and strong body and quickly dug through my purse, pulling out a pad and pen to jot down some ideas for work. I gulped down the rest of the golden bubbly liquid and was quickly met with another glass from the attendant. I could get used to flying this way. I took another quick swig, held on to my glass and closed my eyes. All I could see was his gorgeous smile and that perfect ass.