Bound (Forbidden #1)(31)
Author: Melody Anne

“You don’t listen too well, do you?”

Jewell turned to find Blake behind her. He wiped his forehead with a rag before looking her in the eyes.

“No,” she told him. “It’s always been a fault of mine.”

“We’ll see if I can help you change your ways,” he said with more than a hint of anticipation in his smile.

“You don’t have time.”

“I invent time. Especially for those who need punishing.” He threw down the rag and tossed his shirt back on. “Let’s run back to my apartment and shower. But we’d better get a move on. I want to do something tonight.”

He took her hand, led her to his work truck, and practically thrust her up inside.

“Where’s your car?” She just couldn’t picture Blake as a truck sort of a guy.

“I had my employee take it back when he delivered the truck. We needed tools.”

“Oh, makes sense,” she said, at a loss of what to say next. Everyone kept throwing her new curves, it seemed, and it was taking her overwhelmed brain time to catch up.

He didn’t even say goodbye to his brothers; he just started the truck and drove out into traffic. After a few minutes, Jewell’s curiosity overrode her need to be quiet.

“Where are we going?”

“That’s a surprise,” he replied. The eager gleam that shone in his eyes made his face look so much more handsome — not that he was a slouch in that department even in his worst of moods.

Jewell wasn’t sure if she’d be nearly as excited as he was about what was coming next, but she’d already argued with him far more than she should have today, so she decided to bite her tongue — if she had to — the remainder of the night.

An hour later, she would seriously regret her choice not to argue.

Chapter Twenty

Jewell’s heartbeat thrashed in her ears as she looked at the tiny plane. She rocketed immediately into fight-or-flight mode — except that flight was the last thing she wanted right now. She wanted to know which way to run.

“Do you honestly think I’m going to get into that thing?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it’s a death trap on small wheels!” Her face ashen with fear, she began to pace, trying to think of some way out. This wasn’t something she could do. There was no possible way. What good would she be to her brother if she died either of a terror-induced heart attack or from landing in a fiery heap on the runway of Blake’s private airstrip?

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been flying for years without even minor mishaps. My mechanics certify this plane, and it’s inspected before and after each flight. If the smallest thing is wrong, the problem is fixed right away.”

“I’m not going.” It wasn’t the first time she’d refused him outright, but it was the first time she was certain she wouldn’t change her mind. She didn’t know if she was more panicked at the thought of flying or at the thought of what his reaction would be. But he couldn’t make her go up in that thing. Her brother wouldn’t want her to.

“You can do this, Jewell. There’s really nothing to fear.”

“Please don’t make me. I can do anything else you ask — just not this.”

He was silent for a full minute before his expression changed. It wasn’t anger or frustration on his face; it was patience, something she hadn’t seen from him before.

“Come sit inside,” he told her, holding out his hand.

“No, please,” she said in a tear-choked voice.

“We won’t go anywhere. I just want you to sit in the plane, feel it, see that it’s not so frightening.”

She eyed him with suspicion. Was this a trick? He hadn’t lied to her so far, hadn’t told her anything and then taken it back. Could she trust him?

Though she could barely manage even to give him her hand, she found herself being propelled forward, and then she was climbing onto the small front seat. It was at least thirty seconds before she let out her breath, and that was only because he’d left the door beside her wide open. He went around the front of the plane and climbed in beside her, his thigh touching hers as he got situated.

“See? It’s not so bad,” he said, his voice soothing.

“It’s not bad because we aren’t going anywhere,” she choked out.

“Why don’t you ask me some questions? I’ll tell you whatever you’d like to know.”

How could she ask any questions when her throat was completely closed off? Since he had fallen silent, she began looking around the plane, gazing at all the dials and knobs and screens and not knowing what any of them meant.

“There are so many buttons, so many different functions for you to perform. What if something fails? Or the screens go out? Or the wheels fall off? Heck, what if a wing pops off?” She didn’t give him time to answer anything before she blurted out the next question.

He waited until she stopped, and then he sent a blinding smile her way.

“I can almost guarantee you that the wings and wheels won’t pop off. They’re on there pretty damn tight.”

“Almost? You said almost.” Of course she latched on to the one worrisome word.

“I wouldn’t risk my life just for a cheap thrill. I know this plane better than I know my car. I guarantee you that I will take you up in the sky and then safely land you back on solid ground. I also guarantee that you will be in pure heaven while we’re up there.”

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“Yes, I can, Jewell. I’m confident in my ability to control this plane, just like I control my entire life — and, for that matter, your orgasms. Even if the engine stalled, I could land us safely.”

Her breathing grew quicker because she now knew that she was going to go up in this plane. The door was going to close and they were going to speed down the runway and then lift off into the sky. There would be no more talking.

Blake climbed from the plane and walked over to her side. “Trust me,” he said before leaning in and coming within inches of her lips — not that she really noticed.

She felt her seat belt locking and the door closing. She should say no again, should jump from the plane, should give up on the entire thing that was happening between them, but she couldn’t even breathe, let alone speak.

He was soon back in the pilot seat and saying words which she couldn’t comprehend.

“…clear prop…”