Page 24 of The Law of Attraction
Also, he smelled fantastic. His hair smelled much better than the air in the plane, and every breath she inhaled through her nose was like a little hit of pleasure.
So she let him continue to nap on her shoulder, with his hair nestled against her neck and his breath warming her arm.
It was really quite pleasant.
Until the plane tried to fall out of the sky.
Chapter Six
At first it was just a bit of shaking. Nothing too bad, but enough to rouse Adam from his snooze.
His head popped up, and he stared around in sleepy confusion. Olivia was about to tease him about his catnap when the plane took a sudden, terrifying dive.
They leveled off again quickly—thank all the gods and Beyoncé—but not before Olivia’s stomach tried to leap into her throat. The airplane continued to shudder and pitch, sending cups and pretzels and other assorted items sliding off tray tables.
Okay, so they’d hit some turbulence. It was buffeting them around pretty good, but they’d be fine. Turbulence was normal.
That was what Olivia tried to tell herself as they lurched through the air thirty thousand feet above the ground. The fasten seat belt light dinged on belatedly, and the flight attendant who’d been moving through the cabin collecting trash scurried back up the aisle.
A moment later, the pilot came on the intercom. “As you can probably tell, folks, we’ve hit a spot of turbulence. Looks like there’s some bad weather outside Houston, so we’re gonna try to go around that and get you to your destination as smoothly as possible. In the meantime, I’ve turned on the fasten seat belt sign, and I ask that you remain in your seats for your own safety.”
Olivia tried to find his words reassuring, but his soothing pilot’s drawl had sounded a bit harried. It didn’t help that almost immediately after the announcement, the plane did another one of those frightening drops.
This one lasted even longer than the last. It felt like it lasted ten years, although logically Olivia knew it was probably only a second or two.
Adam’s hand clamped onto hers, and she wanted to tell him that she didn’t need comforting, that she was fine, but she couldn’t actually say the words on account of her stomach being lodged in her throat again. And okay, maybe she curled her fingers around his and squeezed, and maybe she felt slightly better when he squeezed back so hard it was almost painful.
She had a moment to wonder if she was going to die holding Adam’s hand—followed by the surprising thought that it wouldn’t be the worst way to go if her number was up. Then the plane leveled off again, and it didn’t feel quite so much like they were plummeting to their imminent, fiery deaths.
But Adam continued to hold her hand, and she continued to let him.
She felt the plane tilt, not like it was out of control, but like it was changing course. They’d turned away from the bad weather. There was still quite a bit of turbulence, but it felt like maybe it was easing up. After another minute or so passed without any more awful dives, Olivia relaxed enough to think about the fact that Adam’s hand was on her thigh.
That was where her hand had been when he’d reached for it. So not only were they holding hands, but they were doing it in her lap. The moment she became conscious of that fact, she felt a surge of warmth between her legs.
She chose to blame the adrenaline rush. Didn’t they say near-death experiences made people horny? Something about reaffirming life in the face of death?
Fortunately, she doubted there was any blood left in her face to cause a visible blush, so at least she was spared that humiliation for once in her life.
Good thing too, because now Adam wasn’t just holding on to her hand—in her lap—he was also moving his thumb over her knuckles. It felt like—yep, he was definitely stroking. His thumb wasn’t simply shifting position benignly. That was a deliberate back-and-forth caress, and it sent another surge of warmth shuddering through her.
It was probably just self-comforting behavior on his part. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. He’d been nervous during takeoff, so he must be pretty freaked out right now.
She risked a glance at him for the first time since the turbulence had started. His eyes were wide and nearly black, and his Latino complexion had lost most of its color, leaving his face a sallow taupe.
But his expression softened as his gaze met hers, and his fingers tightened ever-so-slightly around her hand. “You okay?”
She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. You?”
He attempted a smile that only managed to curve one side of his mouth. “I did not find that enjoyable.”
“No, me neither.”
The turbulence was almost completely gone now, except for an occasional mild shudder, but his thumb was still stroking over her knuckles. She should probably pull her hand away from his, but she couldn’t seem to do it. She liked it too much.
“Hopefully we’re through the worst of it,” he said.
“Hopefully.”
