Page 94 of Parting Shot

“You’ve had a lot of men on this plane.”

His eyes narrowed. “Like you’ve been celibate.”

“Get up,” I ordered softly.

He opened his mouth to say something.

“Please,” I cut him off. “I’m not comfortable with having everyone know we’re fucking on the plane. I’d rather skip that scene.”

His eyes searched my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I said because it was hard to articulate exactly how I was feeling, and if I couldn’t figure it out, how was I supposed to explain it to him? “I know I need to get used to being on display like all the others, but⁠—”

“For starters,” he snapped, his voice rising, “the others were hidden. I was very careful that no one ever saw them. Even Jory and I were never photographed together or⁠—”

“That’s not the⁠—”

“And what I said was that you have to get used to people wanting to see you,” he clarified, drawing out the word, sitting back on his heels, no longer touching me. “But no one gets to know private things between us.”

“Good.” I tried to smile, but couldn’t. “Then let’s not screw around, all right? And you don’t have to entertain me or talk to me. I’m fine. I know you have stuff to do. No worries.”

He squinted. “Am I being dismissed?”

“Aaron, for crissakes.” My anger flared. “I can see you trying to get a crapload of shit done before you’re forced into spending a weekend at a place where you’ll be completely cut off from the outside world. You have responsibilities. You have a business to run, and I know you’ve got everything covered, but you’re basically doing this for me and the Feds.”

“Duncan—”

“It’s great that you’re performing your civic duty.” I stopped him. “And I appreciate it, but I know you have things to handle, so g’head.”

It seemed from the look on his face he wanted to say something else, but instead, he got up and went back to where he’d been. I peered out the window and tried to figure out why I was annoyed with him. Wanting to fool around with me was a good thing, so why hadn’t it felt that way?

Once we landed in Phoenix, another limousine waited for us, and I got on the phone, called Special Agent Summers, and told her that we were there. I then checked in with my captain and then Jimmy. I had to let everyone know we were on our way into the lion’s den.

“God, this is like déjà vu,” I said to myself once I was off the phone.

“How so?” Aaron asked me.

“I was just here,” I made known.

“Here in Phoenix?”

“Yeah. I was on vacation, and then I helped Sam out.”

“Sam who?”

I turned to him. “How many Sams do we have in common?”

“Oh yes, that’s right. All of you talked about that when we had dinner with them the night we met. You helped Sam watch over Jory. I had no idea that was here in Arizona.”

“Yeah.”

“Funny how small the world is sometimes, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I agreed.

“Did you see Sedona when you were here last?”

“No, I didn’t.”