Page 40 of One Night Stand After Another
Something teased the edges of her mind, but she couldn’t capture it. The pain was gone, but it was difficult to carry a thought from her brain to her mouth. She just wanted to sleep. Carefully, she laid her head back down on Zane’s broad chest, feeling like she was flowing over him like water. One thought rose above the rolling waves of sleep she sensed coming for her. “How on earth did you and Jack become friends?”
Zane chuckled, and the sound echoed in her head, her heart.
“We got wasted on a distillery tour, and I ended up telling Jack basically what I just told you, completely humiliating myself. I don’t remember everything, but when I woke up on Jack’s floor the next morning, he invited me to dinner with his family that weekend.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “That was about six months ago, and he’s invited me several times since then. I’ve always been close to Jack’s dad, and that drove Jack and me further apart in high school. When Jack and his dad made up after Mr. Calabrese’s heart attack, I felt like I lost more than an occasional golfing partner, which I know is incredibly shitty of me. Pretty sure I told Jack all about that, too.” Zane sighed. “I’m happy for them. I really am. I just wish…never mind.” He kissed the top of her head. “According to Jack, I mentioned your name one or two times that night, too. How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy.” There was something she wanted to ask him, something important, but exhaustion pressed her eyes shut.
His lips were gentle on her forehead. “Go to sleep. I’ll be right here if you need anything.”
The room moved around them in ocean waves, deep-blue shot through with the warm gray of his eyes. She’d make a blanket to wrap around her when he was gone. Except he was looking at a restaurant in Los Angeles, and if she got the job, she’d be there, too…
Maybe this wasn’t a mistake. Could they start over, after all? She waited for panic to set in, as it had every other time she’d considered a future with Zane, but it didn’t come. Instead, she drifted to sleep, feeling safe, warm, and cherished.
Chapter Thirteen
There was nothing better than the day after a migraine. Clara felt like a million bucks, although it had caused her actual physical pain to leave most of her yarn locked in Zane’s trunk in the hotel parking garage. She had plans for it, plans which she’d detailed under the “Yarn Dreams” tab of her blog when she’d woken up from her nap yesterday, and Zane had been out on the balcony, talking on the phone, booking flights. Only a dozen skeins had fit in her carry-on bag, and it had been brutal to pick favorites.
They’d made their flight with plenty of time, and she’d started a sweater as soon as their plane had reached cruising altitude. She was still on a red kick. Most of this yarn was the dark gray of Zane’s eyes, but some of the wool had been dyed a rich crimson that ran through it in a subtle heart line. Just for fun, she was also weaving in some scrap yarn she’d picked up at the alpaca farm, little surprises of color and texture that caught the eye and held it, made you want to look closer, maybe explore a little deeper.
Awareness rushed through her, and she looked up to find Zane watching her with a bemused smile.
“What?” she asked.
“You’re a million miles away, aren’t you?”
Not as far as you’d think.“Just in the zone.”
“Don’t miss the scenery.”
He tipped his chin at the airplane window right next to her, and she opened the shade to blue sky and fluffy clouds.
Now she really missed all that gorgeous blue yarn. Nature was truly incredible. The swirls of cloud and pops of blue sky created an endless vista of beauty she would never be able to replicate, but she wanted to try. It stirred her soul, almost as much as Zane’s earthy scent when he leaned across her to get a better look out the window. They’d pushed up the seat divider, so there was no barrier between them. She reached to put her hand on his thigh, exploring the definition of his muscles through his jeans. He kissed her cheek, lingered on her jaw, and then nibbled his way to her neck.
She giggled and pushed him away as the flight attendant started down the aisle.
Zane held up his hand, and Clara figured he had a 50/50 chance of getting her attention. The Magna Air customer service thus far had been truly horrible. That must be why there were no other passengers in first class. “Still think it’s a brilliant idea to fly?”
He shot her a side-eye. “We’ve established my great ideas have a few outliers.”
“Excuse me,” he said so loudly that the attendant looked at him, even though Clara would lay money on the fact she’d been determined to cruise right past them even if she had to vault over the hand he was waving wildly in the aisle.
“May I help you?” the attendant asked, gritting her teeth in a smile.
“Do you have any blankets?” Zane asked. “Maybe a pillow?”
“Absolutely.” She reached overhead and handed down two thin blankets and two tiny pillows.
“Thank you,” Zane said. “I think we’re all set until lunch is served.”
Clearly, he was joking. There was no lunch. No snack. Barely a beverage service.Worst airline ever. Never again.
The flight attendant’s fake smile vanished.
“What are you doing?” Clara elbowed him as the attendant retreated. “It’s a hundred degrees in here.”
“Says the woman with a sweater on her lap. Lift up,” he said.
“Lift what?”
