MILE HIGH

46

Once she’s gone, the realization hits me that I’m butt-ass naked, and I just ran out of my hotel room without a key, allowing the door to close behind me.

Shit.

I’ve never chased someone trying to leave my room. Typically, I’m getting dressed and begging them to go.

Glancing around the empty halls, I start my walk of shame to my best friend’s room across the hall from mine.

Knocking doesn’t do the trick, so I pound on the door with my free hand, needing to wake him up.

“What the f**k?” Maddison swings the door open, his mop of hair disheveled and his eyes barely open, laced with sleep.

“Oh my God,” he laughs, looking me up and down. “This is too f*****g good.”

“I need to use your phone to call the front desk. I locked myself out of my room.”

“Wait right there.” Maddison turns back to his room, barely able to walk due to the hysterical laugher overtaking him. “The boys are gonna need to see this.” He holds his cellphone up, snapping a picture of me in the hallway as I cup my d**k and flip him the bird with my other hand.

“f**k you,” I mutter, letting myself in his room.

STEVIE

L

ast night was a huge mistake.

And by huge...I mean huge. Pun intended.

And not because of the excuse I gave Zanders about him being my client or whatever bullshit I was spewing. But because he was right. He may have ruined every other man for me from here on out.

I think he may have even ruined my vibrator from here on out too, and that’s just a damn crime.

When I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror last night, that’s when it hit me.

That was the best s*x I’ve ever had. It blew every other one of my experiences out of the water. For the first time, maybe ever, there wasn’t a single self-conscious thought. Zanders’ constant praise took care of that. We had a wild unspoken connection I didn’t expect and, frankly, didn’t want.

And that’s the problem. It was supposed to be one and done. But all I wanted was to get back in that bed and do it over and over again until I couldn’t think straight.

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get attached to him or his award-winning d**k. He’s everything I’ve wanted to avoid since college—arrogant, egotistical athlete with beautiful women lining up for a turn. And I made the mistake of jumping into that line, unable to hold my ground against him.

He’s just looking for his next lay, but I’ve got to say, the boy knows what he’s doing between the sheets.

“You totally got laid last night,” Indy teases. “You’re lit up like a f*****g glow stick, Miss Shay.”

“I did not.” I try to keep my voice hushed. We’re in the back of the airplane, and the boys are trying to sleep on our overnight flight back to Chicago.

“You totally did,” she giggles. “Was it a Tinder boy?”

Turning away from Indy, I mindlessly start cleaning the spotless countertops in the back galley. “I did not get laid last night.”

“You didn’t?”

That deep velvety voice doesn’t belong to my coworker. No, it belongs to the stunning man who absolutely railed me last night.

I’ve avoided walking the aisle for more than one reason on this flight. One being I didn’t want to see Zanders and have every explicit detail of last night flood my mind. And the second being, he was right. I have a stupid limp because of his stupid, huge d**k.

Looking over my shoulder, Zanders leans against the partition separating the galley from the rest of the plane, a cocky little smirk playing at his perfectly full lips.

Asshole.

“You’re limping a bit, Stevie. Did you roll your ankle or something?”

I hate him.

“Oh my God,” Indy says much too loudly. “Oh. My. God.” Her head is on a swivel looking back and forth between Zanders and me, her cheeks flushing a lovely shade of rose.

“You two finally f****d,” she whispers as quietly as possible before her mouth hangs open.

“No!” I exclaim louder than I meant to. “No, we did not.”

Zanders being the arrogant man he is, doesn’t deny anything. Instead, he stays silent and shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Nice work.” Indy’s statement isn’t directed at me. No, it’s at Zanders, which I love.

“Do you guys have a pillow I could snag?” Rio pops his head into the galley over Zanders’ shoulder, asking Indy and me.

“Rio, get it yourself, man.” Zanders motions towards one of the overhead bins where the pillows are stored. Which is ironic, seeing as Zanders has never once gotten himself a single thing on this damn airplane.

“I can get it for you,” Indy offers.

“Thanks, Indy.” Rio’s green eyes sparkle when he says her name. He runs a hand through his curly black hair, pushing it out of the way, and is he...flexing as he does it?

Indy steps around Zanders, leaving the security of our galley and leaving me alone with the man I’ve been trying to avoid all flight.

“You didn’t send me a message last night.” He ducks into the galley, getting in my space. My eyes quickly dart up the aisle, checking for Tara’s whereabouts, but she seems plenty busy flirting with the coaching staff up front.

“Why didn’t you send me a message that you got back to your hotel?” He takes another step closer, his chest only inches from mine.

I crane my neck upward. “I didn’t think you were that serious about it.”

“Are you f*****g kidding me? I was up all night checking my i********:, waiting to hear from you.”

“Well, here I am.” I know I’m being a brat right now, but I’m trying to distance myself from everything I felt last night, and I don’t know how to do that other than to pretend to be unattached. I fully expected Zanders to be the same, so his genuine concern is a little shocking.

“What the hell happened last night?” he whispers. “I thought we had fun?”

“We did. And when it was over, I left.”

Zanders’ hazel eyes bore into me with confusion. I’m not trying to make him feel bad, but I need to protect myself here. He got what he wanted, as did I. He’ll be onto someone new tomorrow. Hell, he might even be onto someone new as soon as we land around two AM.

“Do you regret it?” His question is soft and low, a bit of sadness laced in his tone.

Ah, f**k. Why does this man, who was choking me and screwing me senseless last night, look like a sad puppy dog right now? I kind of want to hug the giant defenseman. He seems more vulnerable than he intended to be.