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1131 Words
Naomi adjusted her seatbelt, pretending not to notice the irritated sigh from the man beside her. Waking up to a sigh from someone she didn’t know or remember ever meeting was simply ridiculous and she was feeling pretty short tempered in the moment.
Why was he being insufferable—to her.
He was also, unfortunately, her seat mate for the next several hours.
She turned slightly, catching the sharp line of his jaw as he stared straight ahead, fingers drumming idly against the armrest between them. “I can’t believe your grandmother insisted we sit together,” she said, breaking the silence.
His lips pressed into a thin line. “I’d say she has questionable judgment sometimes but not this time. She got fooled by your nice plays”.
Naomi sat up confused and taking off her sleep mask. “Someone would think we’ve had a meeting prior to this, what’s with all the hostility?”
“Please” he sighed not buying into whatever she was on about. “Maybe she does have questionable judgment sometimes”.
“Well, she raised you so…”Naomi smirked.
He shot her a sidelong glance, eyes dark with something between amusement and frustration. “That’s cute. You think you’re clever.”
“I don’t think. I know.” She rebutted unsure of what he was playing at. He seemed to have a lot of emotions in the bag, displaying whichever he willed at whatever time.
He exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “Let’s just get through this flight without any… incidents.”
“Incidents?” She raised a brow. “What exactly do you think I’m going to do? h****k the plane?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you…given your history,” he said dryly. “You’ve already managed to charm my grandmother into thinking you belong in our lives—for this trip.”
“There’s a list of things you have to worry about and any interference with your trip doesn’t have to one of them.” “Further interference” she added not giving him a chance to point out that she was currently interfering.
Every word that rolled off his tongue was making her feeling ways she didn’t know went together. He was riling her up, so good.
Naomi folded her arms. She was tired of wondering and playing nice or playing at all.
“I honestly have no intentions of being in your face any more than you’d like for me to be, I just want to get through this in one piece”
“Get through what?”
It had started to cross his mind that maybe he was letting the past incident put a wet spot on what had the potential to be a peaceful flight. But she wasn’t only getting close to him, his grand mother was in the picture and he didn’t want that sort of wild energy around what felt like his only family.
Maybe he was being hard, he concluded.
“Never mind , never mind” he said making to face the window.
She turned fully in her seat to face him. “You know, for a man who runs a billion-dollar company or companies or investments, I really don’t know but you have surprisingly terrible instincts.”
His jaw tightened. “Oh? Where’s that from?”
She leaned in slightly, dropping her voice. “I know the troupe. You’re scared that I’m here to dig but If I really were after your money, don’t you think I’d be sucking up to you instead and ignoring every disgusting attitude you’d had on since the airport?”
He held her gaze, something flickering behind his sharp blue eyes. Annoyance? Amusement? Interest? She could not tell. But she had a feeling amusement had a greater percentage of all that he might be feeling.
She didn’t even know his name.
“Maybe that’s part of the act,” he said smoothly. “Keeping me on edge, making me second-guess everything.”
Naomi scoffed. “Give it a rest. You give me way too much credit.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he mused. “For me to think you’re harmless.”
She rolled her eyes. “Exasperated” she muttered. “You make me feel exasperated and I’ve only known you for one minute.”
“And yet,” He leaned back, smirking, “you’re still here.” “Quite the exaggeration by the way”. This was fun. His decision to let go of the past incident which he was now starting to think she genuinely did not remember was a good idea. Here’s all the fun he would’ve been missing out on.
Naomi narrowed her eyes. “You’re impossible.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.” His smirk deepened. “Didn’t sound like an insult either.” And he smiled.
The flight attendant passed by, offering drinks. Naomi ordered a glass of wine; He requested whiskey, neat.
“Of course,” she muttered under her breath as the attendant moved on.
“What?”
She waved a hand. “Whiskey, neat. So classic. So predictable.”
He tilted his head. “And what does your wine say about you?”
“That I’m sophisticated and refined.” She rebutted again and now she said the words, she wished she didn’t. Sophisticated and refined? Who says that?
He chuckled heartily. “Now that’s something a person in either of the categories would never utter but I could see how you’d need the illusions to get up every morning.”
Naomi took a sip of her drink, knowing she deserved that one blow. “I don’t need illusions.”
He watched her for a beat, fingers tapping against the glass in his hand. “Then tell me, Naomi, what exactly do you need?”
The question was loaded. The thought of offloading to a stranger she wouldn’t see again danced around her mind. But was this really a stranger she’d be indifferent about forming that sort of connection with?
She could play it off, turn it into another jab, but something in his tone—low, challenging—made her hesitate.
She met his gaze, holding it. “Nothing from you, that’s for sure.” She said slouching back into her seat.
His smirk faltered just slightly, like he hadn’t expected that answer.
A beat of silence. Then he swirled the whiskey in his glass. “Good.”
“Good,” she echoed, lifting her wine to her lips.
But as the plane continued cruising through the sky, she could feel his gaze on her and he knew she could but neither of them moved away
And neither of them said anything about it.
- Writer
