Not In My Wildest Dreams (Dream Series) (26 page)

“I’m in the wrong place,” I said.

“I’m sorry, what?” he said, taking a long pull off of his microbrew beer.

I cleared my throat and tried again. “I don’t belong here.”

“You’re not making any sense, Bets. What is going on?”

“We’re fooling ourselves, Greg. Do you really want to live the next twenty or thirty years like this? Predictable. Boring. Separate? You going to baseball games and golfing, me going to ballet and opera. I don’t. I don’t want to get texts telling me to pick up dry cleaning or make a sandwich. I don’t want to feel like an afterthought,” I fired off, feeling my confidence grow.

Greg looked as white as a ghost. “Elizabeth, you’re scaring me. What are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say, that you don’t want to be married to me.”

“Of course I do. We took vows. Sacred vows.
Til death do us part.
”

I shook my head. “We
are
dead, Greg. You like the idea of being married to me. But you don’t want to be married to me. You have no idea who I am.” I finished off my glass of wine and set it in the sink. “Did we never have true love, Greg?”

“I absolutely love you!” he said raising his voice.

“Do you know how I got the tickets to Cinderella? Do you know who I went with? Do you care? You never asked. You just shrugged and didn’t want to go. I’ve been to a hundred boring games with you. I got excited when your team was winning and annoyed when your team was losing. As for work, you’re already calling off dinner at home for files and take out at work. You didn’t even come home until after I was long asleep. I’d had a rough day, taking Jessica to the doctor.”

“Oh, right. She said yesterday that everything looked good. That’s terrific.”

“You didn’t even ask about her all week. This isn’t right. This doesn’t feel good. I’m not happy. You laughed when I suggested counseling last weekend. You’re not willing to try and make changes on your own. And I’m not willing to settle. I came back to water the grass, but I don’t think there’s any grass left to water.”

“Don’t be absurd! For better or for worse, right?” he nearly shouted, throwing more vows my way. “Why do you think I went to New York to get you?”

I had to laugh at that. “When you’d come to New York, I thought
Hey! He cared enough to come after me. And he tried something new! He’s capable of change.
But from the moment I came back, we were the same. We were boring. There’s no spark. No chemistry. Not when I showed up at your office in lace, not in the hotel suite, and certainly not at home. I need chemistry. I need to be important enough for you to want to do stuff with me. I need to be special enough that you would wait up for me. I need to be treasured enough that you want to spend your hours not in the office, but with me, not with your files or baseball, or football or any other sport in season.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stood there, running his fingers through his sandy blonde hair, looking all over the place like he’d find an answer just laying around. And then he spotted my suitcases. His eyes flew to me.

“You’re going back to New York to that Jack guy, aren’t you?” he seethed. “It’s not real with him. He’s a player. He’ll dump you, and don’t think you will be able to come crawling back to me again,” he continued. I silently thanked him for making this so much easier and thumbed the infinity ring on my right hand.

I glanced at my watch. Eleven forty. I had to get going if I was going to make it to the airport in time for the twelve fifteen flight. The itinerary said to arrive fifteen minutes before the flight and the airport was only twenty minutes away.

“Last time, I left you a letter and just left. A letter that called you perfect, which wasn’t right. You are wrong when it comes to me. We aren’t good. We don’t work. I’m not willing to spend the next twenty or thirty years in a loveless marriage, with someone who isn’t willing to work for it. No letter this time. No lies.” I stuffed my hand in my pocket and pulled out the wedding rings. I walked up to him, and taking his hand, placed them carefully in his hand. “Maybe there is someone who will light you up. Someone you will want to be
with.
” I kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll have an attorney contact you.” I turned, grabbed my suitcases, and left.

I
jangled the rings in my hand and stared at the door. Well, at least this time she didn’t leave a letter.

Was I hurt? Angry? Sad?

All I knew was that I was alone—again.

The bitter part of me, hoped that Elizabeth would soon find herself alone.

I never figured that she’d leave…really leave. When we met in college, she was needy and wanted to be attached. It was perfect. She was beautiful and malleable. I’d had things just how I wanted them. She kept the house neat, and running smoothly. She made amazing children that I could brag about. And I had a beautiful woman on my arm when I wanted.

We didn’t have what Jess and Jim had, but what we had worked. Right? When she comes back, will I take her back? Maybe. How could I find another woman like Elizabeth? The
old
Elizabeth?

“M
r. Stevens, please buckle up. We’re just waiting to be cleared for take off,” Adam said, glancing sadly at the vacant seat next to me.

I looked at my phone again to see if she texted back. Still no reply. I set the phone aside and buckled the seat belt. I listened to the engines wind up and looked out of the window. I tried to console myself that I had done everything possible to win her back. But, my years of bachelorhood failed me. They had made me into an unlovable person. I choked back the tears that threatened. I didn’t deserve to cry. I had done this to myself. I tapped my foot eager for the plane to take off and get me back to New York.

Suddenly, the engines quieted. The cabin phone for the attendant rang, probably to alert Adam that our flight plan was revoked, and that I’d be stuck here for another few hours. Adam glanced at me and shot me a smile. Was it a real smile? Or an apology smile? I couldn’t even tell anymore. I thought I could read people. Apparently, I was wrong. I thought I knew where Beth was, and I missed the mark there.

Adam went to the door and started to unlock it. I looked out of the window and saw a security car racing toward the plane.
What now? Was my pilot suddenly tagged for being drunk or something?

The car came to a screeching halt and my heart stopped. Or should I say it started to beat again. Stepping out of the car was my Beth. My Breath. I quickly unlatched my belt and raced to the door. I flew down the stairs, and pulled Beth into me. I planted kisses all over her face and neck. I could hardly believe she was real. I feared that I would wake up and realize that this was some sort of sick hallucination my brain had concocted to save my sanity. I inhaled her hair, smelling the rosemary and mint. I felt the soft, supple skin of her neck. I mashed my mouth to hers and roughly parted her receptive lips, my tongue brushing over hers. No. This was real.

“I’m sorry, I’m la—”

“Don’t apologize. I should have had more faith and made the captain wait at the gate. I just thought…”

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Stevens, Miss…

“Ms. Morris,” she replied strongly. I looked at her with surprise. She smiled back.

“Very good, Mr. Stevens, Ms. Morris, we are still in line to take off and we’re next. If we don’t want to have to file a new flight plan, we’ll have to get seated right away.”

“Of course! Of course!” I belted with joy, not recognizing my own voice. I grabbed Beth
Morris
’s bags and I followed her up the stairs.

Adam busied himself with storing the suitcases as we took our seats, Beth to the left of me, and we buckled up. I took hold of her right and noticed that she was still wearing the ring I had given her last night. I also noticed that her left hand was void of any jewelry.
Ms. Morris,
I thought to myself. She was free. She was mine.

We were quickly cleared for takeoff and while we taxied down the runway, I leaned over and kissed her deeply. I felt my heart, my whole heart, pound. This was so right.

The first hour of the flight, I simply sat back and held Beth’s hand and scolded myself for not believing enough in what we had. As much as I wanted to know what she said when she left Greg, I felt it was best that we leave him back in Napa.

I shared with Beth all of the charities JSS works with, and suggested a few that she might enjoy serving on the board for. I loved watching her get excited over the possibility of working with the models and raising money for worthwhile causes. She said she’d like to go back and work at the bar a couple days a week, too—for the lunch shifts. As much as I didn’t want her surrounded by other men looking at her, I wanted her to do what made her happy. And, I’d get to see her there for lunches.

Suddenly she tensed. I turned and looked at her with concern.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Anything that is left behind, I’ll make sure you get it back.”

“No, I think I packed everything I needed. But I just realized, I’ll be sharing an apartment with my daughter. She moves to Manhattan next week to start her internship.”

“It’s no problem whatsoever,” I said. “You’ll be staying with me.”

“Jack, that isn’t—”

“That isn’t up for negotiation. Phoebe needs her independence, and I don’t want to spend another day—or night—without you. The subject is closed.” I watched her consider what I’d just said.

“We’ll see…” she said back, coyly.

“No, what we’ll see about is how many times you can get your Mile-High Club card punched on this flight in the room in back. We have six and half hours,” he said with a hungry gleam in his eye.

When we reached cruising altitude, Adam commenced with the services the private company provided, serving us wine, along with a light cheese and cracker with fruit course. Half way through though, I couldn’t take it anymore. The way Beth collected an errant crumb with her tongue, or sucked on her finger when a smudge of brie had landed there…she was doing it on purpose. Of that, I was certain.

Noting that Adam was busy in the galley, I reached over and unbuckled Beth from the seat. She started to protest, but I silenced her with a kiss. I landed a trail of kisses to her ear and growled, “Rule one of the Mile High Club: Always wear a skirt.” There were no rules that I knew of, I was just having fun.

She glanced down at her pants and whispered back, “Is that a punishable infraction?” Her voice was hoarse. She was as aroused as I was.
I knew her eating antics were for show
. I nodded. “What are some of the other rules?” she asked quietly.

“Rule Two: Take advantage of distracted attendants.” I stood, tugged her hand, and lead her to the small bedroom at the back of the plane. We could have easily walked there whether Adam was looking or not, but it was much more fun this way.

“Rule Three,” I started, grabbing at her and pushing her up against the wall, dipping my head to kiss the hollow at the base of her neck. “You must remain absolutely silent.”

I looked up at her. She nodded, her eyes smoldering, her teeth trapping her lush bottom lip. I crushed that mouth with my own, taking her bottom lip between my own teeth as my hand went to work on the button and zipper of her capri pants. I slipped my hands into the waistband and in the back, grabbing her tight ass and pulling her into my raging hard-on.
She must work out,
I thought, as I noted how firm it really was. For a moment I wondered what it would be like to workout along side her, and I couldn’t wait to get her into the gym.

She mewed into my mouth as I squeezed one cheek, and ran a finger along the crack of her ass with my other hand. Briefly, I considered taking her ass on the plane, but ruled against it. I wanted to hear her when I sunk myself into that tight place.

I slid her pants and panties down and off along with her sandals. Her careful leg and pussy landscaping did not go unnoticed. I spent a good long moment stroking the skin that was as smooth as silk, and her pussy nicely trimmed. I ran my nose up her inner thigh and inhaled, taking in her delicious musky scent. I felt her knees tremble slightly.
Oh, this is going to be fun.