Play Hard (The Devil's Share Book 5) (3 page)

Guess I wouldn’t be getting head in the bathroom after all. Nor would she want to do me any favors by being my fake girlfriend. That sucked, pun intended. I got up and maneuvered my body into the aisle so the distraught girl could sit down. She kept her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. The flight attendant placed a cookie and a can of soda on what used to be my tray table. “There you go, sweet girl, let me know if you need anything else.” She shot me another mean look before she walked away.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I may have hardened my heart, but I wasn’t so tough that a girl crying wouldn’t affect me. “Hey, look, I’m sorry about earlier.” I cleared my throat. “And about your cat and your dog and your stepmother.” Damn. This girl had had a rough fucking week.

“It’s cool.” She lifted her head, wiped her eyes, and picked up her giant chocolate chip cookie.

She smiled and raised the shade to look out the window then shut it back down quickly. Absolutely no trace of sadness or distress in her pretty green eyes. What the actual fuck? “Are you kidding me right now?”

“What? Did you want some? You can have half.” She broke her cookie into two pieces and held one out toward me. When I didn’t take it, she just shrugged and took a bite out of each piece. “Suit yourself, it’s delicious.”

“Are you insane? What was that show you just put on? Was any of that true?”

“Of course not. Geeze, could you imagine if it was? Talk about a bad day. Well, except for the part about my stepmother. I wouldn’t miss her.” She hung her head and took a deep breath. “That was a horrible thing to say. I’d miss her.” She was silent for a minute then shook her head. “No. I stand by my original statement. I’d be fine never having to see her again.” She looked over at me, smirk back in place. “You were in my seat, and you were being a dick about it.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. She played me, she played the flight attendant, and she looked damn pleased with herself. Plus, she might actually be crazy if her rambling was anything to go by. “What in the hell is wrong with you? Who does that to people?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Like you’ve never acted a certain way to get what you wanted? You’re a dude. I’m sure you’ve played on girls’ weaknesses to get them into bed. Act and say whatever it takes to seal the deal? It’s the same thing. You had what I wanted, and I did what it took to get it.”

I reached across her and raised the shade all the way up. It was juvenile, I know. But she’d pissed me off. “You’re evil.”

“Be careful, sir, your double standards are showing.” She slammed the shade back down forcefully and glared in my direction.

“For the record, I do not have to lie or spin any sob stories to get chicks to hop in my bed.” I was in a band, that shit sort of took care of itself.

“Whatever you say, sir.” Every time she called me sir I flinched.

“How are you doing, honey?” The flight attendant was back, checking on my infuriating, lying flight companion.

I watched with fascination as the girl’s eyes instantly welled with tears again and her smile turned sad. “I’m much better, thank you so much.” When the attendant left, the tears vanished.

This girl would give Lexi a run for her money. I was somewhat impressed, but hell if I’d tell her that. Why was I always surrounded by crazy? Was I being punished? “Did you escape from a mental hospital? Do I need to call someone?”

She took a big swig of her ginger ale and turned toward me. “Look. I am a nice person, I really am. But I refuse to let people walk all over me, okay? I tried to be polite. I asked you pleasantly to please move. And what did you do? You were condescending and rude. So I stood up for myself.” She set her drink down and let out a quick sigh. “This is a long flight, and I hate being on planes. So can we please just call a truce?” She held her hand out. “I’m Harlow.”

Reluctant to make friends with the wicked pixie sitting next to me, I had to admit she was right. It was a long flight, and I already had enough to worry about. Besides, who wanted a crazy person as an enemy? “Luke.” I warily put my hand in hers and she smiled. And just like that she seemed to transform back into the innocent beautiful girl I thought she was when I first saw her. I found myself needing to know more. She intrigued me. “Why are you headed to Nashville?”

Harlow removed her small hand from mine. “I don’t know anyone there, and I need a break from my life.”

If anyone understood a break from life, it was me. “How long are you staying?” I wasn’t asking because she was hot and I wanted to bang her. Nope. Not. At. All. She was nuts. I didn’t need to have sex with a crazy person. I was just curious.

“I’m going to stay a few days and then head up to New York to see my dad.”

“And your evil stepmom?” She nodded and then started wringing her hands together again once the flight crew started going over safety precautions.

I understood a fear of flying; it wasn’t my favorite thing to do either. But Harlow looked like she was about to pass out. “I always think it’s funny when they do these safety talks.” I chuckled. “Like your seat floaty is going to save you if we go down, right?” Her eyes went wide and her skin got really fucking pale. Crap, I guessed making jokes about crashing wasn’t the best thing to do. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, uh, I was just trying to make you laugh. Distract you or something.”
Smooth, Luke
.

Harlow closed her eyes real tight when the engines turned over and we started taxiing down the runway. “I’m really not crazy, I promise. I just, shit, flying is like torture to me, you know?” She wrapped her arms around her tiny waist and started to rock back and forth. “I get like this pretty much every flight. Except there was this one flight when I was sitting next to two nuns and I was really calm the whole time. I kept thinking, hey, I bet they’re praying. I figured if they prayed the whole time, we wouldn’t crash. Silly, right?” She took a deep breath then continued her panicked rambling. “My dad has a private jet. It’s dumb of me not to use it. I bet I’d feel much safer. But our relationship is complicated and I hate feeling like I owe him. Are you close to your dad? Do you have a wicked stepmother? You seem pretty normal, except for your minor bouts of asshole. I bet you have great parents. I have one great parent, my mom. She—”

I couldn’t take it anymore, so I shut her up by grabbing her face and sticking my tongue down her throat. She sounded like a lunatic, and coupled with the rocking back and forth? I couldn’t handle it. So I kissed her. And she shut up. But then I didn’t want to stop kissing her. She threaded her fingers through my hair. So I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her chest against mine. I angled my head, taking the kiss deeper. When she moaned, I wanted nothing more than to grab her slender body and put her in my lap. I wasn’t hard up, I’d had sex hours ago, but there was something about Harlow. Something about the way she tasted and the sounds she—

“Excuse me? You two are making the other passengers very uncomfortable.”

Chapter Six

Harlow

That flight attendant went from being one of my favorite people that day to the bottom of the list real fast. Luke jerked away from me when she’d come over and interrupted us. That wasn’t my first kiss, but it sure as hell was one of my hottest and no part of me was ready for it to end.

Luke sat up straight in his chair. “I’m sorry, I just, I didn’t really know how else to—”

“No. No, don’t apologize.” I touched my mouth then smoothed down my now disheveled hair with hopefully not noticeably shaky hands. “Thank you for the, um, distraction.” I took a deep breath and reached up to turn my air vent on higher. After that kiss? I was feeling more than a little flushed. I resisted the urge to fan my face. Luke was sitting next to me all calm and collected. He already thought I was nuts; I didn’t need to add anything else to that list. “Takeoff is always the worst part.”

Luke shrugged. “Yeah, I get that. No worries.”

We were both silent for a while, both of us staring toward the front of the plane watching the crew begin the beverage service. I wasn’t great at silence. Issues from childhood, I’m sure. Besides, I needed to clear the sexual tension floating off me. I wanted to mount him. I swallowed. “Why are you headed to Nashville?”

He took a sip of his scotch. “Work.”

I nodded my head at his one-word answer. Luke was super handsome, like really freaking gorgeous. He looked like a poet/coffeehouse owner. But his ripped jeans and flannel screamed rocker. I was having a hard time looking at him now that we’d made out on an airplane. And I’d moaned like a cat in heat. That kiss had set my insides on fire, but I needed to seem as unaffected as him. I didn’t want this sexy jerk to think he had any control over me.

He tapped my leg with his finger. “So you’re just going to hang out around Nashville all by yourself? Do you have any friends in the area?”

“No, it’s just me. I mean, I like being alone, I like exploring and being on my own time schedule. I know people.”
I know people?
Who the hell said stuff like that? “Not in Nashville, I don’t know anyone in Nashville though.” I had friends all over the globe. Why did I just make it sound like I was a lost puppy? I’d specifically picked Nashville because I didn’t know anyone there. This man was making me act like a moron. I couldn’t have that. I refused to have that.
Lock it down, lady.
I started wringing my hands together and moving around in my seat.

“Do you always do that?” Luke shifted in his seat and turned his amused smile on me. “Fidget around like that?”

“I don’t fidget around.” I reached up and hit the I-need-a-drink button to signal the flight attendant. “I just have a hard time sitting still when I’m nervous. I tend to word vomit too.”

He chuckled. “I did notice the word vomit.” He looked me up and down. “I make you nervous.”

He said it like a statement, not a question. And that sort of pissed me off. “No, you don’t make me nervous. Flying makes me nervous.” In reality it was probably a combination of both. But hell if I’d tell him that, his big head might explode.

“Miss? Is there something I can get you?” It was a different lady this time; she was older and wore her hair in an extremely tight gray bun. It appeared to be giving her a face-lift.

“I’ll take a gin and tonic, please.” I was already reaching down into my bag for my ID before she asked. I was carded everywhere I went, even R-rated movies. I held my license out to show her I was twenty-four. She smiled and then left to mix me up a good dose of calm-the-f-down-kid. It’d be made with some cheap gin, I was sure, but anything would help at this point.

“Fake ID?”

I shoved my wallet back into my purse and shot Luke’s smirking face a snotty look. “No.” Toe-curling kisser or not, Luke seemed like kind of a jerk. We hit a patch of turbulence and I automatically threw my hands out to grip the armrests. Only one hand hit its intended target. The other? Said jerk’s upper thigh.

“You ready for round two, Pixie?”

I dug my nails into his leg, grinning when I saw him wince. “Pixie?”

He reached down and put his hand on top of mine, threading our fingers together and removing my claws from his skin. “You remind me of a spastic little fairy. Like a trail of crazy glitter should follow you everywhere you go.”

“Eh. I’ve been called worse.” The flight attendant sat my drink down and refilled Luke’s scotch. We sat in an oddly comfortable silence and drank our liquor, holding hands. Between the gin and Luke’s hand in mine, I started to relax, more than I’d ever relaxed on a plane (not including the flight with the nuns). The gorgeous man sitting next to me was a stranger. Literally, a stranger. And sort of an ass. But I liked him. He entertained me. For once I didn’t feel the need to fill the space with words and questions. And after a while, my eyes grew heavy and I drifted off to sleep, my head on his shoulder.

Chapter Seven

Luke

We were still holding hands. It was nice—bizarre, but nice. And that kiss earlier? Better than nice, it was great. As much banging as I’d done in Central America, it’d been ages since I’d made out with someone. She was weird, this little sprite who had been sleeping with her head on my shoulder. She was beautiful as hell, and she made me smile with her anxiety and her talkative panic attacks. For a while I’d even forgotten about what was waiting for me in Nashville. I’d forgotten about my broken heart. I’d put my head on top of hers and closed my eyes. She smelled like flowers and gin. I didn’t smell her hair on purpose or anything. I had to breathe, you know? Life was peaceful, for a good two hours. And then the flight attendants had begun coming by to pick up all the trash and my heart rate started to accelerate.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’d like to welcome you to Nashville. We’ll be landing in about ten minutes—”

I stopped listening. I had to. I suddenly felt like I was about to jump out of my skin. All my serenity vanished into thin air. I started bouncing my knee and rubbing my unoccupied palm on my unoccupied thigh. I was beginning to sweat.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

My shaking had gotten so bad that I’d woken up Harlow. She moved her silky blonde hair out of her face and went to take her hand from mine. But I held firm. I’d helped her, and now she was going to have to help me. “I’m losing my shit.” I ran my fingers roughly through my hair. I wanted to be back on the beach in Costa Rica. Fuck. I really was going to have a panic attack. I was going to have to be tranqued on a plane and the paparazzi were going to have a fucking field day.

“Why? What’s happening? Is the plane going down?”

“Yes.”

“What?” She threw open the shade on the window. “Is it the engine? Did we lose one? Did we lose both? Are we going to do an emergency landing?” She slammed the shade back shut and stood up in her seat, looking around the plane for signs of mayday. She squeezed my fingers to the point of pain.

I snorted and shook my head. “No. We’re going to do a regular landing. We’re here, we’re in Nashville.” This chick cracked me up. And turned me the fuck on, but that was neither here nor there.