Resisting the Billionaire Collection (6 page)

Sure. She thought. Two spoiled brat
billionaires on their own private jet. How low-maintenance will
that be? Just as well, it’s only these two. Three of these guys?
Even for twelve grand, I don’t think I could handle that for ten
days.

"How about the flight crew?" She asked,
staying work focused.

"You're looking at him."

Her jaw dropped.

"Well, not just me. There's my brother too.
In fact, he's a little more into flying than I am, so he'll be in
the cockpit most of the time. It's a fairly straight run
through."

What the hell had she been roped into? Just
her, alone, no crew, and no pilots other than the two most powerful
men she had ever met in her life. Talk about an imbalance of power.
In addition, she was feeling all hot and bothered about this one.
Was it a dream come true or a nightmare?

"Is there somewhere I can freshen up?" She
needed a moment or two alone just to compose herself. The truth was
that she had missed her morning routine and badly needed a
shower.

"Sure," he said, "let me show you. You can
use the en-suite area from the master bedroom. There are others but
this is the nicest and since you are going to be the prettiest
member of our flight crew, I think it only right that you should
have full use."

It was yet another inappropriate comment but
still she couldn't help blush just a little bit. Here was this
Grade-A hunk, charming as hell and richer than God, paying her
compliments. She would have to pinch herself to wake up!

Sure enough, the bathroom was beautiful.
There was even a hot tub! Melanie hadn't been in one in years. Her
crappy little apartment didn't even have a bathtub, let alone a hot
tub and even her shower was intermittently functional at best.

"Take all the time you need," Alex said,
"we're just waiting for the pilot and then we can pick a time slot
for when we want to leave. We're kind of on our own schedule here.
You can even grab a shower or take a bath if you want to. I'll let
you know when we're ready for takeoff." Melanie smiled awkwardly as
Alex closed the door gently behind him. She was having trouble
relating normally to all this power and luxury. Private jets and
personal schedules at the airport. This was just ridiculous.

She thought about taking a bath but soon
discarded that idea. He had only been joking, right? Still, a
shower would be good. In fact, it was essential. She desperately
needed to freshen up before things got under way.

She began to undress, carefully folding her
uniform to keep it immaculate for her passengers. She tied up her
hair to keep it dry while she showered and then removed her
underwear. Luckily, she had chosen something attractive and not too
cheap that morning.

Jesus, what difference does that make? She
caught herself. What am I, a teenager at the prom? I don’t intend
stripping down to my drawers for either of these guys, no matter
who they are!

The shower felt good. The warm water was
even and the force of the flow was strong, causing her skin to
tingle and making her feel fresh and revitalized. She caught
herself imagining what it would be like to share a shower with her
boss, the man who usually used this bathroom. He was tall and
broad; would they even fit into it together? Their bodies would be
forced into tight proximity. They would have to touch each other
just to get clean.

God, it had been so long since she felt male
hands on her that weren’t attached to some old businessman copping
a feel on some late-night flight.

Her eyes were closed as the warm water
cascaded down the curves of her body. She began to massage the
expensive shower gel into her breasts and legs, gradually coming to
her inner thighs, and lower abdomen.

"What are you doing in here?"

Melanie nearly fell over in the shower as
the booming male voice challenged her.

"Oh my God!" She shrieked. Then she realized
she had nowhere to turn. The shower door was curved Perspex with
only a thin frosted floral and leaf design to barely obscure her.
Luckily, the shower had generated a lot of steam in there too.

It was Alex and he was just standing there,
staring at her with cold eyes.

"Alex! I thought you said it was okay to
take a shower." She tried to cover herself with her soaped arms and
the loofah but it was useless, he was free to enjoy the curves of
her rear and the long wet lines of her waist and legs.

What a creep. She thought.

He stood there without a word, just staring,
the way he had at the check-in counter when they had met that
morning. It was the same entitled look as though he had every right
to stare and enjoy, as though her body were his property.

"You said it was okay." She said.

"I didn't say any such thing." He replied
slowly, his eyes lingering on her parts of her that didn't include
her face. "But hell, I guess it's not so bad. I said a little less
makeup but I didn't mean this much less." He chuckled. "I'll see
you on the flight." He turned and abruptly slammed the door shut as
he left.

What in the hell? Don't tell me I'm on a
nine-hour flight with a psycho. She thought. Christ, I hope his
brother is more normal than this. Maybe this crappy job isn't worth
it. Not even for a free trip to Tahiti. Not even to keep my mother
in...

No. That thought ended it. She would put up
with whatever he could throw at her. Twelve thousand dollars was
nothing to him, but it was everything to her. After all the minimum
wage years she had put in for him at Drummond Airlines, this was
something she deserved.

She finished her shower quickly, just
washing off the soap and then buttoned herself back up into her
uniform. Time to go to work.

She opened the door and started as she saw
that Alex was standing right outside the door with his hand raised,
ready to knock.

"Hi there." He said. "Did you get a chance
to freshen up alright?"

Back to charmer mode. She thought.

"I don't know." She said. "Based on what you
saw, what do you think?"

He looked puzzled.

"Well, based upon what I can see right now
I'd say yes. Most definitely." He took her hand very gently and
then in his commanding way said, "Follow me. I'd like you to meet
my brother before we prepare for takeoff."

Melanie didn't move. Alex turned to her, his
eyebrows raised in question.

"Melanie?"

"Mr. Drummond, I'm not sure that I can take
this flight with you after all."

He let go of her hand.

"Well, okay, but can you at least tell me
why?"

She opened her mouth to speak but just as
she did, someone appeared from the cockpit. He was identical to
Alex, in every way. He was even dressed the same.

Alex followed her eyes to his brother
advancing down the aisle.

"Oh," he said, "this is my brother
Sebastian. Sebastian, this is--"

"We've already met." His eyes locked onto
Melanie's and she recognized the same cold stare, the one from
arrivals and then just now in the shower. So that mystery was
solved. One cold, arrogant, asshole billionaire twin brother and
one drop dead, gorgeous, charmer from heaven billionaire twin
brother.

"Who do you think asked to have her on the
flight?" Sebastian said, without taking his gaze from Melanie,
still giving her that up and down stare as if he were sizing her up
to put a price tag on her.

"I don't get it." Alex said. "You asked for
her? I thought Mitch was in charge of that stuff?"

Sebastian turned to his brother.

"Hey, we own this company, right? Mitch just
works for us. I saw this girl on the way in--"

"She has a name, Sebastian."

"Whatever. I saw this girl with a name on
the way in and I figured we could use someone, let's say, a little
more youthful and energetic on our flight than the usual crew."

"This is Melanie." Alex said, with hidden
meaning that she didn't understand. Sebastian's eyes were blank
with incomprehension.

“Okay, I heard you. She has a name."

"I don't think you did. This is..." he
looked at Melanie and then changed direction. "Forget it. So where
is Margaret, our usual flight attendant?"

"Margaret isn't well today and I knew if I
left it to Mitch, he would replace her with some other..."

Alex glared at his brother.

"...with someone I wouldn't be happy with.
Then I saw Melanie here and she looked..." he paused and stared at
her with burning, intense, deep set eyes, "... she looked just
perfect, so I told Mitch to get her on the flight, and that was
that. Now here she is."

"Oh yeah," Alex said, "about that. Melanie
was just saying that--"

"Oh no, Alex, that's just fine. As long as
Mitch and everyone say it's okay and since Margaret isn't
well..."

Now that she knew Alex was just a nice guy
and not some wacko Jekyll and Hyde, there was no way she was going
to miss this opportunity of a lifetime. Just as long as she could
take Sebastian's weird arrogant behavior, and as long as Alex
didn't get the wrong idea, then this would be a trip to
remember.

"Well that's just great, Melanie." Alex
said. "Glad to have you aboard." He gave her that irresistible
smile that she was becoming a little addicted to and then took his
strong hand in acceptance.

"Glad to be aboard, sir." She beamed back at
him.

Sebastian stood beside them and glowered.
"Get ready for a long flight Melanie." He said. "You'll be paid
damn well for this, so you better be every bit as good as we need
you to be."

Chapter Seven

An hour later, they were at cruising altitude and
there was nothing but clear blue skies ahead. Melanie still
couldn't believe her luck. This day was turning out to be something
special, all right. If Sebastian were a little arrogant, it
probably wouldn't be such a big deal, as he seemed to be content to
do most of the piloting while Alex relaxed in the living area.

"Is there anything I can get you? Anything I
can do for you?" She asked him.

"Not at the moment." He smiled. "I'm just
finishing up a few things here before I get into vacation mode.
Just make yourself comfortable."

Sure, like that's easy. What am I supposed
to do with myself? She thought. The aircraft was spotlessly clean
and everything ship-shape. The last crew had left it pristine.
There was nothing for her to do until one of the brothers got
hungry or needed a drink.

She went into the kitchen to see what kind
of food there was, but everything there had already been prepared
already. Fancy dishes were clearly labeled for each brother. Alex
was obviously the gourmet with delicacies such as braised partridge
and champagne pears waiting for him. Sebastian was the more
visceral of the two with basic but still expensive tastes; mostly
it seemed, for lobster tails and ice cream. Bottles of champagne
were plentiful and it seemed that both brothers were fans of
that.

Alex told her to relax for a while and went
to freshen up himself. In the meantime, she kept occupied
familiarizing herself with anything that might come within her
purview during the course of the flight.

"Can I help you with anything?" The voice
behind her had the same commanding tone as always. She turned and
smiled bashfully, her heart racing a little.

"Oh no, I'm just getting to know…” She
stopped. It wasn't Alex -- at least she didn't think so. The two
were so damned alike. "I'm sorry," she said, "its Alex, right?"

"Wrong." He said petulantly. "Not that it
matters anyway. Look, I'm getting a bit hungry. Fix a couple of
those lobster tails for me and bring them to the cockpit."

He turned and left.

Jackass. Now how do I 'fix' those lobster
tails?

The tails were already cooked and just
needed reheating under the grill. She knew not to put them in the
microwave or they would taste and feel like rubber. The last thing
she wanted to do was to upset Sebastian. The only slight problem
was figuring out how to work the space age-looking oven. There were
no buttons or knobs; just smooth, surfaces glistening as though
nothing had ever actually been used before. After a couple of
minutes looking around, the pilot appeared again.

"How about those tails?" He said grumpily.
"Are they ready yet?"

"Coming right up." She lied.

"Don't take all day." He said and then
disappeared back to the cockpit.

She was still fumbling around without
success when she heard his voice again. "Can I help you there?"

"I'm so sorry Mr. Drummond; they'll be ready
in just a minute."

"What'll be ready?"

Thank God, it's Alex again.

She turned around and almost blushed. He was
wearing just a white towel wrapped around his waist and she
couldn't help but see that he was totally ripped. For a billionaire
businessman, he sure had one rocking body. More like a calendar boy
fire fighter than some Financial Times-reading office guy.

He came over to her and took her right hand
into his own. He turned her gently around towards the oven and then
softly moved her finger across the smooth surface. The thing came
to life suddenly. He was so close to her. She could smell that he
had just come from the shower, a clean masculine smell that
overpowered her.

"I think that's what you were looking for."
He said and released her hand. "Is the beast in there hungry
already?"

"He just asked me for a couple of his
lobster tails."

Alex rolled his eyes.

"Sebastian and his damned lobster tails.
Hey, little brother, can't you fix these things yourself?" He
shouted into the cockpit. "Melanie has more important things to do
out here."

"Do I?" She asked.

"Sure you do. Come with me." He said, and
took her by the hand again.

"But what about the tails?"